How much new... newness was there that you needed to learn versus kind of going back to last

year? Yeah, I think for myself and the rest of the tight ends, any opportunity that we can, you know, get a bunch of us on the field and be in personnel groupings that has tight ends is a great thing for us.

And I think new new positions, maybe depending on, you know, what guys we have out there, what tight ends we have out there, you have to know the position that you're playing.

And for myself, I think, you know, I'm a, you know, a tight end that's going to, you know, remain at tight end.

So for me, it's kind of not necessarily too different.

But obviously the more tight ends we can get out there at fullback, at Z, at F, whatever it is, we're up for the challenge in our room.

How important is it to have a number of tight ends that really complement each other with the different things they bring to the equation? And how does that impact your game? Like if you have Elijah out there with his ability to stretch the field vertically, how important is that in an offense that makes tight ends such a focal point, especially moving around?

Yeah, no, very important.

How do you guys balance, you know, building your brands, building your future, even past football, while also wanting to keep winning and getting better on the field? You got this

one? Yeah, I think that's a tough, legitimate question.

I think for myself, I always want people to know that my main focus is always football and always playing football for the Seahawks.

And it gets to a point also where you kind of have to – Only listen to certain opinions, really, you know, because if you go looking out there for everyone's opinion, you know, you're going to get what you want to hear regardless.

So I think just making sure that you keep football the main thing.

But also, you know, remember that, you know, life's life's about having, you know, fun a little bit, you know, and enjoying yourself and doing things the right way, of course.

But so it's definitely a balance that you have to do.

Uh, did you guys talk about that? Was that ever like, did that come up or just when they posted that video, do you guys remember?

What kind of challenges does he provide for a tight end or for an offense?

Yeah, Nick obviously is a very talented player.

Just the body type, you know, his size, his speed, but also his athletic ability and ability to get nimble.

But honestly, I think, you know, one of the big things that makes it difficult is the different front structures.

that they can do with Nick and then the rest of our defense because, you know, you have to identify what defense they're playing, what front they're playing.

If Nick's on the ball, you know, maybe he's the nickel, but, you know, you have to count him in the run fit and the Titans have to account for him or a different play that we might not be targeting.

the nickel we're targeting bigs only but now he's on the he's on the line of scrimmage and it's like well shoot i have to block him here um so it kind of challenges your rules and then they can kind of drop out into he was just on the line of scrimmage now he's dropping into a too high safety So I think that is the biggest piece where you have to be very mindful of what the defense is doing.

we all agree this is a whatever before you end up running the play? For sure.

How big is the jump from year one to year two? You saw that last year, having draft prep into offseason and everything, kind of having an offseason coming

back after a year in the NFL.

How big can that be in that every cycle? You've got to make some strides.

Yeah, I think it can be huge.

I think you just find little things.

The game slows down for you a little bit.

You know, a bit of a new scheme this year, so you still kind of have to take a step back and learn everything.

AJ, where do you think personally you can take your game this

Talk about the use of multiple tight ends that you expect for us to see with the Seahawks this year.

Yeah, I think you're seeing that because the tight end position is almost becoming a position where each guy can create their own role in it.

You have a guy like Kenyon Sadiq, for example, who got drafted in the first round from Oregon, who's a 6'1 guy at 235, 240.

Or you have someone like myself, who's 6'6 and 260 in a little bit of a different role.

And I think with our room here in Seattle...

You mentioned Elijah.

Elijah's one of those guys that's an extremely talented player that can really stretch the field vertically, almost like your ex-receiver from back in the day.

What are maybe one or two of those things?

Kind of similar to Ariel's question, what can we expect from the Barn Show this year?

Yeah, I think just take it to another level.

Just continue to be myself both for my teammates and that version on the field as well.

And I think just every year you grow in the league and you learn a little bit more.

You learn a little bit about the length of the season, how long these games are, and that there's opportunities to affect the game in the first quarter, in the third quarter.

So I'm excited about that.

I don't think we need to convince it.

And what includes you in this progression?

You all healed up and fixed now?

Feeling good, yeah.

Obviously, Coach Mike said I had the things.

And you all saw what it was during the season.

And stuff that I've been dealing with, honestly, for really my whole pro career, And I'm somebody that no matter how I'm feeling, I'm going to play just like a lot of our other guys in the locker room.

So definitely feeling better.

Definitely still a process to get back out there.

What do you think is realistic to expect for them in their second year?

Did you take note of that? I don't know how well you know Nolan, but did you take note of that? What do you think? What do you think other teams like about what you guys do?

Yeah, absolutely.

I think all of our people in our building are definitely close and communicate with each other.

So definitely have a good relationship with Nolan.

And I think the biggest thing for us is, you know, we have multiple guys on our team that were undrafted guys coming out of college and, you know, our starters on our team now and make a bunch of plays.

And we always talk about our ready squad is our, you know, what other teams might call their practice squad is, you know, we have a roster of 70 guys that are going to be prepared and ready to go, whether it's special teams, playing on offense, playing on defense, or even bringing juice to the sidelines on a Sunday.

So we really take pride in our organization on being ready to go when your number's called.

Have you come up with a plan in your head as one of the best blocking tight ends in the NFL of what exactly your plan is going to be against Miles Garrett?

How does this feel compared to, to when you won it at Michigan?

I just feel like when you have a team, like, the ingredients are there.

Like, y'all have won championships before.

Like, there's a lot of similarities between championship teams, and I felt that with this team.

And I'm a little bit spoiled, 'cause, like, I've had the confetti and reached the pinnacle at that level.

Obviously, it's different, um, but-

Still

... two short years ago, um, it's been incredible.

How come?

Yeah.

Cleveland's not Columbus.

Um, Desmond Howard from Cleveland, uh, Charles Woodson from, I think, the Cleveland area.

Um, but Ohio State really never came knocking at my door.

Um, got, I mean, got respect for Ohio and, you know, that program.

But I had a connection a little bit with some of the staff on Michigan, and I felt like, you know, I fit in with the personality and the, and the brand over there and the culture that they have and the tradition and blue-collar hard-nosed football.

... for a living and how do they help you get to, to where you are now?