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By 2018, Will Compton, a 28-year-old backup linebacker on a one-year contract with the Tennessee Titans, knew his playing days were numbered. Contemplating a career after football, he considered going into real estate or coaching but couldn’t muster much enthusiasm for either. Driving home after a game one evening, he called Taylor Lewan, an offensive tackle for the Titans and his closest friend on the team, with whom he’d just done a postgame segment on Titans Radio. The two, who had bonded over their fondness for podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience, had undeniable chemistry on the air, and the experience got them thinking about starting their own podcast. For Lewan, who had just signed a six-year deal with the Titans, it sounded like a fun time. For Compton, it was a go-for-broke career plan. The following year, they launched Bussin’ With the Boys.
The only podcast of note by an active athlete at the time was basketball player JJ Redick’s show, launched in 2016. In football, there was no precedent. Essentially winging it, Compton and Lewan devoted 20 minutes of their first episode to the intricacies of using toilet paper. “I just felt like, all of our conversations in the sauna, the cold tubs around the locker room, the cafeteria table — if we could find that rhythm, people would enjoy the banter,” says Compton, who retired from the NFL last year.