When Jake Paul was slamming the NFL, one would pause to think: Is he merely trolling, or is he genuinely serious? After his blunt take on a football career caused a mini-storm in the sporting world, he now, appearing on The Pivot Podcast, found himself fielding a barrage of questions from former athletes. And former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark did not mince his words.

“To have the audacity to say it out loud that that’s what you’re going to do,” asked Clark, intrigued by Paul’s comments on athleticism. “What makes you so confident that you can do what we were able to do for a living?”

“I think just God believing in myself and, you know, manifestation and self-belief are some of the most powerful things in the world,” Paul replied. “And I have God-given talents and athleticism. And when I said I was going to box and beat all of these people and beat Ben Askren and Nate Robinson, Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva, it was the same response that I’m getting now when I say I’m going to go play slot receiver cuz there was no background.”

Paul’s confidence in pursuing an NFL career stems from what he claims were responses from teams that allegedly reached out to him. Hoping to receive a slot receiver’s job with the Cleveland Browns, he considers the transition relatively simple given he has already done similar things when he switched to boxing after gaining immense success as a YouTuber.

While the former Disney star’s boxing journey has often come under scrutiny, especially for the choice of opponents he has faced, he eventually built a resume that not only earned him a mention among the cruiserweight division’s top-ranked contenders but also made him one of the sport’s biggest draws.

Adding to that is Paul’s own conviction, supported by an analysis, that suggests boxing stands above several disciplines as the toughest sport. He built his reputation in an individual sport. In contrast, football relies on multiple players in a team, each performing different roles while supporting one another. With that difference in mind, he felt the “mentality is different.”

His response, however, failed to dispel doubts.

According to Clark, if someone like Terence Crawford had expressed similar ambitions, he would have taken him seriously. But it’s difficult to fathom the seriousness in Paul’s words, given his arguments largely rest on watching other football players.

The Cleveland native stood his ground. “Yeah, 100%,” he stated, when both Clark and co-host Channing Crowder wondered if his confidence stemmed merely from watching someone like Wes Walker play, and all of a sudden he felt, “Oh, shoot. I can go do that.”

Disagreeing with Paul’s notions, Clark said, “You can’t go do that. But I think you’re truly discounting how talented these people are at doing that one thing,” prompting a response from the YouTuber-turned-fighter, who insisted that the switch to football may not be as hard as it is made out to be.

The bigger question is whether Paul can realistically pursue that dream while managing his fighting career and business ventures and whether an NFL team would even consider taking a chance on someone without professional experience.