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Nick Emmanwori: "The Defense Is Going To Be The Real Deal" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: How's it going?
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Going good.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: How have you felt these last couple weeks kind of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: building up? You know, the time you missed in the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: training camp preseason to kind of have to ramp up.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: In the regular season?
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: It's been feeling good. Everything's going along kind of as
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: we expected, you know, kind of a weird offseason. So
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: having the challenge to, like, ramp up at different times
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: and trying to figure out a good plan, which we've
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: been following, and it's been pretty good getting me up
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: to speed. You're dressed, you're playing, but they're telling you, okay,
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: we're only going to do a little bit this week? Yeah,
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: it is, to be honest. I mean, you know, I
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: trust the coaches, trust the medical staff and stuff, but,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: you know, as a competitor, I want to go out
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: there and play, win games, and be on the field.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: So it's kind of something new I'm experiencing.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: You went through, obviously, OTAs and mini camps. At what
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: point did you realize, man, I got to take care
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: of this and.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Get something done? It was like a– I can't really
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: explain it, But it was like just a gut feeling, just,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: you know, like everything was like kind of feeling good
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: in OTAs, but it was kind of different doctor opinions
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: and stuff, trying to figure out what was the best
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: thing to do. So ultimately the thought process was just
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: to go ahead and get it done over it. So, like,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: I didn't want to be week eight, week nine or something, and, like,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: it's still bugging me and I can't be out there
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: in the middle of the season, which would definitely, like,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: you know, just make things weird for the team and everybody.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: I'm guessing you're not even thinking about the injury now. So,
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: I mean, how– How does that feel just to just play,
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: not even think about the injury?
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels good. Super excited to get back out there,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: you know, feel free, feeling fast. Missed a lot of time, but,
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, I was staying connected through the mind and
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: through my teammates. So it feels good to get back
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: out there and, like, show everybody that I still got it.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: How much was.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: It bothering you as you were, like.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Getting ready for training camp?
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: It wasn't bothering me too bad. Like, the best way
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: I can explain it was, like, some days I felt, like, 100%
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: to go, and then some other days, I was kind
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: of like on a 75 to 85%. So like, you know,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: like some days I woke up and I, you know,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: it was just a weird thing. So.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Was it like limiting you in any way, like physically
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: movement wise, or was it just like some days it's
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: going to hurt and it's going to be a problem?
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: I think it was, I want to say it was
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: really limiting me. It was like a little bit of
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: both as far, as far as like, if I kind
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: of like turned at the wrong, like at the wrong
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: time or it was just a weird mechanisms and weird
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: movements will cause it to, you know, flare up or whatever.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: So it was just something that, Just got to get
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: taken care of. But, you know, some doctors' opinions were
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: saying that maybe you didn't need it, maybe you did.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: So it was kind of like the 50-50 of whether
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: we should win or if we should do it.
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: When you were.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Coming out on some of those third downs in Washington,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: there's some school of thought that you learned a lot
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: by watching from the sideline. But I have a feeling
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: you were probably steamed and wanted to get on the field.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Was there any learning going on on those third downs?
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, that was kind of tough, especially like, you know, again,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: I'm a competitor and I want to be out there.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: I want to kind of, you know, always first instinct,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: you know, to listen to your body. But you got
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: to just follow the medical staff and listen to the coaches. And,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: you know, I mean, no matter what happens, you know,
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: just got to live with it. So definitely frustrated that
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: I really couldn't be out there at all times. So,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: you know, who knows.
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: How are you seeing teams try to attack your defense
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: this year compared.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: To last year? You know, it's still early in the season. So, like,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: it's kind of hard to tell, to get a gauge on, like,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: what's everyone, what everybody's trying to do. Like, you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: like in the commanders game, they did a lot of
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: totally different stuff on film that we've seen that we
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: had to adjust on the fly. So like, I think
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: as the season goes on, even our defense, you know, like,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: you know, we haven't really even ramped up to get
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: in our full packages or like seeing everything we can do,
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: like seeing our, our defense flourish yet. So like, you know,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: everybody's still ramping up and I think in the next
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: couple of weeks, we'll, we'll, we'll really see where we
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: start taking our strides as a defense and the team. So.
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: All that time that you had being sidelined during training camp,
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: what was your biggest priority to maximize that time, since
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: you couldn't be out there practicing with the team or
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: doing anything?
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, honestly, I was working out a lot and staying
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: sharp mentally. I mean, for me, you know, football is
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: kind of like, a lot of things just click for
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: me easily, so, like, I wasn't really worried about getting
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: backtracked as far as, like, the X and Os, but
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: just making sure my body's, like, up to go. I
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: didn't want to come in any lighter, lose any weight,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: so I was really doing a lot of lifting and
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: make sure my body's like built for the season on, so.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: You said it was a weird off season for you.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: I'm probably asking the obvious, but what about it was weird?
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: Like what specifically?
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: I'd probably say like after the Super Bowl, you know,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: knowing I had a little issue with my ankle, probably
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: just trying to figure out what I need to do
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: with that. But I mean, ramping up from there, it
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: was healing good, feeling good. I was working out with
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: cleats on in the off season. So, and then coming
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: back for OTA, still feeling good. So it was just
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: a lot of stuff I was dealing with as far
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: as like, do I really need it? Do I not
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: need it? what it's going to be like later on
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: in the fall. Still feeling, you know, coming off the
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Super Bowl high, trying to get back focused for the
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: next season. So, it was just a lot of stuff that,
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: you know, as my first offseason that, you know, Ricky,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: it's kind of hard for me to, like, grasp, like,
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: what I was really kind of dealing with. But, ultimately,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: everything turned out good. You know, I'm here now, healthy,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: ready to go and to help the team. So, I mean,
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: all that stuff really doesn't– it's in the past now.
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: Your recovery from the surgery– It was one of the
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: storylines that they followed a lot during Hard Knocks. Was
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: that at all strange for you, kind of having that
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: be something that was a focus almost every week?
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: Not really, just because, you know, I didn't really want
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: to hide it from the world. You know, I'd rather
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: everybody see what I'm going through and see the process
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: of the whole storyline, how I come back from it,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: what's going on. So I didn't want to, you know,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: keep everybody in the dark or shy away from it.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: You know, it is what it is. Like, you got
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: to deal with it. So it was kind of cool.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: It was kind of cool that Hard Knocks kind of
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: made storylines about it. So I could see it and
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: it's a piece in history. So.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Knowing that you eventually had to get surgery on it now,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: going back to the Super Bowl, what do you kind
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: of reflect on that and playing through it a couple
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: of days later and what that whole thing was like?
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the whole mindset, I mean, I think it was
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: worth it, but dealing with that through the Super Bowl,
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: like my mindset was just like, I mean, it wouldn't
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: have really felt complete for me to work my way
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: all day up through the season, all the playoff games,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: just not to play in the Super Bowl, like, you know,
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: last game of the season. So it was a no-brainer
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: for me to go out there, and I think it
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: was worth it. Like, whatever, everything that came with it,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: you know, Super Bowl champion, great season, ended off right.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: So I knew I wouldn't have slept great if I
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: didn't have played in that game. Like, I would have
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: been like, you know, it would have been eating at me.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: So I just had to do it, that type of
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: dude I am. But it was worth it. It was great. Yeah.
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: Whenever you're, like, all the way back and you're playing
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: as much as everybody had planned for, what do you
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: feel like is going to be the biggest difference in
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: your role this season compared to last year?
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: I think with, I mean, common sense, you know, we
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: had some departures in the secondary with Kobe and Reek.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: But I think, you know, stepping up in a bigger
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: role just wherever the coaches find fit. But, you know,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: even with the departures, I think Mike's done a great
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: job filling in holes where we can't even notice that,
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: you know, things are missing. And, you know, whenever I
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: get back and we fully ramp up, I think the
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: defense is going to be real. It's going to be
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: a real deal. It's going to be even better than
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: last year, so.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: You last year coming out of school, you know, were
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: somewhat well-known, but now, you know, after your rookie year,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: you're pretty well-known across the NFL. What's that been like,
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: that journey for you, like off the field and dealing
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: with that?
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: It's been amazing. Honestly, it's a blessing. You know, if
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: you asked me coming out of the draft or even
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: a week into my coming to Seattle, like what I
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: expected everything to go down, I would have told you
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: exactly everything for me, what was going to happen. So,
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: It feels good having goals that I set before anything
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: and then completing those goals and having future goals that
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: I'm reaching out for that I can see myself completing
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: and getting to. So, I mean, across the NFL world,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: you know, my name's pretty much known a little bit.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: They know me as a good defensive player. But I'm
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: trying to become, like, one of the best defensive players
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: in the league and just stamp myself for that. You know,
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: a lot of things I did miss on that I
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: want to get, so. Anything else?
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: Thank you, sir.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you.
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah.