Seven straight years of losing isn't fun for anyone.

My favorite piece of clothing as a boy was a purple Magic Johnson jersey from the Los Angeles Lakers.

My parents were among the first families from their area to leave Nigeria and come to America, the land of the free.

It doesn't matter how well you play individually if the team isn't winning.

When football is your job, a lot of what you feel about yourself and about life can become attached to the outcome of those games. That's probably true about a lot of jobs, but we suffer our losses pretty publicly. When you're not getting the results you want, it becomes easy to get depressed.

There's a drive, there's a hunger inside of me that says, 'I know what I can do and I'm going to get it done.'

I grew up in L.A. in the '80s, and the Lakers were the biggest thing to ever hit the world at that time.

Football came in at an interesting time. My dad passed, and my brother was one year older than me. And so he was basically the man of the house - at like age 12. So I really just started doing whatever he did, and football was his thing, so I got into football.

When I was a kid, I thought good acting was fascinating, and I could tell the difference. I could see that at like 9 years old.

I help receivers on my team every now and then, but I'm slow to do even that because they could end up my opponent the following year.

It can be a bit sententious in the Nigerian household, to the point where you feel like with any wrong step you've set yourself back so far. It's like everything has to be done right.

I was always the person who would make the mistake. I was the one who would get suspended from school.

I remember players talking to Willie Brown in my presence. Receivers asking, 'Is this who you drafted? I can't believe this is who you drafted.' I was hearing it from my defensive backs: 'Man, you got a long way to go.'

I learned early in my career that I had to be prepared for life after football because you never knew when it would end.

After 11 seasons, I retired from football. Four months later I was in Ghana shooting 'Beasts of No Nation' as an executive producer.

I'm grateful for all the teams that I've played for, the fans, the organizations, the front offices, the list goes on and on.

Just to have the opportunity to play in the NFL, I think it's the biggest dream come true for me.

In great Al Davis fashion, he took a reach that he believed in and instilled confidence in me like nobody else could. I was able to become all that he expected of me.

It's really refreshing to get these types of moments when people can say, 'Yeah, you're one of the best.'

I always grade myself hard.

I tell people all the time that football taught me about life in every single aspect.

Even when we were little, we were always helping, going to feed the homeless, community drives, that type of stuff.

My freshman year, I started working with a group called Touchdown for Kids.

I've always felt that I'm successful for a reason - so I can help, whether that's one individual or a group of people. That's why I keep going with football. I love the game and I'll keep playing as long as I can, but ultimately there's a different purpose.

From what I came from, all the negative criticism - that keeps me from embracing that title of being the best. Because I always feel like there is another level I have to get to.

When a team wants you, you can feel it.

Obviously, teams are passing a lot more, and there are rules that... allow the offense to be more explosive, so you want to have as many defensive players and defensive playmakers and defensive backs that you can.

I get friends that ask that all the time, and I remember my mother asking me a couple of times, because there was no action during a game, 'did you play?' It's so weird. Everybody's like, 'Great game, great game.' And because I demand so much of myself, I'm like, 'Well, I didn't do that great, because I didn't have any stats.'

I know so many people who've been through situations where they've gone from one career to another and have had such a tough time because they didn't have any support doing it.

I was really close with Rob Ryan, so I know that Rex, being his twin, would be very similar to him.

It's a difficult thing in this league to match up, to line up and play one-on-one football.

I give my all for the sport, and I just don't like it when, if things don't work out, people say, 'Oh, he doesn't care enough about football.' That was the thing that hurt me the most.

When it's football time, that's where I am - the studying, the working, the practicing, everything.

I know that a lot of times when a guy is making a lot of money and he's not playing up to that caliber, it's like he's just getting his paycheck. That's never been me. That's never, ever been me.

I became stiff as a safety, and so I had to learn to move like a corner and think like a corner.

I think everybody has talents that haven't been tapped into. They can go unnoticed your entire life.

My mind-set is to come in and compete and be the best I can possibly be.

I've had a chip on my shoulder every year that I've played.

Ultimately, the Niners just felt at the end of the day like the right place to be. I was really impressed with the way they run their organization, impressed with the winning, impressed with coaches and players. Everything felt like it was in line.

I get a different pronunciation at least every week. I think the worst one, or the funniest one I got, somebody called me, 'Oh-gooz-man.'

I'll be relentless in my efforts to be great, but I'm realistic. I know I can't be perfect because I've seen it. But at the same time, nobody wants to fail, nobody wants to fail.

You're seen a certain way in the acting world. To them, you're still a football player and not taken as seriously. They think you're just doing it to be a celebrity, to keep your name out there. They don't think you'll prepare.

If we're in a scene together, I want to give you something that allows your performance to be truthful. In football, if you're opposite me, I want to destroy you, take your head off. I'm still reading body language, still reacting, still trusting my instincts - same as football - but it's different now.

I come from a performing family. My parents are Nigerian, and their parents and their parents - and it's all about performance in their culture, you know. The music. The dancing... you're told to stand out at family gatherings and perform in some sort of way. You're just kind of born into it.

I've never gone into a season thinking I didn't have something to prove.

When guys get to a certain age or certain level in their career maybe they don't do as much or work as hard so they start to lose some of that stuff. It's inevitable that at some point your going to lose most of what you've had.

I'm highly critical of myself. There's not something someone else might say that makes me feel I need to be motivated in a different way. I'm a self-motivated guy.

When I speak, the things that I'll say will mean something. And if it's not going to mean anything, I won't say it.

There's a way to speak your mind. You don't just go off and say whatever you feel is right. You have to say what you feel is right and say it if it's something that works for the team.

You always want that as a player, to have that guy on the other side of you that's equally as talented and can make plays. It fuels you a little bit.