Raiders' Roberts on Growing Up in Military Family

These players are naturally good leaders and high-character players, so it makes sense that the Raiders wanted to bring in as many of them as possible. 

Roberts recently joined Maxx Crosby on the latest episode of his podcast, The Rush, and was asked if he and Jeanty have had any conversations about their familial backgrounds. 

However, Roberts did not know Jeanty grew up in a military family. He instead answered what it was like growing up in a military family and how it shaped him as a person. 

“A lot of people say, ‘Oh, you know, strict this, strict that,’ I just think it was structure,” he said. “My dad, that’s my guy. He and my mom have been married for 40 years. To be honest with you, it helped me understand the true meaning of family, sacrifice, and leadership, because my dad had to leave when I was going into the sixth grade to go fight in the war.”

Roberts shared stories about how his family would stay in contact with his father when he was overseas.

“He had to go to Iraq and Afghanistan. We used to wait by the phone at nine o’clock at night just for my dad to call to hear his voice, or we read the letters he sent me. We didn’t have social media or any of that. It was funny because we had internet, but back then, it was dial-up internet, so nobody could be on the phones, nobody could be on the internet until my dad called because if you were on the internet, the phone call wouldn’t go through.”

When Roberts’ father returned home, he was surprised at how easily he assimilated to family life.

“It just showed me, from a responsibility standpoint, he went and handled his responsibilities and sacrificed, leaving his family behind to go serve the country. Coming back home and getting right back to it, he wasn’t hearing bombs and missiles flying over his tents. He got right back to it.

It was crazy because I remember he came home,  and I was at football practice. He made it back for my first padded practice. He made it back in time, and he came out of there like he wasn’t in the war. I was just like, ‘He’s back!’”

The Raiders have several players with military backgrounds, including Roberts, whose leadership should help alleviate the loss of Robert Spillane.

You can watch the full podcast episode with Roberts and Crosby here.

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