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Aden Durde: "There Are Very Prominent People On This Defense" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. I'm grateful to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: be here and you.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Just for one more time, just say your name so
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: we can get as straight from the move on.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: Adam dirty, but everyone calls me eighty, so just call
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: me Ad. It makes it simple, makes it easy. And
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: then that's why I answered to you, Bob.
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  Speaker 2: Candt it with the Seattle Times. It sounded like it
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: you didn't have much of a connection early with Mike
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: McDonald kind of prior to all of us. How did
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  Speaker 2: that all kind of come together and then you get.
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  Speaker 1: Involved with this John, Yeah, No, I didn't have any
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  Speaker 1: any connection.
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  Speaker 3: Just go call about an interview and went for the
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  Speaker 3: interview and kind of it snowballed from there and we
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  Speaker 3: were rolling. Just met a great guy and kind of
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  Speaker 3: we connected and had the same philosophy and a lot
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  Speaker 3: of things, and we were going from there.
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  Speaker 2: Mike mentioned that as well, kind of same philosophy.
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  Speaker 3: Just what is it about the way you see defense
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  Speaker 3: and the way he does that that clicked. Just really
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  Speaker 3: like how the game's played, how people try and create
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  Speaker 3: space in the game where they're down and distance the
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: situation is, how we are at the quarterback, how we
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: make them uncomfortable those kind of things. Just talk different
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  Speaker 3: things in the run game, how we attack different places,
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  Speaker 3: and it just kind of clicked, you know, like as
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  Speaker 3: we was going through it and the conversation carried on.
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  Speaker 1: You know, time goes by and you don't feel.
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  Speaker 3: Like time's going by, and you just know they're kind
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  Speaker 3: of with the right people.
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  Speaker 2: And now you know, you got to build the defense up.
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  Speaker 2: But what are the hallmarks of the defense that you want.
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  Speaker 1: The defense to have?
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  Speaker 3: I think really when you're thinking about that, the way
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  Speaker 3: I kind of look in and the way we kind
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: of look and we talk about is like looking at
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  Speaker 3: in like three different levels, like us, Okay, really, how
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  Speaker 3: do we communicate and play on together as all three levels?
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  Speaker 3: I think, like you watch the Defense from Baltimore, they
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  Speaker 3: have a great way of playing on all three levels together.
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  Speaker 3: You see that they're connected, and I think that's a
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  Speaker 3: big part of the way you play. And then really
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  Speaker 3: the standard, you know you have it, like the standard
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  Speaker 3: is a fabric of this building, bro. You can feel
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  Speaker 3: it when you walk in, you know, like, and to
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  Speaker 3: come and add to that is really exciting. So it's like,
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  Speaker 3: how how really are we fundamentally some of the things
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  Speaker 3: that Jay talk just talked about, like how we fundamentally sound,
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  Speaker 3: how we play in the standard we want to play
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  Speaker 3: as a group, and really the last thing is just
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  Speaker 3: attacking the ball, you know, like if we're if we're
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  Speaker 3: attacking the ball, there's all the system stuff on top
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  Speaker 3: of that, but really, really in those three problems, if
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  Speaker 3: you're rolling there, that's our kind of philosophy. And really
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  Speaker 3: how I've learned to build this my kind of philosophy
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  Speaker 3: through my time in the league.
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  Speaker 2: What are the foundations of your philosophy?
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  Speaker 4: Like what what previous coordinators or previous styles do you
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  Speaker 4: feel like.
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  Speaker 2: You call from to create what you want to part
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  Speaker 2: on this.
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  Speaker 3: I love guys I've been around really like obviously d Q,
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  Speaker 3: Dan Quinn, Raheem, Jeff Olbrick. Those guys have had big
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  Speaker 3: impacts on my career. You know, worked under Jeff as
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  Speaker 3: an assistant, worked under Raw when he was defensive coordinate,
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  Speaker 3: being acuteately my whole professional coaching career. So like, those
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  Speaker 3: guys have really kind of made me think about the game,
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  Speaker 3: made me think about how you make people play their
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  Speaker 3: best football. I think some of those guys that's their superpower,
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  Speaker 3: you know, And how communication is key and how fundamental
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  Speaker 3: is the key.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned Q.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously he spent a decent amount of time here in
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  Speaker 3: the process that you talked to him about Seattle about I.
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  Speaker 1: Kind of didn't like in this actual process. I didn't really.
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  Speaker 3: It's kind of because it kind of it all happened
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  Speaker 3: for us both at the same time, so we kind
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  Speaker 3: of got like went like that and got lost in
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: the kind of craziness that was going on. I think
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  Speaker 3: he got the Washington and I was getting on a
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  Speaker 3: plane to Seattle. And then the next time I spoke
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  Speaker 3: to him a few weeks a few days ago, I
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  Speaker 3: spoke to him this morning.
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  Speaker 1: That's the last time.
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  Speaker 3: Like, so, no, we really kind of we've just come
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  Speaker 3: back together now. So he means a lot to me.
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  Speaker 4: Defense to being a championship caliber defense as far as
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  Speaker 4: what you having a roster right now.
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  Speaker 2: And what do you need to you can't get there?
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  Speaker 3: I think that's a great question like that. I don't
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  Speaker 3: want to do it in justice because I literally landed
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  Speaker 3: a day and a half ago. I'm kind of been hiring,
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  Speaker 3: like I like when this team played against us in Dallas,
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  Speaker 3: I could feel the defense I was coaching defense, So
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  Speaker 3: I wasn't really paying attention to the offense, but I
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  Speaker 3: could feel the speed that they were moving, with the
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  Speaker 3: intent that they played with.
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  Speaker 1: You know, So like, I definitely know it's there.
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  Speaker 3: I just don't want to answer your question and give like,
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  Speaker 3: you know, and say something that I haven't got the
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  Speaker 3: full picture of right now.
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  Speaker 2: How did you first get into American football?
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  Speaker 1: That's a long time ago. In England, it was like
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  Speaker 1: when I was young, it.
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  Speaker 3: Was like on terrestrial TV, so it was on a
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  Speaker 3: channel that was on at a certain time on Sundays,
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  Speaker 3: and I just kind of liked it and it was random.
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  Speaker 3: There was a kid in my street that liked it,
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  Speaker 3: and my mom bought us a football and we started playing,
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  Speaker 3: and then I found a team and kind of never
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  Speaker 3: an expectation to go where I've gone, but I just
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  Speaker 3: fell in love with the sport and kind of ignited
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  Speaker 3: from there and that's how I found it.
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  Speaker 2: This used to be a large contingent fans in Britain.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, definitely. I feel like I feel like over
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  Speaker 1: the last ten years, the Seahawks be like I've come.
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  Speaker 3: And gone from England, so like really I've been here
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  Speaker 3: full time from twenty eighteen, but like with the build
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  Speaker 3: of the IPP program and stuff. I was traveling around
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  Speaker 3: for like the last ten years, but the growth of
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  Speaker 3: football internationally has like literally the the acceleration has just
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  Speaker 3: gone like this slow and then suddenly, I would say,
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  Speaker 3: in the last ten to fifteen years, it's just gone
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  Speaker 3: like that. And I think, like there's there's obviously those
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  Speaker 3: teams that have the kind of I call it when
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  Speaker 3: I got into football at the nineties, like the Cowboys
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  Speaker 3: and the Washington Commanders, Miami those teams were big in Europe.
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  Speaker 3: But now like the point, like I feel like the
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  Speaker 3: Seahawks a couple of other teams have really like kind
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  Speaker 3: of built a fan base out there, a great talking
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  Speaker 3: to Mike about how it might work with him coin
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: defensive signals, just how I'm like work on game day
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  Speaker 3: or during the week, as you guys prepare what your
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: role might be in that in that scenario. Yeah, I
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  Speaker 3: think I think that's gonna be built over time, you know,
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  Speaker 3: like like as we go through this, we're gonna kind
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  Speaker 3: of build that process. I think as one of my
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  Speaker 3: roles I think is important is really getting to know him,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I need like I've always found that whenever
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  Speaker 3: I've worked for someone. If the more I understand them,
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  Speaker 3: the more I can see around corners for them, the
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  Speaker 3: more I can support them, the more successful we become.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I this is a true partnership. So as
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  Speaker 3: we work through this, I think that's my That's one
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  Speaker 3: of my biggest roles in the short term is really
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  Speaker 3: like learning him.
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  Speaker 1: How does he think, how does he move around?
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  Speaker 3: Where's his space is to talk when he's focused on something?
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  Speaker 3: Do you know, Like that's ha, that that's I've started
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  Speaker 3: that process, but that I see that as like a
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  Speaker 3: long process that I would be doing in this offseason.
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  Speaker 2: Greg Bell the news tributes or m What your drives
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  Speaker 2: you to coaching? What do you what are you attracted
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  Speaker 2: to it?
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  Speaker 3: What are you enjoying most of about That's a great question,
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  Speaker 3: Like I like to be honest with you, like it's
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  Speaker 3: just the people, like at the core of it, Like
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  Speaker 3: I really enjoy teaching. I really help I enjoy helping
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  Speaker 3: people they help me. I think all the people I've
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  Speaker 3: coached through my career have had massive impacts on me,
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  Speaker 3: And I feel like the people that have coached me
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  Speaker 3: have had massive impacts on me. So I feel like
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  Speaker 3: to give that back. Every time I do that the
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  Speaker 3: right way, I feel good things happen in my career.
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  Speaker 3: So like that's really my where my passion comes from.
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  Speaker 2: Who is your mentor that you've pattern your coaching me.
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  Speaker 3: When I when I was a coach, I would say
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  Speaker 3: Dan dq Rahim, like I said Brick. There's a few
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  Speaker 3: other coaches, but they're like the most apparent in this
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: this time. You know, what do you take away from
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  Speaker 3: working the International Capitalist Program? What was some of the.
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  Speaker 1: I think professionally for me, I think a.
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  Speaker 3: Big part of that is you your you never skip
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  Speaker 3: a beat.
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  Speaker 1: You know, like every detail matters.
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  Speaker 3: So like when you're going through that and you're coaching
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  Speaker 3: someone that has never done any of it before, there's
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  Speaker 3: things that are in your sarf.
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  Speaker 1: It's in all of us.
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  Speaker 3: They're in our subconscious that we just expect someone to do.
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  Speaker 1: They don't know that.
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  Speaker 3: So like it it really and throughout my career I've
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  Speaker 3: had that I've coached in London, I've done the same
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  Speaker 3: thing like I've done it when I was a player,
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  Speaker 3: there was stuff I didn't know, so like really like
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  Speaker 3: covering all the bases, making sure is my communication clear
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  Speaker 3: where being detailed as I go into.
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  Speaker 1: Something trying to understand what they're thinking.
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  Speaker 3: You know, like those are the things professionally, and then
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  Speaker 3: I would say personally, what you get from me is
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  Speaker 3: life changing, you know, like you go fa Obada and
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  Speaker 3: he's changed his life and we're still like close friends.
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  Speaker 1: Jordan my life.
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  Speaker 3: They're like I was at Jordan's wedding, they like some
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  Speaker 3: of my they like my family now, you know, So
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  Speaker 3: like I see it as a professional and a personal
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  Speaker 3: gain on both levels.
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  Speaker 2: What do you like to play for a players coach?
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  Speaker 3: He already asked, Because the honest person, that's why. That's
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  Speaker 3: how I see it. Is like I feel you have
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  Speaker 3: to say what you see all the time. And I
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  Speaker 3: feel if you say that, then you have to live it.
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  Speaker 3: So like if you do that, and you're as accountable
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  Speaker 3: as everyone else. So like, if you're doing really well,
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  Speaker 3: we should say that, we should praise you. If you're
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: not doing something to the standard, we should say that.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: If I'm not doing it, you should say that, you know,
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  Speaker 3: Like I feel like this is at this level of football,
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  Speaker 3: you're dealing with people that are grown men. And I
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  Speaker 3: think to become a championship team or a dominant team,
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: to be basically there when the end is coming, like
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  Speaker 3: in this league, I think that level of accountability has
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: to be the highest between your and then.
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  Speaker 4: There's still a lot of details to stort of out
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  Speaker 4: between now and the season.
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  Speaker 2: But when fans talk about your.
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  Speaker 3: Defense, what do you want them to see out of
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  Speaker 3: the defense that you're coordinated. I always think about this,
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  Speaker 3: like I think when and I think it's not it's
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: not just miss all of us of staff. I think
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  Speaker 3: when you see it, it's like what do your family
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: when your family come, what do they see?
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  Speaker 1: Like?
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  Speaker 3: I know when like when I was in Dallas and
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  Speaker 3: obviously I was coaching the D line, I knew when
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  Speaker 3: we was good because I'd get in a car and
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  Speaker 3: my own my wife would.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Be like, they were like animals out there today. They
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: was flying around the field. And then some days should
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: get in.
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  Speaker 3: The car and didn't look like that.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: So you like, I think, you know, I think we
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: all know what it wants to look like.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: We want to be covering grass and we want to
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  Speaker 3: be fundamentally sound and systematically sound and communicating on all levels.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: How did your association with dan Quan began?
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  Speaker 3: It was true, basically, I'll try and cut it really short. Basically,
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: I took an internship with the Dallas Cowboys and the
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: guy that I worked with through those two years on
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: and off part time, his name was Jerome Henderson, and
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: he had a huge impact on my career. He's really
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: the person that gave me my opportunity from the rip
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: and he ended up becoming the past game coordinator in Atlanta.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: And one day he called me and said, do you
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: wanna come up to a combine and meet DQ and
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: these guys?
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: And I was looking.
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  Speaker 3: He was like, you should maybe see if we could
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: do an internship here. So that's basically how it happened,
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: and went up there kind of done like a small
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: interview with those guys and the rest of this history
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: w H.
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  Speaker 4: Coach McDonald's pressure mentioned eventually making way for somebody else
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: to call plays on defense and has that been discussed.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Down the road that that might be how the plan
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: that have you eventually take over?
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  Speaker 3: When in our interview, Yes, but like I think, once
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: you get past that, it's about the now, you know,
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: Like I think, everything everything we do now in the present,
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: and we get it. We we got like Coach McDonald
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: talks about all the time, we're at we're at ground level,
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: so we have to create the foundations with true clarity.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: If we do that and we build it right, the rest,
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  Speaker 3: like I said, the good things will happen after that.
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  Speaker 3: I think, like, really, when I look forwards and I
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: try and push myself into a space that I'm not
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: in at that present time, it's not as good. So
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: like I'm trying and just bring everything back and say, okay,
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: what we're doing.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: You know, you got it first time? D see, first time,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: oh see, first time special teams coordinator in the NFL,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: all doing this together? Is there something kind of sad?
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Right? Of course? It is, like I feel like that's
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: that's what it's about.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: You know. You get together and you communicate and you
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: think of ideas. And I think Mike is very good
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: at creating a vision. Like I one thing, I come
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: in here and I I really understand what we're trying
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: to achieve, you know, from a defensive aspect, and I
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: think he's created that vision. So now it's kind of
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: creating that mission mindset of like let's go get it,
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: you know, let's all work together to get it. It's young,
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: vibrant people and like we all communicate, we sit down
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: and talk breakfast, and we go our separate ways and
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: we see each other around the building and we get
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: to know each other more. Like I don't know many
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: people here personally, So as I go through this, I
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: will you just got.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Here, but from the outside coming in or the arrival
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: of you, what.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: Are the aspects of the building blocks that's already here
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: on this defense that you're gonna build on and seeds?
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: And then what are the weaknesses you do? Like that?
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: Just like I said, I I I think in regards
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: to those statements, I think you need to do a
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: deep dive before you come out and you you give
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: that answer because I think and it's not that I'm
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: trying to avoid the question. I'm just like I I
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: just it's an injustice to say it like because I
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: think you see it. There's some very prominent people in
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: this defense that are good players. And how do you
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: utilize those players? How do they fit into the new scheme?
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: And those things will happen, They will come to life
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: as we understand it as a group.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Anything else that one, Yeah, you talked about being a
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: good teacher, Can you just talk about it? How important
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: to players input in that relationship is.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: I said, I like teaching. Now these other good teacher,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: not how bad. I'm only not messing around. I think
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: when you teach, and I think you really have to
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: understand the learner, you know, like because teaching is in
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: part of knowledge on someone else. And then in this
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: in this industry, it's about them going practically and doing it,
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: you know, physically doing it. So I think it's understanding
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: the learner, understanding what their needs. And we're in a
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: special situation is that we only teach a small group
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: of people, so we can really drill down and really
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: understand what that person needs, you know, to be successful.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: So the way I look at it, it's a two way street.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: It's building trust, it's building communication whilst you're teaching, and
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: then you can start really unpeeling on the personal and saying, okay,
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: what do they need to be successful?
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: And that will happen. West Ham, Well, what's wrong with what?
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Did you want me to say? No, I'm done, I'm done.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Thanks very much.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: I appreciate