Speaker 1: Welcome into the Official Jets Podcast.
Speaker 2: I Eat, Breathe, and sleep the New York Jets my team.
Speaker 3: He knows what it means to wear the Green and White.
Speaker 2: That is a tightrope walk across Niagara Fall.
Speaker 4: That's hard to do.
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Speaker 1: We got an amazing podcast in store for you today.
Speaker 1: In a couple of moments, we're gonna join. We're gonna
Speaker 1: be joined by Jets team MVP from twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: Jamie Surewood. He signed with the Green and White even
Speaker 1: before free agency kicked off. But Green's your overall thoughts
Speaker 1: here is the Jets have gotten this thing underway their
Speaker 1: off season under Darren Mougi and Eron Glenn.
Speaker 6: I think that they've done a great job so far.
Speaker 7: I think that Sherwood is a kind of a microcosm
Speaker 7: of what the Jets want to be. Like Aaron Glenn
Speaker 7: just I don't know him all too well, but speaking
Speaker 7: to him in Indianapoli when he was on our live show,
Speaker 7: he got the sense that he wanted players, hey that
Speaker 7: want to be here, be that play hard. And I
Speaker 7: always with Sherwood revert back to the Dolphins game in
Speaker 7: Miami when he had eighteen tackles. The Jets season had
Speaker 7: already gone down a path that nobody thought that it
Speaker 7: was going to go down, and he had his best
Speaker 7: game of his career. And it just shows like it
Speaker 7: doesn't matter the day, the time, the record, the place.
Speaker 6: Jamie sherw was always going to put in the work and.
Speaker 4: He was rewarded for man.
Speaker 2: He was ready for his opportunity.
Speaker 1: He was a fifth round pick out of Auburn back
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one, and he was a reserve here
Speaker 1: this first three seasons dealt with the achilles and then
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four when CJ. Mosley, the heartbeat of
Speaker 1: that defense, the middle linebacker. He went down with the
Speaker 1: toe injury in Week two and then later sustained, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the neck injury prior to that game Week seven against
Speaker 1: the New England Patriots. He was ready for his moment.
Speaker 1: And the bottom line here is if Sherwood hit the market,
Speaker 1: he would have had multiple suitors. Yeah, but Moogi got
Speaker 1: this done before anybody could take their shot.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think there's a testament to the job that
Speaker 7: Darren Moosey did and who and his staff, and.
Speaker 6: I think what goes overlooked with Jamian Sherwood.
Speaker 7: Obviously he had a great season last year, not only
Speaker 7: for the Jets, obviously in the NFL as well considering
Speaker 7: his tackle numbers. But before that, he was like a
Speaker 7: special team's ace for the Jets. It's not like he
Speaker 7: was just a backup who didn't take a lot of reps.
Speaker 7: He in twenty twenty three took four hundred and twenty
Speaker 7: snaps on special teams. He's the only player on the
Speaker 7: team to go over four hundred, and he was essentially
Speaker 7: one of the core pieces on what was Brent Boyer's
Speaker 7: unit at the time. And then he gets his opportunity
Speaker 7: on defense and he doesn't miss a beat and he
Speaker 7: just steps right in. He gets better every week. And
Speaker 7: you know, if you're a Jets fan, I think you
Speaker 7: got to feel good about this. Then there's no way
Speaker 7: that you can't feel good about it.
Speaker 1: He's a great culture fit, and he's young, and he
Speaker 1: loves ball and he was ready for his opportunity, And
Speaker 1: I thought that was a huge siding because he is
Speaker 1: the quarterback in the defense, and then the pairing with
Speaker 1: him and Quincy Williams, that's a really dynamic middle playing
Speaker 1: behind Quincy's brother, of course, Quinn Williams.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's and it keeps a lot of the defense intact.
Speaker 7: And for what it's worth, I think the Jets defense
Speaker 7: has a lot of very talented players and the nucleus
Speaker 7: of the team with quinnin and Quincy, Jamian Sauce, Michael
Speaker 7: Carter the second there's a lot of talented pieces Jermaine
Speaker 7: and Will McDonald that forgot about them. To me, there's
Speaker 7: no reason why if you're Steve Wilkes, you don't think
Speaker 7: you can be at least above average, right, Like, the
Speaker 7: Jets have really good personnel, and I'm interested to see
Speaker 7: how Steve.
Speaker 6: Wilkes wants to run his defense through these pieces.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're certainly not on because we're here for he
Speaker 1: actually kicked off a couple moments ago.
Speaker 2: So it's Wednesday, we're taping.
Speaker 1: Jets are gonna have to do something at defensive tackle.
Speaker 1: It's been so interesting the movement here throughout the National
Speaker 1: Football League. Javine kin Law he scored a lucrative deal
Speaker 1: with the Washington Commanders. And you know what automatically thought
Speaker 1: when I saw that deal was compensatory picks for the Jets.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty six, not only does kin Law go,
Speaker 1: but Solomon Thomas. No surprise here, because I'm always looking
Speaker 1: at connections throughout the National Football League.
Speaker 2: He joins the Dallas Cowboys. Who's their new defensive line coach?
Speaker 2: It's Aaron White Potton of course.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so smarts on that stuff.
Speaker 2: There you go and then you go back.
Speaker 1: You know, so, I don't know if you want to
Speaker 1: touch upon a defensive tackle at all, or if we
Speaker 1: should go back to the secondary because there's a lot
Speaker 1: of changes there.
Speaker 2: What you do have in place here.
Speaker 1: Is Sauce Gardner, one of the top young talents at
Speaker 1: the position at the cornerback position in football. Michael Carter
Speaker 1: the second who's chomping at the bit to have a
Speaker 1: season where he's fully healthy. I think people forget how
Speaker 1: valuable he is at that nickel position.
Speaker 2: But Brandon Stevens could be your new CB two. Because
Speaker 2: DJ Reed signs with Aaron Glenn's former team in free agency,
Speaker 2: the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: Brandon Eckles agrees to terms with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He
Speaker 1: was the backup there on the outside and then in
Speaker 1: a safety position. We anticipated a lot of movement because
Speaker 1: the Jets had four safeties heading into free agency.
Speaker 2: Ashton Davis. Of course, he signs with Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: But the Jets get a free safety in Andre Cisco,
Speaker 1: a kid who grew up in Queens. Well, he was
Speaker 1: born in Queens, but he grew up on Long Island,
Speaker 1: What's Syracuse.
Speaker 2: And he's a rangy athlete.
Speaker 1: He's just twenty four years old, So Steven's twenty seven
Speaker 1: years old. Played on the outside, It's got some position flexibility,
Speaker 1: and then Cisco is a guy who hopefully can help
Speaker 1: this defense take the.
Speaker 2: Next steps in terms of takeaways.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think that the Andre Cisco move along with
Speaker 7: Stevens won They're both versatile pieces and that's obviously a
Speaker 7: big piece of this equation for the Jets. Again, my
Speaker 7: biggest question is really on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 7: With Wilts, I think less so because we have an
Speaker 7: understanding of what he wants to do. I think on offense,
Speaker 7: when you factor him the Justin Fields move and what
Speaker 7: the Jets have on offense, my biggest question is how
Speaker 7: similar or dissimilar is it actually gonna look from Detroit's offense,
Speaker 7: based on personnel, based on what Tanner Engstrand wants to do.
Speaker 6: We just don't know.
Speaker 7: Like I think it's easy to say, Okay, well, Tanner
Speaker 7: Engstram comes from the Ben Johnson scheme in Detroit. I'm
Speaker 7: just not quite sure how much of a carbon copy
Speaker 7: he'll try to make it.
Speaker 1: I love the Fields edition. I mean, he's twenty six
Speaker 1: years old, he's a former number eleven overall selection in
Speaker 1: the draft. He had some success in Chicago, of course,
Speaker 1: then he goes to Pittsburgh last year he was four
Speaker 1: and two as a starter. I think the Jets offense
Speaker 1: is gonna be predicated on running the football, and again
Speaker 1: they got away from that last year, did not have
Speaker 1: a tremendous lot tremendous amount of success on the ground.
Speaker 1: But there are pieces here, especially in that backfield with
Speaker 1: Breess harn Company and those young backs. Now you add
Speaker 1: fields to the equation, and my thing is, that's a
Speaker 1: fair question. What is Engstrand, how is he gonna dial
Speaker 1: it up? Well, you have different personnel here. But I
Speaker 1: do think what you can take away from Detroit is
Speaker 1: the quarterback is going to be more under center. The
Speaker 1: Jets are going to try to add some more pieces
Speaker 1: to the offensive line because they're going to want to
Speaker 1: dominate upfront, and then they're going to try to get
Speaker 1: the playmakers of the ball with some play action. And
Speaker 1: I really could see the Jets putting in a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure on defenses with those RPOs and the zone
Speaker 1: reads if it is indeed Field, So, I mean Tyrod
Speaker 1: Taller can do that as well. Other guy's got DULs Rutt,
Speaker 1: but Fields as a guy's averaged more than fifty yards
Speaker 1: per game on the grounds throughout his career. He had
Speaker 1: more than a thousand yards a couple of years back
Speaker 1: with the Chicago Bears. And we've seen his development and
Speaker 1: I don't think he's a finished product. So it's gonna
Speaker 1: be interesting pairing him up with Inkstrand and Charles London,
Speaker 1: new quarterback coach.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I think also what the Jets have in Taylor and Fields,
Speaker 7: I think at this point in their career, Fields is
Speaker 7: probably a stronger runner, just given his age and given
Speaker 7: that he has the second most rushing yards by quarterback
Speaker 7: in a single season.
Speaker 2: In NFL history.
Speaker 7: Yep, Tyron I don't know if it's fair to say
Speaker 7: he's probably a little bit more of a polished passer,
Speaker 7: but I would give him a slight edge for sure,
Speaker 7: just as a passer. And he's seen more defenses and
Speaker 7: he's probably than what Justin Fields has seen.
Speaker 6: But to me, their skill sets are similar. So what
Speaker 6: the Jets seem like they're implementing is no matter who
Speaker 6: starts under center, they're gonna run a similar offense. It's
Speaker 6: not a case where.
Speaker 7: This is one offense for this guy and this is
Speaker 7: one offense for another.
Speaker 2: Fields is a big dude too.
Speaker 1: He's sixty three and twenty seven pounds, and Glenn was
Speaker 1: a defensive coordinator, was calling signals against him of course
Speaker 1: when Age was in Detroit and Fields was that quarterback
Speaker 1: in Chicago, so he knows firsthand, Hey, what kind of
Speaker 1: pressure does he put on us as a defense, Because
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to defend all eleven players. He becomes
Speaker 1: a numbers game with Fields back there. So you know,
Speaker 1: good for him to get this opportunity, and good for
Speaker 1: the Jets because this is the guy they wanted. And
Speaker 1: there was a lot of people out there, frankly who
Speaker 1: said Pittsburgh wanted Fields back.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and he was four and two last year as
Speaker 6: a starter.
Speaker 7: And yeah, I think what happened in Pittsburgh is just
Speaker 7: very interesting because we'll never really know, you know, did
Speaker 7: Justin Fields get benched? Was it just it was always
Speaker 7: Russell Wilson's job and when he got healthy he came back. Like,
Speaker 7: we'll never really know the answer, but the facts of
Speaker 7: the facts, Justin Field's foreign to as a starter. He
Speaker 7: had a career high completion percentage, a career high passer rating,
Speaker 7: and he's dynamic with the football when he runs.
Speaker 2: And he's also gonna be thrown at Garrett Wilson.
Speaker 1: And I know Pittsburgh had some interesting pieces, a friar
Speaker 1: moveth at the tight end position, George Pickens, guy can
Speaker 1: get down the field.
Speaker 2: But Field's played.
Speaker 1: With Garrett Wilson before in Ohio State, so those guys
Speaker 1: will rein nite. And again, I think this Jets offense
Speaker 1: ultimately is gonna be predicated on running the football. And oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, this does not necessarily mean there's a
Speaker 1: period that in a sentence at the quarterback position, the
Speaker 1: Jets could go back in the draft and add somebody else.
Speaker 1: We yeah, so we don't know what these guys are
Speaker 1: going to do. Because we haven't heard from Mugie, we
Speaker 1: haven't heard from ag. I think the next time we
Speaker 1: might hear from them is League meetings down in Florida
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks. But it'll be interesting to
Speaker 1: see how they talk about that. But the one thing
Speaker 1: that was clear that Glenn has said since he got
Speaker 1: here boots back on the ground at one Jets drive,
Speaker 1: he wants competition at all positions.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and I think that the Jets will certainly try
Speaker 7: to achieve that at all positions. There's moves to be
Speaker 7: made between now in the draft, and I know that
Speaker 7: what any team, and in this case, what the Jets
Speaker 7: do now, doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to avoid
Speaker 7: that position in the draft. Like we talked about it briefly,
Speaker 7: like tight end. Even if the Jets at a tight end,
Speaker 7: it doesn't necessarily mean that a guy like Tyler Warren,
Speaker 7: who's projected as a potential option of the Jets at
Speaker 7: seven overall.
Speaker 6: Doesn't mean the Jets won't add him.
Speaker 7: Right Well, I just think that there's moves to be made,
Speaker 7: and I think that the Jets are sitting pretty in
Speaker 7: a good spot.
Speaker 1: I don't think the Jets are done in safety, but
Speaker 1: you know, the shuffling in the secondary is interesting. But linebacker,
Speaker 1: that was a huge geit bringing Surewood back. And then
Speaker 1: the other thing that we'll watch here in the early
Speaker 1: stages of free and see, because there are on multiple tiers,
Speaker 1: is we're going to continue to watch it defensive tackle position,
Speaker 1: tight end position on all offense.
Speaker 2: And then speaking of receiver, wide receiver too. I mean,
Speaker 2: Alan Czard is still on the roster.
Speaker 1: You got a couple of young guys in Xavier Gibson
Speaker 1: and Melky Corley who didn't see the field much there
Speaker 1: in his rookie season. But DeVante Adams is now in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles with the Rams.
Speaker 2: So who's going to be lining up across from Wilson
Speaker 2: next year?
Speaker 7: We don't know yet another valid question, and the Jets
Speaker 7: could again sign and draft someone at that position as well.
Speaker 7: You know, I think you mentioned linebacker, and a lot
Speaker 7: of people think about Sherwood and Quincy Williams as they
Speaker 7: naturally do, and you should, but the Jets had a
Speaker 7: lot of reserve linebackers play meaningfuls either snaps on defense
Speaker 7: and really really special teams. Sam mcgualbin and Chas Serrod
Speaker 7: or two's core special teams. Now the question is is
Speaker 7: linebacker a core position for Chris Banjo, the new special
Speaker 7: teams coordinator?
Speaker 6: How does he view special.
Speaker 1: It's a great point because Davis Ashton Davis was a
Speaker 1: very valuable piece for Ramployer when when Boyer was here
Speaker 1: in Nichols as well.
Speaker 2: So listen, bottom.
Speaker 6: Line, Dervin Charles is coming off of major injury.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jets aren't Thoon, but again, nobody's celebrating around here.
Speaker 1: But I thought it was huge to get Fields because
Speaker 1: that's a quarterback they wanted. And then to get Jamie
Speaker 1: and Shortwood that's the way you start.
Speaker 2: Free and seal often. Speaking of Shortwood, let's get to
Speaker 2: that interview right now.
Speaker 5: The Official Jets Podcast is presented by Kendra Scott, the
Speaker 5: jewelry company that's shining bright and doing good shop Game
Speaker 5: Day Ready, Jewelry Styles and so much more at kendrascott
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Speaker 8: What was it like when you're putting pen to paper?
Speaker 9: It still doesn't feel real, but obviously it's an accomplishment.
Speaker 9: Like I've said before, you know, my high school coach
Speaker 9: used to talk about a second contract all the time,
Speaker 9: and I never knew he was talking about like I
Speaker 9: was in high school. So the fact that, like, you know,
Speaker 9: I'm actually doing it now and what he said was true,
Speaker 9: you know, it's just crazy. At the end of the day,
Speaker 9: you know, things like this, it's something you dream.
Speaker 3: Of as a kid.
Speaker 9: You know, getting the opportunity to take care of your family,
Speaker 9: take care of yourself, seeing the work that you put
Speaker 9: in come to light. You know, it's just an amazing feeling.
Speaker 9: And I'm blessed to be in this position I am today.
Speaker 8: All right, people aren't seeing this who are watching right now?
Speaker 8: But your mom is here? Why did you bring her
Speaker 8: the facility today?
Speaker 9: Because she's been there since day one, the first second
Speaker 9: I opened my eyes, the first second I came into
Speaker 9: this world.
Speaker 3: She's been there.
Speaker 9: So I wouldn't be right not to share this moment
Speaker 9: with her. What does she meant to you throughout this
Speaker 9: journey everything? When you know we come up short on Sundays,
Speaker 9: when we come up big on Sundays, you know she's
Speaker 9: she's got the same message, you know, keep going no
Speaker 9: matter what. You know, when I have a bad game,
Speaker 9: when I have a good game, you know, she always
Speaker 9: just tells me like, you know what to do, you
Speaker 9: know how to fix it, and there's always just more
Speaker 9: on the table. Even with this contract that I got,
Speaker 9: you know, not satisfied going for the third contract. You know,
Speaker 9: there's always just more on the table, you know, just
Speaker 9: having her by my side, she just always basically keeps
Speaker 9: that in my ear, you know, don't get satisfied doing
Speaker 9: get comfortable, keep going.
Speaker 1: What was that conversation like when you told her that, hey,
Speaker 1: this is done, now I'm staying here.
Speaker 3: Screaming, Yeah, excitement and yeah that is it.
Speaker 9: Not really too many worries at first. She's just again
Speaker 9: a lot of screaming.
Speaker 8: Okay, So season nine and January sixth, like we were
Speaker 8: just talking about what was your mindset heading into this offseason,
Speaker 8: knowing that.
Speaker 1: You had an expiring contract and you were coming off
Speaker 1: her career.
Speaker 9: Year, praying that I got to stay here. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 9: I can't control what tomorrow brings, and I can only
Speaker 9: control what I can control at the end of the day.
Speaker 9: But knowing that I'm going into free agency and there
Speaker 9: was options and stuff that I could explore and go
Speaker 9: other places, I wanted to be here at the end
Speaker 9: of the day. Regardless of there was a lot of
Speaker 9: chaos that went on last season and stuff like that.
Speaker 9: But again, like the relationships I built with everybody in
Speaker 9: this building, it wouldn't feel right to.
Speaker 3: Me to go somewhere else. You know.
Speaker 9: This is where I've made a home and this is
Speaker 9: where I would like to continue to be for the
Speaker 9: rest of my career and stuff like that. So when
Speaker 9: the season ended, you know, I couldn't wait for basically
Speaker 9: March twelfth, the free agency window, so I could resign here.
Speaker 1: What were those hours like when he saw Bolton re
Speaker 1: sign with the Chiefs, You're looking at the linebacker market
Speaker 1: and you had an each and of course, and then
Speaker 1: leading up to you saying with the Jets, Okay, this
Speaker 1: deal is right, let's get it done before free agency.
Speaker 8: Why did it happen before free agency even starts.
Speaker 9: I wish this happened in January seventh. But you know,
Speaker 9: I can't watch what other people do, obviously, you see it.
Speaker 9: Everybody is different, you know, they had a different career
Speaker 9: than I had, so I couldn't really compare what I
Speaker 9: had going on to theirs. You know, I just had
Speaker 9: to trust God, trust my agent, you know, just stay
Speaker 9: faithful to what I know, and that's just being myself
Speaker 9: at the end of the day, whether it was less
Speaker 9: or more, you know, again, that's not that's out of
Speaker 9: my hands.
Speaker 3: You know. All I can do is.
Speaker 9: Go out there, play to my best ability, make everybody
Speaker 9: proud the best way I can, you know, just keep
Speaker 9: God first.
Speaker 3: Speaking a boy my mom, you know, we talked about it.
Speaker 9: You know, we actually had a number in our head,
Speaker 9: and you know, I was like, well, I don't know this,
Speaker 9: maybe I hope this and she was just like, you know,
Speaker 9: just speaking into existence and the power of the tongue
Speaker 9: is real.
Speaker 3: I did and it happened.
Speaker 1: Have you seen money change people before? And also how
Speaker 1: is your approach going to be the same Jamie as always,
Speaker 1: even though that you were being paid more handsomely than
Speaker 1: you ever have.
Speaker 9: I mean, I wouldn't say like I've seen it change people.
Speaker 9: You know again, you know what people do with their money,
Speaker 9: you know, that's on them at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: What I do with mind is on me.
Speaker 9: I wouldn't say it had changed me, you know, but
Speaker 9: you do have to carry yourself differently when you become
Speaker 9: someone with this type of money.
Speaker 3: I will say it's going to change my family's lives
Speaker 3: for sure. That was the main goal.
Speaker 9: That was the main thing about getting something like this,
Speaker 9: you know, to help out my family, just to give
Speaker 9: us the things that we didn't have before, and again
Speaker 9: just to make us happy.
Speaker 3: That's why I played football, just to help change my
Speaker 3: family life.
Speaker 1: So what were your interactions like with Aaron Glenn, Steve Wilkes.
Speaker 1: Aaron Curry wants this new staff.
Speaker 3: Was a place.
Speaker 9: Each each moment and each conversation was something different, but
Speaker 9: the same thing. Three guys that have played at a
Speaker 9: high level have done the same thing that I'm doing
Speaker 9: at this moment, signing contracts, playing football for NFL teams
Speaker 9: and stuff. So Coach Glenn, I say, off our first interaction,
Speaker 9: I could tell that, you know, he's super passionate.
Speaker 3: He loves football, eat, drink, sleep whatever. Football. With Coach Wilkes,
Speaker 3: I can just tell he's just a happy person.
Speaker 9: He's super excited, very anxious, like, you know, he's ready
Speaker 9: to play ball right now. Coach Curry, you know he
Speaker 9: was super laid back. You know, I could kind of
Speaker 9: see some of myself and him and stuff. So again,
Speaker 9: just having three coaches that have done it the same way,
Speaker 9: I can it for me is different because I can
Speaker 9: see how they see it, they can see how I
Speaker 9: see it, they can see how I feel.
Speaker 3: I can understand how they felt.
Speaker 9: And the fact that they each played three different positions,
Speaker 9: now I'm getting a different perspective from basically different angles
Speaker 9: on the field and coach coach Curry playing linebacker, Coach
Speaker 9: Glenn playing defensive back. So now I can ask some questions,
Speaker 9: how would you do this when you were playing, How
Speaker 9: would you do this when you were in this spot,
Speaker 9: et cetera. And again, it's just a blessing to be
Speaker 9: able to play under these guys going forward.
Speaker 4: How would you describe a g.
Speaker 3: Like I just said, passionate?
Speaker 9: You know, when we started talking about you know, you
Speaker 9: can't listen to the tone. You got to listen to
Speaker 9: the message because like it was getting super into it
Speaker 9: and stuff like that. But the first day we sat down,
Speaker 9: I could just tell that he loves football. We barely
Speaker 9: spoke and he started showing me film and getting on
Speaker 9: the board and stuff like that. And I'm a teachable person,
Speaker 9: coachable person, so it's like I love stuff like that
Speaker 9: because I do love to learn. And you know, we
Speaker 9: don't have a great relationship.
Speaker 1: You're a great athlete, but you love the cerebral aspects
Speaker 1: to the game.
Speaker 8: Can you speak to how much you love.
Speaker 1: The thinking aspect of football, the study that goes involved,
Speaker 1: and how much that work off.
Speaker 8: The field put you in position to succeed last year?
Speaker 9: Well again, making the transition from safety to linebacker. You know,
Speaker 9: it's a different game, and now it's Any decision I
Speaker 9: make now has to be a little bit faster just
Speaker 9: because I'm closer to the line of scrimmage. So you know,
Speaker 9: the best football players are the smartest football players understanding that, Like,
Speaker 9: once the offense breaks the huddle, if you can already
Speaker 9: at least eliminate the things that they're not gonna do,
Speaker 9: that's just gonna put you one step forward. So I
Speaker 9: spend a lot of time just studying just so I
Speaker 9: can get that one step ahead, get that one inch
Speaker 9: on the offense. Because the game is, the game of
Speaker 9: football is all about inches. So again, me just understanding
Speaker 9: where they're not gonna run the ball, where they're not
Speaker 9: gonna throw the ball, It's gonna put me in a
Speaker 9: better position. It's gonna put my teammates in a better position.
Speaker 9: From a communications standpoint, y'all can just play.
Speaker 3: As fast as possible.
Speaker 4: Mike linebacker, you consider that the quarterback of the defense.
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, without the mic linebacker, I mean, it could
Speaker 9: really be any position. But in our defense, the mic
Speaker 9: does make the communication. So without him, the other ten
Speaker 9: players won't be able to get the call. He is
Speaker 9: the one with the green dot. So the defensive coordinators
Speaker 9: is telling me at the end of the day, or
Speaker 9: telling who's ever wearing that?
Speaker 3: So he is a quarterback.
Speaker 1: Were you naturally a vocal guy or did that come
Speaker 1: with time in terms of, hey, listen, everybody's looking at
Speaker 1: me and I'm going to take command here.
Speaker 3: No, I wasn't in college. I doesn't speak at all.
Speaker 9: And then some of my coaches, you know, they got
Speaker 9: it out me, yelling at me to just be louder.
Speaker 9: And then like I sat there and just said, you know,
Speaker 9: like if I just speak a little louder, they stop
Speaker 9: yelling at me. So ultimately that led and translated to
Speaker 9: the NFL. And then again as I gained more confidence
Speaker 9: and got more comfortable around my teammates to helped me
Speaker 9: become a better leader and a more vocal leader and
Speaker 9: stuff like that. So again, just going out there on Sundays.
Speaker 9: It just became like us just hanging out in the
Speaker 9: locker room, us just being out of practice in the
Speaker 9: meeting room, just me being able to say whatever I
Speaker 9: want to say respectfully to my teammates and ultimately helping
Speaker 9: us try to get the job done.
Speaker 4: What is CJ mostly meant to?
Speaker 3: For everything?
Speaker 9: I'll say, you know, God makes no mistakes in anything
Speaker 9: that he does, and the people that he.
Speaker 3: Makes you cross paths with, he does it for a reason. CJ.
Speaker 9: You know, from the moment I got in here, you know,
Speaker 9: I was nervous to just speak to CJ just because
Speaker 9: of CJ. Like I used to play the video game
Speaker 9: and he was on there. He also went to the
Speaker 9: rival school of my college, so it was like, I
Speaker 9: don't know if we're gonna be friends. I don't know
Speaker 9: how serious the rival is to him. But you know,
Speaker 9: he's just been great every day he's here. He just
Speaker 9: answers every question that we have for him, no matter
Speaker 9: who asked, no matter when. You know, I could text
Speaker 9: him right now, he'll answer a question that I have.
Speaker 3: And he's just been amazing.
Speaker 9: Like you know, he put his arm around me, and
Speaker 9: you know, basically you just said, we're going to do
Speaker 9: it together, and you know, I always appreciate him, and
Speaker 9: without him and other guys in that room, you know,
Speaker 9: this moment, this opportunity, wouldn't be possible.
Speaker 1: You don't have the team success that you guys wanted
Speaker 1: last year on the field, of course, finishing five to twelve,
Speaker 1: But can you speak to the individual steps that you
Speaker 1: took along the way in twenty twenty four that led
Speaker 1: you to being Team MVP voted by the guys in
Speaker 1: the room.
Speaker 9: I'll just say basically again, just still on CJ. You know,
Speaker 9: obviously when he went down, I was devastating to our room,
Speaker 9: to our defense, to our team because you know, he's
Speaker 9: our captain, he's our leader. So for me to have
Speaker 9: to basically fill in that spot take tremendous pride with
Speaker 9: it because.
Speaker 3: Not only did I have to.
Speaker 9: Play to his standard, to his level of expertise, I
Speaker 9: had to be the one to get our defense set.
Speaker 9: We didn't come up the way we wanted to this season,
Speaker 9: like you said, but again, just taking on that leadership
Speaker 9: role was the main thing.
Speaker 3: Regardless of the.
Speaker 9: Accolades, the stats, you know that all came with just
Speaker 9: me being a player of the game and studying stuff.
Speaker 9: But I say, like, really everything came because of how
Speaker 9: comfortable I am around my teammates, the respect that they
Speaker 9: had for me to come in and feel in for him.
Speaker 9: So without them, none of that would be possible, because
Speaker 9: I could have just gone out there and if I
Speaker 9: didn't feel the love from them, I wouldn't have been
Speaker 9: able to play the way I would have liked. To
Speaker 9: the fact that they embraced me stepping in and you know,
Speaker 9: they believed in me, that was everything for me, and
Speaker 9: everything else just happened.
Speaker 1: Were there games that you would say that you were
Speaker 1: in a zone, Maybe it's a Miami where you have
Speaker 1: eighteen tackles. I think there were six or seven games
Speaker 1: where you attend plus tackles where you're just like, whatever
Speaker 1: play is out there on the field, I'm gonna be there.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make sure somebody's going down.
Speaker 9: Well, you know, every game, you know, I had to
Speaker 9: have that mindset because you know, I'm playing next to
Speaker 9: Quincy Williams. You know, he's the fastest dude on the field,
Speaker 9: so it's like, if I don't get there, he's gonna
Speaker 9: get there. And again, that's the type of respect you
Speaker 9: want to have for a player you're playing next to,
Speaker 9: because when the game's not funny anymore, you're not gonna
Speaker 9: you're not gonna love it. So the fact that like
Speaker 9: he's my brother and I can go out there and
Speaker 9: compete with him, and like, you know, it's like nah,
Speaker 9: because I want to be better than you, because we're
Speaker 9: trying to make each other better. Uh, that's what basically
Speaker 9: would put me in the zone. Like I'm playing next to.
Speaker 3: An All pro player. I got to play up to
Speaker 3: his standard.
Speaker 9: I got to play to the standard that he created.
Speaker 1: So yeah, how much do you enjoy it? The cat
Speaker 1: and mouse game that happens out there on the field.
Speaker 1: Brian Baldinger just did a breakdown to you, And there's
Speaker 1: plays where you're faking coming under pressure and then you're
Speaker 1: turned around reeling back in coverage because you see that
Speaker 1: oftentimes where you're saying you're showing something but you're going
Speaker 1: somewhere else.
Speaker 9: Well, you got some amazing quarterbacks on the other side
Speaker 9: of the ball, guys in our division and across the league.
Speaker 9: So having a guy like Air in the past couple
Speaker 9: of years playing across from him, he taught me so much.
Speaker 3: Taught me where to look.
Speaker 9: Where to be at, how quarterback's eyes can control us,
Speaker 9: and basically how a quarterback knows what we're taught to
Speaker 9: do and they're going against our rules. So being able
Speaker 9: to disguise and be able to drop back and come
Speaker 9: forward and side to side, you know, all that stuff
Speaker 9: matters because again, those guys get paid to Those guys
Speaker 9: are just as smart as me, if not smart, So
Speaker 9: trying to figure out ways to outsmart them to put
Speaker 9: myself in a position to make a play. Again, like
Speaker 9: I said earlier, it's a game of inches, so finding
Speaker 9: that one little inch to be successful, It all matters.
Speaker 1: Do you have expectations for yourself coming out of Auburn
Speaker 1: twenty one?
Speaker 9: I mean, obviously to just keep getting better. You know,
Speaker 9: when I heard I was going to be transitioned to linebacker,
Speaker 9: at first, you know, I was a little bummed because
Speaker 9: you know, I had worked my whole life, my whole
Speaker 9: high school career, trying to be a safety in college
Speaker 9: playing safety. But my only goal was, you know, just
Speaker 9: go like this is something I worked for. So regardless
Speaker 9: of what happened, I wasn't gonna let it beat beat
Speaker 9: me down. You know, I was just gonna get up
Speaker 9: every time and do what I had to do. At
Speaker 9: the end of the day, did I know what I
Speaker 9: was getting myself into?
Speaker 3: Not at all.
Speaker 9: But again, I had made it to the NFL for
Speaker 9: a reason, you know. I know God didn't bring me
Speaker 9: this fars just to bring me that far, and I
Speaker 9: knew there was there was more on the table for myself.
Speaker 1: How are you absorbing the rest of what the Jets
Speaker 1: are doing in free agency right now? You've got a
Speaker 1: couple of new teammates and the defensive side of the
Speaker 1: ball and Brandon Stevens and Andre Cisco of course.
Speaker 9: So thinking about Andre Cisco is we graduated high school
Speaker 9: at the same time. So like I've seen that, I've
Speaker 9: seen his name everywhere. You know, he's a phenomenal player,
Speaker 9: just watching him throughout college as Sarah ques Uh, He's
Speaker 9: a ball hall, you know, he makes plays all across
Speaker 9: the field. So I'm excited to play with a guy
Speaker 9: like that. Brandon Stevens, I'm excited for him and his family.
Speaker 9: You know, he's helped change his family, his lives for
Speaker 9: the rest of the rest of the time. And again
Speaker 9: just going forward to everybody else after just meeting with everybody,
Speaker 9: Darren ag You know they love ball, so I know they're.
Speaker 3: Gonna find guys that love ball.
Speaker 9: And I'm just excited to play with everybody, build more relationships,
Speaker 9: make friendships and doing stuff in the city, just everything.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you how much pressure does a
Speaker 1: quarterback like Justin Fields put on a defense a lot?
Speaker 9: You know, he can run, he can throw the same thing.
Speaker 9: He graduated twenty eighteen, just like us. You know, I
Speaker 9: watched him when he was at Georgia and then he
Speaker 9: went to Ohio State, and then I've watched him throughout
Speaker 9: his career in the league. You know, he's gonna make
Speaker 9: us better at practice. You know we need something like that.
Speaker 9: And he's gonna make defenses worry because it's like, you
Speaker 9: don't know if he's gonna run it, you don't know
Speaker 9: if he's gonna throw it.
Speaker 3: You don't know what you're gonna get at him.
Speaker 9: So I'm excited to play with him, you know, happy
Speaker 9: for him and his family as well.
Speaker 1: How difficult is that to defend those rbo it's his
Speaker 1: own reads, and on top of it, this is a
Speaker 1: big dude who's got an explosive arm.
Speaker 9: It's hard because the moment you turn your back and
Speaker 9: you're in coverage and stuff, and you're thirty yards downfield
Speaker 9: and it's like third and long. You're hoping to get
Speaker 9: off the field, and the guy like that just runs
Speaker 9: and it's first down again, and now you're on the field.
Speaker 9: So it can be demoralizing to a defense. And that's
Speaker 9: what he's gonna do for us. He's gonna help break
Speaker 9: defenses down, and our defense is gonna get on the field,
Speaker 9: do what we gotta do, and we'll get some wins.
Speaker 4: You've played here for seasons.
Speaker 1: How hungry are you to turn this thing around and
Speaker 1: be a part of it now? Because you know you're
Speaker 1: not going anywhere else. Your interest could be one Jets
Speaker 1: drive for a while.
Speaker 3: Oh forever, I hope. But that was the main thing
Speaker 3: about me coming back here.
Speaker 9: You know, I wanted to since I started here and
Speaker 9: it hasn't gone the way that I've wanted that everyone
Speaker 9: else is wanted. I want to help be a part
Speaker 9: of the reason it does turn around again. Like the
Speaker 9: guys we're getting now, the guys that we have on
Speaker 9: the team, I want us all to be smiling, hosting
Speaker 9: a trophy, having celebrations and parades in the city, you know,
Speaker 9: I feel like every man and every woman in this
Speaker 9: building deserves that because you know, it hasn't been the
Speaker 9: best of the last few years. And again it would
Speaker 9: have hurt me to go somewhere else and to see
Speaker 9: the success that the Jets are gonna have in twenty five.
Speaker 3: So I wanted nothing but to be a part of that.
Speaker 1: I think there's gonna be a lot more forty fours
Speaker 1: at Les Stadium the next season.
Speaker 4: What's your message to the fame since we move ahead.
Speaker 9: No matter what jersey you have on, you know, just
Speaker 9: continue to show up and show out again. Like I
Speaker 9: said before, it's not gonna the sun isn't gonna shine
Speaker 9: every day, but it also isn't gonna rain every day.
Speaker 9: As long as you just stick with us and they
Speaker 9: support us, you know, ultimately that's all you need. Good foundation,
Speaker 9: good fans, and just like a good like just someone
Speaker 9: like a shoulder the li on. Basically, like I said,
Speaker 9: like when it's raining, still stick beside us.
Speaker 3: And when it's shine and stick beside us. And ultimately,
Speaker 3: you know, come January next year, we're all gonna be happy.
Speaker 1: Well, the sun doesn't shine every day, but the sun
Speaker 1: certainly is shining today Jamie Sure with Congressman.
Speaker 3: Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Mhm m hm hm