Breaking Boundaries Podcast - Episode 12 with Daniel Carlson
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About our guest:
In this episode, we take a closer look at the career of Daniel Vilhelm Carlson, an American football placekicker who currently plays for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). Born on January 23, 1995, Carlson made a name for himself during his time at Auburn, where he became the SEC's all-time leading scorer. In the 2018 NFL Draft, he was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the fifth round but was released during his rookie season. Carlson later joined the Raiders and has twice led the league in scoring, earning him the reputation as one of the top kickers in the NFL. As we explore his journey to success, we also take a look at his impressive accuracy on the field, currently ranking him as the third most accurate kicker in the league. Don't miss this exciting talk with one of football's rising stars! .
Learn more about Daniel:
Daniel's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/danielcarlson38
Episode 12 Transcript:
Hunter:
Hey, everyone, I'm Hunter Molzen, with another episode of the Breaking Boundaries podcast by Barbell Apparel Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Daniel Carlson. He's an American football NFL place kicker. He plays for the Las Vegas Raiders, here in Barbell Apparel's home town of Vegas. He's one of the top three kickers in the league currently, and we're excited to kind of dive in. Get a little bit about his athletic background. How he came to play in the Fl. What makes him tick as a competitor? How he trains how he juggles being a professional athlete with his family life and more. Daniel. Great to have you here today and we're excited to talk. How are you?
Daniel:
Awesome, awesome. Thanks for having me on. Always like the opportunity. Check with like minded people you know who get the competitive aspect, especially once it's the off season, I won't get to have that quite as much. besides maybe playing some goal for something with buddies, but you know love, just talking about this kind of stuff. So honored to be here today.
Hunter:
Yeah, we're lucky to have you and we've been working with you for a while. I can't remember
Hunter:
how one of my team members Kyle originally got in contact with you, but I think like in our original kick starter for the Gens, that kind of like birth the Kcompany. by accident. A lot of people probably don't know that story that may be listening, But that is how Barbell Carroll came about. We had this idea
Hunter:
for something called Athletic jeans, which didn't exist at the time we launched a kick starter for it kind of went viral. Decided to make a full time business out of it, but in that original kick starter video we had a friend of ours like basically kicking a football in the Gens. He was a kicker for you and L. V, and I think it was like a really compelling image because like as a place kicker, you guys have like this crazy flexibility in your leg,
Hunter:
and the Gens didn't kind of bind it up at all, so he was able to do a full, you know, field goal kick or punt or whatever in the Gens,
Hunter:
kind of without skipping a bee. And so when we started working with you, I kind of immediately Connected the dots. Hey, this is probably a guy who's actually capable of getting the most performance our genes are capable of providing.
Daniel:
Yeah, now and then we. We actually went out one day and shot. I think it was two two years ago. Now shot some videos and tested out the Gens. and you know, had a good time with that just messing around on the field, and sure enough they worked. I think it was. I only kicked like five balls on the day. It was still. I think it's in season, so I probably shouldn't have been honestly kicking off site, but it is what it is, but we had a good time and I think it was a hundred percent of the day. so the jeans work for everybody.
Hunter:
Yeah, good luck to right. Yeah,
Hunter:
So you mentioned that you probably shouldn't have been kicking off site because it was in season. I suppose like that is kicking that intense. Like physically.
Daniel:
H, not not compared to the rest of football. Not compared to you know, But but it is. I guess the best comparison I would have is like a picture in baseball. Um, you know, physically, one throw might not be that intense. I mean you are, you're moving pretty fast. You're moving pretty aggressively, but like a guy is not going to get hurt off of one throat. Typically, but you know, like every picture in baseball has they have a certain pitch count. Hey, if you start getting a hundred throws in a game, the coach has to start pulling the guy back because it's like you know how many more can he go? Now? he's a little fatigued. Can his arm get hurt here? I think that's the best comparison with kicking, because you know, like pictures, we can't kick every day. We have to have off days in between practices or games or whatever it may be. You always have to be a little conscious of. Hey, Where how many have I kicked today? Where do I likes? Feel like Today? Um, And so it's It's that balance between. You know, I want to get as much work as I can and push myself as much as I can, but at the same time I have to be smart to know that he. if I, you know, weak something today, or if I'm too sore from today's work, I won't be able to get as quality work tomorrow or the next day. And so there's that balance between you. You want to grind it out as much as you can, but you have to be smart doing it as well.
Hunter:
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. and I suppose like to develop that ability to kick a football like you do like. Presumably you've been doing that you know the majority of your life,
Hunter:
but developing that that level of like, obviously the athletic ability, the power and everything, but also like, an extreme degree of flexibility. was the flexibility, something that just developed over time as you did it growing up. And is it
Hunter:
something that you
Hunter:
have to lie consciously warm up before you start kicking? Or can you just kind of like Fling your leg around like that on demand,
Daniel:
Yeah, Well, as I, I mean, I'm only twenty eight years old now, so I'm still young. but as I've gotten older, it's It's been my warm up routine, my stretch routine. My, you know, I roll out stretch of the band. I do, you know, kind of kinetic work out where I'm moving around a good bit. That's gotten longer and longer because one I'm doing at a higher level. Now where I have the time. I have the resources. I know I need to take care of my body In order to perform well and hopefully play this game for a long time. and so, when I first started kicking in high school, when I was fourteen, fifteen years old, I could just roll out of bed and kick. You can kick and kick and kick, and I'd be fine, but nowadays you know it's a little different. It's like I said, It's a little more about the quality of my work day, not the quantity, a lot of time. So being smart with my warm ups and and after working on the stretching because, I mean, I've never been a naturally flexible person. I mean, I remember. you remember those like Presidential fitness tests when you were like a kid and stuff,
Daniel:
it would always get me and everything else I was, you know, alter competitive as a kid and they would drive me crazy, So I remember, Like working that as a kid And then I grew up a soccer player and so like that was always something I had to work on. I was just as stiff Kid growing up, you know, tall, tall, lanky kid, but as I've gotten more and more into kicking, I realized like what a big part of that was for this sport.
Hunter:
Yeah, that's interesting and you've talked a lot about. kind of like how as you've gotten older, you have to spend more time warming up, and I think that most people who have been doing athletic since they were a younger at a lesson
Hunter:
into their adulthood would echo the same sentiment, and I kind of wonder right, like if you were to compare your ability to kick a football now to your ability to kick a football when you were a teen ager, like, I guess that you could kick a football substantially harder And further and more depintely as a twenty eight year old, right,
Daniel:
Yeah, I mean, I definitely think there's a certain amount of that. I do also think that like, I mean. I mean, a male's athletic prime usually is like twenty seven years old. Obviously it depends on what sport you're doing. Kickers have a lot of experience. So a
Daniel:
a lot of you know. That's why you can have kickers that go in. They're like forty. sometimes, Um, but I would say like I probably picked physically in college. I was lifting more and running more. I was. You know, the best athlete I've been. Um. but as far as fine tune mechanics of kicking, I'm better now than I ever was, And so because of my technique, I think I can kick it further, Could get obviously much more accurately, which is the main main thing in my job. Um, then I could. but yeah, I think you know, even at eighteen years old I could boom, kick off almost as good as I can now. but the consistency wasn't there and that's
Hunter:
Gotcha
Daniel:
That's the big thing that I think Has improved through the quality of raps and just the experience that comes along with that.
Hunter:
Yeah, because like, obviously, as you know, an athlete ages and likes, obviously you're still well within your prime, but people do talk about it like hay. It takes longer to warm up to prevent injury. Things like
Hunter:
that, you have to be
Hunter:
more mindful of recovery, and obviously some of that's just like physiological limitations, but
Hunter:
Part of me also wonders too. Is that as you develop more mastery in a given sport right, it's like you're you know, I'm sure when you go to like rip a field goal, practice your cakes now like it's so heavily Grained in your nervous system and the muscle memory and everything
Hunter:
is just so dialed in that it's like you can. you could tell your body to do it on command. Whereas you know, maybe ten years ago, you knew you weren't like that. you weren't quite as accurate.
Hunter:
And so it's like now. like. Kind of, no matter what I say, you took time off from kicking entirely, Like if you stepped back on to a field and kicked a football, like your brain is going to remember how to do that, And I often
Hunter:
like having this conversation with other people where Like, you know, I feel like you know, I spend all this time warming up now, and it's kind of like. Well, I think part of it is just the how things go as you you know are in a teen ager any more whatever, But I also think that like you, spend all this time acquiring talent and muscle memory and the
Hunter:
skill component and your brain remembers that stuff, even if
Hunter:
like, you haven't been training it all the time, and like you could force yourself to kind of like, just do it on demand. But if you have, if
Hunter:
you haven't been there from a training perspective, A really
Hunter:
easy way to just kind of hurt yourself.
Daniel:
yeah. and I think you know, like, especially, talk about like the warm up, like having a routine that allows you to fall back into that muscle memory in that Pa performance over and over again. I think that something that you know comes with age and maturity is realizing like I could, you know, I could probably roll out of bed, get a quick stretch and kick. Just find, for the most part, but you know whether my hamster Or something, you know just a little off. you know, that little minuscule, you know. difference between my normal game day, you know, feeling really lost, feeling really good. that muscle memory feeling You know, That's a big difference, especially as you get to a higher level. I mean, the difference between an n f l kicker and a college kicker is pretty minuscule really, but you know it's those little differences day in day out. make a big difference and so yeah, just making sure you know, as I continue to get older, very strict about my warm up routines, my routines that I practice so that I can kind of have a controlled um, quality work day. Whether it's fifty kicks, whether it's twenty kicks, whether it is, I'm taking advantage of each one of those, and you know, tweaking that muscle memory to exactly where I need it for game day later on.
Hunter:
Yeah, that's that makes a lot of sense and I think that every athlete like, obviously, you're competing it like you know world class professional level, but I think that any anyone that takes their athletic like least nominally seriously, would be smart to establish something similar like a routine they can go through to
Hunter:
get them back in that place of performance. also to assess readiness like maybe a certain
Hunter:
muscle is not feeling right or it needs to be stretched more Needs to be warmed up more that way When it's time to perform, you're kind of ready to ready to rumble. and I think that the interesting thing about like an athletic role like kicking is that it's kind of like so highly specialized that you're able to distill a lot. maybe more like Innumerable factors, like things you could talk about and say like this
Daniel:
Yeah,
Hunter:
is what I do. because you're doing this very one highly specialized
Hunter:
you mentioned that, maybe we're more all around athletic, Um during college when you were doing, Maybe like more all encompassing training.
Hunter:
And now it's like you get paid to kick a football in the NFL And that's what you have to do right. Like you have to make those field goals. The ball needs to go where you wanted to go. And so
Hunter:
it's totally fine that maybe sacrifice other domains of ath Icism to be very good at that one thing,
Daniel:
A hundred percent
Hunter:
that if we're looking at K, kind of the raw definition of athleticism being like so good at the one thing is like a very good definition of an athlete, right.
Hunter:
so like I think that school. but, I think it's an interesting way to look at athletic ability. We. We're able to kind of distill it down to the very essence of Like. What makes this very specialized thing fire? And so no, it'll be fun to talk more about that. But I suppose
Hunter:
you mentioned coming up that As a child you were a soccer player. At what point did you gravitate towards football?
Daniel:
Yes, So it wasn't until Verily the summer before high school that I was at church one day and the special teams coordinator for the high school I was at he came up to us. He was a family friend and he was like, Hey, we don't have a kicker, Um for a football team this year. I know you know you play soccer. Would you be interested? Interested in trying out and obviously I was like. You know, the fun, having friends on the football team and we were like. I mean, What is it? What is in it? Because obviously it was a very competitive soccer player That was kind of my, you know, goal play, professional stock, or play college sock, or all that good stuff, and basically is like All right, You show up on game day If you know if you're good at this, And when you know that's all we need you just show up on game. It was a two, a high school in Colorado, So like it wasn't It wasn't very serious football. Um, compared to you know, some big five, a big, big Texas high school or something like that, but we basically had an informal try out that day right after church, and I made a couple of pats on a high school field and they're like All right. That's good enough for us. We'll see you know Friday at the first game, Um, and it kind of developed from there because I was playing soccer and then literally, I just showed up on Fridays. Um, and then about two years later going into my junior year I was like Okay, I actually like. Really. I'm starting to enjoy this. You know, I worked on it a little more. just really the off season when I was playing as much socker. Um to you, Now see what I could do and started realizing I was a lot. You know better than that, I thought, And so once I really started putting that work in pretty quickly, I had a good junior year and then going into my senior year went to a kicking camp. And you know, I had to know I knew I was good for small town Colorado, but I didn't know how good I was and then went to a kicking camp and got ranked number one nationally. Just you know, had no idea Bout it, And so next day I'm on the phone with college coaches and you know we're talking about going to No today in Ohio State Auburn, You know all these different schools and so all of a sudden my life changed on a dime, almost where I'm having to decide like Okay, I know I've been, you know, really starting to gravitate towards football, but you know I wasn't quite ready to let go of socker yet, you know, because I was still talking to some small schools and socker, but you know one went. Start talking to these giant C schools. Uh, you know schools and football and you're talking like a D to school and soccer, You know, it starts making you think about it a little a little harder. You know, hey, I love soccer, but what a great opportunity I might have in this department as well.
Hunter:
Yeah, that's a crazy story. And so, I mean, I didn't actually know that coming into this conversation, but your trajectory into football was pretty fast. Like you you
Hunter:
from. Basically had you never really played football on a like. Maybe as a kid, you played
Daniel:
I played some backyard football with my brothers and friends, you know, played at recess, but I've never. you know. I still, to this day I have one rush, and football touched the ball with my hands, besides caking or punning. I did a little pun in college, but you know I've never done anything besides cake on the football field.
Hunter:
Yeah, that's I mean, and obviously, I'm sure the background and socker helped right because you have had
Hunter:
a lot of athleticism from that, but I suppose like, I guess, in your own perception, how much of your ability to just gravitate towards that was just like. I guess where do you think that that natural pplicivity came from? Is it like your family did stuff like this? Do you think it's genetic
Hunter:
or is it just something that clicked with you?
Daniel:
I mean, we always have this argument with football guys. If you know, like how much of it is talent. How much of it is. Just like you know, you're a vier. your product of your environment. You grew up playing sports, and I think you know that's the main thing is my dad was a college tennis player, played professionally a little bit. My mom was a really good high school athlete. And then you know my older brother played college and professional socker little brother, he is. He just finished college football at Auburn. He's going to be in the N f L. combine here soon, and hopefully you know, Hopefully he can make it to the next level. Um in the N f. L. But you know we grew up playing all sorts of sports. Um, but you know, I think really, for me it wasn't I wasn't just naturally talented. My older brother was playing soccer, and so I spent thousands and thousands of hours, thousands of thousands. socker shot. Where you know, shooting against him, competing against him And same with my little brother, And I think that you know, Enter and help us, you know, veer into kicking where it's a very similar technique. very similar muscles. You have very similar muscle memory. Um, you know, just some minor differences and so it was just a very easy transition for both of us where I think you know all that hard work, playing sock or especially shooting against my brother. You know, turning into Hey, we can use this for football and you know now you just got a fine tune. Ut. Basically
Hunter:
Yeah, I mean, so you were getting your reps in right? It was just with a different
Hunter:
Yeah, that's cool. And so and then obviously you started kicking a football. You realized you were good at it, and I guess like if you hadn't gone to that, you called it like a kick camp.
Daniel:
Yeah, kicking camp
Hunter:
Your life made a taking a completely different trajectory,
Daniel:
Hundred percent,
Hunter:
you would have never known that you were like him. You know,
Daniel:
Yeah,
Hunter:
one of the best high school kickers in the country at that stage.
Daniel:
Yeah, I mean, I remember showing up and like I said like I hadn't. I didn't really know what I was getting into. I knew I was going to kicking camp to kind of find out a little bit more about it. like you know how good I was nationally Because yeah, I was in a two way Colorado school where Yeah, like I was. I think I was all Stay like my sophomore year or something, but like once again it's to a football in Colorado like it's not. not many kids are getting recruited out of there. Unfortunately or anything like that. And so you had No. I had no idea where I stacked up and so I'm competing all of a sudden against guys. Oh, that kid has an offer from, or you know that kid, you know, and you re like, Oh man, these kids must be really really good. And then all of a sudden I realized like I can kind of hang with these kids And you know we had some competition I'm charging. and I remember the head guy was called Coals Kicking camp And he's still. He's still the biggest kind of college recruiting Uh coach And he, actually, he actually works for the Carolina Panthers now as a consultant for their kickers. But you know, he just knows this stuff and after one day he kind of pulled me aside and he's like, who are you? Where do you come from? And like you know what are your plans, and I was like. I mean, I'm just I'm just here for the ride like I'm figuring it out. He's like you know your lives are about to change, like he literally told me. He's like we're going to be on the phone tomorrow with whatever schools you want to go to, and like where To change your life And it was just really cool. Just like you know how quickly he was able to see that talent that was there at that point, and like you know, he was willing to be like. Hey, you know like I don't know you very well, but I want to get to know you because I want to go on this journey to help you, you know, go to college and hopefully pursue your dreams and football in the future.
Hunter:
Yeah, that's awesome. And so you ended up playing in college, and as you're playing in college, was the NFL. The goal, did you? I mean, this happened so quickly. Was your thinking
Daniel:
Yeah,
Hunter:
along those lines?
Daniel:
I mean, I think the first couple of years was just like. I just want to. I want to start. I want to play. I, n to do well And then so my first year I redshirted and I knew I was going to red shirt, And so that was kind of like it's first year. Just you know, Get a feel for it. We actually went to the national championship that year and it was just an awesome experience to kind of be in that environment at the highest, well, college ize level. And you know, Good day Experience that and then no, next year. Okay, And now it's like my time to do it. And so yeah, early on it's just like I just want to do well for the team. I want to do well personally, but like I wasn't thinking too much ahead, and then kind of the same thing where that second year playing I realized like, Oh, I'm pretty good. I got nominated for the kicker of the year award. Stuff like that, I realized like, Oh, maybe this journey can continue if I continue to put in the work. Continue to do what I'm doing. You know, maybe there is a future in this as well outside of just college. So I think yeah, Sophomore junior year, kind of similar with high school football Like that's when I started realizing like Hey, maybe this next level can be a goal. But when I showed up, you know I was just trying to have fun, you know, compete and do the best I could for the team. And then you know you can tack on those personal aspirations as well as you go. I think.
Hunter:
And obviously your college career culminated in you being drafted for the Viking, So I mean, obviously that had to be just an incredible feeling. right.
Daniel:
Yeah, I mean, I was the first kicker taken in that draft and twenty eighteen, And you know, obviously, I think we're going to get into it more later, but you know you're right in the highest of high. you know, Thought it was just so awesome to be drafted. You know, I had finished with a great college career. I just got married and so we're headed to Minnesota, To you know, somewhere I've never been before to play football. you know at the highest level. And what, what an awesome experience. And then you know I said, we'll talk about this next, but you know Week two of the season I get cut and so then all of a sudden you're like. You know now what you know, because I won the job in camp against that kicker. That was really solid. Um, and then week two we played at Green Bay. I missed three kicks and all of a sudden I was out of a job. And you know you're trying to figure out like All right, I made it to the n. f. l. but now I've been fired from the n F In two weeks And you know what? What's next? Um, and you know, S a great looking back. It was a great thing for me because I learned a lot about myself. You know how I handled adversity. Um, and you know, just kind of solidified in my own mind. Hey, I deserved to be in this league and you know I'm gonna continue to work and you know, find my spot, and you know that was four years ago now, five years ago now, and it's been an awesome ride since then where You know I've continued to, you know, try and become the best kicker I can.
Hunter:
Yeah, and I mean, I'm sure most people know, but spoiler alert. He ended up being, you know, one of the top three kickers in the league, so it all worked out great, but
Hunter:
Let's dive in a little bit into the dynamic there. Because it, you
Hunter:
got drafted into the Fl. you beat out of that kicker, and then in a week two you missed three kicks in your cup, so let's
Hunter:
let's talk about missing the three kicks to start, because I am interested, kind of like in the performance Under pressure, dynamics, right
Hunter:
soccer into high school. You're just doing it for fun. You're in college. You, you know, you just want to do the best you can. You have a great college career And now you're in the f. l. and now it's kind of like there's really no where else to go From here. You're in the n. f. l. and
Hunter:
now it's like you got to perform. So I suppose, What was the experience like coming from a place where kind of like the stakes were significantly lower to a place where basically the stakes couldn't be any higher.
Daniel:
Yeah, and I think at the time you know, it does feel more like a business. right when you get a, You know, there's money involved. There's agents of all. There's all these you know. outside things, other than just like you're just there with your friends playing football. You know like it is in high school in somewhat of what it feels like in college. But whereas, if all, there's just like you contract negotiations, it's more of an individual sport at times because all these guys have their own personal Aspirations, not just like. it's not a true team. Teams are switching year in and year out. I mean game to game. You know new guys are coming in. Guys are going to cut. And so you can definitely feel that as a rookie where, like you know, you show up with your rookie class and by the time camps are done, over half of them are gone. I mean, really, over half of the people at camp are gone. You show up to camp with usually like a ninety man roster and back then it was you got down to a fifty three man Active roster and so almost half the guys are, you know, caught on the streets trying to figure out what's next for them. So you know, I just overcame that after being drafted and you know then played my first game well, made one one kick. Um, and then we go to Green Bay, and I don't. I don't know if it was necessarily like feeling the difference in environment between this business type empire Men in the NFL where you're like the very performance basically, or what, But you know, because I do think I was really ignorant to a lot of that being a rookie, just like any other rookie, and sports is a lot of times. But yeah, just in the moment where, like after those three kicks and after a terrible game, I mean, Obviously, personally, I felt terrible about my performance, but I didn't at all think I was going to get cut. You know, I was kind of blindsided by that because I just And it quite understand you know how demanding that league can be at times, and so it helped me grow up, and you know, mature in this business a lot, but it wasn't actually fun at the time. but like I said, I think I learned from it and was able to turn that and to a lot of good going forward.
Hunter:
Yeah, and I mean, obviously you took the adversity like a champ and turned it into what has been an amazing career. But I guess so. After you were cut from the Vikings, what did you do? How did that impact you? What was kind of like the decision making process, And how did you end up playing for the Raiders?
Daniel:
Yeah, so like I said, For a few weeks there was basically my wife and I. We were in Minnesota, trying to figure out what's next, Like I said, You know, for me is a. I was like, twenty two years old, twenty twenty two years old. You know. S like what you know? Am I going to have another chance at the F. L? I don't know, really know how that works. A lot. of. Like I said, A lot of it was just ignorance. I didn't really know about being new to that. being a X soccer player kind of Drifting into it like I didn't know the ins and outs of how that was going to work out. So you know with my agent we figured out like Okay, We're going to work out with a couple of teams. Really, The first thing I did was go back to that high school kicking coach. That kind of gave me a shot into college and worked with him for a couple weeks. stayed at his house with his family And you know we just kind of took a step back and we're like All right. What do we need to technically fix so that You know we can go forward and you know, hopefully get another shot at this league and next time we do get a shot, you know, technically I'll be a little more sound. Um, and mentally, you know I can be a little more confident in that. And so we did that for a couple of weeks, And then you know I was on the road just trying out getting looks with different teams. Um, a lot of times it's with teams that already had a kicker and they're just you know, getting back up ready for. Um, you know, in case their kicker gets hurt, because you only have you now with the rest Spot. you only have one kicker on the roster. So if you're back up, you're at home. you're not. You know. you don't have a job with that. And so um, you know, teams are trying to get figured out. Hey, we need an emergency kicker. For whatever you know, someone gets hurt. Someone started doing whatever it may be like. We got to have a list ready. And so I worked out with a couple of teams and then the Raiders had an injury And so that's how I actually ended up working out with them. And you know, just impress the coaches Enough and you know a lot of it was. Hey, you know, Do you feel like you were able to bounce back from that one bad gang? Like where are mentally? Um, you know, I couldn't tell you what I said. You know, I think you know. I probably just told him it was a learning experience, but you know I still think I'm a good kicker and you know I'm ready to compute again and prove that to you and prove that to the league. Um, And so you know, Luckily I ended up signing week seven, I think with them and ended up having a great Rest of the rookie year with him. I missed one kick the rest of the season and you know it was an awesome, awesome experience to come into a new coaching staff. Rich Bisachio, as a special teams coach, who ended up being our Inter head coach last year and led us to playoffs, And you know, just an awesome awesome guy that took me under his wing and I think gave me a lot of wisdom and mentorship, kind of helped me along at the end of my rookie year, which, which helped me in the future a lot.
Hunter:
Yeah, I mean, what an awesome story. And like, I think there's a couple of cool things there right like I know, from the outside, looking in on any sort of impressive achievement athletics. You know, business, anything like that, people can tend to perceive a lot of luck in the equation. But any
Hunter:
when I really dive into someone's story, you tend to see. I mean, you dealt with plenty of adversity and maybe Even bad luck right. Like having a bad game
Hunter:
and then getting cut. Not so lucky right, but then
Hunter:
coming off the back of that and deciding that like Hey, I'm just going to do what I can control. Go work out with these teams. See what happens. You put yourself in the position where. Hey, like the Raiders, have an injury, and now you have the opportunity to show what you're made of and have another chance. And so
Hunter:
like, by being persistent by doing the work, you put yourself in the way of the opportunities that arise, and in a sense for manufacturing your own luck, which is Pretty
Hunter:
cool. Um, but I guess what would be interesting to ask is if you had that one kind of bad game with the Vikings, and your career has been amazing since then. Obviously you mentioned you worked with that kicking coach, stayed with his family, worked on some fundamentals. But was there anything else you think from a mind set perspective that you've done to help you be able to perform well under pressure. Or is it just kind of like you know, muscle memory Repetition. You've been there before.
Daniel:
Yeah, I think that 's kind of knew. After that there was a maturity level that I had to kind of get to where you know. I could you know now I know, like Hey, it's a performance based league like you can't. You can be, Have one bad game and you're gone all of a sudden. So like knowing that now, like I got to make sure I'm bringing my game every single day and just you know figuring out how to do that, I think everybody is different. Everybody's preparation. everybody's you know, like day and day outwork has to look different to hopefully get them to their A level every day. And so I think the next you know, even now I'm still learning. Hey, what do I need to do to set myself up to succeed? And you know we talked a little bit about muscle memory already, but you know figuring out my routine for practice for games, whether it be the warm up, whether the kicking Work itself, Whether you know on game day, what does my sideline routine look like? So that when I go in, for you know, and for maybe ten plays a game or so like, I need every one of those to be as perfect as I can Like. How do you do? What can I control? To you know, give myself the best opportunity to succeed each time I'm out there. And you know that's That's kind of the fun quest we're on because it's a. It's a physical thing. Obviously, that's that's part That, but just as much mental for a kicker. or you know, there's tons of other sports. that. Really, every sport is mental. but there's tons of others. you know, small skills where it's more mental. almost shooting a free throw. You know, there's tons of pitching. You know, there's just tons of sports that you know. You're kind of a quieter, controlled environment where all of a sudden you can let those thoughts you know kind of get out of control. and you know that's where You see guys like they cracked under pressure. whatever it may be, I don't think it's necessarily. There's necessarily a secret to it. I think it's just learning about yourself. How do I control my mind on the good things, and you know you know, stay on task. Stay locked in where you're not letting your mind float to those negative thoughts that are naturally going to pop up. If you're just you know, relaxing and they're like Okay, nine out of ten times. Maybe I can relax and you know the crowd doesn't bother me. Maybe this or the wind or the bad weather doesn't bother me. But one of those times if I have one of those thoughts pop up, you know, then all of a sudden I'm not focused on the right things and I can't succeed as well. So just learning little things about myself to help me lock in. Stay focused on the right things you know. S really changed my career, I think, and that's Ah. That's just coming from time. reputations, maturity, Um, and a lot of experience.
Hunter:
Yeah, I mean, that's great advice. focusing kind of like on what you can control, and
Hunter:
We joke about this, like in the office or whatever it's like. there's a lot of positions in football where like if you screw up it wouldn't It wouldn't be the end of the world right like there's There's other factors that
Daniel:
Yeah,
Hunter:
play that can impact your ability to catch the ball or throw the ball or
Hunter:
whatever. But it's like
Hunter:
as a place kicker like there's no one else. Really, There's like
Hunter:
ways, I feel like there is Immense contrast in Like, If you make a mistake and oftentimes like a field goal that could be the game right. So it's
Hunter:
like there's all this pressure on you. It's like, Um, I don't. I don't think that it's a job that a lot of people would really excel at or or enjoy just because of the immense amount of pressure that comes down.
Hunter:
And you mentioned that the know, the performance driven league for sure, and in many regards, because there's so few football games in the season, I, and
Hunter:
And, a lot of those game results can come down to a field goal. It kind of
Hunter:
makes sense right that it's like Hey, if you aren't going to make the goals then as the management,
Hunter:
the Afric coaching team like we got to make a decision because it could cost us our season or a record or whatever.
Hunter:
Like. Obviously you've risen above that and you perform phenomenally so I'm curious when your when the time comes and you're going to kick in a game? Do you perceive that much much differently than when you go to kick and practice? And what do you focus on when the time comes and you have to kick? Are you focusing on like
Hunter:
the movement itself, or is there something else that you kind of like use as your cues to make sure that you perform how you
Daniel:
I mean, that's a great question. So you know I could. I could go really in depth about this because it's yeah. Kind of that's the goal because you know practice kicks matter. Obviously because they're gonna. they're going to help success in the game kicks. But it's figuring it out. Hey, what do I need to do in those games? Kicks? What routine do I need to have? And basically what I've done is you know, there's a thing called key words And so it's like you know their little trigger If you're line enough for a free throw and you know you're just like Okay. Flick the risk. Whatever, it may be just one thing to get your mind to really lock in and focus on that. And so what I do with my kicking is right before. When I jog out on the field, Don't really think about anything. I'm just enjoying now joining the crowd, whatever, not really thinking about much. and then once I get to the spot where the holder is going to put the ball, and right before I take my steps back, that's what I say, My key words, and so like literally. At this point my crew, I probably said, said it hundreds of thousands of times to myself, but I say, see it, and I take three steps. One for each word, take a breath Through it, I take my steps to the side, and then I take another breath and I say, See it and through it, see it walk through. and then I kick the ball, and so basically I know where I've timed it up. I've timed up the breath, and so my mind, It kind of goes to a autopilot where a practice. it's the same kick is a game kick, because I say the same thing at practice that I do in a game and where my mind gets so focused more on what I'm trying to accomplish in the process, that I'm no longer worried about the result because I'm so focused in the process, which you know hopefully will make the result take care of itself. So then you know whether the result of the game winning kick or whether the result is a mean. Let's have a field goal in the first quarter. Not that there is such a thing, but you know you don't have to worry about the outside environment. You're just only focused on the process. and so yeah, to answer the question, the practice kicks are been exactly the same as a game kick because in the practice kick same way, I'm completely focused on the process on my keywords on what I'm trying to accomplish, And you know you gotta keep it small enough Where it's like I'm not thinking about fifty different swing thoughts like you know, if you golf for something you know, people are always trying to you know, get better at their golf swing. But when you think about a million different things, it's impossible to do well because your mind is occupied with too much. But if you think about one or two things and one or two things that you can hopefully control physically, and you know then you can kind of control that environment that process, and hopefully the results are controlled as well.
Hunter:
Yeah, like that's That's kind of like exactly the answer I would hope to hear, as you know, whatever you want to call me weak and warrior athlete myself or I think, for anyone else that wants to pursue mastery in any sort of like physical enterprise, that, like as someone who performs a basically the highest level you can in your given domain that it comes down to just focusing on, kind of like the process of the movement and the things Are perfectly within your control. And there's not some like magical resilience or immunity to pressure or whatever like. Instead
Daniel:
No,
Hunter:
you kind of like take that out of the equation and instead you're focusing on the repetitive movement, the repetitive aspects that you know. you've done the same in practice. You've done it a thousand times to do the same thing in the game. And the kick is just like any other kick and you're focusing on executing what you can and kind of like the result comes out of that, but you're not thinking about the result itself as you're undergoing
Daniel:
I mean, because yeah, I think like, I do think like personality and know, like I said, Each, each person maybe has their own secret formula, But you know, I think everybody can figure out what works for you, and you know I know I need to keep my mind really focused, my little brother. he's very different to me. he's you know social butterfly. You know, he's just all over the place sometimes and what he really needs to do is just kind of be relaxed when he's out there. He doesn't need to be overly focused. if he's overly focused. You know, that's just not himself. You know, there's kickers around the league that are just extremely confident. There's you know. there's tons of different personalities where you got to know. Like what works for you, and you know, try and utilize that to get the best results you can. And so I know for me like I have to really work on the confidence that the best way to do that is by preparation. and you know, practice And carrying that over to game day where it's like Okay. I know I've put in the work. I know, I've you know, kind of given myself these things to focus on so that I don't have to think about all the other things that you know you might want to worry about, but you know now I can hopefully just you know, lock in on a couple of things, rely on my preparation and then go play freely and you know how fun and hopefully succeeded.
Hunter:
Yeah, definitely, and I think that is a good call out that there's different personality types that may need different things as they go to perform. but I do think that the your story, specifically in the way you approach it is probably one of the more relatable because I guess that
Hunter:
for every lie, really hyper confident athlete that knows that they can perform. There's probably you know nine out of ten that are not that that could use
Hunter:
the control and the cue to focus on, especially as we drew, But like in your case, you're at a professional level, but as we drop out to like more of maybe what the listeners, the podcast or Barbel Parrels, customers, or whatever,
Hunter:
These are people that are not professionals. they don't necessarily have the confidence that they know they can do it. Because that's like why people
Hunter:
like me, or, or whatever, the Barbel par, customers or other people listen to this podcast. It's why we even engage in athletics to prove something to ourselves. So like, kind of like, Fundamentally by nature.
Hunter:
We almost like it. We're definitely not sure if we can. That's why We're doing
Hunter:
and so being able to break it down to something like that where it's like Okay, Like I had a podcast interview recently with a very highly accomplished ultra runner and he echoed something
Hunter:
similar to Like he was kind of like a natural talent. When it came to ultra running, he was doing things in his teenage years that, like as Ultra running has grown as a sport or more common, but in his teenage years it was unheard of for teen agers to be doing the stuff he was doing, and
Hunter:
so quickly for him became about like he was the best he was going to prove. he was the best he was going to win on. Unfortunately, when things fell apart, they fell apart hard because it's like in a you know hundred mile run. If you're off pace by mile fifty, you know you're not going to win through fifty miles
Hunter:
left to goe, it's not going to happen. And so, because the goal was to win, things would just spire out of control at that halfway point and have to run another fifty mile Is kind of like in this terrible state and have a horrible finish,
Hunter:
But by reframing the goal to being more process oriented like Hey, I'm just going to
Hunter:
what I've trained. Not only was he able to perform, but he was able to kind of overcome all of those terrible mental obstacles and turn it into something that was grueling into something that he really enjoyed. So I think that's really really cool.
Hunter:
and something that, like all of us, you know, mere mortals can apply to the stuff we
Daniel:
yeah, well, I think like you said it's It's more relatable
Daniel:
where like you know, no matter what you're doing, whether it's just lifting or you know whether you're weak, where you're? you? No kind of what you alluded to like, I don't. I wasn't. It wasn't just born with some magical formula like knowing how to kick the ball. I go out there confidently and like, I don't even have to work on it. Just it doesn't. It doesn't come easy. It's a lot of work and a lot of figuring out. Hey, what works for me and I think so, But I can find that they like you know, like I said, everybody's got a different personality already. S got different passions and you know, I think for me like I'm a very detail oriented focused person. I know those are good things about myself. But yeah, confidence comes. It's hard to be confident naturally for me and so I have to really work on that, and especially in this sport where games on the line, you're in front of a hundred thousand people plus millions watching like you don't want to go out there Confident in your abilities And so you know, just figuring out over these last few years on like Okay, what kind of preparation do I need? What kind of tools do I need to have, so that when I do go out for those pressure situations, Um, you know, I have the best chance to succeed and you know, on top of it, I don't want to go out there, dreading it. I want to go out there and enjoy it. And so that's kind of cool. I think I've come a long way. Now I'm going into my sixth And the f. l. Um, you know, and I'm enjoying it more than ever. Um, And you know, I love the competitive aspect of playing at the highest level, and you know, getting to continue to push myself And that's part of why I left kicking Because it is. sometimes it's an individual sport and Ou know, being kind of a perfection as mind set where U know. Like you said, A lot of it is just almost like me out there by myself, You know, And so that that's that's really special Where you know I, I get to kind of set the bar for myself and you know some days are frustrating because I'll miss two kicks in practice and I'll be, you know, pissed off, but you know, over all that's a good day. But like the goal is always to be perfect, and so just you know, Continue to strive. There's always just like I keep alluding to golf, because I think it's similar. You know. a similar swing. It's a similar mind, and it's a similar individual Sport where you know. Even if you shoot your best round ever, you can still shoot lower the next day. And so there's always a bar you can continue to reach after
Hunter:
Yeah, and I think that kind of one of the interesting things about your career. and probably what's helped shape this perspective you have is that you had such a rapid trajectory from kind of like a. You know, I don't want to say this the wrong way it sounds like. as a
Hunter:
soccer player you were pretty good. Like not world class
Hunter:
good soccer player. So you were. You were a pretty good soccer player and then rapidly transitioned into a world class kicker. And it was
Hunter:
Something that you have been doing since you were seven. It's something that like just kind of happened and people were like, Hey, you're really good
Hunter:
Oh, really, I'm good. And then you kind
Hunter:
of like took it to the highest level you could, But in many ways you really did have something to prove right because it's not something you
Hunter:
knew you could do is just something you kind of like found out that you
Hunter:
were good at, and I'd imagine a lot of times those athletes you encounter with kind of like that unbridled confidence. At least many of them that I know they've been doing this since they could walk. You know what I mean,
Hunter:
remember a time when they couldn't do this thing that they're good at, So it's like
Hunter:
if that's the background you come from, I'd imagine that. Yeah, like it's such a core part of you. You can't remember a time when you weren't
Hunter:
swimming or you know whatever else it was running.
Hunter:
but with you it's like you had to wrestle this aspect of athleticism and submission.
Hunter:
Um, you know, kind of like from fresh starting in high school and then coming
Hunter:
full circle to do it in the f. l. to figure out a Some that works for you, and like self admittedly, you said to come to a place where not only are you performing the best you have, but you're enjoying it more than ever. I
Daniel:
Yeah,
Hunter:
think that
Daniel:
yeah,
Hunter:
We could all learn a ton from that and thank you for sharing that. That's really cool.
Daniel:
Yeah, I think each day you've got to prove it to yourself and you know, just finish the work out before this like you know, like it's It's not always fun. but you do. you do need to know, Continue to strive to be the best version of whatever you want to be, And you know I think it's that's the fun. The journey is the fun part, because
Daniel:
You know, if I'm only looking forward to you knowing the championship, winning the superb, whatever it may be like, five years have gone by, I haven't won that yet. Obviously we have On that and so like then. Where's the joy in that? But you got to find the joy in the process and you know, I think that's what I've kind of been learning. and you know, hopefully for all the listeners, whatever you know, process and journey they're on, they're learning to find the joy in that journey of pushing themselves to be the best version of athlete, whatever business person, whatever it may be that they can be, And you know, An, I think if you're enjoying it, Gotta be more passionate about it and you push yourself in harder, so you know that that's something I've definitely learned along the way.
Hunter:
Yeah, and I think that part of like, Obviously, we're talking primarily about things that are physical in nature, but even outside of the physical realm, I think that for human beings in general, there is like a true joy that can only be known in pursuing, like the true mastery of something, whether it's a physical skill or maybe a more intelligent
Hunter:
based kill or whatever, But feeling like you've truly mastered something, or pushing towards that mastery is really like one of the most rewarding things I
Hunter:
think that you can experience, Especially if it's hard earned right, and usually mastery
Hunter:
in any form is quite hard earned. But it's
Hunter:
kind of like that. I don't know. It's like a biological trick right to make us
Daniel:
yeah, nothing you know. Nothing easy is always worth it like is it easy? It's not rewarding though, But like something you have to earn and really put hours, and you put your mind and your heart and your soul into it. You know, I think that's where you know. it's more satisfactory. It's more fulfilling at the end or along the journey, as you're battling it out with yourself with your competition With whatever obstacles are in the way. And that's you know. That's part of the fun in the journey.
Daniel:
Is that that that hard part of it?
Hunter:
Yeah, well, we've been chatting quite a while. We'll just ask you a couple more things than let you get back to your busy schedule. I know in our conversation before we started recording, you mentioned that you're a father of two. Obviously as a professional athlete with not only the in season demands of playing games, traveling practice, you have the off season demands of staying in shape and shoring up any weaknesses. Doing all the other stuff You have to do having podcasts like this. How
Hunter:
Do you? How do you juggle it all?
Daniel:
Yeah, I mean, I think figuring out what your priorities are, you know, and we've discussed this before you know. Obviously being a father, being a husband, you know, being you know, for me, faith based Christian, you know, those come before football. Don't get me wrong. I'm obsessed with football. You know, I wake up every day thinking about it, but You know that's not going to fulfill me. You know, if I am missing out on those other things, And so yeah, I've had to load. And as I've gone, how do I go into football each day and you know, turn into this ultra competitor, Ultra focus, you know, Ultra perfectionist Where you know, I'm kind of a. I'm not very relaxed. I'm not very fun to be around, necessarily in a lot of those environments. You know, I'm just so wanting to do well, and you know, be the best version of myself on the field that you know. I need to learn how to kind of turn that switch off when I come home and hang out With a two year old. You know, it's you know when I dress up as a princess with my two year old, you know I can't have the ultra focused ultra, Like perfection is mind that I can't be. You know, that kind of David Goggins, mentality of like I got to grant you know, like it's just you got to learn how to turn that off. And so that's something I'm continuing. Learn, you know when I'm coming home from work, but you know. Obviously that's the thing for me is You know gett hang with my kids, getting to hang about with my wit, And you know, enjoy all the fruits of. Um, you know, the labor that I get to put in on work. But you know what is it all for? if you're not going to enjoy, you know, coming home to your family and spending time with them and hanging out with them.
Hunter:
Yeah, what a great way to put it, And I think there's two things that I could unpack there. One would be for someone like you or for any man that's trying to perform at a high level in his career or his hobbies right. The
Hunter:
contrast that a family and young children provides is like much needed, right, like you need that
Hunter:
opportunity to come home and not have to be that kind of
Hunter:
competitive person
Hunter:
or the competitive machine you can turn off and like to be fed with your kid.
Hunter:
good reprieve, and I would bet that if you look at the science behind it right like the, there's probably like a great physiological component that happens where you can like,
Daniel:
Hundred percent,
Hunter:
get rid of all that cortisol, the adrenaline, and come down to
Hunter:
a level where you're just having fun. That's really enjoyable and like,
Daniel:
A hundred percent,
Hunter:
I don't know if I've ever mentioned it to the podcast people, but I have a three year old and a one year old, so I know this first hand. It's like a
Hunter:
a really rewarding experience. Um. You also mentioned that your faith in your family come above football And like, I'm not going to put words in your mouth, but I echo that, like with my, I'm thirty, about to be thirty four, and so with my life, I've probably achieved things in terms of business and career and monetary achievements, or whatever, That many
Hunter:
people younger, my younger self, for sure, Like when I was twenty something, I would have done anything to have, and now that
Hunter:
I have it and I have my family side by side, I would give all of it up in an instant for my family. That's a way more
Hunter:
fulfilling and way more important.
Hunter:
And yeah, so to hear you say the same thing as Nfl player, like literally, one of the hardest things and most unlikely things to happen to somebody that your family is more important than that, shows a lot about your character, which is great, but also, I think the thing that should be said and taken away for a lot of people is that like anyone can have that right, not everyone can be in the Fl, but
Hunter:
anyone, if they set their mind to it, can have an amazing
Hunter:
family. And so it's
Hunter:
I think, it's just cool that like, even though you're doing things that are like beyond so many people's wildest tree From a career standpoint that you self admittedly say that your family is the bigger priority in the more fulfilling and
Hunter:
Yeah, and I think that as someone with faith, Um, it helps orient you in. set your priorities right. Not that you have to have faith to do that, but it does help create a hierarchy to where you realize that like Hey, this career, like an Nfelcarear. is a great example. Like luckily is a kicker. You have probably one of the longest opportunities for an n. f l career out of most of the positions
Hunter:
that play. but for a lot of athletes, and especially in the NFL that career could be shockingly short. Right, You could be like
Daniel:
Yeah,
Hunter:
thirty years old and done. And so it's like,
Daniel:
the average. I was going to say, I think the average in the NFL, like career is like two, two years, maybe under
Daniel:
And so you know, if you're if you got all your eggs in that basket, that's It's a tough way to live your life. You know, I've seen a lot of guys that have achieved the highest level of athleticism, the highest level, you know. like monetary success, where you know in the world They have everything you could possibly want, but you know that they're completely unsatisfied There, you know. they're miserable.
Hunter:
Yeah, definitely wise words from a young person. but I suppose that being thrust into very challenging circumstances helps to develop wisdom beyond your years. Well, Daniel, it was great chatting with you today. I'm sure we'll have to do this again sometime soon just because you have so much to offer everyone in terms of your athletic career in your life as a family man. Just lots of awesome perspectives. But if any of our listeners want to follow along with your career, your life, your thoughts. Where should they find you at All? Good man, That's okay. That's okay. We'll hunt down the Instagram link too, and put it in the show notes. But other than that it was great. Chatting with you today will let you get back to your life and your family. Thank you for the time. Yeah, Likewise, yeah, thank you, everyone. good bye.
