You've got to go out there and play the game the way it's supposed to be played. Then you get people to like you and appreciate your work by just going out there and competing every down. Jerry Rice was looked at in that perspective. He went out there and was a hard-working guy. He was going to give it his all.

One play don't define a game.

Well, for me, I don't need validation from no one to tell me what type of player I am or number to tell me throughout the year what type of player I am. It's all about your ability to go out there and just compete.

When I make catches and do things, it's routine for me because I expect those things when it's my time to shine.

There's a lot of people in this world that definitely need leadership, and they don't know where to look for it.

I don't eat fried stuff. I don't eat red meats. And now with stuff like sugar, I don't crave it.

I don't have an offseason workout regimen. I don't lift weights. I don't run. I don't do anything. I let my body rest. I just eat good. I actually eat great.

You've got to take care of yourself, man. There's a lot of stuff going around here nowadays with cancer and hormones and things like that they're putting in a lot of foods. You've got to be real careful and stay as healthy as possible.

I could do whatever I put my mind to.

I was very lucky to get drafted into the situation I came into. I could have gone somewhere where other guys would resent me because they want the ball.

I promise you I'm going to make more plays than I drop.

At the end of the day, I just want to win football games.

When you're tired, you've got to focus. Everybody can go through the motions. But you've got to focus, too, when you're tired.

For me, a lot of people don't even challenge me at the line. If a guy were to come up and challenge me, I'm down for it.

I know you can't play this game 100 percent. It's very rare that you can be able to play this game at 100 percent. You can do one thing; you can't do both: You can't pray and then worry at the same time. I pray, and that's it. And then I just go play. Whatever happens, happens.

I've had a lot of success by myself, but it's not good when you can't go and accomplish things as a team and have success as a team.

I just kind of do my own thing. I'm not trying to be like nobody else or nothing like that. Like when I travel, everybody's like, go to Dubai, it's a new thing. I can go to Dubai, but I'm not going to just because I'm not trying to go where everybody is going.

All I can give is everything I got and that's it; that's all you can ask from a guy is his all.

Sometimes a guy is going to get you here and there, you compete. He is getting paid just like you're getting paid, and he is a competitor just like you are. But if a guy can just stop me a whole game by himself, and I can't do nothing about it or I'm fatiguing or I'm not strong throughout the whole game, then it's time for me to hang them up.

There's a lot of games played, a lot of snaps played over the long haul.

My stepdad was a farmer, so growing up, during summer breaks, I woke up every morning and went to work. Harvesting tobacco, picking cucumbers, gathering watermelons from the patch, pulling up sweet potatoes... stuff like that.

You go to the Super Bowl in your second year and you're like, 'OK, cool. I'll be back next year or the year after that.'

That's something that I struggled with - talking to my mother about some of the problems that I had.

A lot of people don't really understand that a statistic is an indicator, but it doesn't really give the full picture of the body of work. There's been time when I've had one sack or no sacks and controlled a whole game, and I've seen other cats get three or four sacks and it had no effect on that game.

It's one thing to play football in this league and make a living, but it's a totally different thing to come to a place with a rich tradition like the Bears.

After considering the ways that I might be able to help young college students, I decided to continue my support of the Light on the Hill scholarship. I would like to endorse this particular fund and encourage other former UNC students who have found success to reach back and assist the efforts of current and future Tar Heels.

The Super Bowl ring eluded me, but I don't need that to validate me. I would have loved to have helped deliver that to the fans in Carolina, but I'm content with the career that I had.

If you're playing 55 to 60 snaps, you have opportunities to pace yourself, pick spots. When you're not playing as many and you don't know necessarily when you're going to be in, you do have to sometimes make it happen when you're out there.

I don't have a lot of close friends.

I live on a small town on the lake, and I mean people would get on their jet skis and just post up in front of my crib, trying to see who was there in my house.

Bears fans... man... I could not have chosen a better place to make my first stop outside of North Carolina.

The tough times never lasted and the tough people inspired me to be better and give more. I hope I did the same.

You ask somebody right now who are the top two or three sack persons and they couldn't tell you. You're a professional and you want to perform and you want to achieve those goals. But being out with the people and giving back to the community, it's going to be more impactful and long lasting.

I wouldn't change a thing about this journey. It was the best teacher I've ever had and was everything I could've hoped for.

I know I can make plays.

Sometimes you've got to just dig down deep and be accountable for the role that you have on the team.

I think everybody would like to play a little more.

I want to try to execute my role to help the team in the best way possible.

If the opportunities are a little limited, then you've got to try to find a way to make something happen the best way you can.

Sometimes, you're on the field, you get tired. If I'm not playing as hard on play 66 as I was on play number 1, then... come on.

I've been doing that since college. I like to run. That's my thing.

I like to run in the offseason.

How can you say you want to be somewhere when you're not really sure if they want you there because they're not even talking to you?

People will hear one thing and just run with it.

As a player, I don't want to come off the field.

Seventeen years is a long time to be playing this game. It's two careers for a lot of people.

I'm thankful that I have been able to play so long and still be healthy. I'm not all banged up and beaten down. I still feel good. But as much as I would love to play forever, I know that I can't.

I didn't grow up playing football. I wanted to be a basketball player.

I was lucky because growing up in tiny little Bailey, North Carolina, we had a satellite dish, so we got WGN. Which meant we got almost every Bulls game.

At the end of the day, the wins are the wins and the losses are the losses. But the relationships are everything.