Chris Long

I am incredibly thankful that football has provided me with a platform to give back and I am proud that so many of my colleagues have decided to use this stage to create positive and impactful change in our local communities and around the world.

I've dealt every day of my life with my dad's career, the comparisons to him, with people wanting me to live up to him. I just put that stuff out of my head, I don't even hear it after awhile - I just turn my ears off.

I do have great memories from when my pops got inducted. Obviously, knowing him and knowing how hard he worked in pro football for so long and what he sacrificed, the physical side of it, the injuries, and the grinding and now eight years into the NFL you know what hard work that is.

Even when I was being recruited here to the University of Virginia, a lot of people in my own community didn't think I was Division I football material because I played at a small private school.

I think if you show a player an avenue to make a difference, he's going to bring that same intensity he brings on the field in his community.

If we're saying there are incidents of oppression in this country, systematically or individually in this country, I don't think saying, 'Well, in country X, Y or Z it's 10 times worse' is making things any better. I think that may be true, but why can't we improve?

Ties in the NFL absolutely suck. Trust me, I was involved with a tie against the San Francisco 49ers when I was with the Rams in 2012 and it felt pointless.

My mother has been really instrumental in raising a lot of money through the Boys & Girls Club in my hometown.

I'm not somebody that's been a natural at anything.

I do believe that clean water is the most efficient way to change the world.

I think a lot of times with football players, we're just head down, grinding away, maybe not enjoying it as much as we should.

I joke that every time I'm in the playoffs, it feels like I'm in the Super Bowl.