Seymour press conference, Part I
By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Saturday, September 12th, 2009 at 8:16 pm in Oakland Raiders.
Here’s the first part of the transcript of the press conference introducing defensive end Richard Seymour.
I’ll have some thoughts on some of the things said later, but wanted to pass the transcript along for those who didn’t see it on local television and give the Raiders their say after they sat back and listenened to what eveyrone else said for nearly a week:
Al Davis: Thank you for coming. Thank the networks. It’ll help your shows tomorrow, you’ll finally get some ratings Sunday morning. This is another great day in the history of the Oakland Raiders. Through the years, we have been able to, through trades, bring in several great players who performed in great games, performed in Super Bowls, were put in the hall of Fame after they had played for the Raiders for several years.
To bring you up to date, for example, in 1975 we traded for Ted Hendricks. We traded two first-round draft choices for Ted to the Green Bay Packers, and Ted played in three Super Bowls for us that we one, was instrumental and is in the hall of Fame. In 1977, we gave up a first round draft choice for Mike McCoy, because John Madden at that time felt that we needed a big defensive tackle, and gave it up to Green Bay. Once again we traded with Green Bay, and he was a great help to us. In 1983 we made a great trade with the New England Patriots for Mike Haynes. He was 30 years old, but we gave up a first and a second draft choice, with the idea that we were a great team; he could make us probably the greatest, or one of the greatest teams of all time, which he did. We have others. A few years ago, I gave up a first-round draft choice, a seventh-round draft choice and Napoleon Harris for the great Randy Moss. We have always made trades: Lyle Alzado, Kenny King, down through the years. You have to do that, in my way of thinking, to be a great organization, and to have great teams.
I’m not going to touch on exactly what happened – I will afterwards. But we’re proud now for the Raider fans, for the Raider team, for the Raider organization, to welcome Richard Seymour, a great player, from the New England Patriots. And I want to state this from the very beginning, and let him tell you, let Coach Cable tell you, there was never – and I can give you a little idea of the trade, but that we won’t do right now – but it was never any doubt that Richard wanted to play for the Raiders. He grew up being a Raider fan. There was never any doubt that he wanted to play for the Raiders. With that, I turn it over to Richard, let Richard go and talk to you, and then Coach Cable, and then we’ll certainly answer any questions.
Tom Cable: Well, let’s just add to that. The number-one issue here is to make this football team better, and I think you just heard historically how it’s been done here at the Oakland Raiders. And our whole focus as a coaching staff was to find a way to improve this football team, and our biggest need obviously was to help out on the defensive side, for many reasons. We’ve got a lot of good players on that side of the ball, but we needed a piece, we needed a piece that would cement the entire group. As this thing went, you know, you’ve all heard, and Richard will tell you in a second, this was a shock to him. This was something new for him, something unexpected to he and his family. So we chose to really kind of take the path of let this thing work itself out if it’s going to. And it did. There was never a question that we wanted him, and we’re glad to have Richard be a part of this football team.
Richard Seymour: Thanks, coach. Thanks, Mr. Davis. You know, I first thought about saying that since Sunday, since I got the call that I was being traded, my life’s really been a whirlwind. I’ve really been blindsided by the events that took place. I didn’t expect it. I didn’t understand what was going on. So it’s like when something happens, when you’re blindsided, you have to step back and realize what situation you’re in. And my thought within was, hold on, I can’t go anywhere at this point. I have four young kids. Well, actually five kids; I have guardianship over my young cousin. And just had a lot going on. With young kids in school – I’ve got a 2-year-old, a 4-year-old, a 6-year-old, a 7-year-old, and had one just started football this year in the ninth grade.
So I really had a lot going on from that standpoint. I mean, it’s a week before the season. I’m locked in, getting ready to play Buffalo on Monday night, but as things happen I’m playing the Chargers here this Monday night. I had a lot of issues to resolve. I had a lot to think about with my wife, my family, my friends that are close to me, just a lot to think about as far as how do we make this work? How do we make it happen? I talked with Coach Cable, and I talked with Mr. Davis as soon as this happened, and I assured them I wanted to be an Oakland Raider. They saw something special inside of me, and I just hope that I can bring what they saw. And that’s my job to go out and do that, and I know that I will.
As I’ve said before, it was a lot of issues that I had to resolve, as far as my family is concerned, because from the way that I look at it, it’s my faith, my family and then football, and I try to handle things in that order. And football had to be on hold for a while, but I assured everyone that I wanted to play for the Raiders, and I just needed a minute to breathe, I needed to focus in on how would I make this work, how would I make this transition, when is it going to happen? I mean, just so many issues that I had to work out.
But one thing that I knew is that I was ready to play football. I mean, I trained my butt off this offseason. I had a great training camp and I said, well, one thing is for sure, there’s a lot going on at this point, but I talked my wife, I said one thing is for sure, we’ve got a lot to work out but I’m definitely ready to play some football. I’m a football player and that’s what I want to do. So as Coach said, I think with this team it’s a lot of great pieces, I mean it’s a lot of really, really good players, some players that I know from other teams and just from watching the Raiders from afar. And I wanted to be a part of that. And when I came to New England, New England was 5-11. They didn’t have the success that we built. And you have to build that. And it starts from the bottom. It starts from work. And that’s what I’m here to do, I’m here to work with my teammates. That’s how I got to the point where I am. It’s coming in with a workmanlike mentality and with a mystique.
I mean, when I grew up, I always was a Raider fan. There was always something special about that silver and black. You know, my mom, my family, they all know that. And even when I was being drafted, when I came out of college I said I’d rather play somewhere down South or somewhere on the West Coast. I really don’t want to go up north, it’s too cold. Lo and behold, I go up north and had a lot of great success with the New England patriots. I’m thankful that they drafted me in the 2001 draft with the sixth draft pick overall, and to the Kraft family, I thank you for that. And to my teammates in New England, we’ve had a lot of great years together, won a lot of football games. We’ve been a part of four Super Bowls, played in four Super Bowls, won three of them. Won’t talk about the other one that we lost.”
Davis: Yeah, he played in the Tuck Game
Seymour: “Ha-ha-ha. Absolutely. I think that kicked it all off for us. But one thing I can assure Raider Nation is: I was 93. I’m 92 now, and 92 is ready to play some football. And I’m ready to kick things off on Monday night.
Q: How would you describe the phone call you got from coach Belichick and describe the tenor and your reaction?
Seymour: Coach Belichick called me and informed me that they made a trade with Oakland and I was a part of that trade, and he thanked me for the years there in New England, that thought they were doing what was best long-term for their football team, and I said, OK, you know, and from that point, I really didn’t know which way to go, didn’t know which way to turn. I told my wife, and she didn’t believe me. Things just kind of transpired, and I talked to a lot of different people that were influential in my life and I’m glad to be sitting on this stage here today.
Q: When you thanked Kraft and teammates, you didn’t thank Belichick. Anything to read into that?
Seymour: No. I wouldn’t read anything into that. Thank you coach Belichick.
Q: Are you working or talking about a longterm contract and did that have any effect on this arrangement?
Davis: No, we are not talking about a longterm contract. We are not talking about anything right now other than Richard playing professional football for the Raiders. He’s on a contract for one year, and we’ll do what’s right, when the time comes. We always have, for our great players and for those who help us. He knows that. Being real honest we recruited him a little bit because we knew what he was going through. We sensed that this would disrupt him mentally based on the fact that he is known to be someone who is interested in faith, family and football, and we had two of our ex-players go up to see him who are working for us on the East Coast. Zack Crockett was one, and William Thomas was the other, and reassure him that this was a great situation, and to my relief they called me back and the situation was not a problem at all. He liked the idea of the Raiders, and coach Cable got that from him very quickly on the telephone, that he liked the idea of the Raiders. He just wanted to get over the shock, and the blindside if that’s the right word, he had, based on them calling and telling him he’d been traded, but this is part of our lives. This is what goes on. We’ve done it to some people too, in the past, and it’s unfortunate. Our business is a great game, you know I think it’s the greatest game in the world, and we think he’ll make a great contribution along the lines of many of our great players.