When Ovie Mughelli signed a six-year contract worth $18 million with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007, it was the largest contract ever given to an NFL fullback. Mughelli played five seasons with the Falcons, including three playoff appearances and a Pro-Bowl selection for the 2010-11 season. His career ultimately was ended by a hit that Detroit's Louis Delmas delivered to Mughelli's knee during the 2011 season. He now works for Atlanta sports talk radio station 92.9 The Game, is taking executive MBA classes through a George Washington University program and is working with businesses that are developing renewable energy. He also has a charity organization that supports "green" causes. Mughelli is one of the participants in FOX Sports South's pre-draft show, "The Panel."
JM: How is post-NFL life as a broadcaster?
OM: It's kind of awesome. Even just doing the stuff this morning for 92.9, I've realized how much I enjoy radio. I had about two or three weeks to be angry, annoyed, irritated at the fact that no one (NFL team) was even calling me and I felt like I was the best fullback in the league, still. The only person that I respected more where I can say he was my equal was (Baltimore's) Vonta Leach, both of us being in the Pro Bowl two years ago. And me having an injury two years ago and coming off my injury feeling ready to contribute, I got cut and I felt I got a raw deal like most veterans who get released and getting a chance to sign on with the Rams and then it happened again. This had never happened to me. I've seen guys go through getting cut once or twice, making a practice squad. I guess I felt immune to that and felt, 'That's not me' because I've always been successful and I've always had the talent where if I worked hard, my best is better than almost everyone else's best and I just felt I could help a team win and 'Why am I not playing, why is no one calling?' In my defense, both fullbacks (signed) after me on the Falcons (Lousaka Polite) and the Rams (Brit Miller) were cut midseason, they were so bad. So not saying anything about those teams, (but) I was sitting at home saying, 'Really?' watching bad fullback play and I know it has some of it has to do with money, some of it has to do with age, some of it has to do with injury, but I still felt like I could do more so, sitting at home, stewing over that I see how a lot of NFL players who leave the game on that circumstance can drive themselves crazy and luckily by the grace of god I got a phone call from an old friend, Bob Neal, who I did stuff with at Comcast Sports Southeast all the time through my NFL career and a segment called 'Ovie The Top'… Bob loved my segment…
So Bob got a deal with a new radio station coming to town… So three weeks after getting cut by the Rams, I started my radio career…. That started my love for radio.
JM: OK, now for some football questions: Is Tony Gonzalez going to come back for another season with the Falcons?
OM: Tony's going to come back if they offer him the right amount of money. Tony can play for so long and at such a high level, what's one more year? Especially being that close to where if (quarterback) Matt Ryan saw him open in the end zone (in the last minute of the NFC Championship Game), he'd be going to the Super Bowl. He can't tell me that it doesn't bother him that (Baltimore linebacker) Ray Lewis got to ride out on a white unicorn with wings and enjoy the last days of his career in that fashion and Jerome Bettis and several guys have done it, he wants to do that. If they make it as easy as possible for him, which they can, say, no training camp , no minicamp, no whatever -- just come in do whatever you can whenever you can, tractice if you want to practice, catch 100 balls a (season). Tell us what you want. Help us help you. We'll give you $20 million (he laughs). Come back, Tony.
JM: It's mostly like that any way, right?
OM: Pretty much. It's already like that. I think he'll come back for one more year but he's going to Brett Favre-'em and sit out training camp because he doesn't want to do training camp. He could probably just tell them and they'd be fine with that. But he'll come back.
JM: The Falcons' cuts last week – Dunta Robinson, Michael Turner, John Abraham – did they surprise you?
OM: Mike, no. Mike knew that he was leaving. Went to the Falcons locker room last year and interviewing Mike and, you know, he said all the right things but you could tell he knew this was his last year, especially with the way they were pushing Jacquizz Rodgers, how you know a couple times Jacquizz had more yards than he did in games, had more touches. You could tell they were grooming Quizz to be the next guy. And with their change going from a highly running game to a highly passing game, they didn't need a strong, power running back. They just needed somebody to have flash and brilliance every now and then -- and Quizz can do that -- and get somebody in the draft. This draft being heavy in running backs, they can get somebody in the draft to accentuate that.
JM: What about the other guys?
OM: It surprised me. Dunta, I can understand because (fellow cornerback) Brent Grimes is coming back off injury, so you can see that you replace talent for talent, but with Abraham, I know he's old, I know he's hurt, but he's the best pass rusher we've had for the last couple of years. I've seen guys like Kroy Biermann and Lawrence Sidbury try to fill that role, but they haven't. They've had opportunities to, but they just have not shown up and if Biermann hasn't become that 10-or-15 sack guy like Abraham has in years past in his three or four years, what's to say he's going to magically turn into that this year? And that's part of the reason why we haven't gotten to the Super Bowl, so you would think that he – (general manager Thomas) Dimitroff – would focus on our biggest trouble spots, not make them even bigger trouble spots. But he has a plan. Don't know what it is. Because he's not stupid. He wants to win. (Owner Arthur) Blank wants to win and Mr. Blank is not going to let him cut these players without a plan in place that's going to get them to the Super Bowl. I'm like everybody: I'm glued to the TV and curious to see what's going to happen. I saw TD last night at the Atlanta Sports Awards and shook his hand. I'm like, 'I can't wait to see what happens in a month.' He said, 'You and everyone else. Just watch.' So we'll see.
JM: I heard you use the 'we' when it came to the Falcons and I saw you there in the locker room during the playoffs interviewing players. What was that like?
OM: It was weird. It was weird. I went to all these NFL programs. Did the NFL Georgia Tech career transition program and a lot of guys were talking about their last year in the league and how it was not on their terms. Very few people leave on their terms. And I told them my story, about how I had gotten a radio job a couple of months after getting cut by the Falcons and went back to the Falcons locker room and was interviewing guys. 'Really? You did that? I couldn't do that.' And I was talking to (former NFL quarterback and 92.9 host) Kordell Stewart during the season and when the Falcons were having trouble during the season even to the point where they cut their fullback – Lousaka Polite – and I was quietly not trying to say how terrible he was and be on the radio every day and my co-host knew how terrible he was. They hadn't even played football and they could see it. He was getting Mike Turner killed and getting Matt Ryan killed and I would say a couple of things like, 'You know, I'm still in shape.' Still trying to get a job, still hoping the team would call during the season and not understanding why the Falcons didn't call. When the Falcon finally cut Lousaka Polite and signed back Mike Cox -- my back-up -- people at my station were going crazy. Jamie Dukes was talking trash. Randy Cross talking trash. I had to be the humble, peace guy. I couldn't talk trash because I deal with the Falcons on a day-to-day basis and I was going into their locker room so how strange was it still being someone who could possibly get picked up by that team and going into that locker room and interviewing players who you should be playing with and you played with just a couple of months ago in minicamp and everything but asking the questions, 'How do you think the season's going to go?' 'I don't know, how do you think the season's going to go, Ovie? You should be here helping us to win games.' I don't want to name names, but a lot of the players on the Falcons wanted me back. Didn't understand why I wasn't back. When they cut me, Matt (Ryan) was gracious enough to give me a call and say, 'I don't know what's going on. I don't make the decisions around here but if I was, I'd keep you. Thanks for all you've done for me, watching my back, yada, yada, and I appreciate that.' But going back into the locker room interviewing my teammates, it was strange but I would rather be doing that, being close to the game, staying around my guys, still being able to see them on a weekly basis, than sitting at home, just waiting for a call.
JM: The play last year when you got hurt and the Lions' Louis Delmas hit you in the knee, do you have any hard feelings there?
OM: Yes and no. He apologized immediately afterwards and said, 'I'm sorry, bro, I didn't mean to. I was trying to just get you down. You're a heavy load and I knew if I hit you high, I'd just bounce off you.' I wasn't listening to him. Some of my teammates told me he was apologizing to me. I heard him saying something. I was just yelling in agony. It was the worst pain ever. I thought with ACL, MCL, PCL, everything. And luckily it was just the MCL. I wasn't mad at him because I felt like it was just the MCL. I'll be back. Plus, the Falcons will give me a chance to come back because, why wouldn't they? Long franchise history, never had a Pro-Bowl fullback. I'm that guy. I've shown that I can get Mike Turner top five running backs every single year in yards, top three one year. I don't see why they're going to cut me. So I'm fine. I'll rehab, get things together. So when that didn't happen, that's when players start to replay everything in their mind on their road to exiting the league and starting thinking about, 'What if I would've change this? What if I would've changed that? What if I would've caught the ball this way? Why did he have to hit me so low?' But he didn't wake up that morning and say, 'I'm going to end Ovie Mughelli's career.' I hope he didn't say. That's not what he said. I hope he didn't say that and that's why I can't be mad at him. That's the game we all signed up to play. Injuries happen.
JM: As long as we're on the subject of knee injuries, what do you think of Robert Griffin III and the way the Redskins are handing his situation? There's already talk that he'll be ready for Week 1. Doesn't that seem ridiculous?
OM: It does seem ridiculous. I hope RGIII doesn't have what happens to a lot of guys, which is you've got too much on your shoulders, you're pushed to do too much too soon and you reinjure your knee or reinjure an injury that needs more rest, needs more time. Not everyone is Adrian Peterson. Now they all see that (he returned from an ACL tear to win the MVP award) and they all want to get on Adrian Peterson's comeback trail and, 'Oh, everyone will do that.' No, I played with Adrian Peterson at the Pro-Bowl – him, Steven Jackson and my boy, Mike Turner. And AP was just -- he's wired differently. On Pro-Bowl practices where guys are wearing sandals and flipflops, he's got full cleats, stepping on people's toes, (they are) cussing him out. 'It's the Pro Bowl, it's Hawaii, calm the hell down.' He's like, 'I go hard, man. I don't know any other speed.' 'Yes, you do. Slow the hell down.' But he won the game for us and got a little extra money so that was cool. But not everybody has his physiology, his mentality and RGIII is somebody that they need to be careful and I think err on the side of caution because he is 'The Franchise' and having him hurt would be a huge blow to him and to the team.
JM: On "The Panel," what kind of wisdom do you try to impart on the players who might get drafted?
OM: It's funny, I guess, I never thought of myself as an old guy, but now 10 years later in the NFL, I am an old, wise sage and I have seen a lot, but I really want the guys to understand what I wish someone did a better job of telling me about the NFL: about how fleeting this opportunity can be and how every single decision you make can make or break you. And everyone's watching and the stuff you don't think is important really is important and some people might mention it, but I try to harp on it. As far as the coaches see you in the meeting room, they go and talk about that stuff and maybe they tell other coaches, 'Oh, Ovie's still watching special teams tape' or 'still watching the game before' or how if the coaches see you play hurt, that stuff means something. 'Ovie's a tough guy.' Nothing stupid, but you can't be going to the trainer for every hang nail or thigh bruise that you have. People look at that stuff. Your attentiveness in class. It's just like real life. People want to see you always strive to be your best at all times. Just let them know about the details. … so they understand how to make sure they make their mark with their coaches and with their teammates and with the staff. That's something I was good at. Make sure I treat everyone in the room like the owner because those people talk to the GM, talk to the owner, talk to the (public relations) guys.
