Two-Time Pro Bowler TJ Lang: On Aaron Rodgers, the O-Line, & Home in Detroit

On this week's Dealer Out of Office, hosts Jake and Frank sit down with TJ Lang — former Green Bay Packer, Detroit Lion, two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman, and current Lions radio broadcaster — for a conversation that covers everything from blocking for Aaron Rodgers to credit card roulette at O-line dinners. The vibe is classic OOO: two guys who once tried to beat each other's heads in on a football field, now reminiscing about what it actually takes to make it and stay in the NFL.

TJ Lang didn't grow up expecting to play professional football. He grew up in Ferndale, bounced around to White Lake, transferred back to Brother Rice in Birmingham, and got exactly one Division I offer coming out of high school: Eastern Michigan. And that was only because Toledo called the day before signing day with a spot to fill.

What happened next is a story about a 10-minute decision that wasn't even his to make — and how it changed everything.

The Decision That Wasn't His

Sophomore year at Eastern Michigan, four offensive linemen didn't show up to training camp. The room was thin. A coach walked in, looked at the three defensive tackles — TJ, Jason Jones (a future second-round pick), and Josh Hunt — and said someone needed to move to the offensive side of the ball.

Josh Hunt got to choose first. He stayed on defense. TJ didn't get a choice. It was: you're youngest, you're moving, let's go.

TJ used to think about that a lot. If Josh had said yes, TJ probably stays a defensive tackle — a decent college player on a team that won 12 games in four years, with no real shot at a long pro career. Instead, the offensive line change turned him into a fourth-round pick, an eight-year starter in Green Bay, a two-time Pro Bowler, and eventually a hometown Lion. All from a coin flip someone else made.

He said it best himself in a speech a few years ago: the biggest decision of my life that changed my entire life wasn't even my decision.

Green Bay Was the Right Town

When TJ got to Green Bay in 2009, he was 21, had a little cash for the first time, and lived downtown. Thursday nights, Friday nights, Monday nights — he was out. He'll be the first to tell you he wasn't doing the right things off the field in those first couple of years.

The turnaround came going into year three. Darren Colledge left in free agency, a first-round lineman got drafted, and TJ knew it was a make-or-break year. That same offseason, he and Frank started training together in Plymouth — five days a week, just the two of them and Chad at an ice rink. First time TJ had committed a full offseason to changing his body and his habits. And that summer, his son JJ was on the way, which had a way of clarifying things.

He came into training camp a different guy. His teammates noticed. Aaron Rodgers noticed.

Eight Years Blocking for Aaron Rodgers

People ask TJ what Aaron Rodgers is really like, expecting a gotcha. What they get instead is a guy who saw the whole picture: a quarterback who kept things light even on the hardest days, treated the equipment staff and interns the same as the starters, and never yelled at a lineman for getting beat — only for false starts and missed assignments.

He was demanding in the right ways. He challenged everyone around him to think a level ahead. He was the type of guy who, on 65 of 70 plays, already knew what the defense was going to do before the snap. That rubbed off. It had to. You couldn't be around Aaron Rodgers for eight years and not care about your football IQ.

He also sent a jet ski to TJ's house after TJ signed with Detroit — a Christmas gift he'd promised before TJ left Green Bay, delivered anyway. That says everything.

The O-Line Brotherhood

TJ talks about the offensive line the way people talk about family. Weekly dinners. Training camp pranks. A thousand crickets in Aaron Rodgers' room. A fire extinguisher through an air conditioning unit. The Cowboys 2014 divisional playoff game at Lambeau, where TJ threw a block that two Cowboys took exception to — and within seconds the entire offensive line was there. Then Devante Adams. Then John Kuhn.

You don't mess with one. You mess with all.

He played on the best offensive line of his career from 2014 to 2016: David Bakhtiari, Josh Sitton, Corey Linsley, TJ, Brian Bulaga. By that point they didn't need to make calls at the line. They'd look at each other, nod, and they all just knew. Five guys seeing through the same set of eyes.

Coming Home to Detroit

TJ signed with the Lions in 2017, partly because he wanted to come home, partly because he'd always planned to live in Detroit when he was done, and partly because he was smart enough to know that eight years in Green Bay doesn't automatically open doors in a city you haven't played in. He wanted to build those connections while he still could.

He retired in 2019 — but took a couple of years off first. He had a one-year-old, a four-year-old, and a seven-year-old. He'd missed graduations, football games, holidays. He wanted to catch up before he got into the next thing.

When he was ready, the Lions gave him a shot on the sideline. A few years there, then more involvement as a color analyst, then the preseason broadcast booth. He's still building the reps, same philosophy he learned on the field: the more reps you get, the more tools you have, the better your shot at something long-term.

Football Is a Game You Can Pick Up Late

One of the best moments of the episode is TJ's take on football versus every other sport. He's watched athletes from other countries — guys who'd never played in high school — come in as late bloomers and carve out pro careers because they had the size, the athleticism, and the aggression. Jordan Mailata, who came from Australian rugby and is now one of the best left tackles in the league, is his go-to example.

Hockey, baseball, basketball — you have to learn those early. Football, if you're physical, if you're smart, if you're not scared of contact, you can figure it out later. It's a physicality sport at its core. The skills can come.

TJ knows this firsthand. He switched to offensive line at 19 with no experience and turned himself into a Pro Bowler. Control your attitude and your effort, he says. Good things will happen.

Who is TJ Lang?

TJ Lang is a former NFL offensive lineman who played ten seasons in the league, eight with the Green Bay Packers and two with the Detroit Lions. A fourth-round pick out of Eastern Michigan in 2009, he earned two Pro Bowl selections and was part of some of the best offensive line groups in Packers history. He grew up in the Metro Detroit area, attended Brother Rice High School in Birmingham, and now lives in West Bloomfield. Since retiring in 2019, he has worked as a sideline reporter and color analyst for Detroit Lions broadcasts and continues to be involved in the local football community.

What is the MAC (Mid-American Conference)?

The Mid-American Conference is a Division I college football conference whose teams are primarily located in the Midwest — including Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Toledo, and Ball State. MAC teams don't get the recruiting budgets of the Big Ten or SEC, but the conference has produced a steady stream of NFL talent, including Frank Zombo (Central Michigan) and TJ Lang (Eastern Michigan). A MAC team winning a bowl game or knocking off a ranked opponent is a genuine upset — which is part of why TJ takes pride in the fact that Eastern Michigan gave Central Michigan trouble every year they played.

What is Dealer Out of Office?

Dealer Out of Office is a podcast hosted by Jake Berkal and Frank Zombo that features conversations with athletes, business leaders, and personalities — covering stories beyond the car business with no script and no filter.

The biggest decision of my life that changed my entire life wasn't even my decision.

He was the left tackle, I was the defensive end so him and I would literally battle against each other on almost every play. Run play, pass play, doesn't matter.

If you're bright, if you're physical, if you're athletic, and you know you're aggressive and you're not scared of contact like football is a game you can pick up later in your life.

Once you get in like you've deserved that ability, now you just got to prove it every year. The ways to play a long career is getting lucky by not getting hurt.

Monday are a big day in the NFL. You go watch that film and you're sitting in that team room, you do not want to be on that negative highlight film.

Frank: Welcome to Dealer Out of Office. We're your hosts. I'm Frank Zombo.

Jake: I'm Jake Berkal, and we are here to talk to you about dealer's interests outside of the office.

Frank: Now watch this drive.

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another edition of Dealer Out of Office. As always, I'm your host, Jacob Berkal, alongside my good buddy Frank Zombo. And we are in the thick of the summer dold, my friend. July's almost up. Sports are kind of windling. I'm not a baseball guy. Football is coming back. There's some hope. and with that, one of your former teammates, good friend TJ Lang, has joined the program. TJ, what's up, buddy?

I wouldn't say good friend. We're we're we're ex coworkers. yes. Yeah.

We're great friends. We just got done playing an invitation together, sitting next to this big guy. You two in a cart together? yeah, that c our cart is just it's like hurt that suspension needed some work. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well yeah.

Yeah, we had fun now. Yeah, but no, thank you guys for having me. As I know Frankie for even going back before the pro years, we had some good battles and never played each other in high school. Grew up not far from each other, but central Michigan, I was at Eastern Michigan, so Frank and I have been familiar with each other since probably about six-ish, I would say. So yeah, man, it's crazy to think it's about twenty years ago now.

We were once Lockin' Horns in O six. Lockin' horns is T J was No, he put you on your little pancake. Yeah, right. Yeah. I got Skinny Frank. I bet you there's a skinny Frank. I got more sacks on Eastern Michigan. You know what I mean? no, but so T J was

There's a couple clips out there Frank wants deleted from the internet. Yeah. That was your senior that was your fifth year senior year when I was already gone. That was that was that was the end of it. Yeah.

Yeah. Your victory less. Give a little bit of this. So Eastern Michigan, yes, TJ and I played against each other for a bunch of years. He was the left tackle. I was the defensive end. So him and I would literally battle against each other on almost every play. Run play, pass play, doesn't matter. Central Michigan, very good back then. We were top twenty five team, my senior year, no big deal. And and we would we would we would we never really lost to max schools except for Eastern Michigan had our number. And I'll say why it is too. It's like their season would kind of be over. We were already on to like the Mac championship game and we were like, well, load management. We still have another football game left, guys. Really? Who? Is that Eastern Michigan? And it would be and then they would get us like while we were kind of already on. So so Frankie's citing load management on Central Michigan's side.

I mean, this is back in the day where I mean if he says he's a top twenty five team, like one loss could keep a Mac team out of, you know, a big bowl game and that's like I I take pride in Eastern Michigan that we did that. I mean, I know Frank went to a lot of bowl games, but you know, he's going down to like Idaho for the potato bowl instead of like, man, we could have been to Peach Bowl instead. We just beat Eastern Michigan. So I took a lot of pride. I took a lot of pride and I took a lot of pride in knowing that we didn't have a great year, but at least we got to ruin somebody else's year too. So that was that that was a lot of fun for us.

Yeah, that we were staying in the G Mac Bowl in Detroit. TJ, where'd you grow up? You said you were so Frankie's Sterling Heights, I'm a Lake Orion kid. Where'd you grow up?

Yeah. Yeah, I grew up in Ferndale originally. bounced around a little bit when I was a kid. So lived in White Lake for, you know, a few years as a kid. Started off at Lakeland High School up there in White Lake and ended up transferring back to Brother Rice High School there in Birmingham, you know, moving back in to Ferndale area. So but yeah, always been a Metro Detroit guy, even when, you know, I was gone for the eight years I played in Green Bay, you know, always made sure I obviously always had a bunch of family back here and made sure to keep a place back here. This was always gonna be home for me. So, you know, it just the way my career went, you know, just being able to finish here in Detroit, you know, kinda bring everything full circle was certainly just special, you know, kind of finishing things off where everything started at.

Love that. Yeah, not many — I don't there's not a ton of people that can say that. So that's that's awesome. let's let's start with football. I mean, we already kind of kicked off football a little bit. We talked about Eastern, kind of walk us through, you know, we've all heard Frank's story of kind of the undrafted free agent. what was what was your experience? You know, so you get to Eastern and you know, was was Pro Ball it or was there a fallback? Did it, you know, kind of walk us through you know, your journey into the league.

yeah, I mean, no, but it wasn't. I mean, I I didn't really know until maybe halfway through my senior year — another thing I got on Frank, I didn't redshirt either, so I was only a four-year guy in college. I know Frank was there for five or maybe six.

Eastern doesn't have a lot of options. Can we just kinda take it? Can we mark that on the board? It's two nothing teach against Frank.

Funny story. Eastern Michigan was my only division one offer. I had a couple small, you know, I was a late bloomer. I'm you I was 17 when I graduated high school. Seventeen, I think my first three or four games as a true freshman, even in college. and, you know, so I was Eastern was really it was my only, my only offer. I think Toledo offered me maybe the day before signing day, but it felt like, hey, we got a spot to fill. Let's just call somebody, whoever answers the phone first, like, you know, we'll fill a spot.

but it was Eastern Michigan for me. And you know, I kind of developed — I actually went in as a defensive tackle, which I played two ways in high school. Probably thought I was a better offensive lineman. Teams didn't think I could put on the weight. I was about two fifty then. so first year I actually started a few games at defensive end, defensive tackle, sophomore year, you know, got bumped over to offensive line, which was a totally different story, like one that completely changed the really the path of of my entire career was insane how it was like a 10 minute decision. I'll get back to that in a minute.

And then, you know, my senior year I moved over to offensive tackle my sophomore year and, you know, just kept developing. I mean, it was 270 my sophomore year. It was just very light, you know, for offensive tackle got up to about 285, 290 junior year, maybe about 305-ish, 310-ish my senior year. And then, you know, it just kind of worked out where my offensive line coach — his son was an agent. And so my offensive line coach had a couple of connections. The year before we had Jason Jones, who was a defensive tackle, he was a second round pick.

and so then the next year, you know, my coaches said, hey, take a look at this kid. they have like this algorithm that agents use and scouts use and blesto and like all this stuff. And, you know, so they have to go through all this stuff. Okay, let me see if there's any buzz around him. Okay, you know, hey, we think we might have a chance. And then that kind of gave me a boost. halfway through that senior year, it was kind of like, man, I think I might have a chance at this. And that was really kind of my first time that I thought I had a chance to play football for a living.

And, you know, certainly that that's the first step of a of a lot of steps, right? Getting your foot in the door is one thing, you know, going through the pre-draft process and going to work out and train — I was hoping to go to the combine. I didn't get invited to the combine, but trained for the pro days and then went on all these pre-draft interviews. And you know, I think I visited 12 out of the 32 teams in like a two week span. It was crazy. and then getting the chance to go to Green Bay was just one thing I learned was once you get your foot in the door, it doesn't matter if you came from Eastern Michigan, it doesn't matter if you came from a D two school. We're all here now for a reason. We all got the same opportunity.

And that was something that that I learned pretty quickly and luckily enough to go in the fourth round. So I maybe had a little bit of security for the first year or two. but then, you know, as as the years go by, you're like, man, I've really got to start taking it to a different level. And I just think a lot of it is, you know, the people I was surrounded by. I mean, going to Green Bay was the best place for me.

Being such a small town, a small community, really felt like a big college town, something that I didn't get to experience in college that a lot of guys did. And, you know, they accepted me. And it was kind of one of those just blue-collar towns that I grew up in. We all grew up in here in Detroit, you know, man. Like just you gotta work, you gotta earn everything you're gonna get. Nothing's gonna be handed to you. So that's just kind of the gist of of, you know, my path to making it in.

And look, certainly a lot of it is, you know, not only ended up in the right spot, but certainly there's a little bit of luck involved. I mean, I knew a lot of guys that were great players that careers got cut short because of a couple of bad injuries here or there. I mean, I was lucky enough to kind of avoid a lot of those things. And, you know, I definitely had for a large part of my career, a lot of it was definitely somebody looking over my shoulder for me, and I was able to be blessed to make it ten years in the NFL.

so, so going back to the ten minute decision — sophomore year, first day of training camp, we had Jason Jones, me, and Josh Hunt. Three defensive tackles. And they had about four offensive linemen quit, didn't show up. A coach came into the meeting room and it was me, Jason, and Josh. And he looked at us and he said, I'm gonna need one of you guys to move over to the offensive side of the ball. Jason was like a freak — we knew Jason wasn't gonna do it. And it came down to me and Josh and they asked Josh because Josh was older. They said, Josh, it's your decision. And Josh chose to stay on the defense side of the ball. And I didn't have a choice. It was all right, TJ, you're the youngest. Let's go.

And I I think about that. I used to think about it a lot more. But I think about what if Josh said he wanted to move to the offense side of the ball? I wasn't some great athlete that was going to be like a JJ Watt. And I could have pouted about it, I could have kind of protested it, but it was like, hey, this is an opportunity — instead of being part of a three man rotation and playing twenty-five snaps a game, maybe I go be a starter and play 70 snaps a game. So I kind of took that in stride. And it's crazy how just that one decision, man, that was completely out of my hands, changed literally the next fifteen years of my life.

You know, I kind of I was learning the position from scratch at first day of training camp — the very first play was like, TJ, starting right tackle, go. And I was like, so it was just so much trial by fire. And I took a lot of lessons that I learned from playing defense — what defenses are trying to do, what defensive ends jobs are, what defensive tackles jobs are. And I kind of used that to my advantage where maybe I don't have to outmuscle you, but if I can outsmart you because I know your coach is telling you, don't get reached, don't get reached — if I can pretend I'm gonna reach you real quick and then I know you're gonna fight outside. Like there were just little tricks that I had to learn that first year while I was building that toolbox of fundamentals and technique.

My first couple of years, I didn't really interact with Aaron much because I was kind of the sixth offensive lineman. I didn't play much — started three games my rookie year, second year the guys pretty much stayed healthy. I didn't play much, but you definitely learn a lot from those guys. It wasn't really until twenty eleven when I became a full-time starter that I started to form some relationships. And that's a lot of that is because, hey, we can trust you now. You've earned a spot, you're part of the group now.

My first couple of years, I kind of wasn't necessarily doing the the right things every single day off the field. I was very notorious for living downtown and, you know, going out Thursday nights and Friday nights and Monday nights. But going into my third year, I made some off-field changes — getting on a strict workout program. And I think that previous offseason was the first time Frank and I started working out together down in Plymouth. That was the first time for me that I had spent a full offseason dedicating myself to really just changing my body and changing my habits.

And going into that year, my wife Laura and I — we were expecting our now fifteen-year-old son JJ. So I was going to training camp for the first time thinking it's not about me anymore. I'm a family now. I gotta look after. And that was when I think I really started earning a little bit of respect from the veteran guys on the team. And then, you know, that was where I really started to form a relationship with Aaron as well.

He would never yell at you for getting beat. I mean, I got beat a bunch of times my first year starting. But he wouldn't look at me and be like, come on, man, you can't get bull rushed into my face. He was mostly demanding about avoidable mistakes — false starts, missed assignments. And that attitude really rubbed off. He always challenged you to: yeah, but what else? Like, how else can we develop? How else can we evolve? He was just clearly one of the most talented — I think the most talented — quarterbacks I've ever seen. Not just arm strength and accuracy, but football IQ. He knew what the defense was doing before we snapped the ball on maybe 65 of 70 plays.

You know, there's so much more exposure to athletes now than there was when we first started playing. And Aaron's been through all of that where he gets heat whether he's in the public view or out of it. I don't talk to him much now. That doesn't mean I don't love the guy or think any less of him. But I know that when I do cross paths with him, it'll be like going back and seeing your old buddies. And at his deepest, core level, he's a very, very great human being.

You know, he always treated everybody like they were equal. He never treated anybody like they were lower than him — the guys picking up towels, the interns working 18-hour days, all of them. He was always cracking jokes with them. That was one thing I think he taught a lot of us: always respect those guys. They're working their ass off.

Every year he got us something nice for Christmas. I think he got us curved TVs one year. And he got us a Cartier watch with a little engraving on the back — everyone's personalized. I still wear mine all the time. And my last year in Green Bay, he let us choose between a jet ski or a four-wheeler or a custom golf cart. I live on the lake, so I chose the jet ski. Then I signed with Detroit and thought I'd missed out on it. One day that summer, I got a call that I had a delivery. The jet ski showed up at the house anyway, man. That was special.

O-line dinner every week. Training camp pranks. Getting each other's backs. You mess with one, you mess with all. I was in the Dallas divisional game at Lambeau, 2014, I threw a block and two Cowboys ran at me and hemmed me up on the sideline. The first four guys to get my back were all my O-line guys. Then Devante Adams, John Kuhn. It's like that. That's how you operate.

TJ signed with the Lions in 2017. He retired in 2019. After a couple years with his family, he started doing sideline work for Lions broadcasts, worked his way up to color analyst, and last year started calling preseason games for TV. He says he's still getting the reps in — same philosophy from the field: the more tools in the toolbox, the better your shot.

On football as a late-entry sport: if you're physical, if you're athletic, if you're smart and not scared of contact, you can figure football out later in your life. Jordan Mailata came from Australian rugby and is now one of the best left tackles in the league. Football is a physicality sport at its core. The skills can come. TJ switched to offensive line at 19 with no experience and became a Pro Bowler. Control your attitude and your effort. Good things will happen.

Thanks, Teach. Thanks for coming on. We look forward to having you back midseason.

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