Better than a movie: Once-retired ex-Utah star Eric Weddle 1 win from Super Bowl title

AROUND THE SHIELD — Eric Weddle stared into the computer camera at the NFL's virtual media day, pulled out his phone, and whistled a tune while he opened an app or checked a message.

Some things are still tough to adapt to for Weddle; conducting interviews over videoconference is one of them.

Football hasn't been, though.

If Weddle had little idea what he was supposed to do here, meeting with media from around the world before the biggest football game — nay, sporting event — of the year in a virtual setting, no one would've blamed him.

The last time he played football, during the 2019 season, the world hadn't lapsed into the COVID-19 pandemic, one that shut down media access for longer than it shut down offseason workouts and organized team activities before resuming some semblance of normalcy ahead of 2021.

Meanwhile, Weddle was back home, chauffeuring what he likes to call the Weddle taxi service between football games, volleyball matches and dance recitals, a full-time dad and retired NFL starter whose daily workouts consisted of dad-jogging, lifting weights and playing five-on-five basketball at a local Lifetime Fitness — or maybe running up and down the sideline as a coach while leading his son's youth team to a league championship.

The title was a big deal, Weddle would tell the youngsters, because it was the first championship ring he'd ever won.

"Not many times in your life do you get a chance with a group to do something special," Weddle said of that team, the RB Broncos. "I wouldn't say early on we felt that about our team, but as we went on throughout our season, we felt that this group had something special about them — the way they handled adversity, the way they came together as a group, had each other's backs.

"I just reiterated not to take these seasons for granted, to do everything we can to make the most of it."

On Sunday, he'll have a chance to win a slightly more impressive ring when the LA Rams host the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl (4:30 p.m. MT, NBC).

Special, indeed.

When the Rams — the hometown team for a kid who grew up 45 minutes away in the Inland Empire — called him to come out of retirement amid a safety shortage on the squad, he jumped at the chance.

A few things changed in just under two years since his retirement, but one thing didn't: football.

The hard-hitting, sure-tackling safety at Utah who was the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year in 2005 while also returning punts and holding kicks was the same tough football player he had always been. He just needed to get into shape.

But his heart was never questioned.

"Eric Weddle is one of those rare infectious energy guys who just, when he walks in a building, you hear his laugh, you hear his voice, you hear his energy," said offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, the oldest Rams player who just beats out Weddle at 40 years old. "He's here, from 5 a.m., 'til midnight. I mean, this guy lives in the facility, and he might as well just put a bed in here, I guess."

Being a good athlete helps, too.

"Good? Don't slight me; great," Weddle corrected a reporter and long-time colleague from the San Diego area who used the short-sighted word. "Great athlete. Don't slight me."

The former high school quarterback thought he played the final game of his NFL career on Dec. 29, 2019, but there he was at 37 years old and reporting to postseason practice with the Rams in mid-January. By the weekend, he was playing against the Arizona Cardinals in the wild-card round, coming off the bench for 19 snaps at free safety in a 34-11 win.

"What makes me great and different from many others is that I have a keen sense to look at a play and a defense and pick it up pretty quickly," Weddle said. "Everyone has their unique traits about themselves, and I think that's just one of mine."

When it came time to get in the game, it took Weddle "two plays in Arizona" to regain his game legs.

"The first two plays I was out there playing way too fast, just overzealous and just not being me," he said. "It was a lot going on. Five days prior, I was at home doing drop-off and pickups at school; now I was playing Monday night. I was going way too fast."

Just two weeks later, Weddle had a team-high nine tackles and a tackle for loss as the Rams beat rival San Francisco 20-17 in the NFC championship. But that's the thing about Weddle, it was always going to come back, and quickly.

Football is second nature to the former Utah star, even just a few years shy of his 40th birthday.

"It's outstanding. I'm not surprised," said Rams coach Sean McVay, who is a year younger than Weddle, after the NFC championship. "It's just one of those deals that, for him to be able to pull this off and what he's done, the juice, the energy, the leadership that he's brought over the last couple weeks has been palpable.

"I've loved having him around. Love Eric Weddle. I know teammates love him. What he's done, playing as many snaps as he has the last couple weeks, it's incredible. It's remarkable. But if there was anybody that was going to be able to do it, it would be him."

The dream continues for Weddle, on the biggest stage, just a month after he thought he was done and the closest he would ever get to a Super Bowl was an invitation to join a former owner or co-worker's suite.

He'll be much closer to the field Sunday, living his dream. A dream he never imagined as late as last Christmas.

"Never once did I want to come back. I watched every Rams and Ravens game … and it was awesome to be a fan," Weddle said. "I was happy and content with my new life and moving in that direction. This was just a fortunate event that we're in right now."

A fortunate event that is one win away from a Super Bowl title, the first of Weddle's career. The making of a movie, one predestined for award seasons.

The only thing missing is the Hollywood ending, where Weddle and the Rams, who opened as 4-point favorites over the Cincinnati Bengals, lift the Lombardi Trophy over the crowd at SoFi Stadium, and then he hugs his wife and children, and walks off into the sunset of his second retirement with the one thing the two-time Pro Bowler hadn't accomplished before the first one.

At that point, maybe Weddle will change his name to Super Bowl Champ or World Champion. Maybe he'll ride down Main Street in Disneyland for a victory parade. Or maybe he'll go right back to coaching his son's youth team, where he has another title to win, this one in the next age group.

The ending almost doesn't matter at this point. Win or lose, he's ready to "move on and go back to my old life," Weddle says.

"This is the craziest story ever," he added. "I've already won, and my goal is playing like that. I'm playing free, and I think this team is.

"We're just going out there and having fun as a group of men that will never be the same again."

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