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Jaxon Smith-Njigba On His Contract Extension: "This Is Home For Me" · Seahawks Press Pass

0:05
Speaker 1: You have to wear it.
0:10
Speaker 2: Awesome exciting day, oh man, big time. Thanks everybody for
0:14
Speaker 2: coming out. This is a really exciting day for the
0:16
Speaker 2: Seahawks organization obviously Jack's. But you know, when you go
0:23
Speaker 2: to when you go to ownership and you ask for
0:26
Speaker 2: an investment like this, you always have to be so
0:30
Speaker 2: cognizant of who the person is and just so proud
0:35
Speaker 2: of Jackson who he is as a person. Your parents
0:37
Speaker 2: did a great job raising you men, and and it's
0:41
Speaker 2: just so fun to like people forget how young you are.
0:44
Speaker 2: You know, we could talk about the player. Obviously a
0:47
Speaker 2: great player. I mean he scored eighty two touchdowns in
0:51
Speaker 2: forty two games and six a Texas like the best
0:53
Speaker 2: football arguably in the country. His head coach would argue
0:56
Speaker 2: that it would be it was eighty four to taken
0:59
Speaker 2: away from him. But uh, just a you know, obviously
1:02
Speaker 2: a young foundational piece, offensive player of the year.
1:06
Speaker 1: Uh.
1:07
Speaker 2: But yeah, just we're we're super excited. Everybody in the building.
1:11
Speaker 2: We're all here for you. Jack's you know, have been
1:14
Speaker 2: from day one and I know you'll you'll, uh, you're
1:18
Speaker 2: gonna be great moving forward. You're a great teammate, great person. Uh.
1:22
Speaker 2: The city of Seattle's got to be jack that he's
1:24
Speaker 2: he's gonna be with us for a long time here
1:26
Speaker 2: and uh yeah, So with that, just wanted to thank
1:29
Speaker 2: Jody for her support, Chuck Arnold and Joey Lane for
1:33
Speaker 2: all those long hours on the phone with with Joel
1:36
Speaker 2: Siegel and uh yeah, Mike, you want to Yeah.
1:41
Speaker 3: I think I think one of the things that just
1:43
Speaker 3: paints a great picture about what Jacks means to us
1:45
Speaker 3: being a foundational piece of our football team and our
1:49
Speaker 3: organization is just we got a full house here. This
1:52
Speaker 3: is pretty awesome. You got dang near uh dang near
1:55
Speaker 3: the whole Seattle Seahawks organization sitting supporting Jackson this day.
1:59
Speaker 3: So just just want to emphasize how excited we are
2:03
Speaker 3: he's going to be here. He's a foundational piece, He's
2:05
Speaker 3: a cornerstone of our team.
2:07
Speaker 2: Uh just being able.
2:08
Speaker 3: To see his growth over the two years that we've
2:10
Speaker 3: been here, and I mean, man, this sky's a limit. Also,
2:15
Speaker 3: like this is the beginning, you know, this is this
2:17
Speaker 3: is this is a this is another iteration of of
2:20
Speaker 3: our football team and Jackson is gonna be obviously a
2:22
Speaker 3: huge part of it. And where we want to go
2:24
Speaker 3: and we want to take our team. And uh, I
2:27
Speaker 3: know it's early in his career, but he's already a
2:29
Speaker 3: leader on our team and and uh and we'll be
2:32
Speaker 3: for a long time. So we're really excited.
2:34
Speaker 4: Mm hmm.
2:36
Speaker 3: Yeah.
2:37
Speaker 4: God is great. You know, I'm just super blessed. Like
2:41
Speaker 4: John said, the whole organization, from top to bottom, is
2:44
Speaker 4: just it's a beautiful thing. You know, where God puts you,
2:49
Speaker 4: puts you in place to succeed, and you know this
2:52
Speaker 4: is home for me, and you know, for me to
2:54
Speaker 4: be extended, you know, here for a few more years.
2:57
Speaker 4: I'm just excited and blessed. And I understand and you
3:00
Speaker 4: know where my feed are and understand the opportunity that
3:04
Speaker 4: that's at stake, and you know, just like always ready
3:08
Speaker 4: to attack. I have to thank my family, my father,
3:12
Speaker 4: my mother. You know, it's just how they raised me.
3:16
Speaker 4: You know, I'm here to serve others, serve the Lord,
3:20
Speaker 4: and you know, whatever you know these guys need from me,
3:23
Speaker 4: they know I'm willing to do. So. You know, there's
3:28
Speaker 4: not enough words to show my excitement and show my
3:32
Speaker 4: love for the city and this organization, but you know
3:35
Speaker 4: you'll see it on Sundays. So thank you all right,
3:41
Speaker 4: have you figured out how many cowboy hats you can
3:43
Speaker 4: buy with? We'll buy a few more. Huh yeah, we'll
3:47
Speaker 4: buy a few more, Just a few.
3:50
Speaker 1: For John and for Jackson.
3:53
Speaker 4: This happened relatively quickly from what your norm is for
3:55
Speaker 4: this type of the deal.
3:57
Speaker 1: What do you attribute that to? And the no drama
3:59
Speaker 1: and seeing what it seemed to be.
4:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean it definitely just feels good. Like
4:07
Speaker 4: John said, ever since I got dropted, I just felt
4:10
Speaker 4: the love and you know, just really just understanding me.
4:15
Speaker 4: And it's an honor to to feel that confidence come
4:20
Speaker 4: from your teammates and come from you know, the third
4:23
Speaker 4: floor and your head coach, and you know, for us
4:26
Speaker 4: to get this deal done, you know, speaks volumes. You know,
4:30
Speaker 4: definitely just a little weight off my shoulders and just
4:33
Speaker 4: to go out there and you know, let it fly.
4:36
Speaker 1: Jackson, what does it mean?
4:37
Speaker 5: I mean, your paid receiver in the league and all that.
4:40
Speaker 1: What does that mean? That hard?
4:44
Speaker 3: You know?
4:45
Speaker 4: There for me, it's always more work to be done
4:48
Speaker 4: and there's always another level to reach, and uh, you know,
4:53
Speaker 4: but it is a blessing.
4:54
Speaker 3: You know.
4:55
Speaker 4: You know, this is a business, and you know, I
4:57
Speaker 4: want to do good business, and you know, that's where
5:00
Speaker 4: we're at right now.
5:01
Speaker 1: There's always another level to reach.
5:04
Speaker 6: As a Player of the Year, won a super Bowl,
5:06
Speaker 6: highest paid receiver, what's next for you?
5:10
Speaker 4: The only thing better than one super Bowl is too
5:12
Speaker 4: So you know, just just working to to get there.
5:18
Speaker 4: And you know, whatever my team needs from me, you know,
5:21
Speaker 4: I make sure, you know, I get it done.
5:23
Speaker 1: Mike, you said that he's already become a leader.
5:26
Speaker 2: What are some of those traits you've seen and in
5:28
Speaker 2: Jack's what unfolds now is your leadership potential?
5:34
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's it's unique to see like that
5:36
Speaker 3: type of dominating performance on a consistent basis, but also
5:40
Speaker 3: the humility and like what Jack's is saying, like his
5:44
Speaker 3: servant leadership that he provides to our team. He's not
5:47
Speaker 3: the guy's breaking every huddle everything, you know, every team
5:50
Speaker 3: meeting and everything like that, but what he does every day,
5:52
Speaker 3: what type of teammate he is to the guys in
5:55
Speaker 3: the locker room. I mean that that that's you know,
5:58
Speaker 3: that speaks volumes, and that's that's where he does his talking.
6:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh sorry, Yeah. I think relationships is you know,
6:07
Speaker 4: a huge thing. And I think my teammates, know, you know,
6:10
Speaker 4: building relationship with them one on one. You know, they
6:12
Speaker 4: can come to me and you know, we can talk
6:15
Speaker 4: about anything. You know, just want to be there for
6:17
Speaker 4: my teammates. And yeah, I'll just leave it at that.
6:23
Speaker 7: We see it a lot in the NFL, where deals
6:24
Speaker 7: of this size they often drag out and sometimes they
6:27
Speaker 7: get messy. This one seemed like it happened pretty quickly
6:30
Speaker 7: and it didn't seem like it had any of that.
6:31
Speaker 1: What can you say about just the process of getting
6:33
Speaker 1: the deal done?
6:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just give you know, Joey laying a ton
6:37
Speaker 2: of credit. We have, We've had We've had a great
6:39
Speaker 2: relationship with with Jack's agent, Joel Siegel for a long
6:43
Speaker 2: long time. You know. It's just we're able to just
6:46
Speaker 2: you know, keep things in house, keep it respectful, and
6:48
Speaker 2: and you know, when you're on the higher end of
6:53
Speaker 2: these deals that are actually I don't want to say
6:55
Speaker 2: they're easier, but it kunts like every kind of recognizes
6:58
Speaker 2: you know, uh, Jack's talent and work ethic and like
7:02
Speaker 2: I said, the person, you know, it's just the part,
7:05
Speaker 2: you know, like you know, I remember being an intern
7:08
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety two and you know, we signed. Reggie
7:11
Speaker 2: White was like the biggest He was the first biggest
7:13
Speaker 2: free agent in NFL history. And the Packers had twenty
7:16
Speaker 2: four million dollars in the bank and they gave him fourteen.
7:19
Speaker 2: You know, so like I got to like get with
7:22
Speaker 2: the times a little bit now.
7:23
Speaker 3: You know.
7:23
Speaker 2: It's like, okay, and Joey Lane and Joey Schneider helped
7:26
Speaker 2: me out of time with that.
7:27
Speaker 8: John, You've historically invested in the receiver position of the
7:32
Speaker 8: years that DK and Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett count
7:35
Speaker 8: this deal. But when you look at the contracts that
7:39
Speaker 8: you guys have signed with Jackson and bringing back Rasheed
7:41
Speaker 8: and Jake Bobo coming back matching that offer, do you
7:44
Speaker 8: view receiver as a premium position and what makes it
7:48
Speaker 8: so important to not just sign the stars but the
7:51
Speaker 8: role players as well at that position?
7:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, great question. We we value people, you know, not
7:58
Speaker 2: necessarily the position, people, the competitor, how they fit into
8:02
Speaker 2: our organization, and you know it start constant quest to
8:05
Speaker 2: be a consistent championship Calgary football team. So we don't
8:11
Speaker 2: really get into, like, you know, the position specifics. We
8:16
Speaker 2: just know that we want to be smart and and
8:19
Speaker 2: and the people and the competitor we're investing in. Mike.
8:21
Speaker 9: You obviously coached Jacks last year as well, but coming
8:24
Speaker 9: into whether it's training camp, otis, was there a point
8:27
Speaker 9: in practice that you recognize like he's in for a
8:30
Speaker 9: really big year here.
8:32
Speaker 3: Yes, it's pretty early.
8:34
Speaker 2: It's pretty early.
8:35
Speaker 3: I mean just to see it. There's never like just
8:39
Speaker 3: one play because of you know, the like the constant
8:42
Speaker 3: growth that's required. But I thought our our our defense
8:47
Speaker 3: was playing at at a high level throughout camp and
8:49
Speaker 3: throughout the offseason program, and we had a really hard
8:51
Speaker 3: time cover and and to Jackson's credit, you know, his
8:55
Speaker 3: ability to not just stand in one place and only
8:57
Speaker 3: be able to do one thing, to be able to
8:59
Speaker 3: move him around, understand in how to run the whole
9:02
Speaker 3: route tree, the chemistry that's required with Sam, you know,
9:06
Speaker 3: that's a lot of work that takes and you could
9:08
Speaker 3: see it, you know, coming to life every day and
9:10
Speaker 3: that's what that was really exciting.
9:13
Speaker 6: Your brother, Uh spends more time helping you stuff off
9:16
Speaker 6: the field this year.
9:18
Speaker 1: What did that mean to you? How did that help
9:19
Speaker 1: you this season?
9:21
Speaker 3: Yeah?
9:21
Speaker 4: It takes a village. My brother plays a big role,
9:24
Speaker 4: and you know, getting stuff done and allow me to
9:28
Speaker 4: you know, focus on things I want to focus on
9:30
Speaker 4: and build on things. And you know he's my right
9:33
Speaker 4: hand man, so you know, just getting started to you know,
9:39
Speaker 4: got a long ways to go on, you know, the
9:41
Speaker 4: fielding off the field, so you know, to have him
9:43
Speaker 4: as a blessing and something I don't take for granted.
9:48
Speaker 1: You probably have a long list.
9:49
Speaker 4: Cuse what a couple of traits your dad taught you
9:52
Speaker 4: trades really, I mean first and foremost hard work, hard work,
9:56
Speaker 4: you know, just seeing him like anything that I wanted
10:02
Speaker 4: or you know, you know, I saw them get up
10:06
Speaker 4: early for us to go get that and for us
10:08
Speaker 4: to have and you know he's been training throwing footballs
10:14
Speaker 4: at me since I was three years old, So I mean,
10:19
Speaker 4: you know, he is the reason you know I'm here today,
10:23
Speaker 4: you know, just the leader and you know how strong
10:27
Speaker 4: he is physically and mentally you know, for us to
10:31
Speaker 4: to live out our dreams. So you know, definitely a
10:34
Speaker 4: lot of love for him, and you know, don't take
10:38
Speaker 4: that for granted as well yourself.
10:40
Speaker 8: This is home and we've seen in these first of
10:42
Speaker 8: years how much you've done in this community, different charities.
10:45
Speaker 3: Thing.
10:46
Speaker 1: What is it about?
10:47
Speaker 6: Obviously this organization, but the community around it that really
10:49
Speaker 6: you know, deared it self to even made you want
10:51
Speaker 6: to be here for a while to come down.
10:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's a special place and a place
10:56
Speaker 4: for you know, growth and you know me growing as
10:59
Speaker 4: a young man, and I just fell in love with
11:04
Speaker 4: the city and and I want the best, you know,
11:07
Speaker 4: for my community and especially you know, if I'm gonna
11:10
Speaker 4: lay my head here, so you know, anything I can
11:13
Speaker 4: do to help, you know, I will, And you know,
11:16
Speaker 4: John just gave me some more opportunity to do so.
11:19
Speaker 4: So definitely appreciate of that in the city. And you know,
11:25
Speaker 4: I can feel the love here, so I just want
11:27
Speaker 4: to repay, repay it back.
11:30
Speaker 5: Obviously a couple of guys that have signed elsewhere, but
11:32
Speaker 5: in generally really made a player. You're resigning a lot
11:35
Speaker 5: of guys, kind of digging back to Charles and January and.
11:37
Speaker 1: Things like that. Just how important has that been this offseason?
11:39
Speaker 2: Just retain Yeah, We've talked about it before. Obviously, we
11:42
Speaker 2: want to keep as many guys as we possibly can.
11:45
Speaker 2: You know, it's however you look at it, fortunately or unfortunately,
11:49
Speaker 2: that's it's just part of the business. It's part of
11:51
Speaker 2: the job. Uh that we've all you know, jumped into
11:54
Speaker 2: and you know, we're gonna miss the guys that have left,
11:57
Speaker 2: and and uh, you know we're gonna dive in even
12:00
Speaker 2: more to the guys that are still on our team.
12:03
Speaker 2: And we had planned for this, uh you know, you know,
12:07
Speaker 2: like I said, Joey Lane, you know, in our group upstairs.
12:10
Speaker 2: I mean we've been you know, as you approach free agency,
12:13
Speaker 2: free agency meetings, what that looks like, getting through the combine,
12:18
Speaker 2: speaking to everybody down there, seeing what the landscape is
12:20
Speaker 2: going to look like. But obviously draft and retain. I mean,
12:23
Speaker 2: this is a great example of drafting and developing and
12:26
Speaker 2: keeping in house. And that's that's that's that's you know,
12:30
Speaker 2: been our priority since since we got here in twenty ten,
12:34
Speaker 2: so that that hasn't changed. But uh yeah, the strategy
12:39
Speaker 2: of it was is you know, trying to extend our
12:42
Speaker 2: guys as much as we possibly can. We have a
12:43
Speaker 2: cool mix of you know, guys that are just kind
12:46
Speaker 2: of hitting there like their their their first time free
12:49
Speaker 2: agency and you know veterans that have been through free
12:51
Speaker 2: agency before. And it's just a really cool mix of
12:54
Speaker 2: like older and younger guys.
12:55
Speaker 9: So it's pretty neat Mike is how maybe unexpected or
13:00
Speaker 9: as much you can bring most of this team a
13:02
Speaker 9: super Bowl champion, most of it's coming back.
13:04
Speaker 1: For you to coach next year.
13:06
Speaker 3: Well, it's great, we get like John said, you want
13:08
Speaker 3: as many people as back as possible. But it was
13:10
Speaker 3: also like John said, these are things that we're trying
13:13
Speaker 3: to plan for in advance. So it's gonna it's gonna
13:18
Speaker 3: deviate a little bit based off just the nature of
13:20
Speaker 3: the business. But uh, this is something definitely we were
13:23
Speaker 3: hoping for and planning for.
13:26
Speaker 9: Talked before about what Cooper meant to you. Then you
13:28
Speaker 9: guys resign your position group, I know you're closed.
13:32
Speaker 4: Just how excited you have that man excited to see
13:35
Speaker 4: the guys back. You know, we know how special we
13:38
Speaker 4: are and you know what we contribute to the team,
13:41
Speaker 4: you know, each single one of us. So and like
13:45
Speaker 4: John said, just great people. You know, love to work
13:48
Speaker 4: with them, respect them, you know, on and off the field,
13:51
Speaker 4: and you know we're excited to to gear up and
13:54
Speaker 4: get ready for our second year together.
13:58
Speaker 8: Jackson, if you had a chance to chat with Brian
14:01
Speaker 8: Friet and where's your excitement with being able to work
14:04
Speaker 8: with the new court.
14:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, I said, hello, I'm definitely excited, you know, definitely
14:10
Speaker 4: ready to see you know what, you know what we're
14:15
Speaker 4: gunning towards and you know, just get in the same
14:18
Speaker 4: language and get together. So I'm excited for you know,
14:21
Speaker 4: new opportunities.
14:23
Speaker 7: Mike, what are some things about Jackson as like a
14:25
Speaker 7: person and a competitor that you see all the time
14:28
Speaker 7: behind the scenes that maybe we don't see.
14:31
Speaker 2: M H careful.
14:37
Speaker 3: I think it's I think it's the I think it's
14:39
Speaker 3: a unique combination of of the ability, the competitive spirit,
14:46
Speaker 3: but also like the selflessness of who he is and
14:48
Speaker 3: how he operates and how he goes about his business.
14:50
Speaker 3: It's just it's a rare combination outside of like whatever
14:53
Speaker 3: position you say, just just in life. I mean just
14:56
Speaker 3: having the having the having the respect for or the
15:00
Speaker 3: operation the people your teammates, the love that he has
15:04
Speaker 3: for the people around him no matter their situation, but
15:07
Speaker 3: also being just an absolutely high level competitor when it
15:09
Speaker 3: when it's coming down to it, and uh, and the ability.
15:14
Speaker 3: You know, it's just like this triple headed monster of
15:16
Speaker 3: just a really cool combination.
15:19
Speaker 1: You love NFL history.
15:21
Speaker 6: I'm curious if you see parallels with the former Great
15:23
Speaker 6: Siyak and Steve Largent and great rout runner, great hands person,
15:28
Speaker 6: he was on and off the field, and what.
15:29
Speaker 1: You're you got here in Jackson.
15:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's that's a that's pretty awesome.
15:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a.
15:35
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean I didn't write a report on Steve
15:38
Speaker 2: Largin or anything. Thanks man, I get it. But getting
15:41
Speaker 2: up there in age No, but uh, it's a great question.
15:45
Speaker 2: I think. Uh yeah, I think that there's like this
15:47
Speaker 2: cool I think combination between you know, Steve with the
15:51
Speaker 2: the body control, you know, the hands being able to
15:54
Speaker 2: just be able to adjust to the ball like down
15:57
Speaker 2: the field, the late hands, all that, but also like
15:59
Speaker 2: time learned Doug too, there's a really I think it's
16:01
Speaker 2: a really neat Uh that's the second time I use
16:04
Speaker 2: the word neat, Like where's that coming from? Just a
16:08
Speaker 2: really cool combination of of just different talents. And I
16:12
Speaker 2: just remember we were we were so blessed like that
16:14
Speaker 2: he was there at twenty. You remember being at the
16:15
Speaker 2: pro day that thing. We're like there's no way, We're like,
16:18
Speaker 2: why are we meeting with this guy? Like and we're
16:21
Speaker 2: sitting there asking if he's gonna be you know, you know,
16:23
Speaker 2: can you feel puns. He's looking at like pre receiver two,
16:26
Speaker 2: you know, But no, great question, thanks for there's there's
16:30
Speaker 2: a really the skill set is just really unique, and yeah,
16:38
Speaker 2: I'm excited to see where he's gonna take this thing.
16:39
Speaker 9: You mentioned that draft. I remember coming out of it
16:42
Speaker 9: you talked about how fortunate you felt to be able
16:43
Speaker 9: to get Spoon and Jack's kind of top guys at
16:46
Speaker 9: both those positions. What was that weight between five and
16:50
Speaker 9: twenty like seeing them still out there?
16:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, it took forever, I remember.
16:53
Speaker 2: You know, it's probably driving Trent and Matt, Barry and Nolan,
16:57
Speaker 2: those guys, probably driving those guys crazy, like do we
17:00
Speaker 2: go up?
17:00
Speaker 1: Should go up? Should we go for him?
17:02
Speaker 2: You know, like you a little itchy? You know, Well
17:06
Speaker 2: we had just kind of studied like okay, well where
17:09
Speaker 2: uh where, like how and when? And so yeah, we
17:14
Speaker 2: just it felt like it literally felt like I don't know,
17:17
Speaker 2: three hours or something. So changed my shirt a couple
17:20
Speaker 2: of times.
17:22
Speaker 4: Jackson.
17:23
Speaker 7: Jackson in an interview before you said my whole life,
17:26
Speaker 7: I've taken the stairs.
17:27
Speaker 1: I've had to prove myself.
17:29
Speaker 7: Is this contract extension enough for you?
17:33
Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean I've always had the belief, but Yeah,
17:36
Speaker 4: this is Yeah, this proves that you know, I'm good
17:40
Speaker 4: for for a long time, you know, so I guess
17:44
Speaker 4: that's what it proves and makes me definitely feel good
17:47
Speaker 4: and you know, it's a blessing.
17:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, last question. You mentioned Jody at the top of
17:54
Speaker 1: your comments.
17:54
Speaker 5: Obviously, the team's for sale and all that, but I
17:57
Speaker 5: know you guys have said that business as usual and
17:59
Speaker 5: everything come then this se obviously seems like proof for that.
18:01
Speaker 1: I mean, she's.
18:02
Speaker 5: Approving, her approving, Ah, a big deal like this, Yeah, absolutely, you.
18:06
Speaker 2: Know she's she's like, let's go win another one, you know,
18:09
Speaker 2: let's get after it. So you know, there's another world
18:13
Speaker 2: out there that you know it's coming. We're we're getting
18:15
Speaker 2: ready for it. But uh, as of right now, man,
18:17
Speaker 2: it's we're just we're just keeping ripping like uh, like
18:19
Speaker 2: we always have.
18:21
Speaker 1: Alright, Thank you everyone, Thank you,