LOCKER ROOM: Dante Fowler Jr., Nick Kallerup & Rob Staton

0:00Hey Nick, you got a mirror? Yeah. Nick, cal her up. Man, it's been a while since I've chance to talk to you. How was your off season? I was great. I got married. We got a dog. I spent pretty good. Which was the bigger accomplishment of the off season? The dog or the marriage? Definitely the marriage. You guys, if I remember right, I think I said somewhere you've been together for a long time, yeah? Yeah, we been together since high school. So, how did you guys out here? You living out here? Yeah, she moved out with me last year after I made the team. And how is she acclimating to Northwest life? We both really love it out here. We've been doing good. So, obviously, rookie year goes pretty well. I guess you were able to ring all that stuff. For you coming in your second season, people talk about big second year jumps. Where are some things you're looking to change about your game? Your one to your two? Just doubling down on my role and owning my role within the offense and then doing what I can to grow that role to whatever I can week to week to grow in it slowly.

1:05I've been noticing you catching a few more passes than you did last year. Is that one of the things you're experiencing in this offense? Yeah, there's definitely a few more opportunities. So, you know, someone who's trying to learn as much as possible past blocking, run blocking, obviously two different things. Do you go about getting better at those in different ways or the specific focus points you have for each one of them? Yeah, there's definitely things you focus on every day, just little things. And then you just keep... you master those and you find something new. And then when you slip up on those things that you had mastered, you refocus. So, it's just one thing focusing on every day and it changes up every day. Did you ever have any experience doing like H-Baks up or you line up in the backfield? And are blocking from there? Is that also been something that's different with this offense? Not maybe a couple one-off plays in college, but really it's pretty new for this offense. It's targeting in that situation and being able to hit your same targets that you're looking for when you're running at somebody is supposed to be attached to the line.

2:10What's that like? You just got to trust it and you got to not stop your feet. You can trouble when you chop your feet. So that's really... it's just a mental block, but it's the same targets, same landmarks. It's just you're running at them instead of stepping at them. Appreciate you Nick. Absolutely. Thank you. Dante Fowler, Jr. Man. First game as a Seahawk in Lumen Field. How you feeling? I feel amazing. I can't wait to hit a 12. I would do a game out. I can't wait to go out and do what my guys and get out through it. I have you heard EJ was talking you up yesterday that you bring tons of energy. Called you D-Law 2.0. What are your thoughts on that? That means a lot coming from the captain of the defense. Me and him, we come from the same coaching tree with a lot of stuff like that. So that means a lot. I know he has a certain mentality of how he pushed the game and I try to do the same thing. So that means a lot for him. There's a lot of different leaders on this defense.

3:11Every position group seems like they got three leaders practically. Have you been on a defense? Thought it was just talented. But there's many guys that will speak up and lead. Never. In my 12 years, I could say I'd never been a part of just a group full of guys that from the top, from every position group on the team. Honestly, from the top to the bottom of like high day treat day sales, high day goal. About your sales as pros, high day treat the rookies. Yeah, especially. Well, Leonard's talking about the fact that he thought about retiring in New York. And there's other guys talking about they come to a new place and they kind of fall back in love with the sport. Can you feel that at all coming here? Yeah, I was pretty depressed last year. You know, with how things went with the defense that I was on last year. But I had me questioning some things and stuff like that. But when I came out here just to be around the coaching staff like Hans, CP, AD, and Mike and the training staff.

4:13I was a strength and conditioning coach. All those things played a whole factor of just me feeling like myself again. I feel good. I feel like how I felt going into the year when I was with the command is just super confident knowing that I put the work in and just let all the chips lay on Sunday. Well, my pal here Rob came all the way from the UK to watch you guys play Rob. You got any questions for Dante? Yes. So obviously I am from England. You have an English defensive coordinator. I just asked a question in mind, but don't know the bout your English defensive coordinator. I didn't understand the words that I was saying. Yeah. So I want to ask you, is there anything that I don't dirty ever says to you that you have to get him to repeat and how he's not working with someone from England? The first time I met AD. So this was in Atlanta in 2020. And it's my first time ever meeting him. And we sat down on one on one. We was going to recover just like what kind of drops and all that. And I never met him before.

5:14And I just remember I never knew he was going to talk like that. So when he first started talking and he had a thick British accent, it's way better now because he'd been in the States. But when he first like bro, it was so thick. I was like, he's teaching me these coverage and stuff. And I'm just like, he's talking, but I'm like, what the fuck. I never, I never experienced that in all my life. I played football since I was four years old. I never had a coach from, you know, the UK. So he was talking. I was just like, what the fuck? And then right right after he was talking, right now, repeat everything. I just told you. And I couldn't really repeat everything. He told me because I wasn't listening. I was just listening to the accent because I was so messed up about that. And I was like, do we really have a British coach and just learn his background and all that type of stuff? Getting a lot of respect from him. But the certain terminologies and the sounds quite funny. And in English, I can't say when it is so technical and I don't know. I was kind of like, it is. I think weird. So I kind of like think like he's like a drill sergeant of some shit like that. You know, it's like the shit you hear off of a Call of Duty when you play in like the story modes.

6:17So, but other than that, that's my boy. Smart coach. That's why I love it about him. He's not from here, but he knows the game. Like, in and out with the defense and all that stuff like that, I just, I'll take my hat off to him. And just find out when you get this close, this dance of the season, how are you going to get on with it now and get into the first game? Well, just preparing throughout the week. Whether it's taking care of your body or diving into playbook more of a Washington studying your opponent and stuff like that. So around his time, you can just take care of your body and get everything right for a game day. So you ready to just flow. And good luck. It's going to be great when you hear that stadium roar. It's going to be a very different feeling. Thanks, Dante. Yes, sir. Appreciate it. Thanks, man. Cheers. There you go. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. All right. A special Rob Staten crossover pod in the VMAG. Technically, do not tell Brock Heward, Mike Salk, Stacey Ross, Michael Bumpas, where we are.

7:19We are in their studio inside the media center in the VMAG. And Rob is sitting, probably in the chair that Mike McDonald will be sitting in Thursday for the Mike McDonald show. So Rob, your first time here at the VMAG tell folks what you've seen. Now, first of all, it's a good job. This is the only time. I'll be sat in my McDonald's chair. This is unbelievable. I have to say a big thank you to you, Brian, for making this all possible, to come down here today. As someone who is, I imagine, there's a lot of people who follow the silks for a long time, sort of see the footage of the press conferences, or can they've watched hard knocks, or just see the people filming practice and stuff like that, or training camp, to be able to actually come here and see in person, is quite an experience. And just to be around in the locker room, and the players are in there, mingling, and to be a few yards away from Mike McDonald to ask a question of Mike McDonald, is, you know, as somebody who's been a journalist for 20 years for the BBC,

8:19you know, I felt like I was, I'd been doing the job five minutes today. Like I felt a little bit like going back in time to the first start, and just sort of not really feeling sure of yourself. Like, should I really be here? Someone to turn around any second now and go, what are you doing here? So it's been a great day. It's been fantastic. It's come down here and see how it all works. Well, the truth is, I mean, I appreciate the kind words I helped, but if you weren't who you were, and you hadn't done all the work you've done, covering the CI, covering the draft, doing CI's collective wallet stuff, I could have said whatever I wanted, you wouldn't have been here. So like, I know for a fact that people value your work in this building, and that's part of why you're here. And I think the fact that you love this team, the way you do, that you flew all the way here for Super Bowl, you flew all the way here for the season opener you've done this before. I think that's part of why you're in the building. So turn our attention to anything you heard today, either in the press conference that you observed,

9:21in the locker or anything else that caught your attention. Well, I think a lot of the questions about the injuries, and it's often a bit of a running joke that my Madonna will not say much about the injuries, but I feel as if almost he doesn't need to today, because I think we're going to see what they're going to be. I think Ernest Jones probably made it pretty clear this week that Nicomund Rory is not going to be playing. So then the questions about how do Rodney Thomas come lie? How do Rodney and Danny Bell's best qualities? Everybody's looking at what's going to be next. And I think that my Madonna sort of managed that situation very well. I was trying to judge his body language as he's speaking. He's giving off this real air of confidence, and it's going to be okay. But I just wonder, what is he going to be like, Brian? I can tell you, you actually see there, if we now have a C.O.X team that doesn't have Kirby Bryant, doesn't have Tirecard, doesn't have Nicomund Rory playing. How is that going to look? And as someone who, you know, in the many pods and streams

10:22that either you and I have done or I've done with Jeff and want to talk about the importance of the trenches, well that might be shown greater than ever in this game. Like, can the defensive line, can you front players line back as well? Mask, maybe some of the issues there. And of course there's the question marks corner back too. Like there's still a question as to what that looks like with, well then obviously moving on now. So definitely got some issues in the secondary, haven't they? So I think that's my main takeaway, just how that is all being handled and how that is the big focus. And you never want the focus before we want to be who's actually going to be playing in your backfield. Yeah, and I asked a really poorly wordy question and then I wish I'd done better. I wanted to ask Mike McDonald, basically, about the versatility that they've been able to build into this defense that allows them to deal with injuries. And I just botched it. But basically one of the things I'm really curious about is most teams when they have somebody in a position go down,

11:22you look at the next person in the depth chart for that position they step up. I don't think that's what's going to happen here. Like the Rodney Thomas thing probably straight stepping up the depth chart, right? At safety. But I think in terms of how they're going to approach this game, I think the fact that the top team is going to be able to do it, I think the fact that Tyrie's Knights had the off season that he's had is huge. It gives them an option. If they didn't have that, we might be looking at a lot of a personal group that maybe they don't feel is confident. The fact that they've got enough linemen that they feel good about running three defensive tackles and two edges and have a five-man line. Lots of them play differently behind that. I'm into this, the luxury. But these are the situations where a deep roster lets you stand out. And so that's probably the thing I'm most eager about is can the Seahawks prove in a situation like this where they're going to be down some men that they can actually beat you defensively

12:23without Nicki Minaj, without Tyrie Goddo, without Kobe Bryant. And if they can look really good against really good offense, I think that'll be pretty fascinating. I've got a question for you as well. So one of the things that Mime at Donald and his stuff have seen to prove good at is either getting people ready to play in these kind of situations and we've seen to run Drake Thomas and to come in and Tyrie Goddo and they've kind of ran with it. But we've also seen them be able to sort of tweak positions and make people quite versatile as you were kind of talking about there. I just wonder, I don't know what you think. So you could completely disagree with this. But when I was watching the highlights, it is only the positive plays of Avery Smith. You sort of seen things right. It can run up and hit people. You can tackle. There's a speed to sort of go from deep to attack a line of scrimmage. And Parme just wondered, I don't know how likely it is or not. And suddenly I don't think you could do it in two weeks. But could they be working on, because they're not going to show the hand on this.

13:23Again, not necessarily for this game, but down the line, could he be somebody who theoretically like Kirby Bryant switched from a nickel corner back to someone who could play outside or inside a corner back but ended up at safety? Could they at least have that as an option to them? To consider doing that, to try it, to work and see if it's something they want to do, just because as the numbers get thinner and thinner at that position, I just wondered if they have to turn over every rock to see what's underneath it. That's a great question. I had not thought about that. And if you look at their safety room, it's not just Kirby Bryant that has that. Julian Love was a nickel and an outside corner and a deep. Quandered digs back in the day, nickel outside, like he didn't play outside, but he was nickel and then moved to safety. There's a lot of the guys that have had that kind of versatility. So I think that's a great question. And I wish the Avery Smith movement made at the time where we could watch practices and even a game and see kind of how he fits

14:24into here. My instinct for now is that they're going to be looking at him for the cornerback situation where they've got some need. We'll see what happens if Trayvon digs ends up being someone they feel good about if they do ever get Terry on our old back. Then they might have a different math situation at that position and that might force that kind of evaluation. But that's a good question. And something I'll definitely be keeping an eye on. Yeah. And also, do you think we can remember Avery's that I think we could have got to the idea that the CEO has been so deep, some talent across so many different positions that now that they've got a question or two to answer safety in a cornerback and stuff like that. There's a temptation sometimes to overreact a little bit to that. But this is a lot of what other teams are facing. I'm not necessarily, everybody seems to talk about the Rams. And yes, they're sort of well-stocked in every position. They seem to have avoided. And he's sort of serious injury issues going into the season. But most of the teams have got a position or positions where you're working through it.

15:27You're trying to find solutions. And so much can change over the next few weeks. And you just don't really look. If they've stopped the first month of the season and things are not going well, we've seen with this province office before that they'll go and try and make things happen. They'll find solutions and not just linger on the problem. So we don't know what they could potentially do in the next month or six weeks or close to the deadline if needs be. So there's still lots of options there. But it is going to be interesting. And that first game, there's just, and this is a bit of a different first games in the Exxist. It's the one that's launching the season. All of the eyes are going to be on this team. Last year, yes, it was hugely disappointing to watch the SEALC lose to the 14th Annas and Luminfield. But ultimately, it was kind of like contained within our own little world of disappointment. Whereas if the SEALC's play badly or lose on Wednesday, the whole world's going to be reflecting on that, at least for 24 hours before the game in Australia kicks off. So eager for them to just sort of maybe get through this one. And I think you mentioned earlier today when you were talking to somebody else that if you can get through this one,

16:27commanders and carnauls to follow, it gives you a bit of breathing space. Not that you're going to assume that you're going to win those games. But maybe you can sort of just get through this little run here. And if you can, I think it'd be important because I think the Rams have got real potential to start the year. And I think they may drop a game or two. It'd be great. So it's going to be a bit of an advantage on them. Yeah. One of the things the last thing I'll probably bring up here is Mike McDonnell is talking about the different team, different year. And most of that I get. I mean, the reality is you have the same players in most places. But you think it'd be even the 2013 SEALC versus the 2014 SEALC. Those were pretty different. Like the offense for the 2014 SEALC's really came to the four. They were kind of on the side car for the 2013 squad. That was the year Ressa Wilson ran for almost like 900 yards. And like the offense just became crazy good. Do you look at this team and think like what do you think the chances are

17:29that we're going to be talking more about Sam Darnold and this offense in really positive ways. The run game, the offensive line, then we were a year ago compared to how the defense clearly was like the dark side that the brand of this team. Yeah, I think we've got to lead on it. If I think if the SEALC's are going to win as many games early on as we hope, that's either that's going to have to be the main storyline. It's going to be Sam Darnold, Jess. And I think at times like this when you've got a few injury issues, it's possible they'll give up some plays. Like it's possible that Dre May has gotten armed. He's got a new toy to play with on the outside. Josh McDonald's is a good offensive coordinator. It's a chance to make some plays. And therefore it's up to your court about your Super Bowl and your offensive player of the year, the assortments of weapons you've got beside JSN to really come to the fore and deliver. And I think that's what's going to be key here. But it will be interesting because you've got a first time play caller who may have been waiting

18:30for this opportunity for years with a very clear philosophy on what he wants to do. And we just don't know what that is yet. Maybe it is driven around the wrong game. I mean, many of Kyle's teams have been driven around a very productive wrong game. So do they try and force that? He's that going to be the best thing. I mean, if Jeterian price has an amazing debut, fine. But if he needs a bit of time himself to sort of work his way into the league, and then you're sort of sticking with it, or you're saying, well, he's a bit rough around the edges. So we'll hand them on to George Alani. That might not be the best thing to do, rather than, you know, you might have to throw this 35, 40 times in this game. Sam, you might have scored 30 points a couple of times in the first month of the season. I'd personally feel more comfortable with that. Not for the long term, you know, I don't necessarily want to set records for passing attempts to cheer anything like that, just because of a couple of issues. But it might be the early on, you have to do that. You have to lean on who or who you're, I would imagine, try and trust the players and offense, and that is Donald, yes.

19:30Far from flawless, but still a very good quarterback. And so when it is nearly flawless, is your main receiver? So get him the ball, and if coverage is blank to team, opportunity for somebody else. Well, I will say this before we wrap. I'm glad that I don't do a lot of shows in this room. It is like a cave in here. I can understand why sometimes Mike McDonald comes in here and maybe not in the mood to do the Mike McDonald show. But Rob, Matt, it's been great having you here. And we will be back together tomorrow night for the CS Collective. Yeah, looking forward to it. And it's like a tent, isn't it? It is. It's just like a tent and with a door and a desk. And not the most, depending on how I have to say, I have done shows in worse. So there is always that. It's always somebody worse than you. That's 100%. Thanks, Matt. Appreciate it. We'll do.