Opening Statement:

"I guess I'll start, I'm excited to be here, 15th year in the league. It never gets old, especially being out of work for four months perspective kind of changes a little bit. Back when you were young, you was like, 'Man, why we gotta go to OTA's man? I wish I was home, man.' And you sit on the couch for four months and it's like, 'Man, I wish I was in OTAs, man.' It's good dropping the kids off and it's good picking the kids up from school, but I want to go to work [laughs], I want to go to work. And the Washington Redskins called me a month and a half ago and started talking. And agreed to come here to Washington about a week and a day. Yeah, about a week and a day ago. And here I am so excited to be here."

On why he wanted to come to Washington:
"Yeah, it was extremely intentional coming here. You just can't leave [Buffalo Bills QB] Josh Allen and go anywhere, man. You just can't go from the AFC championship and just go anywhere. And whenever you get older too, losses, they pile up. It seems like they just hit way harder than what they used to when you were young. And this team is all about winning, I'm all about winning. Whatever it takes to win, I'm going to do. That's on and off the football field. It's nothing like winning. It is nothing like the locker room. It's nothing like coming in here and talking to you guys after a win. It's all good after a win. So, that's why I'm here is to win. And I understand that the goal is to win them all, but in reality we are going to have some struggles and going to have some adversity, that's all good too because most of the time adversity reveals character and it's all good medicine at the end of the day, and it'll all just feed back into the main goal, and that's to win. So, this team is all about winning, I'm all about winning, and it was a good marriage."

On how Head Coach Dan Quinn and General Manager Adam Peters plan to use him:
"Yeah, they going to let me rush [laughs]. They going to let me rush, that's what I do, that's what I do. I can still roll out the bed at 36 years old with my house shoes on and still rush the passer. There's other stuff that I gotta work at to get better at, of course, but the main thing for me is rushing the passer. I can do that right when I wake up fresh out of sleep. So, love rushing the passer. And then I'm a team guy too. I'm a team guy through and through. Those are the two things that I toot my horn on. It's nothing like being on a team with other guys that's just like me going towards a common goal. I've been on a football team since I was in the fifth grade, so now we talking about 25 years, something like that playing football. So, I just know the dynamics of a locker room, I lead with love and then you can start to demand and kind of mold and talk to players and tell them what you see. But I lead with love, with the coaching staff too. I love the dynamics of a football team from the front office to the coaches, the strength and conditioning staff, the athletic training staff and analytics. Football is my life. I love everything about it. So, having a new opportunity to come here and experience a whole nother football organization is pretty cool to me and I accepted it. I try not to get caught in comparisons. I try not to compare teams to Denver or Buffalo or LA [Rams], this team is special in its own ways and all four of those teams are special in their own ways. And I just try to embrace it and just take it all in. And so far, it's been good, I like it here. The food is amazing [laughs]. The food is definitely amazing. Right when I got here, I was just driving by stuff and my mouth was water and I was like, 'Dang, what's going on?' You got Korean barbecue and steak houses and they got everything. So, that might be my biggest challenge while I'm here. Just trying to stay away from all the food. Food was good in Buffalo, but options are just a little bit different up there. Here they got a little bit of everything, and I like it. I like it."

On why he wanted to play for Quinn:
"It's crazy, I had felt like I've known Dan Quinn for so long, and I had met him for the first time about two months ago when I came here. When I came here for a visit, it's just, all the players that I had played with that had played for him, they just talked about him in a way that I felt like I knew him too. And all the coaches that had coached me that had coached underneath him, they talked about him in a certain way where I felt like he had coached me before. So, when I came here, it was weird because I felt like I hadn't known him before, met him before, but I really haven't. So, he's a player's coach. All the rumors about him are true, he's a great coach, he's a great man. I'm excited to play for him. AP [Peters] is great too. I had met AP in Denver, he was part of the, the front office staff in Denver, but I had sat down and met with AP and at the combine, I think it was three years ago, I was shadowing [Buffalo Bills General Manager] Brandon Beane, just trying to get the lay of the land on what it takes to become a general manager in this league, a front office exec. And I sat down with AP, and we talked about all type of stuff. This was when he was still in San Francisco. And then boom, a couple of years later he was here. So, it was just a great merger all the way around coming here and playing for these guys, and of course they got [QB] Jayden Daniels, he's one of best quarterbacks in the leagues already. Defense is really, really good too. So, it was just, everything just added up for me to be able to come in here and do what I do."

On personal checkpoints to know he can still play at a high level:
"Yeah, I like to be optimistic about everything. You guys will learn that, but when it come to that it's just something I've been doing my whole entire life. When I put the cleats on and I get in my stance, I can just feel it. Still quick off the ball, still twitchy, probably not as twitchy as I was before, like when I was 21 years old, that's just life. But I still got enough twitch to still go out here and do what I do and be effective in the game. And yeah, I still feel like I have something to give to the game on and off the football field. See, the trick is you don't want to get kicked out the league, but you don't want to leave too early either though. So, I'm still in between that sweet spot and I'm doing everything in my power to stay there. This is all I ever wanted to do my whole entire life is play football. So, all those times where you get on your knees and pray like, 'I hope I can get a scholarship to play football in college.' And then you get to college and then you pray before games, please let me play well, so I can make it to the NFL, then you make it to the NFL and you praying for championships and wins. I still have that gift that God has given me and I just don't want to give it away. But at the same time, you don't want to get kicked out and you don't want to leave too early. So, I'm in that sweet spot and I'm going to try to stay here as long as I can."

On evolving in the mental side of the game:
"I think repetition is the father of learning. You just see so many different things. And football is only played in so many different ways. So, once you experience so many different defenses, you play so many different offenses, go against so many different offensive linemen and schemes, you just start to learn and you're just able to pick up on it a little bit faster. And defense, it's only so many different ways that you can play defense. And it all ends up being the same thing, it's just different terminology. So, the trick is just to learn the terminology so you can learn defense and learn how you fit but the mental side for me is where I tend to spend most of my time. I'm still sharp up there, still haven't lost any fast twitch or get off up there. And I like to spend a lot of time mentally and especially with my mentality and mindset. Mindset is everything. I come to work. I'm ready to learn. I still feel like a rookie when I'm in there learning the guys. It definitely feels like I'm a rookie again, going through new defenses and new players and new coaches, but I just embrace it and it's a gift to be here. And I love to stay sharp mentally and just learn new defenses and we got a good one here."

On working with Assistant Defensive Line Coach Ryan Kerrigan:
"I had met with Ryan when I came here on my visit. And it was weird, so me and Kerrigan, we trained together coming out for the combine. He, as you guys remember, the local press here, he was huge. He was just, he was jacked. He got probably got six more reps out of me just training with Ryan. He got six more reps out of the bench press with me just training, being beside him, he was so strong. Then you see him now and he's like, 'Hey, who was this? Who was this guy? [laughs]. But it is definitely cool, man. We came in together, we train together and now he's coaching me. So, it's definitely a different dynamic. I still, 'Yes sir, coach, how's it going, coach.' But we the same age, so it is all good, man. I got all the respect in the world for RK man, and I'm excited to continue to work with him."

On adapting to having days off:
"That information might not be true because I love a vet day [laughs]. I love vet Day. Jeff [Legwold], that's my guy that be back in Denver. Yes, of course but that was years ago, that was years ago. But as you get older, you gotta be based in reality too. And you can't just wear yourself down out there. I try to push my ego and my pride to the side and just get away from comparisons and just run my own race. And back in the day you want to just compete, compete, compete, compete, compete but having a vet day is always good too. And to be able to rest and recover so you can be at your best while you're out there is amazing too. So yeah Jeff, that was true, but it's a little bit dated. I love a good vet day though, for sure."

On the impact he can have on his teammates:
"I think it's just based on the defensive side of the ball. Not only on the defensive side of the ball, I played with some great quarterbacks too. I've been on some great teams and I wouldn't say that I just got a magic formula, I've been on some great teams, played with some great quarterbacks, been around some great coaches, so I'm just able to pay all the information that I've learned from all of those guys forward. Whether that's [Former NFL QB] Peyton Manning, [Los Angeles Rams QB] Matthew Stafford, Josh Allen, and now Jayden Daniels, or playing on the 2015 Denver Broncos defense or Los Angeles Rams defense, or the great defenses that we played on in Buffalo. It's just all information that I've been able to learn and experience that I'm just paying for now. Been around a lot of great pass rushers from [Former Los Angeles Rams DT] Aaron Donald, [Former NFL DE] DeMarcus Ware, [Former NFL DE] Elvis Dumervil, and they're all different and unique in their own different ways, so I'm able to just take whatever I saw from those guys and pay it forward to the young guys, especially. I love being around the young guys. That's one of the things that, really selfishly, that it makes me feel good to be able to tell somebody some information that they wouldn't normally would've had before. And things that I tell them, I don't tell them what I was doing, I tell them what I should have been doing. And that could be just different dynamics on the football field or rushing or just coming to work, just your daily process at work. So, I still love working with the young guys and that's something that I'll be able to offer to this team."

*On if his fast twitch is natural talent or a learned skill: *"I think it's a little bit of both. Thank you, I appreciate it. God is so good, he blessed me with this gift. It's just, it's still there. I'm still doing the same thing that I've been doing my whole entire career and it's still there. As fast as it used to be, probably not, but it's still effective. And yeah, all the biohacking stuff and cold tub, I pretty much do everything in the training room to try to stay healthy. So, I just try to stay on top of my game so I can play as long as possible."

On why he chose number 24:
"So, well, 58 was taken and then 40 was taken too. I didn't want to be that guy to come in here and, it's not that serious. I just want to win games. I'll put on whatever number you want me to. Not whatever number [laughs]. It's some numbers that I wouldn't put on, but 24, it just spoke to me. I've only worn four numbers my whole entire career from little league all the way up until now. And I wore 58 only in Denver. I wore 40 in LA and 40 in Buffalo. I wore five in junior high school, but obviously five is taken here. And I wore 24 for one game in college. One of my high school alumni, he had got injured, he was paralyzed from the neck down. His name was Cory Borner and me and my teammate Cyrus Gray at Texas A&M we both wore 24. That was his number that he wore in high school. So, we both wore 24 for one game. And yeah, those are the only numbers I ever wore. And [Former NFL CB] Champ Bailey, he was here too, and he wore number 24 as well. So, that number just spoke to me in so many different ways. And you can't forget the greatest 24 of them all, [Former Los Angeles Lakers SG] Kobe Bryant, a huge Kobe Bryant fan. So, that number just spoke to me in so many different ways and yeah, I just decided to wear it."

On playing with LB Bobby Wagner:
"So, yeah, I've been knowing Bobby for a long time. He's been a great player in the league for a long time. Success leaves clues, you just watch the best in the league and study the best in the league. Even though we play different positions, you just study the best guys to try to pick up any clue that you can. So, I've been knowing Bobby for a long time. We've crossed paths many times. He's stolen a lot of first team AP votes from me a lot of the times [laughs]. So, you just sit there and you watch and you see and you just observe, man. And he's a great leader on and off the football field, you look at the championship team that he's been on, and you study that team and he was a huge part of that. I was on the opposite side of that. We were in Denver and we had the best offense in the league, and they had the best defense in the league. And they say defense wins championships and it was definitely true that day. And you study that film and you study that game to see what was going on and Bobby Wagner was a huge part of that. And then you just sit back and observe all the things that he does off the field too. It is definitely an amazing opportunity to be in the same locker room with Bobby and to be able to study some of the things that he does off and on the football field to try to put into my game and into my life. Yeah, he's an amazing guy. Amazing human being, 35 years old too, still doing it. And that's different than rushing the pass. So, I get in my stance time the snap count and go and hit a couple moves. Bobby's all over the field, still one of the best open field tacklers in the NFL. He's able to lead and guide so many different positions and put the guys in one uniform call, man. He's a great leader of men and to be in the same locker room and in the same team with him, and he's still doing it at 35 years old, man. It is definitely a treat for me, for sure."

On maximizing his snaps on the field:
"I mean, I would still like to play but whatever role is given to me I just gotta take advantage of that. And in Buffalo was a learning curve at first because throughout my whole career I was used to playing a whole game and to be able to set up certain moves or to be able to capitalize in certain situations of a game, whether that's second half, end of the game, first quarter, third quarter, to really just feel the game and really just feel that offensive lineman to see what he does best and see what he doesn't do best. And yeah, at my position now is like when I come off the bench, I get in the game and I gotta shoot the three right now. I'm coming off the bench and I'm dribbling and I'm shooting the three right now. I'm not passing the ball, none of that. I'm getting the ball and I'm shooting the three right now. I'm not running no plays, gimme the ball right now, I'm shooting it, I'm shooting it, I'm shooting it until they pull me back out. And then I sit on the bench for a little bit and I come off the bench and I shoot the three, I shoot the three. So, at first it was a learning process in Buffalo, but I started to just figure it out and just, when I get in there, I gotta do it right now. I don't have multiple reps to be able to set it up and figure this out and make the mistakes here and learn from. When I get in the game, I'm shooting the three right now."

On creating turnovers in this defense:
"Well, I mean, the biggest play, in my opinion, in football, is sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery, touchdown. I haven't been able to get there yet, but I have opportunities to do it. If I can just do my job, I'll be able to impact the game. The quarterback is the most important position in probably all of sports. He's the head of the snake, so if I can just do my job, I'll have shots to be able to impact the game. They're also the worst ball handlers in probably in sports too [laughs]. So, if I could just get there and I can just get a hand on the ball and be able to create strip sacks and fumbles, that'll be my way to be able to impact the game and help us win football games."