Jay Glazer on mental health struggles, Michael Strahan friendship, Giants’ future

Fox Sports NFL “insider” Jay Glazer takes a break from breaking news and championing mental health awareness for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby:

Q: How did the term scoopage begin?

A: (Laugh) I think I created it just to piss off [Michael] Strahan and the rest of my friends. No other reason.

Q: Some of your favorite scoopages?

A: Getting the Spygate video. That was my second week in studio at Fox. Before that, I was doing all my scoopage from a game when I was doing sidelines. Howie Long just points at me and he’s just kinda like, “You’re telling me he has the actual video?” And Jimmy [Johnson] looks at me and he goes, “You really got it?” And then Terry [Bradshaw] turns his head around to me, and he lets out this loud whistle. “He’s OK with me!” From then on, man, I was part of the crew. That’s a tough locker room to crack.

Q: Some of your other favorite scoopages?

A: I had [Raiders center] Barret Robbins the night before the [2003] Super Bowl leaving, and he’s gonna get deactivated the next day. I had all the BALCO players. Then I had the second Spygate when they [Patriots] were spying on allegedly the Bengals. Then I had [Brett] Favre coming out of retirement to join the Vikings, which was unheard of. Then I had on Week 1 of Jim Harbaugh’s last year in San Francisco, I came on TV and I said, “No matter what happens this year, even if they win the Super Bowl, Jim Harbaugh will not be back as head coach of the 49ers,” and he was gone halfway through that year, whenever it was. Last year, at our Super Bowl, everybody reported the Jets haven’t made a decision on Aaron Rodgers yet and planned to discuss it the following week. I came on TV and said, “Not only have they made a decision — Aaron flew to the Jets facility on Thursday, on his own plane, and they told him in the first minutes, ‘You’re out. We’re moving on.’ ” That’s probably the biggest story you could have on a Super Bowl pregame show ’cause everybody has everything, you know? And that was after everybody else did their news, so that was a really good one.

Had when Randy Moss got traded back to the Vikings from the Patriots. … The Jets were looking to trade Keyshawn Johnson when everybody said there’s no way. I got killed for that one. The Giants going to trade Odell Beckham [Jr.]. I got destroyed for that one. I got the scoop the same way — teams are calling me. “Hey, man, how would he fit with our head coach? With our culture? What’s the issues here?” I had a Lions game where I said Brett Favre called the Lions to give up all the secrets that the Packers do. That was a good one. … Two Thanksgivings ago I said on our pregame show that Wink [Martindale] wouldn’t be back as Giants DC no matter what and people lost their minds. That was a crazy one.

Q: You were one of the first minute-by-minute sports breaking news guys in the ’90s.

A: It was me versus Len Pasquarelli, Chris Mortensen and John Clayton. Back then, you could break stuff and you had it, right? Now it’s whoever can tweet the fastest. Or if you break something, a second later, everybody else tweets it. I’ve kinda changed my job a little bit, is to make sure on Sundays I come on and have something that nobody knows. You can hear it only from me.

Q: Is it a fun job or a pressure-packed job or both?

A: It’s both. I had at 4:30 in the morning that Aaron Rodgers wasn’t playing [last week against the Bears]. And I said, “Man, do I tweet it?” I don’t work for Elon Musk, you know? I work for Fox. So I’m gonna hold it and hope that it waits for our early show, which is “Fox NFL Kickoff,” and it got out 10 minutes before I went on. I hold it for 4¹/₂ hours. So that’s pressure. Same thing happened a few weeks earlier, I was waiting to come on to say that, I was hoping to surprise the world that Brandon Graham’s coming out of retirement and he’d re-sign with the Eagles the next day. And I think eight minutes before our show, it got out. And I held it for a week. Those things are pressure-filled.

Q: Who are the hot assistant coaches who could be up for head coaching jobs?

A: Of all these coaches Sean McVay’s had, he’s shown [Rams DC] Chris Shula step by step of that job more than these other assistants he’s had. Love him, love [Colts DC] Lou Anarumo. Would do wonders with those [Giants] pass rushers. … [Broncos DC] Vance Joseph. Vance is a presence of stability that he just keeps everybody in the building calm. Mike McCarthy — there’s not a lot of quarterback developers out there, and Mike is one of ’em. What he could do with a guy like Jaxson Dart? Wow! He gives them like instant stability. He knows how to build a winner. The sky’s not gonna fall under him.

[Steelers OC] Arthur Smith is another coach who is really good with quarterbacks. Look what he did with Justin Fields. Look what he did with Ryan Tannehill. Him and Aaron I think have been fantastic. He and Dart would be tremendous together. I think Matt Nagy will get another shot. [McVay offensive assistants] Mike LaFleur and Dave Ragone. … Spags [Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo] too, right? [Packers DC] Jeff Hafley does a really good job of bonding with players.

Q: Is Giants GM Joe Schoen safe?

A: As of right now, yeah. I don’t see any of these guys coming in demanding, “I want to bring this personnel guy in, that personnel guy in.” And Joe’s an easy guy to get along with. Very.

Q: Thoughts on Mike Kafka?

A: I actually like Kafka a lot. I love that he put his foot down with [Abdul] Carter.

Q: Does he have a chance to be the Giants head coach?

A: If they go on some crazy run. … I don’t know if they’re gonna go on a crazy run or not.

Q: Surprising teams or storylines this season?

A: I wasn’t surprised by Denver. I’m surprised by the Chiefs’ struggles, I’m surprised by the Ravens’ struggles. I thought this was gonna be the Ravens’ year by far. I definitely wasn’t surprised by the Rams, I thought they were gonna be a juggernaut. I think [Seahawks GM] John Schneider is the best GM in the league. I didn’t know they were gonna be this tough this fast. I think Dallas is kinda surprising you now what they’re potentially turning into.

Q: If you had to pick a Super Bowl matchup …

A: Right now, I will probably say Rams-Broncos.

Q: Whatever comes to mind: Shedeur Sanders?

A: I’m pumped to see what he could do.

Q: Jaxson Dart?

A: (Laugh) They need to protect him from getting himself killed. But they got him, [Malik] Nabers and [Cam Skattebo] — what they have now is an identity, which they didn’t have for a long time. Plus, those defensive guys, they got an identity over there. Whoever comes in now, they got an identity now.

Q: Myles Garrett?

A: Unstoppable.

Q: Aaron Rodgers?

A: I trained with Aaron this offseason. A freak of nature. Pissed me off ’cause his old ass blowing past me doing stuff. He don’t train like a 41-year-old.

Q: Matthew Stafford?

A: Damn near perfect this year.

Q: Drake Maye?

A: He surprised me. I always tell guys when I’m talking to ’em coming out of college, I’m like, “Hey, you guys only have like say four hours a day or whatever to work on your craft. Now that you have 24, who do you want to become?” And, Drake Maye’s used those extra 20 hours to become exactly what they were hoping for. When he came out, they thought he had limitations on his game. Which clearly he doesn’t.

Q: Caleb Williams?

A: Ben Johnson’s the best thing to ever happen to him. ’Cause he had to learn how to be a quarterback, and not just a gunslinger.

Q: Mike Vrabel?

A: Phenomenal coach. I think guys like Vrabel, Dan Campbell, Mike Tomlin, Sean McVay — you can’t beat guys down anymore like [Bill] Belichick used to. ’Cause guys get beat down so much on social media. Guys like Vrabel will build you up. Sean McVay, who makes you feel like you matter. Dan Campbell was like the type of protective big brother that everyone wishes they have. That’s why those guys worked out.

Q: Do you think Mike Tomlin will stay with the Steelers?

A: We gotta see how the season plays out.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Muhammad Ali; Moses; Abraham Lincoln.

Q: Favorite movie?

A: “Rocky.”

Q: Favorite actors?

A: Denzel, The Rock and Stallone.

Q: Favorite entertainers/singers/rappers?

A: Snoop and Wiz Khalifa.

Q: Favorite meal?

A: Asian fusion.

Q: Why did you and Strahan bond?

A: Before I finally got a job covering the Giants in ’93, I was interning at WFAN, I was doing standup comedy, I was boxing, I was bouncing — I was doing everything I could. I finally got a job for this rinky-dink Giants newspaper, which went Chapter 11 shortly before I got hired, so I wasn’t making any money there. That first week I walked into the Giant locker room, I’m like, “How can I be different?” One thing I can be different, is I can outwork the world. Like I am relentless. If everybody here works 40 hours a week, I’m gonna work 100. Trying to be great is very lonely, and it’s the amount of hours you put in when no one’s watching. I felt the reporters back then were using their pen as a weapon. You weren’t allowed to have relationships with anybody. I didn’t take myself seriously, I’m not covering the Middle East, I’m just covering sports. I was getting killed by the reporters for having relationships.

Stray got drafted to pretty much replace Lawrence Taylor, and Lawrence is still on the team. He and I just latched on to each other. We actually saw this executive with the Giants try and hop a fence, and he caught his shorts on it and he fell over and hit his face and rolled all the way down, he sat up and he had this big piece of sod on his head and it looked like the cartoon with birds are flying over his head, and no one was laughing because he was a powerful guy, except me and my baby sister [Strahan] over there. We were freakin dying! So afterwards, he’s like, “Ohmigod, thank God you were laughing!”

I’ve gone from broke to unbreakable. The first 11 years of my career, the only money I could count on each year was nine grand from the New York Post, and 450 bucks from New York One TV. I didn’t have enough money to take a subway to a bus from New York City to Giants Stadium back and forth every day — Strahan literally drove me back from Giants Stadium back to the city every single day of my life from ’93 to ’99. So I joke I owe him like 28 grand in Lincoln Tunnel fare. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here now. I wouldn’t have been able to do my job, I just couldn’t afford it.

Q: Did you call Strahan your baby sister?

A: I call him my baby sister ’cause it drives him crazy, absolutely. We’re like the Hansons from “Slap Shot” — we fight over everything the way brothers do. But the truth is he’s the best friend I’ve ever had in my life. Five years ago he said something that changed my life forever. I didn’t tell him or anybody about my mental health stuff until I wrote my book “Unbreakable: How I Turned My Depression and Anxiety Into Motivation and You Can Too” (2022). He and I were supposed to go to dinner one night. I go and talk to teams now about mental health. And this is the story I think that really changed their viewpoint when I tell them to open up to their teammates. “You got 53 therapists sitting in this room right next to you. Open up to them.”

One night, I had a really bad mental health meltdown, man. I call it the beast getting out of the box. When it happens, I just don’t feel it mentally, I feel it physically, too. I feel pain in the left side of my gut. I feel it behind my rib cage like I’m having a heart attack, and I feel it in my joints like I’m in a 50-round in the rain. I told Stray, he was gonna come pick me up, I said, “Hey dude, I can’t go out tonight, the beast got out of the box.” That was the first time I ever told him in 30 years. And he’s like, “Oh man, you all right? You want me to come over?” And I wasn’t expecting that. I said, “I don’t, I just want to sleep this one off.” He goes, “Do you want to talk about it?” And I didn’t expect that. And I said, “I do, but not tonight. I gotta sleep this one off, it’s hurting me a lot, like I’m in a lot of pain.” And he said, “Why have you never told me? I drove you back from New York City every day. Why have you never told me? You had help sitting right next to you.” I said, “I don’t make the rules of this, Stray. I felt ashamed. You’re my best friend.” And he said something that changed my life forever. He said, “By you not telling me, you took away my chance to be your best friend for 30 years.”

Think about how powerful that is. Like I thought I was gonna be a burden. And he’s like, “No, man, it would have made us closer.” Trust me, I do now. I’m getting choked up as I tell you about it ’cause it changed my life, and I realize like people really do want to be there for us, and it’s on us to open up and tell them. We shouldn’t suffer in silence. They want to be there for us. By me opening up, man, it’s turned friendships into brothers and sisters. This story has been instrumental when I talk to teams to show them your teammates want to be there for you and how much closer you’ll be for leaning into them.

Q: When did you realize that your depression and anxiety was really beginning?

A: When I was about 4. … It’s every day of my life. I went to bed every day of my life struggling. I woke up every day of my life struggling. It helped me create this big personality to hide the pain. That big personality’s what ends up getting me hired. I was diagnosed at an early age — clinical depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar, last year I got diagnosed with something called OCD anxiety. Other than that I’m a model of stability. … I’ve been on over 30 meds and none of ’em have worked, so I’ve gotta try other things. But when I go and talk about it now, I try to talk about turning my mental health into my mental wealth, and I look to go, “OK, where did each one of these things benefit me? Where do I weaponize ’em?” And if I weaponize ’em in my life, then I’m not ashamed by ’em anymore. I could be proud of ’em.

For example, my depression told me I was worthless. So I didn’t know how to feel love from the inside out. So it motivated me to do all these great things to get love from the outside in and hope they meet in the middle somewhere. So in a sense that’s where I’ve realized depression was my superpower.

It led me to become one of the first guys to ever fight professionally in the NFL in MMA, but then I started the first MMA training program for pro athletes in America, and I was on “Ballers,” and I’ve started several charities, and I’ve started businesses.

And by the way, still a work in progress. I’m not there yet but at least I’m not feeling shame anymore for the depression.

Q: You’re an inspiration to a lot of people.

A: I used to think I was so cursed by all this. And now I think God blessed me with depression, anxiety and all these issues so I can use my pain to help others with theirs. It’s freeing, it’s liberating, but there’s not a week that goes on in my in my life that I don’t have a ton of issues.

Q: Because you’ve opened up, tell me about your tools and rituals.

A: I do breath work, meditation, a gratitude list, my wife [Rosie Tenison] and I came up with a prayer together.

Q: Tell me about the prayer.

A: One will say: “Good morning, God. We love you, God. You’re the best, God. Bless you, God. Praise you, God. Thank you for you, God. Thank you for being our family, God, thank you for a new family, God, and thank you for being our best friend, God, we love you, God.” Win the day. I talk about being a servant and leaning into your teammates to deal with your mental health issues. We view God as one of our teammates.

Q: Every morning you say that?

A: That’s every day and every night. And then we have another thing I love from a buddy of mine — “Please God, help me to love others the way you love me.”

Q: What about thoughts of suicide?

A: I have a lot of days where I hope tomorrow doesn’t come. I made the decision a long time ago, I will never take my own life ’cause I’m not gonna do that to you, or my son, or my wife, or Stray or anybody. I try to villainize suicide. I have a few different therapists I work with. My wife is the first person in my life when I have my meltdowns, where she’ll go, “Hey, I’m not going anywhere. I got you.” I got you is the most powerful thing anybody’s ever said to me in my life. She and her sister, she’s an identical twin — I call one Zoloft, the other one Prozac — the two of them will then try and get me out of my painful pit that I’m falling in and say, “Hey, let’s go to the beach, let’s go take the dogs here, let’s go get a workout.” They will not let me sit in my shame. It took me 53 years to find someone like that, but it’s never too late to find love.