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Dante Fowler Jr.: "This Is A Really Great Defense To Be A Part Of" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, wait, except can you tell us about just the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: process of anxiety that come to Seattle. Uh, basically just talking
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to you know, eighty the defensive coordinator, talking to the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Marcus Lawrence, being able to come out here on a
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: visit and visit the coaching staff, meet coach Hans and
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: meet CP and the coaching staff.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: And I thought it was it was the right thing
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: to do.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: What did the Marcus Marts tell me about Seattle?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Uh, basically that it's a great program.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Uh, clearly, you know, just keeping up with him and
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: watching how great he did last year and of course
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: he went in the Super Bowl and things like that,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and just being able to just see the defense all around,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you know, Leonard Williams, we go all the way back,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Jaron Reid, Brian Murphy, Ernest Jones just a really great defense.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, Ernest Jones, a really great defense just to
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: be a part of. So I thought it was a
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: great thing to do. Some of those names, putting yourself
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: for ten plus years, cow funds are being really straight,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Tradford three home team to helpful poet out of it.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: It's really fun. It's a dream.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I love being on great defenses, being with great defensive players,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: great pros, and this is everything that defense have from
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the top to the bottom. Even with the coaching staff,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the way that they've developed the players, the way that
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: they coach the players is something I think is a
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: football player's dream. You guys out there, yeah, we buyd
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and of course, you know, we go all the way back.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: You know, me and Leonard Williams, we were both from
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Florida and we came out in the same high school
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: class and we played an under armoured game together. So
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: we always been, you know, big fans of each other.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Been watching him since he's been at USC and stuff
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: like that. And you know, of course being with the
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Marcus Lawrence. I feel like when I came from Atlanta
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to Dallas, just him taking me underneath his wing helped
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: me grow a lot and.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Was able to help me be able.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: To be the person that I was in Washington and
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: be able to take on that role by myself. I
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: think it was a lot that has had to do
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: with that, just taking taking me ont of his wing
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and showing me how to go about things and stuff
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: like that.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: How much did they try to get you before last.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Season, I don't know about how much they tried to.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: But you know, me and A D. We had a
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: couple of talks and stuff like that, and you know,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: i didn't end up working out uh that way. But
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I'm here now and I'm happy to be here.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Kicking yourself a little bit for that.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Choice, definitely for sure, but you know, still bless and
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: still happy just to be uh, you know, in the league,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: in the NFL. I'm definitely happy to be back with
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: A D and the Marcus and this great defense.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Is what they're asking you to do really similar to
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: what you've got in the past, especially what they need.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, really just you know, go out there and get
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: after the quarterback, put pressure on the quarterback. And if
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: I'm out there first and second down, be stout in
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: the run game.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: It's pretty nightly they what is all about.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I disrespect the man he is. You know, he got
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: it out the mudd. You know, he got it out
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the hard way. He's from London, He's not from here.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: And you know, his high his his i Q of
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: football is just impressive. I love like his passion, uh,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: his intent of the game. The way he coaches his players,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: that's what I like the most. Like he he the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: man something out of his players. He's not just telling
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: them what like the exis and those like he's the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: He's going to demand it out of you and he's
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: want to ask you questions and he wants you to
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: answer it the right way and.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Stuff like that. So just the way, just the way that.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: See And that's that's why I'm happy to be here
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: right literally right there. But just the man that he is,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you know, just being able to have a coach like that,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: to be able to teach you on and off the field,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: That's something I really love about him.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Did they do anything for your birthday prank or anything?
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: No, they just shouted me out into, uh, the team
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: meeting room. But you know, I'm getting up there, so
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I kind of don't want people to know that it's
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: my birthday. Yeah, it was the under Armored All American Game.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: It's basically all the Parade or Blue Trip All Americans.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: It's like the Army Game.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So the tough start you had to your career,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: I think correct.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: And yeah, first thirty minutes of Ricky Minnie camp experience,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: it was just a dark moment in my life. It
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: just sucked because I felt really good and I really
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: believed that I was like my rookie year going to
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: like I just I believe it. I was going to
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: be a generational player, win Rookie of the Year all that,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: and all that just went like you know, out the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: roof and I had to recover for nine months and
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I did that. But definitely a tough moment in my life.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: But when I look back on it where I am now,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I'm just happy to be able to uh say that
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I was. That it built me and it made me
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: until the man I am. As far as challenge is
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: dealing with you know, tough things, knowing that it's not
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: going to always you know, be right there, everything is
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: going to pass over, and uh, you know, just staying
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: true to myself and just put in the works, you know,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: so I can still be a football player.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: What'd you learn about yourself in that time.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: That you know it's going to be hard times and
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: you can't go around it. You got to go through it.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: And you know that's what I learned about it. Just
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: you know, no matter how hard time's going to be
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: in life, you know, you just got to keep battling
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: and you got to keep going through things.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: If you stay true to yourself, stay true.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: To your mission and you have faith in yourself, You'll
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: always be good at the end of the day. And
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: that was just a completely foodya, non contact kind of thing. Yeah,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: it was weird because basically it was it was a
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: weird day, Like it was something.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: It was so weird.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I knew something bad was going to happen that that day,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and I just remember, like the coach says, something good
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: is going to happen to day, something's bad going to
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: happen to day, and I was just like, oh shit.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I just remember being out there and it literally felt
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: like a like a nightmare, like like I was.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: It felt like I was.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: In a dream, but like it was like a football
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: like nightmare, you know what I mean. And we was
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: They was taking us through the through through the ringer
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: with the drills. Everything was fast paced. That was my
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: first NFL practice and I was like super charged up.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: We did like.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Run games that went good, and then we went in
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the like went right in the passing game.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: I don't think we had a break.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: And I just you know, went out there and tried
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: to like show him that I was a great pass
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: rusher and over extending my leg a little too much
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: and blew my knee out, but we're still here today,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: and I thank God for that.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: You're talking about like you know, a d and some
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: of the other guys that are here that kind of
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: sold you to come here. Just what else about this
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: region has caught your eye? You know, being out in
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: the Pacific Northwest, Dude, I love the Pacific Northwest.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Just you know, I'm a Florida Like, I'm from Florida,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: so like I love the beach and things like that.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: But here, you guys have water, you have mountains, you
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: have hikes, trails. I love the weather out here. I
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: don't know if I got spoiled from coming out here
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: during the summertime, but like this is like, hands down
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: one of the best summers I've like had, just based
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: off of the weather and stuff like that. I know
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: they say the winter will like show your true colors
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: and how you feel about Seattle, But I'm like a
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: gloomy type of guy, so I like love like cloudy,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: overcast type of stuff. So I'm actually looking forward to
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: that too, and like being able to see bald eagles
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and stuff like that. I saw like two bald eagles
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: fighting over fish in my backyard and I was just
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: like just amazed, like you're all just like watching two
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: bald eagles like fight.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Over fish in my backyard.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: I never seen that before, so that was pretty cool.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Smoke yet or now? Well, I mean I feel like
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: that comes with like being on like the West and
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: stuff like that. I lived in LA for a couple
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: of years, so I know how that goes.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Thank that guys man.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah,