3.5 Ideas from James Develin — 3x Super Bowl Champion
5 min readNov 21, 2024
“ I found my niche in the NFL doing the jobs that nobody else wanted to do.” — James Devlin
James Develin is the former All-Pro fullback for the New England Patriots.
After going undrafted out of Brown University, James went on to play 10 years in the NFL and was named to both the New England Patriots All 2010’s Team and All Dynasty Team.
James and I discuss the lessons he learned from playing with QB Tom Brady, Head Coach Bill Belichick and the transition from the NFL to entrepreneur.
3.5 Ideas from All-Pro Fullback James Develin:
1) What Did You Learn from Tom Brady?
- “Kind of two things, but really they work together. One was the way you treat people…how personable and approachable he was. He was always the teammate we needed and he was always outwardly focused. He was never really too concerned about his own perception and what is going on with him.”
- “Now as a father, I feel like I take that into account a lot. This isn’t just about me, the way I feel and how tired I am. The need to focus on what’s best for my kids and what’s best for my wife and how can I be the best version of myself for the greater good rather than just my own personal needs. How do I be the best version of myself?”
- “Also, the way he took care of his body, the things he put into his body, everything is so regimented on a daily basis. That’s why he had the success later into his years. The way he prepared, the way he went to practice, all his steps, they were so perfectly consistent on a week to week basis… He was so, so intensely dialed into like what he had to do to help us win. It was just incredible to see.”
2) What Did You Learn from Head Coach Bill Belichick?
- “Attention to details. 100%, that was his biggest thing. Not only you gotta know each little intricate part of each play, which was a big part of it, but keenly in tune with the game, the evolution of the game, like schemes and how they matched up.”
- “It was insane… we’d have Saturday night meetings the day before games and he’d always go over three or four key points in this next game. He’d be like, ‘Look, this is what’s going to happen. This is what it’s going to come down to. We have to win in these areas.’ Like third down or turnovers or whatever. And then I swear 75%, if not more of those games, the next day would come down to exactly those things.”
- He was just so, so good at reading between the lines and understanding the whole bigger picture because he was so in tune to the little details. Bill was so good at understanding the history, not only of that particular team and that particular coach, but just like the history of the game of football. So basically with Bill… it was your three key priorities, do the reading, do the homework, know the history.”
3) What’s It Like to Transition from the NFL to an Entrepreneur?
- “Upon retirement, I knew that I wanted to give my time and my energy back to my kids. So I wanted to be able to control my time. I thought the best path to do that was entrepreneurship. I ended up taking advantage of an NFL PA benefit that the trust provides. It’s a entity that helps the transition of former NFL players, and they gave me access and education in the entrepreneurial space. I ended up using that, to network and get engaged with people in business and how to vet existing businesses, franchise opportunities.”
- “Then organically an opportunity to buy Soulberri came about. Soulberri is a smoothie, acai bowl place in Brigantine, NJ. I had been a customer there for years, loved it, loved everything they did. They built it up out of a shipping container. It’s got a very unique feel. And I met the owner, he was looking to sell. This was like right after COVID. And I said, I think this is what I need to do. So I took it over from him. And now I’m in my third year running it. It’s been great. I’ve now opened up a new location in Ocean City, New Jersey.”
- “It’s been really fun. I went to school for engineering, so I don’t have much of a business acumen or background, but it’s been very fulfilling to kind of just go to work and like swim in waters that I don’t know much about and just find myself in a new venture… Just being okay with learning through failure and kind of throwing my hat to things and seeing how it works out. Just being comfortable, being uncomfortable.”
3.5) If You Could Have Everyone Take ONE LESSON Away from Everything We Discussed, What Would It Be?
- “One lesson I think that is the overarching theme of my life is ‘Nothing Beats Hard Work.’ I found my niche in the NFL doing the jobs that nobody else wanted to do. Nobody really wants to run in and hit Vince Wilfork in the A Gap, giving up 50, 60 pounds with my face. It was a very unglamorous position, but I took a lot of pride in it. I took it very, very serious.”
- “I knew the way I needed to prepare my body. You have to just consistently work hard at it, no matter how great it might seem and over time, you will become good. It doesn’t matter where you start, you know, your whole backstory, you just got to be consistent and work and work and work and work and eventually you will get to where you want to be.”
- “That was like the whole story of my life. I didn’t necessarily start on the path that I set out to start on, but it really wasn’t the start that mattered. It was where I finished and there was just a lot of hard work in between.”