Fifteen years ago, I met a young Green Bay Packers offensive guard on the far side of the locker room. Almost immediately, we started discussing his wild Green Bay nights and his deep, personal transformation. A couple years later, he opened up on the death of his father.

Mining for unfiltered honesty inside a modern NFL locker room isn’t easy. Some players treat interactions with reporters as an obligation in their contract. They’re on autopilot.

Then, there’s T.J. Lang.

Unapologetic authenticity — on and off the field — endeared Lang to fans his full decade in the NFL. Through eight years with the Packers and two with the Lions, everyone knew precisely what they’d get… right down to a forearm shiver to the chin if you messed with his quarterback. Here on the podcast, Lang spends nearly two hours reliving all highs, all lows from his life in trenches.

These days, he’s on the Lions radio broadcast. Of course, he also considers himself a Packer at heart.

Video and audio is available here.

Prefer words? Here’s the full transcript as well:

Topics include:

* Moment of truth in 2011. He could’ve partied his way right out of the NFL.

* Hockey mentality. Lang grew up on the Detroit Red Wings and viewed himself as a Darren McCarty-like enforcer on Sundays.

* Yes, Lang sees the glaring lack of such a specimen on the current Packers, too. That play at Denver bothered him, too.

* Up close, Lang sees how NIL and the transfer portal is drastically changing the pool of players entering the NFL. Not for the better.

* Are you an O-Line junkie? You’ll absolutely want to hear how Lang, Josh Sitton and the Packers’ front five screwed with opposing linebackers before the snap.

* All playoff heartbreak. He tries not to think about the 2014 NFC Championship, but there’s no escape. This chat, Lang relives the most surreal game of his football life in painstaking detail. No, teammates were not pleased with Brandon Bostick. Time helps.

* Those two weeks ahead of Green Bay’s 2011 loss to the New York Giants, Lang lost his father to lung cancer and OC Joe Philbin lost his son. Tragedy that rocked this roster more than anyone knows.

* The time Green Bay got into Atlanta for the 2016 NFC title game around midnight the night before and Lang gave a pregame speech that, sadly, did not work.

* What makes Green Bay, Wisconsin such a special place.

* Lang went to Eastern Michigan. Maxx Crosby went to Eastern Michigan. Where does he see the Las Vegas Raider star heading?

* Can Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy really coexist? Lang knows both very, very well. His answer may surprise you.

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