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AJ Barner: "I'm Excited To Play My Brand Of Football" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Good.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: We obviously didn't see the offense in the preseason, at
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: least the starting offense, but from what you've seen in
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: camp and all the way up to this.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Point, how do you feel like you guys are preparation-wise?
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: You're two with Sam, similar scheme and all that.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think a lot of guys in our offense
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  Speaker 1: have played some snaps in the NFL at this point,
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  Speaker 1: and we would have been happy to play, honestly, in
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the preseason had we played, but Coach and the other guys,
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  Speaker 1: we felt like it was... We got a lot of
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  Speaker 1: good reps during camp. So I think, you know, don't
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: make it any bigger than what it needs to be.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: You know, it's the first week in the NFL. Obviously
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  Speaker 1: a big deal, but, you know, we've played football on,
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  Speaker 1: not on a Wednesday before, but on any other NFL
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  Speaker 1: game we've played, so. Are you fully back now?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, feeling good. You know, I think you're always... have
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a nick here or there, nature of the business, but
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  Speaker 1: I feel very good. I feel very confident mentally and
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: physically with where I'm at and really just excited to
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  Speaker 1: play my brand of football for the Seahawks.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: You played last year with injury and in this game even,
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: and now you've gone through your offseason at rehab. How
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: do you feel differently than you feel at the end
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: of last season?
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  Speaker 1: I just feel, honestly, I would say You know, hopefully
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  Speaker 1: it's not anything really physically for me. Like, once I
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: step on the field and cross those white lines, like,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I don't really want to feel any type of different.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: But mentally, I think I've taken strides just to learn
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  Speaker 1: the game and know my role and know the flow
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: of the game. But, you know, it's week one. I
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: think you should feel hopefully as good as you can.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: And for my case, that's the way I feel.
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  Speaker 4: We anticipate the tight ends being used a little bit
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: differently this year. How much newness was there that you
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: needed to learn versus, Kind of.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Going back to last year's offense.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I think for myself and the rest of the tight ends,
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  Speaker 1: any opportunity that we can get a bunch of us
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  Speaker 1: on the field and be in personnel groupings that has
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: tight ends is a great thing for us. And I
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  Speaker 1: think new positions maybe, depending on what guys we have
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  Speaker 1: out there, what tight ends we have out there, you
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  Speaker 1: have to know the position that you're playing. And for myself,
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  Speaker 1: I think, you know, I'm a, you know, a tight
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  Speaker 1: end that's going to, you know, remain at tight end.
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  Speaker 1: So for me, it's kind of not necessarily too different.
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  Speaker 1: But obviously, the more tight ends we can get out
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  Speaker 1: there at fullback, at Z, at F, whatever it is,
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  Speaker 1: we're up for the challenge in our room.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: AJ, we've seen.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Elijah have a pretty solid preseason. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: What do you expect from him in.
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  Speaker 4: Year two for him?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think just another step. I think for myself,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: you know, year one to year two is definitely a,
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  Speaker 1: difference for myself and I think same thing for Elijah
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  Speaker 1: and we've seen that already in the preseason so just
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  Speaker 1: any opportunity he has to make a play you got
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: to just go make it and then one will follow
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  Speaker 1: the next and you just take off from there so
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be a good year for him and
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: he's already off to a great start with the momentum
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  Speaker 1: he has from preseason.
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  Speaker 5: How is the relationship with Brian Fleury involved with you
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  Speaker 5: guys from kind of day one when you showed up
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  Speaker 5: to now?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah I think Noah's personality a bit more now, you know,
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  Speaker 1: just on a coach-to-player relationship, you know, just having those
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: conversations inside and outside of football. But I think throughout
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: the year, you kind of learn your play caller as well.
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  Speaker 1: I think for any player, the more plays that you
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  Speaker 1: make in a game, I think the play caller is
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  Speaker 1: going to have a bigger appetite to, you know, call
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: more plays for you. So for any guy on our team,
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  Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's just taking advantage of opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: But we're comfortable with Coach Fleury, you know, calling it
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  Speaker 1: and feel like, you know, the scheme is in a
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  Speaker 1: good place.
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: When Robbie being out, and you talk about how tight
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  Speaker 5: ends a lot of times get used in the fullback spot,
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  Speaker 5: what's the difference in terms of being off the line
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  Speaker 5: and hitting your blocks and targeting when you're in a
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  Speaker 5: fullback kind of role, H-back.
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  Speaker 3: Role, than on the line, attached to the line?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it just kind of changes the angle,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: maybe the speed that you're attacking the blocker. But I
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  Speaker 1: think once you get into contact, you definitely want to
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  Speaker 1: remain on that same target that you might have had.
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  Speaker 1: whether you're on the ball or off. And Brady's done
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  Speaker 1: a great job. Sabi mixes in there as well, and
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  Speaker 1: same with Elijah. And I can, you know, be back
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  Speaker 1: there as well. So I think it's just a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a different angle and a different downhill approach than
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: when you're on the ball.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: Back to Fleury, I think we've only talked to him
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: a couple times since he got hired.
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  Speaker 3: What is his personality like?
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  Speaker 4: And is there some clint to him?
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  Speaker 1: Is there some character over there? Yeah, I think, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the prior reason you guys only talked to him a
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  Speaker 1: few times is kind of, you know, man of few words.
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  Speaker 1: He's about, you know, he's about ball, about his business.
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  Speaker 1: And similar to Clint in that aspect, you know, where
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  Speaker 1: he can be a little bit, you know, more reserved.
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  Speaker 1: But then once you get to know him, definitely, you know,
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  Speaker 1: learn his personality. But I think the biggest thing with
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  Speaker 1: Coach Fleury is, you know, he just wants to do
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  Speaker 1: a great job for the 12s and for the Seahawks. Like,
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  Speaker 1: he knows the capabilities of our offense, of the players that,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: you know, sit in this room. And, you know, he's
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  Speaker 1: excited for the opportunity.
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  Speaker 4: How important is it to have a number of tight
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  Speaker 4: ends that really complement each other with the different things
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  Speaker 4: they bring to the equation? And how does that impact
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: your game? Like if you have Elijah out there with
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: his ability to stretch the field vertically, how important is
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  Speaker 4: that in an offense that makes tight ends such a
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  Speaker 4: focal point, especially moving around?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, very important. I think the biggest thing for
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  Speaker 1: us in this offense and the way the Seahawks play
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: football is, you know, our tight ends– We have to
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: be able to run at our tight ends, away from
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: our tight ends, whatever it is. We're not flipping our
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: hips in the hole. We're going to go take the
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: block to you if you're at the end. And that's
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: something that I really pride myself in is I'm going
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: to bang with whoever is out there and not be
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: passive about it at all. And I think having Elijah
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: or Sabi or myself or Brady to stretch the field
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: as well can take the top off, get you on
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  Speaker 1: a safety, get you on a linebacker, and really present
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  Speaker 1: versatile pictures to a defense.
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: When you think about getting your first action of the
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: year and opening night, do you also envision the 12s,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: the banner drop, the environment, the vibe? Oh, yeah.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I'm really excited for the 12s. I love, you know,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the crowd. I feed off the energy since I've, you know,
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  Speaker 1: began playing football. Banner's going to be special. For me,
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  Speaker 1: I'm ready to turn the page, though. Like, Super Bowl
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: was awesome. Definitely a sick moment, but, like, it's over with.
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  Speaker 1: It's in the past. We still love it, but, like...
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: I'm good. Let's go play some new football.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: What's the key to turning that page?
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  Speaker 1: I think we've lived it, and that first hit, the
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  Speaker 1: Patriots don't care about that banner going up. The rest
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: of the 31 other teams, they don't care about it.
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  Speaker 1: So it's time to go. It's time to turn the page,
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  Speaker 1: and the banner will be cool, but it'll be there
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow and the day after that as well.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: There's a clip of Hard Knocks at the Leadership Council,
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  Speaker 2: and you might have been the youngest guy in that room,
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  Speaker 2: third-year guy. What does it mean to you that the
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: team sees you in that kind of leadership role in
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: only year three?
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  Speaker 1: I've been in that room for some time now, so
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  Speaker 1: it's not really different for me. I think that's just
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  Speaker 1: who I am as a person. I was a captain
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: in college and whatnot. Whenever my team needs me to
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: be vocal or be myself, I'm always there to do that.
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  Speaker 1: I think I just want to be myself. Coach Mike
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  Speaker 1: loves me for that. My teammates love me for that.
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  Speaker 1: Being in those rooms, I'm able to just be myself
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  Speaker 1: and voice my opinion about what I think the team
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  Speaker 1: might need.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: What do you like about the way Mike does that?
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  Speaker 2: The leadership council kind of gets feedback from you guys
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  Speaker 2: on how certain things are done.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's cool because you have a collection
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: of guys that can kind of take the temperature of
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  Speaker 1: the locker room and the player perspective and speak on
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  Speaker 1: behalf of the players as well. Mike's great because he'll
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  Speaker 1: listen to that and really apply those things to whatever
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  Speaker 1: it is that we're doing.
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  Speaker 3: Did you watch all of the hard knocks?
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  Speaker 1: And if so, what did you think of it? I
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: did not. I saw a bunch of clips on, you know, Twitter.
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  Speaker 1: But it sounds like they did a great job. You know,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: we have a bunch of awesome people in this building
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  Speaker 1: and have played great football here. So what's not to like?
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  Speaker 3: Is Fleury down with the barnyard?
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  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we should see it, you know, whenever the time permits.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't think it's going anywhere. All right.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: Thanks, guys.