‘I Know A Football Player When I Hear One’: Former Philadelphia, New England Star Plays Madden Late At Night. Then He Realizes Who He’s Playing Against

Former NFL star Chris Long went viral on TikTok after sharing a snippet of his “Green Light Podcast,” where he revealed the surprising way he met another NFL player: while playing Madden online.

Long posted the clip to the podcast’s TikTok (@greenlightpodcast), explaining how what started as a casual late-night game turned into a conversation with “the coolest guy in the world.”

The story clearly struck a chord. As of Sunday, his video has garnered more than 1.7 million views.

Who Was He Playing Against?

Long says late-night Madden is how he likes to “decompress,” but he usually keeps it quiet.

“When I play Madden, I mute the other person usually, and I mute my microphone,” he says. “I’m not on there to talk to people.”

But he unmuted during a recent game—one he was winning—to catch what his opponent was saying.

“This dude’s hilarious,” Long recalled. “He’s not talking trash.” Instead, the player was calling out plays like someone who “knows ball.”

Curious, Long unmuted himself and told the guy he was funny. His opponent fired back a compliment of his own, saying Long was pretty good at Madden. Then he casually mentioned he “got a cup of coffee in the pros.”

Bit by bit, the player revealed more: he’d gone to Florida State, had a stint with the Green Bay Packers, and yes—knew Tucker Kraft. That’s when Long came clean about his own career: eight years with the Rams, two with the Eagles, and one with the Patriots.

Finally, the mystery player introduced himself: Camren McDonald, former FSU tight end and Packers player. Long says McDonald already knew about his podcast, and the two “hit it off immediately.”

“I know a football player when I hear one,” Long said, calling McDonald “the coolest guy in the world.”

Who Is Chris Long?

If you followed the NFL in the 2010s, you already know his name. Chris Long was a dominant defensive end who spent 11 seasons in the league, carving out a career that most players can only dream of.

He played college ball at the University of Virginia, where he was such a standout that the school retired his jersey number 91 in 2007. The St. Louis Rams selected him second overall in the 2008 NFL Draft, and he spent eight seasons with the team before moving on to the New England Patriots in 2016 and the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017 and 2018.

Long became a back-to-back Super Bowl champ, first with the Patriots in Super Bowl LI and then again with the Eagles in Super Bowl LII. But it wasn’t just his play on the field that made him a fan favorite—he was widely respected for his work off it. In 2018, he won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for his philanthropy, which included donating his entire salary one season to fund education initiatives.

He officially hung up his cleats on May 18, 2019, but he didn’t disappear from the football...