PHILADELPHIA -- Two moments stand out to Mychal Kendricks from his playing days with his brother, Eric Kendricks.
The first came against rival Fresno High. Mychal was a senior and Eric just a sophomore at Hoover High School that year. Both linebackers, Mychal manned the middle while Eric played the weakside, where he took his share of lumps early on.
“It was a crack toss, and he got cracked and broke his ribs,” said Mychal, whose Philadelphia Eagles host Eric’s Minnesota Vikings Sunday. “I remember going into, like, super-insane mode. I was crazy. I started crying, like, ‘They hurt my brother!’ Like red in the eyes, bro. And I just took over that game. We came out with the win.
“That was a real moment for me, just because when you’ve got a guy who goes down who you work with all the time, and then he’s your brother, it sinks in a little deeper.”
Father Marvin Kendricks recalls a slightly less sympathetic version of the story.
“I remember that game. It was kind of funny because Eric came to the sideline, and was whining like a little baby, you know? ‘I’m hurt.’ Mychal said, ‘Eric, welcome to the varsity... This is varsity football, don’t be whining.’”
Mychal was taught such lessons at a very early age. He used to tag along with his older brother Chad to a nearby field to watch Chad and his friends play ball. Mychal was just four or five years old when he jumped into the mix.
“I’d get the ball, run, get knocked down. He said I would never cry, I’d get right back up and want to go again,” said Mychal. “These are bigger kids. They’re in high school.”
He didn’t start playing organized ball, however, until the eighth grade. Eric was in sixth. Marvin recalls that while Mychal got right after it, he “really had to build a fire under” Eric.
“I told him he played girly football,” said Marvin, a former running back standout at UCLA who was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles during training camp in 1976 under his old coach, Dick Vermeil. “And from then on, he started bringing it.”
“They were almost equal in terms of talent, but I think by Mychal being a little bit older, he had a little bit more talent than Eric. But whatever Mychal did, Eric did better for some reason or another. I don’t know if that’s a little brother thing where you try to outduel your big brother, but Mychal set the pace and Eric just took it off the charts.”
The second moment Mychal points to speaks to that ascension.
“I’m a senior, he’s a sophomore, and towards the end of the year he really started coming into his own. I remember him filling a gap so fast and getting a tackle for a loss. He hit the dude hard, and I was like, ‘Oh, s---. Damn. OK, yeah.’ I was bigger than him at that point in time and his junior, senior year he became this tall tree. But I remember him coming into his own. It was a key moment when you see someone change and morph in front of you.”
Yvonne Thagon, Eric and Mychal’s mother, watched most of these moments unfold from the snack bar. When Yvonne and Marvin split, she was largely responsible for raising and providing for Mychal, Eric, Chad and her daughter, Danielle. With barely enough money to pay the bills, she organized fundraisers and worked the snack bar during games to cover the cost of the boys’ football equipment.
It paid off, as both Mychal and Eric earned scholarships to play ball -- Mychal at Cal and Eric at UCLA. The first couple years Mychal was in college, Yvonne would be at Eric’s high school game on Friday night, then set off for wherever Mychal was slated to play that Saturday. Once they were both in college, and then the pros, it was all about trying to split her time evenly to support her sons.
Only one time was there overlap, as Cal played UCLA when Mychal was a senior and Eric a redshirt freshman. Eric wasn’t playing for the Bruins yet, but his coach allowed him to dress and stand on the sideline opposite his brother.
Sunday will be the first time, then, that the two ever officially have played one another, and it’s a pretty big deal. Mychal said he was holding about 40 tickets to accommodate the friends and family who are coming to Philadelphia for Eagles-Vikings. His dad laughed as he said that the number needed had jumped to 55. Some family members are staying with Mychal, others are renting a row home in Center City.
“I am truly blessed,” said Marvin. “I mean, how many times has somebody had two boys in the NFL? I know there’s a few people out there, but it’s a real blessing from God. And they’re good kids, so that makes it even better. People ask me the same question: who am I going to cheer for? And it’s a very simple answer: I just say defense.”
Yvonne takes the same approach. She roots for health first and good stats for her boys second. Beyond that, she’s just happy to have both of her sons in the same city, if only for a day or two.
“We don’t get holidays together. We haven’t in a long time,” she said.. “You asked me to send pictures, I just don’t have pictures of them anymore together. Not very many. So when we get the opportunity, the camera is clicking. I’ve got pictures of all of us separated, three of us and three of us, my daughter, myself and one of the boys, but all four of us together is very rare.”
Mychal added the two don't get a chance to talk to one another very much in-season because of how busy they are, but each certainly understands the grind that the other is going through.
Mychal and Eric are very much alike in some ways, very different in others, according to Yvonne.
“If you watch their mannerisms, and the way they stand... if you watch their stance out on the field, sometimes you don’t know which one is which. The way they line up, the way their squat is. I have pictures of them on the basketball court, they’re both waiting to get onto the court and they’re both kneeling down the same way, they have their hands on the floor the same way. It’s like they’re identical.”
Both linebackers, and both NFL players. Mychal was selected 46th overall by the Eagles in 2012; Eric 45th by the Vikings in 2015.
But, according to both Yvonne and Mychal, their personalities couldn’t be any more different. Mychal is spontaneous and free-spirited; Eric very focused and deliberate. It is reflected in their style of play. Where Mychal was the MIKE and Eric the WILL back in high school, the script has flipped. Eric is in the middle of the Minnesota defense helping to control the operation while Mychal is more of an improvisational player on the outside.
“They’re so different in some aspects, but they’re just so alike in other aspects, if that makes sense,” said Yvonne. “It’s crazy. But, their hearts are the same, I can tell you that. They both have very big hearts.”
Eric’s stock on the football field is higher at the moment. He registered 92 tackles and four sacks as a rookie, and is averaging seven tackles per game this season to go with six passes defensed and an interception return for a touchdown. Mychal is being used mostly in just base packages and has 13 tackles to this point in the season.
“Once Mychal gets completely healed, I think he’s going to be fine. But you can’t miss [most of] the preseason, 19 practices and go out there expect to be ready to go,” said Marvin. “This is the NFL. To me, he’s still not game-ready yet. He’s getting there. We saw a little bit the last game, but he’s still not where he wants to be. And he’s had a lot of nagging injuries. Like now, he has a busted rib. but he’s going to play with that. But he’s going to be fine. Next year, he won’t miss any spring camp because he sees how far it sets you back. You can’t expect them to play you when you miss that many practices.”
Mychal Kendricks is officially listed as questionable for Sunday.
The brothers will try to carve out some time to hang out before the game. Their schedules are regimented and Sundays go by in a flash, but they’ll do their best to soak in a rare moment where they get to once again share the same field.
“It’s a special time, man. Our family’s going to be there rooting us both on, and I think it will be a good memory -- especially when we win,” said Mychal with a smile, the older brother and competitor coming out of him.
“In all honesty, I want him to do really well. I want him to play just as good as we will. That’s me being his brother. And then me being a competitive opponent, I want to whoop him. We’re coming off two losses, and we have some things to prove.”