Sometimes, familiarity is the difference.
As a senior at the University of Oregon playing under Head Coach Chip Kelly and Defensive Line Coach Jerry Azzinaro in 2010, defensive lineman Brandon Bair earned second-team All-Pac-10 honors after totaling 47 tackles and three sacks.
But then, after spending two seasons on Kansas City's and Oakland's rosters as an inactive player, he followed them to Philadelphia when the two coaches were hired by the Eagles in 2013.
"I played for him in college, but my relationship wasn't with Chip Kelly because I was a D-lineman and he was on the offensive side of things. My relationship was with Jerry Azzinaro," Bair says. "He knew who I was as a person, as a player, as a character. And so I'm sure that had something to do it, but I wasn't the one making those calls.
"I had actually met with three or four different teams. I was on Injured Reserve at the time with the Raiders, and so it was just a unique scenario."
After spending a year on the Eagles' practice squad, the scenario surrounding the 2014 season-opener against Jacksonville was better than unique, it was a win. In Bair's first NFL game, he contributed to the 34-17 victory by blocking Josh Scobee's 36-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter.
"I remember my teammates grabbing the football and saying, 'You've got to hold on to this! Keep it, it's yours,'" Bair says. "And I was like, 'Oh, cool.'"
Clearly laid-back, his keepsake ball collection grew in Week 11 at Green Bay's Lambeau Field when he blocked his second kick of the season by batting down Mason Crosby's extra point.
Bair's first career start the following year in Week 3 of the 2015 season against the New York Jets was memorable, too.
"Not only was that my first career start, that was awesome, but I played one of my best games ever. It was just a really good game, a good experience," Bair says. "Just a bunch of tackles for loss. I batted down two or three passes that the quarterback (Ryan Fitzpatrick) was trying to throw and I almost intercepted one.
"I batted it down and caught it on the back of the O-lineman, but then he spun out and it fell out of my hand. Just really was disruptive and had a great presence that game. (Watching the game later) the announcer at one point said, 'I have no idea who this kid is, but we all know who he is now.'
"Yeah, you just kind of take those moments, but you don't dwell on them too long or you're not going to be ready for the next one."
Playing in 21 games during his three years in Philadelphia, Bair had 1.5 sacks and 28 tackles, 20 solo.
What are among his fondest memories as an Eagle?
"One of my favorite memories with the Eagles fans was my first year there, and Chip Kelly's first year. I think they'd only won four games the season before, and then we come in and won 10 games and went into the playoffs," Bair says.
"We lost our playoff game (to New Orleans, 26-24), but the crowd stood up and cheered for us. That was a neat moment because Philly's not known for cheering when their team loses. But it was just in support of, 'Hey, we're making some changes and we're moving the program in the right direction, taking it from where it was.' It was really good.
"The game is fun. I love the game. But it's the camaraderie, it's the players, the coaches, the people I get to meet and work with, the chances to know the owners and the different coaching staffs. So to me, it has nothing to do with the big games and the big moments, it's just the chance that I got to meet some really cool people. Just great relationships that I'll have for the rest of my life."
Bair is now an "entrepreneur kind of guy." He owns rental communities in Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, and is the general manager of Harry's Fork Homes in St. Anthony, Idaho, which constructs modular and manufactured homes.
"There was an opportunity to be able to start a dealership that not only could provide for our community, but it also could provide me easier access to continue to build my rental communities," Bair says.
"A community of rentals, typically, a lot of times people call them mobile home parks, but I'm building brand new ones. So to have rental communities and providing housing in areas where it's needed, I look for opportunities to continue to grow that side of my business."
Another one of Bair's businesses is Rokman Waterproof.
"I own an outdoor company where I travel around the world and hunt and fish, and we build the gear," he says. "We build waterproof backpacks and vinyl harnesses and gun cases and gear for your outdoor experiences. That's one of the things I'm pretty passionate about."
In July, Bair's company will host its third Rokman Games, which includes a $1 Million Archery Shoot. More than 2,000 archers are expected to participate in the four-day event which is held on a ski slope. They use their bows and arrows to shoot at 3-D targets.
"It's basically like a golf course," Bair says. "You shoot and keep score, and you can hang out with your buddies. You walk down the mountain and then get on the ski lift and ride to the top and go to another course.
"I kind of gauge it a little bit off of my career in football, in that if you want to get really good at what you're doing, you need to put in your practice. But not just practice, you've got to put yourself in real-life scenarios. This is what this does for people that are archers. We create real-life scenarios and they use their bows to hone their craft.
"We've partnered up with the (conservation group) Mule Deer Foundation, and do a big banquet and auction and just have a fun night to raise money for them."
A five-year NFL veteran. A successful businessman. In 2021, Bair also became a hero.
While driving to work one morning in early May, he saw a moving train hit a semi-truck and cause an instant explosion. Bair ran to the truck and pulled the driver out through a rear window, and within seconds of them getting away, the cab and everything in it went up in flames.
"My office is right across the highway from where it happened," Bair says. "It gets brought up quite a bit and I always tell everybody that, 'The Lord wanted him alive, because there's no way he should have been. And no way that I should have been able to do what I did.' So there's a pretty big miracle on his behalf. I'm just grateful that he's alive and doing well."
Bair's actions were recognized when the Carnegie Hero Foundation presented him with the Carnegie Medal, which the Foundation describes as North America's highest honor for civilian heroism.
"This isn't something that somebody chooses to do," Bair says. "It's not like I go driving into situations like this all the time for the heck of it, right? It happened to be in a place where the Lord needed me to be, to save this guy's life at the moment. Those kinds of things ... I mean, I appreciate the recognition and the things that they're saying about it, but it's not as important as that guy's alive."
Making his home in Southeast Idaho with his wife, Jordan, and their daughters: Brooklyn, Rylee, Jessie, and Audrey; what's the best thing about being Brandon Bair today?
"Those four kids. That's it for me right now," he says. "Everything revolves around that little family of mine. They're just amazing. I look forward to every day and every opportunity to go watch them learn and grow in their own crafts and their sports and their music and their dance, whatever it is that they're doing. That's the absolute best thing."
