Junior Seau: “I’m Not Going to Have A Chance to Win a Ring By Sitting on the Couch in San Diego and Surfing”
October 19, 2009 – 9:10 am by Jimmy Shapiro
It was about a month ago when I wrote a post about Junior Seau saying that he would return to New England if they needed him to. He said that he wasn’t waiting for a phone call, but if the team needed him, he would put down the surfboard and join the Patriots. Well, New England has sustained a couple of injuries defensively at the linebacker position and now the 12-time Pro Bowler and future Hall-Of-Famer is back for his fourth stint with the Patriots.
I think many people saw this coming and have gotten used to Seau signing with New England mid-way through the season, but I’m not exactly sure what the Patriots should expect from a 40-year old linebacker. He will probably play limited snaps with the Patriots early and even if he can’t make a huge impact on the field, I think he can be an asset in the locker room. He understands the coach, he understand the system and who better to help mentor a young linebacking corps with the 2008 NFL Defensive Rookie of The Year than Junior Seau.
Junior Seau joined WEEI with the Big Show to talk about coming back to the Patriots and how he is able to play at such a high level at the age of 40.
On what the Patriots said to convince him to come out of retirement:
“There’s no convincing. They’re just taking it one day at a time. There’s no guarantee’s, especially in the National Football League. You just take it one day at a time. You work for your tomorrow and hopefully it’ll all work out.”
On why he decided to come back:
“You hit two of the reasons why. I still can play, number one. Obviously I’m not going to win…I’m not going to have a chance obviously to win a ring by sitting on the couch in San Diego and surfing. Number two, you trust the coach and the system that he runs here.”
On why he is able to play at such a high level at the age of 40:
“One play at a time, guys. If I could pinpoint the reason how to be a 20-year vet in the National Football League, I think there would be a lot of people that would be playing still. (Host: You could put a manual together of how you could play at this level at the age of 40 and agents would buy it) If there’s any youngster listening, one of the things you have to do is be humble. Having humility going into a profession allows you to grow. You don’t allow anything to just come your way and take over or overcome you. If there’s one thing that I can pass on, (it) is that humility takes you a long way.”
(This post was written by Chris Fedor)
Listen to Junior Seau on WEEI in Boston with the Big Show
Tags: 40 year old linebackers, Junior Seau, New England Patriots
