By WFAN.com
D'Brickashaw Ferguson admits life after football has been a struggle for him.
"You try different things, but when you don't have anything that like really sticks, you get a little unnerved," the former Jets offensive tackle, who retired after the 2015 season, told WFAN's "Boomer and Gio" show Monday. "And it's like, 'What is it? Why am I not just able to roll into something the way I thought?' But you've still got to set goals, you've still got to keep active. And I think, even while you're trying to figure things out, you just keep moving forward."
One way the three-time Pro Bowler is keeping busy these days is by training for and running in Saturday's Brooklyn Half Marathon, where he'll help raise money for children and families in need in El Salvador.
The Jets drafted Ferguson with the fourth overall pick in 2006, and he was their starting left tackle for 10 years afterward, never missing a start.
Despite struggling to adjust after retirement, Ferguson said after 10 years, it was the right time to call it a career.
"Could I have played longer? Sure, but ... you have to have that fire," said Ferguson, now 35. "You have to compete at the highest level. When you're seeing guys like Von Miller or these top draft picks get drafted and you're the left tackle, if you're not all the way there a hundred percent of the time, it's going to be bad for you and it's going to be bad for your quarterback and ultimately bad for the organization."
Ferguson said even watching the NFL on television has been a difficult adjustment for him.
"For me, I was always interested in the craft of the game -- the game within the game," he said. "'OK, I've got this opponent. I've got to figure out how to break him down. He's going to hit me with that long arm.'
"To watch the game as a whole, particularly on TV, I always find it very frustrating 'cause I'm trying to look at the linemen, and (instead) I'm looking at the quarterback's face and now you're going to take me to the coach and look at the fan who's cursing this guy out. I'm like, I don't care about that. Just show me the sideline view and the end zone view."
To listen to the interview, click on the audio player above.
