Super Bowl champion athletic trainer Billy J. Voltaire talks Chiefs

Super Bowl champion athletic trainer Billy Voltaire sat down with Chiefs Wire contributor Ed Easton Jr. to discuss the Chiefs rivalry from his point of view while with the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.

Billy J. Voltaire began his NFL career as an assistant athletic trainer with the Denver Broncos. Most recently he’s worked with the Houston Texans as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.

During the course of his career, he’s been able to witness the growth of the Kansas City Chiefs from the opposing sidelines. Voltaire won a Super Bowl with the Broncos during Super Bowl 50. Last season, he was on hand for the Chiefs’ comeback victory in the divisional round of the playoffs as a member of the Texans.

Chiefs Wire contributing writer Ed Easton Jr. recently sat down with Voltaire to talk about his career and battles against the Chiefs.

Q: What inspired you to take this career path?

Working in the NFL was a dream of mine since I was probably an undergrad and the minute I get into undergrad I realized that is what I wanted to do so I literally looked online and looked at folks that worked in the league from scouting to strength conditioning to physical therapy and athletic training to try and see how everyone else got in, and I knew if I just did the exact same thing or close to that I’d be able to get my foot in the door. Luckily for me, God blessed me with an opportunity to have an internship with the Denver Broncos, so once I got my foot in the door, I knew it was gonna be a difficult decision to let me walk out the door. I say that with all humility because of my work ethic. They gave me another Internship that turned into another job, long story short I wanted to do a little bit more than athletic training, and the Broncos weren’t looking to do that at the time. So Luke Richardson left the team to take the strength, and conditioning job with the Texans decided to hire me.

Q: How would you describe the atmosphere at Arrowhead Stadium from the opposition’s point of view?

Tiffany Morton, one of the assistant athletic trainers for the Chiefs, she’s actually a good friend of mine. Whenever we’re going to Arrowhead even during preseason, it’s circled on my calendar because there’s no more exciting stadium to be at. Besides the old Oakland Coliseum, which had a different set of fans, but the stadium at Arrowhead is just you know, historic. It’s got a lot of history to it from the locker rooms being the way they are to the benches, By the way, if you guys ever saw in those benches in the locker room, I’m the first person on board to buy those things. So behind it, the fans allowed, I remember my first game, there as a Bronco. I think it was on Monday night or Thursday night. And it’s loud. We’re down two scores Peyton’s thrown two picks (Interceptions). And I believe we fumbled at some point, and I could barely hear myself on the radio talking to my fellow athletic trainer just every time we go back, even when we’re there most recently as a Texan. I love that Arrowhead chant, there’s no other crowd like it in the league.

Q: Can you give us an idea of what that was like the week leading up to Super Bowl 50?

That was my first season. So a lot of people. I guess you put things into context or perspective. Like if you have worked in the league for several years and got to the playoffs and fell or never got to the playoffs finally got to that game was, you know, you kind of appreciate a lot more than I did. Because that was my first year, so I had no idea what I was getting into. So we’re making this playoff run and winning games by three points, four points, and the week leading up to the Super Bowl obviously you got, you know, friends and family that want to go to the game, tickets and you’re trying to figure out how much it’s gonna cost and how you’re gonna pay for it. All that stuff you don’t really appreciate until after the fact. So after having been in the NFL for six, seven years, it’s like man, he’s just itching to get back to that. So that week leading up to is probably one more exciting time in my professional career and in my life, to travel, being able to bring the family along being in another city for an extended period of time and enjoying that culture. Just watching like the setup for two teams in one city, military personnel guarding stadiums and not just regular local police. These are little tiny things that you kind of take for granted, but you know, when you experienced that, at that level, it’s kind of a lot more exciting.

Q: What were your expectations of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs heading into the Divisional Playoff matchup?

We were excited because we won the game during the regular season, I knew it was gonna be a dogfight, and we all knew that. We’re going to have put up 50-40 points to even stay close in the game. And that wasn’t even enough, obviously. But, you know, the crowd you can never like emulate that no matter what you do try to pump noise into your own stadium to get that kind of feeling in the cold, weather; you can’t prepare for that kind of stuff. We knew that Pat (Patrick Mahomes) was his who is Pat, he’s an MVP quarterback. And I remember walking up and down the sideline after we went up, I think it was 21 – 0. And I kept telling the guys every time we score, I was like, we can’t let up it’s 0-0, and I kept thinking, I compared the Chiefs to the Golden State Warriors. You guys can be down 10, 15, 20 points, and you’ll knock down a couple threes or throw a couple touchdowns get back in the game. And that’s basically what it is. And that’s the way I saw I remember Pat when I was Denver Bronco, and he played I think the final games of the regular season when they made the playoff run, I think in 2017. I said, Man, he’s got something to him. And you know low and behold the season after that, you know, he puts league on notice. So you know, we know what that team’s made up with Tyrann (Mathieu), and Pat, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill some of the young guys you guys have special teams guys Sorenson. Those guys are just stacked, so it’s, you know, much credit to what the Chiefs do as far as the draft process and the head coach and keeping those guys healthy with the medical staff and the strength coaches. It’s just an all-around great organization.

Q: How would you describe the following season after winning the Super Bowl with the Broncos?

Yeah. And obviously, I have a different vantage point. But you know, it’s kind of tough because obviously every Sunday, as you say, in the league ‘Any Given Sunday.’ And if that’s truly the case, like you’re always, a turnover away from going 8-8, so it’s kind of tough. Even if you win Super Bowl, you can never guarantee that you’re going back. And that’s what I kind of alluded to at the beginning. You know, when I won it in my first year, there’s guys have been in the league from the sports medicine side that had been the league 30-40 years and have never gone to a Super Bowl, let alone to a playoff game. So you know, you win one, and you might not be back for like three or four years. We thought we’re gonna go back to similar defense. We lost a couple players. But we thought we’re gonna go back. The quarterback situation wasn’t exactly what the organization wanted it to be. I guess Peyton had retired. And we’re going with younger quarterbacks I think was Trevor Simeon and Mark Sanchez. Yes. So we still thought we had a chance. Because we had Von Miller, Demarcus Ware and those guys, I believe we started off the season 3-1. And then after that, it was downhill from there. I think we finished 9-7, something like that. But you know, the ball wasn’t falling our way like it was the year before that it’s tough to repeat, let alone make the playoffs the following year, in that division at least.

Q: What is any advice that you would give anyone that just wants to stay in a healthy shape during the COVID-19 pandemic?

I think just being consistent with whatever you decide to do if you’re going to train at home if you’re going to run two things being consistent and being progressive because I’ve had a lot of friends and clients that have ended up hurting themselves because they just jumped right into running three miles a day and didn’t really have a plan. And if you’re not used to doing a particular exercise, whether it’s running, squatting, lunging, and you just jump right into and doing a lot too soon, you can end up getting yourself hurt. So again, the main two things I’d say are just consistent. Find something that you enjoy doing that you can do in your free time for 20 to 30 minutes, and just be progressive how you get into it.

For more tips and other aspects of Voltaire’s work, he can be reached Volt Performance & Physical Therapy.