Latest / AFR Saints / EXCLUSIVE: Why Davon Godchaux Picked New Orleans Saints | CRAZY Brandon Staley Story
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: AFR on Demand is brought to you by Breck Golf.
- 0:03Speaker 1: Try Beaver Creek today, just twenty minutes from downtown Baton
- 0:07Speaker 1: Rouge in the Zachary area. They've got a PGA toward
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- 0:23Speaker 1: dot org. Golf dot Breck dot org. Been one of
- 0:26Speaker 1: the coolest stories, certainly this offseason for the Saints, but
- 0:30Speaker 1: seeing a lot of the LSU guys come home and uh,
- 0:33Speaker 1: how awesome to see Devon gotcha start his career as
- 0:36Speaker 1: a high school prep athlete and plaquem Income to LSU
- 0:39Speaker 1: and now have a chance to play for the New
- 0:41Speaker 1: Orleans Saints as well for the trade from the Patriots.
- 0:43Speaker 1: Good enough to join us for a couple of minutes here, Devon,
- 0:45Speaker 1: It's great to catch up, man. How are you?
- 0:47Speaker 2: I'm good man, it's great to doing the show. I'm excited. So,
- 0:50Speaker 2: you know, stout the journey of you know, having a
- 0:53Speaker 2: chance to play high school college and now the NFL
- 0:56Speaker 2: and the state Luisana just to just get back to work, man,
- 0:59Speaker 2: just so you know, try to put from waying together
- 1:00Speaker 2: and uh you know, get the thanks back to what
- 1:02Speaker 2: it needs to be.
- 1:03Speaker 1: All right, man, I want to start here so coverage
- 1:06Speaker 1: you as a prep athlete, a plaquem and then obviously
- 1:09Speaker 1: at LSU you were a d ND in high school,
- 1:13Speaker 1: then became a tackle at LSU. Brother, they sat here
- 1:16Speaker 1: tipping the scales at three point thirty now playing the nose.
- 1:19Speaker 1: How big are you? Man? They are just a far
- 1:21Speaker 1: cry from the dude that was playing plaque and been
- 1:22Speaker 1: coming off the edge.
- 1:24Speaker 2: Yeah, went about three three thirty three thirty five. Uh
- 1:28Speaker 2: but uh, just I mean just kind of like just
- 1:30Speaker 2: holding my weight like good you know, you know, I
- 1:31Speaker 2: always want to keep my body nice and tone. Uh
- 1:35Speaker 2: you know, just you know, just just staying in shape.
- 1:37Speaker 2: You like, uh, I think you know just from plaque
- 1:40Speaker 2: that I was like a d N slash d tackle
- 1:42Speaker 2: more d N and then I never forget my d
- 1:45Speaker 2: Like tlor She was like, when you get here, you're
- 1:47Speaker 2: gonna beild, You're gonna build de tackle And I was like,
- 1:49Speaker 2: what you know, so you know I got hurt my
- 1:52Speaker 2: senior year in the county. You know those a cls
- 1:54Speaker 2: and you not not really doing nothing, you know, you
- 1:56Speaker 2: just rehabbing, not really can't run. So you know I
- 1:59Speaker 2: kind of like got like a little heavier there and
- 2:01Speaker 2: then and then that just says that, like it just
- 2:03Speaker 2: it just fit in my frame, you know. And I was,
- 2:04Speaker 2: you know, a defensive tacking the SEC and I went
- 2:07Speaker 2: on to, you know, play I could play any position
- 2:09Speaker 2: at the next at the NFL. That'sould make it so great.
- 2:11Speaker 2: I didn't play three tech, I didn't play four, I
- 2:13Speaker 2: didn't played five tech. I didn't play shade, I didn't
- 2:15Speaker 2: play de ree. I'm just being the versatile and I
- 2:18Speaker 2: learned that from then er Off.
- 2:19Speaker 1: So chemp Man, I want to I want to talk
- 2:21Speaker 1: a little bit more about that and how you fit
- 2:23Speaker 1: with the Saints and Brandon Salors d and all that
- 2:25Speaker 1: in just a second, but I want to go back.
- 2:27Speaker 1: Can you walk us through that whole process of like
- 2:30Speaker 1: when you were when you first got the call, like
- 2:32Speaker 1: trade was gonna happen and it's it's New Orleans.
- 2:36Speaker 2: Well, uh my agent called me and he was like, uh,
- 2:40Speaker 2: the Saints are really aggressive, like they really want to
- 2:44Speaker 2: And I was like, you know, so with the money
- 2:47Speaker 2: gonna be like and stuff like that. And you know,
- 2:49Speaker 2: the money was good and the fit was good, and
- 2:50Speaker 2: I was like, they need the chocolate. They need to know,
- 2:53Speaker 2: they need somebody to be lying to, you know, to
- 2:55Speaker 2: help bring a part of what they already have to
- 2:56Speaker 2: stop the running. I was like, you know, it's a
- 2:58Speaker 2: I never played in the NFC. I've been to a
- 3:01Speaker 2: FC East my whole career, so uh, I'm like, why
- 3:03Speaker 2: not go to the NFC South and compete? And uh,
- 3:06Speaker 2: you know, it was just a it's just a great fit.
- 3:08Speaker 2: I mean, I believed in with coach Staley, you know, uh,
- 3:11Speaker 2: getting a chance to get to you know, the players
- 3:13Speaker 2: won't once to dominate and make plays. I believe in that.
- 3:16Speaker 2: And I'm all about that, you know. I'm all about
- 3:18Speaker 2: you know, sacrificing, you know, sometime being the linebacker coming
- 3:21Speaker 2: down to make plays and when it's my time to eat,
- 3:23Speaker 2: it's my time to eat, you know. So I'm excited
- 3:26Speaker 2: for it.
- 3:26Speaker 1: When uh, what was when the deal gets done and
- 3:29Speaker 1: and you know the opportunity to come home happened, what
- 3:32Speaker 1: was I mean? I would imagine you still got a
- 3:33Speaker 1: lot of family here. What was your family's reaction when
- 3:36Speaker 1: they found out you were coming back, so.
- 3:38Speaker 2: Everybody was excited. Uh, text message, growing up, Instagram, social
- 3:42Speaker 2: media everything because uh, you know, like I was originally
- 3:45Speaker 2: supposed to put the news out, but I was actually
- 3:48Speaker 2: on the plane coming back from Paris. So uh, when
- 3:52Speaker 2: I like got some wi Fi, I just see the
- 3:54Speaker 2: news everywhere, I'm like, dang it, Like I didn't put
- 3:56Speaker 2: it out, but I see Ed rapperport Adam Scheffler and
- 4:00Speaker 2: I'm like, I didn't even get a test to put
- 4:01Speaker 2: it out, Like I had no test, no choice but
- 4:04Speaker 2: to pull it out. Uh posted because like those guys
- 4:07Speaker 2: already had had tweeted it. So yeah, I mean it's
- 4:12Speaker 2: very exciting, man, It's very exciting just to get back
- 4:14Speaker 2: home and uh represented state of Louisiana in the right way.
- 4:16Speaker 2: And you know, it's more personal because it's I'm from
- 4:19Speaker 2: the Louisiana and everybody's gonna be watching every Sunday. Everybody's
- 4:21Speaker 2: gonna be probably there every Sunday, So it's more personal
- 4:24Speaker 2: and I'm excited. Do you put some wins together?
- 4:27Speaker 1: What are you doing in Paris?
- 4:30Speaker 2: Man? I was looking at the Runaway a little bit,
- 4:31Speaker 2: looking at it, looking at a couple of shows and
- 4:33Speaker 2: you know, my second passion is I love fashion. That
- 4:37Speaker 2: I just love the beauty of uh Art, the beauty
- 4:41Speaker 2: of you know, Cass. I feel like fashion is a
- 4:43Speaker 2: great way for you to explain like yourself each and
- 4:46Speaker 2: every day by express like what you win, maybe some
- 4:49Speaker 2: art figures and maybe whatever. But I feel like it's
- 4:51Speaker 2: a great way or for you to represent the way
- 4:52Speaker 2: you feel.
- 4:53Speaker 1: Are you a designer, like you got lines or anything?
- 4:57Speaker 2: Just collect just collected. I was like collecting great pieces
- 5:01Speaker 2: and uh yeah, maybe one day with one day, all right.
- 5:05Speaker 1: I was talking to Divine gotchas. I guess I was
- 5:07Speaker 1: talking to Hester, Jake Hester here just a bit ago.
- 5:09Speaker 1: He told me that down in Florida, you live next
- 5:12Speaker 1: to EJ. Manuel and Jarvis and Andrey. Yeah, you get
- 5:15Speaker 1: like competitive games going in the street.
- 5:18Speaker 2: Pickleball, man, We get a lot of pickleball games. Pickleball
- 5:20Speaker 2: is very pickleball is very competitive. I actually just finished, uh,
- 5:25Speaker 2: I actually just finished working out. After that, I went
- 5:28Speaker 2: to the pickleball court and I was teaching my wife
- 5:29Speaker 2: how to play pickball. So my wife is getting to
- 5:31Speaker 2: pick aball man, and I'm like she's already, Like it's
- 5:34Speaker 2: so addicting. Babe, and I'm like, yes, that's why I've
- 5:36Speaker 2: never owned. It's very addictive. It's very addictive. Who's who's better,
- 5:40Speaker 2: Jarvis or e J. I'm the well, I'm the best
- 5:43Speaker 2: pickball player. Really, I'm the best. Believe it or not,
- 5:46Speaker 2: I'm the best. J was like J told me yesterday,
- 5:48Speaker 2: he was like, you're gonna have two picks here about
- 5:51Speaker 2: how the way you playing pickleball? Like, I love like
- 5:54Speaker 2: it just it just gets me away from everything. Like,
- 5:56Speaker 2: I love playing it, I love competing with it. I
- 5:59Speaker 2: love play a lot of scene. I love playing like
- 6:01Speaker 2: one on one, but doubles just kind of like the
- 6:03Speaker 2: slope me. I still love playing it, but singles is
- 6:06Speaker 2: my favorite.
- 6:06Speaker 1: All right, man, moving around and you so you just
- 6:09Speaker 1: said you're gonna have a couple of picks. You haven't
- 6:10Speaker 1: had one in your career yet.
- 6:11Speaker 2: Man, I haven't had one. Man, I've been dropped. I
- 6:13Speaker 2: dropped a couple of times, but I haven't had a pick.
- 6:16Speaker 1: I mean Colin Saunder's big dude in the middle for
- 6:17Speaker 1: the Saints, had one to get off the homes last
- 6:19Speaker 1: year on Monday Night.
- 6:20Speaker 2: Yeah, that was perfect. I love big big Boy was running.
- 6:24Speaker 1: We got a couple more minutes here with the Vaughan
- 6:25Speaker 1: gotcha and so you said that you know you like
- 6:29Speaker 1: what what Brandon Staley does in the fit. Uh, let's
- 6:31Speaker 1: let's dive in a little bit there. Man, Like you
- 6:33Speaker 1: mentioned you're in the a f C East your whole
- 6:35Speaker 1: career with Miami and then New England. So like, how
- 6:38Speaker 1: much do you know about about about Brandon Saley?
- 6:42Speaker 2: Well, we played against him a lot of He had
- 6:44Speaker 2: a funny story. So I don't know you want me yeah?
- 6:46Speaker 1: No, please please yea.
- 6:49Speaker 2: He told me. Uh, I played against a couple of time.
- 6:54Speaker 2: We played them in LA, we played him in New England.
- 6:58Speaker 2: We played him in New England last year, but he
- 7:00Speaker 2: was in the coach so the year before that we
- 7:03Speaker 2: played them. Man Kellen Moore was to OC and he
- 7:07Speaker 2: told me in his office, I mean it was office.
- 7:09Speaker 2: He was like, when we was coming to play you guys.
- 7:13Speaker 2: He named the year. I think it was twenty twenty three.
- 7:16Speaker 2: I think yeah, twitchin three and he would say. We
- 7:19Speaker 2: was on the plane heading to headed to Massachusetts and
- 7:24Speaker 2: I told I told Kellen, I said, if we're thinking
- 7:29Speaker 2: we're going to run the ball on these guys, we're
- 7:33Speaker 2: joking ourselves matter of fact everything, He's gonna run the
- 7:35Speaker 2: ball with ninety two in the middle. Rire kiting ourself
- 7:38Speaker 2: with a backup center, And we think we're gonna better
- 7:40Speaker 2: run a ball this game. We're kidding ourselves. And he
- 7:43Speaker 2: said he knew coming into that game that and actually
- 7:46Speaker 2: like the score was like ten and three. I mean
- 7:48Speaker 2: we couldn't even score ten points. I mean we lost
- 7:50Speaker 2: ten to three against the Charges. And he and they
- 7:53Speaker 2: was not able to run the ball. Of course they
- 7:55Speaker 2: couldn't even pass the ball, but I mean they scored.
- 7:57Speaker 2: I think it scored on defense or something.
- 7:59Speaker 1: I can't remember, right, it was six I'm looking at it.
- 8:01Speaker 1: It was sixth and nothing.
- 8:03Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was six nothing, right, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
- 8:07Speaker 2: I know it was a It was a that year.
- 8:08Speaker 2: We had so many close games, like it was ridiculous.
- 8:11Speaker 2: We could have scored ten points. Uh So, he said
- 8:16Speaker 2: he knew that game, they like they woudn't go better
- 8:18Speaker 2: run a ball. He said he just respected the way,
- 8:20Speaker 2: like my technique, my fundamentals has been over the years,
- 8:23Speaker 2: especially getting with Bill Belichick, and he was like he
- 8:25Speaker 2: was telling killing like we're not gonna better run a ball,
- 8:27Speaker 2: Like we're like we're joking on severything. We're gonna be
- 8:30Speaker 2: able to run a ball, and uh that was true.
- 8:32Speaker 2: But uh, I just always had such great respect from
- 8:35Speaker 2: He's been a great coach in the head coach in
- 8:36Speaker 2: his league. Uh, you know, had some tough some tough losses.
- 8:40Speaker 2: And I think that playoff lost in Jacksonville was a
- 8:42Speaker 2: tough one. I think Jacksonville came back and won. Uh
- 8:45Speaker 2: so that was a tough loss. But he's been a
- 8:47Speaker 2: great head coach in his league. I'm excited of him
- 8:50Speaker 2: to be the DC for the New Orleans Saints.
- 8:52Speaker 1: Twenty four carries for twenty nine yards the Chargers that
- 8:55Speaker 1: they they gave against, good memory man, good recall on
- 8:58Speaker 1: that one. Yeah, hey what about so you look, you
- 9:01Speaker 1: mentioned Belichick, right, so you got to play for the
- 9:04Speaker 1: greatest coach ever and now you're gonna skirts You're gonna
- 9:07Speaker 1: play for a first time head coach. What do you
- 9:09Speaker 1: think about playing for a guy Kellam Moorris thirty six
- 9:12Speaker 1: years old.
- 9:13Speaker 2: You know, for me, you know, Kellen might be the
- 9:16Speaker 2: fan age cam Jeorde, But but what makes a great
- 9:24Speaker 2: head coach? To me? What makes a great coach in general?
- 9:27Speaker 2: It's a great leader a great leader of men. You know,
- 9:30Speaker 2: you got all these guys come from different backgrounds, some
- 9:33Speaker 2: of them single parent households and things like that. Some guys,
- 9:36Speaker 2: you know, both parents together, you know, and guys have
- 9:40Speaker 2: their different personalities. But when you couldn't have a coach
- 9:44Speaker 2: that can bring guys together and compete at a high
- 9:46Speaker 2: level and compete as one because everybody goal is to
- 9:49Speaker 2: win there a Super Bowl, and nobody's got to talk
- 9:51Speaker 2: about it. But when you got a coach that can
- 9:53Speaker 2: do that, that's a great leader in my opinion. We
- 9:55Speaker 2: got a great coach that can teach you not only
- 9:58Speaker 2: talk about it, but teach you how to do it.
- 10:00Speaker 2: That's a great leader in my opinion. Like, so, you know,
- 10:02Speaker 2: he's killing with his experience with Dallas. Everyone he's been,
- 10:04Speaker 2: He's had explosive offenses, uh, you know, of course Philly
- 10:08Speaker 2: last year winning the Super Bowl. Dallas had a very
- 10:10Speaker 2: you know, Dacko star for like four or five for
- 10:13Speaker 2: five thousand yards a year, you know, and then you
- 10:15Speaker 2: got Justin Herbert who was playing at a at an
- 10:17Speaker 2: MVP level. Also, you know, Kellen has been a great
- 10:21Speaker 2: a great offensive mastermind. You know. But the challenge is
- 10:25Speaker 2: going to be for you know, it's challenges for everybody,
- 10:27Speaker 2: challenge for players, challenges for coaches. Is the leading a
- 10:29Speaker 2: group of men, which I think he can do, which
- 10:32Speaker 2: I think because I mean Philly, Philly had a lot
- 10:35Speaker 2: of guys, you know, a lot of talented guys. But
- 10:37Speaker 2: Kellen led them to a defination. You're killing them. You know,
- 10:40Speaker 2: the head coach also led them to the definition to
- 10:43Speaker 2: win a Super Bowl. You know, it takes not only
- 10:45Speaker 2: just the head coach. It takes a group of a
- 10:47Speaker 2: group of people, a group of coaches around him to
- 10:49Speaker 2: buy in. You get what I'm saying. Yeah, So, I
- 10:51Speaker 2: mean I'm excited for it. I mean, I'm excited for
- 10:53Speaker 2: him to start his journey as a you know, I
- 10:54Speaker 2: think I think he couldn't started in a better place.
- 10:56Speaker 2: You know, he brought a lot of coaches around him,
- 10:58Speaker 2: nothing of my dad, his office, brought a lot of
- 11:01Speaker 2: guys down with him from from Philly. So I'm excited
- 11:04Speaker 2: for him. Man, I'm excited to see him floors. And uh,
- 11:06Speaker 2: you know, I mean we didn't have a lot of
- 11:08Speaker 2: young coaches in the last couple years in his league.
- 11:10Speaker 2: First year coaches and it didn't had great seasons Demiko
- 11:13Speaker 2: ron I could keep naming them. We had a lot
- 11:15Speaker 2: of coaches who had had great, great first season, so
- 11:18Speaker 2: I think Kelvin could be one of for sure.
- 11:20Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting man, uh just listening to talk like,
- 11:24Speaker 1: and I've done this long enough. You talked enough, guys.
- 11:26Speaker 1: Not everybody stays locked into football or the whole NFL.
- 11:30Speaker 1: Like you know your team, you know your job, and
- 11:31Speaker 1: then there's family. There's a lot of other things. You
- 11:33Speaker 1: sound like you have, like still a really deep passion
- 11:36Speaker 1: for the game and for the league.
- 11:38Speaker 2: Man, this game has brought me a lot of players,
- 11:40Speaker 2: man like you. Just I was just talking to you
- 11:43Speaker 2: about Paris. This game brought me to Paris. I would
- 11:45Speaker 2: not put the pass without just you know, the loving
- 11:47Speaker 2: and the karen in this game with his game has
- 11:48Speaker 2: taught me, uh, just the people that made me me
- 11:51Speaker 2: explore the football is a football could be a very
- 11:55Speaker 2: It's a great sport, not only for stuff on the field,
- 11:58Speaker 2: stuff off the field, the people it makes you need,
- 12:00Speaker 2: the connections that you make for life after football. You know,
- 12:02Speaker 2: this game is you gotta cherish the game and it
- 12:04Speaker 2: be and if you cheat the game, but the game
- 12:06Speaker 2: is eventually gonna catch up to you like this this game,
- 12:08Speaker 2: This game knows who really commit themselves day in and
- 12:11Speaker 2: day out. You know, like you know, more than posting
- 12:14Speaker 2: Instagram videos, social media videos. This game knows was cheating it.
- 12:18Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. So, you know, football can
- 12:20Speaker 2: do a lot of stuff for you. Man, It's a
- 12:21Speaker 2: lot of you know, like got guys like Ron Spark
- 12:23Speaker 2: and Marcus Spears, even guys you know every like you
- 12:26Speaker 2: know Jacob Hess, guys who played the game, and you
- 12:28Speaker 2: know who's now getting rewarded with great you know, radio
- 12:31Speaker 2: shows and great espns and stuff like that. So, I
- 12:34Speaker 2: mean there's this game. Is you got to cherish this
- 12:36Speaker 2: game because it can do a lot for you. It
- 12:38Speaker 2: can do it can make you meet a lot of
- 12:39Speaker 2: great people in life.
- 12:41Speaker 1: I mean, you've been really I'm just a couple more quickly.
- 12:43Speaker 1: You've been real durable. How much longer you want to play?
- 12:46Speaker 2: Man, I'm not having fun. I'm healthy. I haven't had
- 12:49Speaker 2: any major surgeons besides one of my fourth yen the NFL,
- 12:51Speaker 2: and I had a I mean I had a hernia surgery,
- 12:54Speaker 2: I mean which was took like fifteen minutes. And I
- 12:56Speaker 2: had a bicep surgery from making a tackle. But that's
- 12:59Speaker 2: about it. I mean, I have been healthy, taking care
- 13:02Speaker 2: of my body, try to start even though my you know,
- 13:04Speaker 2: you know, uh sometimes you know, my my physical therapy
- 13:07Speaker 2: is my missiles. You know, it gets expressive out through
- 13:08Speaker 2: the year. But I know that's gonna help me prevail
- 13:12Speaker 2: and help keep me in the lead, you know. So
- 13:14Speaker 2: I just I just kind of you know, when I'm
- 13:17Speaker 2: having fun, you know I'm right now. Then the defenses
- 13:19Speaker 2: that I'm playing in this you know this kind of
- 13:22Speaker 2: like this Pete Jenkins Bo Davis type. I can play.
- 13:25Speaker 2: I can put a lot more longer in this system
- 13:26Speaker 2: because I'm strong, I'm durable. Uh, you know, I can
- 13:29Speaker 2: share blocks. You know, I can run style line the sideline.
- 13:31Speaker 2: You know, it's you know, it's not really actually you know,
- 13:34Speaker 2: you know, run four yards down the field every play,
- 13:36Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. So I can. I can
- 13:38Speaker 2: do this for a long time as long as I'm
- 13:41Speaker 2: healthy and the most important thing longs them having fun.
- 13:44Speaker 2: You know, winning is fun. A lot of people forget that.
- 13:46Speaker 2: You know, getting paid is great, but winning is fun.
- 13:49Speaker 2: You know, if you don't win, it's touck. I'd have
- 13:51Speaker 2: been a part of that. Unfortunately, a lot of times
- 13:54Speaker 2: in the NFL I haven't won, you know, so you
- 13:56Speaker 2: know it's suck to, you know, be at home in January,
- 13:59Speaker 2: late Janie and you're watching everybody play on TV. You know,
- 14:02Speaker 2: a couple of teams play on TV, and you're like, man,
- 14:05Speaker 2: I'm better than this guy. I should be right here,
- 14:07Speaker 2: you know, but you got to you gotta eat it
- 14:09Speaker 2: because it's a team sport, and it's not a youth sport.
- 14:11Speaker 2: It's a team sport. And I tell people, you know, like,
- 14:17Speaker 2: you can't win a super Bowl now, but you can
- 14:19Speaker 2: absolutely lose the super Bowl right now by not doing
- 14:22Speaker 2: things day by day by day. You can't. You're not
- 14:24Speaker 2: gonna win the super Bowl in in September at offers
- 14:28Speaker 2: in training camp, but you would definitely lose one by
- 14:30Speaker 2: not preparing yourself each and every day.
- 14:34Speaker 1: Glad to have you back, man, Hopefully we can chat again.
- 14:36Speaker 1: We appreciate so much the time today.
- 14:38Speaker 2: Sure, thank you so much for preciate it.
- 14:39Speaker 1: Brother, It's our pleasure.