NFL Media’s Oklahoma Drill series presents exclusive, quick-hitting one-on-one interviews with players and coaches from around the league. No nonsense — just football experiences directly from the source.
Jordan Howard
Running back, Chicago Bears
Born: Nov. 2., 1994
Experience: One NFL season
Interview by Lakisha Jackson | Jan. 20, 2017
I definitely had a chip on my shoulder. Being drafted so late (in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft with the 150th overall pick), I wasn’t too happy about it, but I made the most out of my situation.
My best advice was just to stay humble and just continue to work hard. Don’t do what you did last year, because this is a new year. So you definitely have to keep working hard. I can’t remember who gave me the advice. I think a lot of people have given me that advice: teammate[s], coaches and things like that.
My goal for next season: make the playoffs, first off, and get another 1,000 yards, be the leading rusher in the NFL and make the Pro Bowl again.
I don’t really have any thoughts on [the Bears’ quarterback situation]. I’m just going to be happy with whoever they decide. I know whoever they decide on, they have a reason for it. So I’m just [going to] let them do their job.
Probably [the Bears should] just [draft] old teammates that I played with in college and things like that. There’s a lot of good players in the draft. I’d be happy with whoever we get. Jamari Staples, Dan Feeney, Victor Salako. I just feel like they would fill in well. Just give us depth at certain positions and things like that.
I’ve never played fantasy football in my life. I did get a lot of notifications saying how well I helped people. A lot of them I don’t get to see, because I have it where I only see people that I follow. I remember some bad ones. One game, I had a bad game. I had like 2 fantasy points or something like that, and a dude, he let me know. He told me he was going to beat me up in person if it happened again. It’s been a lot of good ones, though. I remember after the Minnesota game on Halloween night (when Howard racked up 202 yards and a touchdown on 30 touches), I had a lot of people blowing me up about that.
It’s pretty hard to stop Aaron Rodgers, but I feel like the last game, we did a pretty good job, except for like the last play. I feel like we compete with a lot of teams in our division. I feel like we just have to keep improving and stop the little mistakes.
My favorite restaurant to go to in Chicago would have to be Wildfire. It’s a steakhouse.
My favorite player growing up was Marshawn Lynch. I always loved his running style, how determined he was and how he never let anybody take him down easily. I kind of like how he does his interviews. I feel him on that. I don’t really like doing interviews because they try to get you to say certain things and things like that. I’m not really a fan of them. I’m not sure if he would want to coach, but I’d be down to take some advice from him.
I don’t watch baseball, but if I had to choose, I would choose the Cubs.
Josh Bellamy, he is just always making jokes.
My favorite thing to do in Chicago is play football. I haven’t really done anything. I just like chilling at home watching movies. I do like going bowling with my teammates. I’m decent. [The best at bowling would be] probably Marquess Wilson. He has his own ball. He’s probably got almost 200, maybe. [My highest score is] like 120 — decent.
[My mother] has only missed one game since I played football my whole life. I always know I can count on her to be there. And then my other family members, they make it to as many games as they can so it just feels good.
It’s not too bad. We didn’t have too many cold games. We had like two cold games this whole year, so it wasn’t too bad. I don’t wear sleeves at all.
My dad, he had pulmonary fibrosis. He passed away when I was 12. The [Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation] is actually based in Chicago. I went to an event they had and I spoke at it. I’m just helping raise money for awareness for it.
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