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Arden Key on becoming a leader & the Jaguars' identity | The O-Zone Podcast · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast, presented by by Star Credit
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Junior with Jaguars senior writer John Osan. Welcome to this
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: week's Ozone podcast. And Uh, I say every week I'm
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: looking forward to the guests. I'm really looking forward to
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: this guest because I have not gotten a chance to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: get to know him very well. But everything I have read,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: heard seen from Afar is that it's one of the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: most fun guys on the team, and I think one
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of the most important guys on the team in a
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: way that I want to get into with him today.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Jaguars defensive lineman arden Key, I appreciate you joining the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Ozone podcast. Thank you for having now, Um having fun.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: It seems like you always have fun, but this year
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: for you might be special in a way. Why Because
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I learned a lot last year uh s fran been
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a better player, better character person, being a better personal together. UM.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: And last year we had the same situation like we
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: had this year. We went on five game losing street. UM.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: We had to we had to win out in order
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to get to the playoffs. UM, and we switched around
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and we did with something. We changed up a couple
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: of things. UM went went simple, and you saw what
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: we did last year and this ship, it was the
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: same thing. We had the talent um, we had great
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: coaching staff, and I knew we had the talent, but
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I wasn't sure we had the mindset, the hard to
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: know that it's gonna be hard um. And now we're
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: at a position where we can make it to the
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: playoffs and sneak in and do a lot of great
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: things in the tournament. How much have you with your
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: teammates have you shared what you just said in terms of, hey,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I've been here before, this can happen. How much did
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: you lean on that? I shared. I shared a lot
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: um just with the rush group, just teaching them, the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: teaching them from I had Nick, I had deep for
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I had Eric Armstead, I had all those guys that's
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: well known and rushing the pastor um and just giving
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: off what I talked to the guys in the locker room.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: And of course the stories come how was it last
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: season and stuff like that. So the conversation has always
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: been there since I've been there. Let me read a
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: quote to you that you said during training camp. We're
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: going to wake a lot of people up this year
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: about the Jags. Did you know that or you just hoping? No?
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I knew that. I saw the talent. I came from
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: where I came from. I saw that talent coming here,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: new the talent, and then you kinda look around your
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: division and you know, put your roster against everybody else roster.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: And I knew once once the past came on, I
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: always said, before the past come, I said, I need
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to wait to the past come on and see how
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: we really Once some pass came on, I knew what
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: was good, what was special? Now the uh in training camp,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: you also talked a lot about the culture and our
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: culture was a big topic because that Doug was coming in.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Um is the culture what you expected? And how would
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: you describe this culture around here right now? This culture
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: is still we're still building on that, UM. But we
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: got the foundation. We we were not a pretty team.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: UM when we we we we we're just not a
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: pretty team. We were gonna get down and dirty with
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a lot of teams, UM, and I felt like we
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: we we did a lot of that early in the year,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: game game here, game there, and I think we finally
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: realized we're not a cute team. From the coaching staff,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: all the way down to the player. I felt. I
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: felt like we all felt like we're not a cute team.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: We're gonna run the ball down your throat, We're gonna
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: stop to run and we're gonna get to the pastor. Um,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: and that's what we're doing. How does Trevor fit into
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: that being a pretty team? There's a pretty guy, but
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: he's kind of the rock stars, Uh, superstar, But he
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: does fit into what you're talking about. Yeah, Um, he
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: gets away from sacks. It's it's certain. It's certain things
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Trevor has done these lad this this month that other quarterbacks,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: some of those would have been set. But he did
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: his magic. And that's that's that's what we're talking about.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: By by not being pretty, by hard nosed, most quarterbacks
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: would have went down to that but extended plays and
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: made things work. It strikes me from uh, just being
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: around you guys. Some Um, it's one of the teams
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: on the extreme of teams I've been around, in the
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: sense of offense and defense and special teams aren't as
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: separate as there are a lot of teams. Has coaching
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: tried to do that or is that just because you
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: guys get along in that way? Uh? Just helped me
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: through that, which is I'll get along. That's that's that's
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: what it takes to be a great team. All phases
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: have to come together, asked one um. And I think
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: a lot of that started off early in the year.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: We went to top Golf and everybody was around different positions,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: something like that, agett to know people. We got a
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: pin Paul table in there, everybody played paint pom um
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: and we're just doing a lot of stuff together. Really,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I can't sit here and say that one thing is
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: the reason why. It was a lot of things collected
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: that came together. And then once we really lost, because
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: we had to go through some adversity. Once we was losing,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: we lost six games in a row and easily, Yeah,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: it could have went two ways. Either we stay losing
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: or we find a way to switch this up. And
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: it wasn't just coaches or just players or individuals just
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: to switch it up. It was all of us as
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: a collective man. Now we're here and we trust the process,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: and now we're here doing our thing. What made you
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: keep believing the talent? It was the talent. We knew
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: what we were doing. We wasn't losing by hunted points
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: a game. We was losing three here, six here, So
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: it was only a couple of plays that could have
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: switched that up. UM. And then going through going going
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: over the film will beating ourselves a lot of that stuff,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: will beating ourselves out of out of gaps, out of position.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: And now we've dialed in on the focus, focus on
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the details, the small details, and we've made a change.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: You personally a fascinating career to me because last year
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: sign a one year deal with Frisco, this year's signing
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: one year deal with Jacksonville. Guys are one year deals
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: don't always come in and produce and fit the way
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: you have. Uh. First of all, what is it about
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: you that your game can translate that quickly and that
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: you can fit in that quickly. I think it's that's
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: my personality. I'm an energy of the bunny. Um. I'm
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: gonna bring energy whether we win or whether we lose. UM.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: I feel like this game is fun, and I take
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: it little like this game is fun. UM and playing wise,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: I played in the end, I played inside, So I
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: think that helps a lot because I can I can
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: help out at the end if we need help inside,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: I can help out inside so all the the line.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: So I think that that would that that's why I'm
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: able to produce. Yeah, and being able to play different positions,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and so I guess you feel like you can fit
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: in anyway definitely. Um, how do you become a leader
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: of a new group as quickly as you did? What
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: is it about you? To be honest, the leadership found me.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: I didn't plan on I planned. I just planned on
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: coming in doing the best I could. And if players
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: asked me how to do certain Russias or what they
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: think about me as a Russia, then I then I said, Um,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: but I I'm I'm energiz of Bundy. I probably this
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: year was probably the year that I realized that I
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: really can't and be a leader. Um. Everybody told me
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: that coming up, growing up, through college and through the
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: first half of my football career, but I really didn't
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: see it. Um. And this year really struct me and like,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: you really are a leader because just all the all
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the all the players coming up to me asking certain
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: things what you and this is sometimes it's not even
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: about football, it's about certain life. Because some people in
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: that actually know me from like Caleb and he actually
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: know me from college growth that it took me to
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: get here now, so that's why I became a leader.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: It seems like this fit in the sense that when
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: you look into the at the defensive front for this team,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: nobody's got a ton of sacks, but it's a bunch
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: of guys who are all getting pressure. Uh, there's a
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: lot of guys five sacks, four sacks. It seems like
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: you guys work as a team like that and don't
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: really maybe care that much who gets who gets the
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: credit that day. Am I reading that right? Yeah? Because
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: things with pastors to take four to get to a quarterback.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: So early in the year, Josh was hot. Teams starts
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: sliding the Josh. Then next in line it was smooth,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: teams starts sliding smooth. Then now I'm hot. So it's
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: it's really sacks come come in bunches. So once in
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: one hot we all know, Okay, it's just his time
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: because he winning his one on one. Maybe other guys
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: is getting slid and things coming to them. He hot,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: he gonna he's gonna eat that day. Okay, now we
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: know next week coaches going to the going to a film. Okay,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: we can't let that guy get hot again, so let's
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: sliding him. So we just have a lot of guys
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: on the front floor that if we get a one
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: on one, we'll win the one on one. It's just
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: who gets the one on one. And if you get
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: that one on one, it's your it's your time to shine,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and not every d linement I've been around as willing
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: to sort of wait till that next week to get
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: his shot. It's pretty It's indicative of what you guys
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: are all about. Yeah, because if you go chasing sacks,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: you'll never get him. I learned that my first two
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: years in the league. I was chasing sacks and I
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: never got there. Now it was I had a lot
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: of pressures, a lot of quarterback hits, but I was
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: chasing um. Once you not, you don't chase sacks and
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: you just let them come to you, and they literally
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: come to you. Tell me about the boom box. I
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: got that from I started. I stowed that from San France. Um.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: We we did that, We did that, we did we
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: came out doing that, UM and I was in the
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: front line in San fran doing it, and I just
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: brought that over here. It's a lot of a lot
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: of culture, Like, I want to be a culture. That's
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the biggest thing. We're talking about culture. And I know
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: what it looks like being at San fran I know
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: exactly what it looks like. And people was digging the
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: boom box, so we kept it. Is there a certain
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: song that goes on the boom? I mean, I tell
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: me about the song to play. That is their players
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: to just kind of walk me through, uh song. It
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the ends on the time in the day of the song. Yeah,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: whatever we feel as a team, and it's a team thing.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: It's not just I picked the songs and that's what
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: we're playing. The actual team thing. Um, and whatever we feel,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: we make sure that everybody knows the words to it
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: and we go out there and it's a it's an
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: energy type thing. It's we were ready to go to war.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: What did it mean for you to be named captain
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the center? Oh? I meant the lie um, But like
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: I always felt like I was a captain and I didn't.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: It really wasn't okay Week seventeen captain, Uh I was.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I was a captain all throughout this year. Um, just
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: by especially a camp um. I just remember that. I
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: think that would start off in camp. Uh, and we
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: we had one bad day in camp and I went
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: crazy after after that day, and I think that would
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: people start to respect me and and me coming from
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: saffering and doing what I did on the field, they
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: knew that, Okay, we can respect him. He he a
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: guy that has done something ain't on the field, some
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: good things on the field. Um, And I felt like
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: since then, you know, whenever people need to come talk
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: to me or I might need to talk to somebody. Damn,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: That's that's how it happened. That's how I started. Now
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: did that moment come natural or was it just kind
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: of felt time like you were at a point in
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: your career. He felt okay doing that? Uh, it was
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: natural for me. Um, it was natural. But I felt
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: like we we needed it, needed to need it to
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: be done. Yeah, because I just you know, you don't
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: really know Jackson Bell until your part of it. Like
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: being on the outside, you just look at the schedule
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: and Okay, it was good here or not good, No,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: not so good here. But it's really a culture thing.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Once we change the culture and get a winning culture here.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: But being able to win and get to winning, you
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: gotta trust the process. If you haven't. If we haven't one,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: we gotta trust the process on this is what we're doing,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: and you gotta go through some adversity. I'll truly believe
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: that you have to go through some adversity before you
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: can get that, before you're able to achieve or be
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: successful in life. Period you've seen it. How bright is
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: the future? How how solid is what you guys is
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: what you guys are building? Oh, it's solid. It's beautiful
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: because when you look at it, and then you look
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: at the length of people contract, most most of everybody
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: will be here next year. But pretty much of everybody,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I'll probably be here next year. Then you got some
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: of the guys that some one year that you got
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: to figure the contract out on that, but mostly everybody
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: will be here next year. And that's a great year
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: to start off the way we started because it's first
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: we got we got Mike first year d C. So
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: it's some ironing that we have to get through as
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: a defense from earlier than the year two now. And
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I feel like as a defense, as an offense as especially,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: we all went through that iron the iron and stuff
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: out and I feel like we you found the formula
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: um our foundation of strong um because um, Dallas, it
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: tested us. We was down ten seven or something like that. Yeah,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: we were down, and that that truly tested if we
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: was true to the process, and we really trusted the
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: process and we beat Dallas. Coming coming back from that,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: it really struck us like we got it and we
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: we still were still here and we still know we
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: can't revert back to we cannot revert back to the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: troite game. And we know what's in front of us
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: and we had to take it. And I understand it's
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: a business, but certainly sounds like you want to be
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: a part of it. The last thing we do on
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: this we call it the ozone five. It's five quick
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: fun questions, Art and Key. What was your last binge?
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Watch The Best Man the Ambulance on Prim Prim Video.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: It's called Ambulance. Best Bene watched Harrison favor show of
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: all time? Probably the Friday series. All Right, what's your
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: pregame song? In headphones? Not doing box? The headphones set
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: it off, little boost. Okay, who's the best leader you've
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: been around in your career? Oh? That's a gool uh.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Every once in a while, Eric Armstairy because he a
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: guy that cares. Um he got to help practice squad guys,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: um guys on the custom guy. Um, he just he's
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: a loving guy, Like he's gonna teach you the knowledge
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: of the game, but he also gonna teach you about
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: love and family and the importance of that. And he
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: actually was teaching us and Sara f every Friday you
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: should buy your love one something flowers or something small,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: just the shoulder of appreciation to him. So all right,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: it's it's a timely question your New Year's resolution, if
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: you have one. I don't. I don't have one. Just
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: continue to get better. I think one of them was
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: being a leader. Um, that's what I said for before
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I got here. Um, that was a goal I said
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: for there, and I still I'm not having accomplished. Yes,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I'm still working on them. So it would be being
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: a leader, being a better leader kind of question. Who's
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: the who's the person or people most responsible for you
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: being in the NFL. Oh uh, that's a lot of people. Um,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: God for one, he gave me this these abilities, Um
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: going out my right ball coaches, um, middle school college coaches,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: um teachers. Friends. Yeah, it's it's a collective. It's a
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: collective of people that the athletes, for all of us
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: to for us to get here, coaches that that believe
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: in you know, um so I said it was a collectible.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: A few caste speciffily poured out. One person, I got you,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: pardon Kay. I knew this would be enjoyable. I think
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: fans are gonna enjoy getting to know you a little better.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you joining the ozone podcast. Thank you very much.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you,