Nephi Sewell talks about the Saints linebacker room following Sunday's training camp practice.
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00:00 Happy Sunday everyone.
00:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:06 >> What's been your impressions just coming back and
00:08 getting some work in the training camp coming into another year?
00:12 >> Yeah, obviously year one went down.
00:15 I learned a lot over that year.
00:17 I knew what I needed to work on coming into my second year.
00:21 I'm kinda just trying to keep on building throughout every day.
00:25 Trying to attack and trying to make that 53 man roster win.
00:29 The cuts happen.
00:32 >> How more comfortable do you feel just doing everyday things in addition to
00:35 special teams and such?
00:37 >> A lot more comfortable, especially this off season helped a lot.
00:42 Especially understanding the defense and
00:44 knowing what the special teams coaches are looking for.
00:46 It's something that I've been working on over the off season so
00:51 that when I came back, I was ready to go.
00:53 >> I mean, you think this linebacker group is top tier and
01:00 how hard is it, I guess, to compete against those guys
01:06 who Demario and Pete have shown what they're capable of over the years?
01:12 >> Definitely, when you have an all pro linebacker in your core, and
01:15 I will say this, Pete is deserving of all pro, but
01:18 he's just labeled as an outside linebacker with TJ Y and everyone who are edge rushers.
01:22 Pete deserves to be in the all pro discussion, but
01:24 when you're in a room like that, it brings up the competition level for everyone.
01:28 So everyone has to rise up to it or you're not, and
01:31 if you don't, you're just gonna fall off.
01:33 So having that competition in the room definitely helps everyone.
01:36 I know everyone feels that pressure of competition in the room.
01:39 So just knowing that we have Demario and Pete as the,
01:43 I guess, what we're supposed to look at.
01:47 We gotta bring our A game every day.
01:49 There's no days where we can slack off or have a mistake here.
01:53 We gotta rise to that level.
01:55 >> What are you gonna learn from Demario as you stand around him?
01:58 >> Being around Demario, his presence, this is the leader,
02:04 he'll come up to you and correct things.
02:06 He'll come up to you and say what you need to work on.
02:08 But just being around him, you can sense that everyone rallies around him.
02:12 And hopefully one day, as I continue my career throughout football,
02:17 I can have people rally around me and have that confidence to lead everyone.
02:22 >> Losing a guy like Andrew, I mean, he's been around a huge veteran,
02:28 and this room just impacted not having him around now.
02:32 >> That's my guy, Andrew.
02:33 Andrew's another undrafted guy.
02:36 And throughout the whole last year, I've always asked him,
02:39 how does this work for undrafted people?
02:42 How does the pay work?
02:43 And Andrew basically was the model for me in terms of how undrafted people
02:47 get to sustain themselves in this league.
02:50 So definitely gonna miss Andrew, especially all the energy he brought to practice.
02:54 >> Having said what's the goal of you guys, you're gonna keep with the MHA?
02:59 >> Right now, it's rare that we speak, as weird as that may sound.
03:03 But we're also locked into camp.
03:05 And if we do, it's just like checking up on each other.
03:09 We rarely even talk about football when we're all around each other.
03:12 Just kind of like, normally they talk, how's everything with their families,
03:15 because we're all having kids and stuff now.
03:17 So definitely weird, but it's definitely a blessing to have others in the league and
03:22 just get their input.
03:23 >> What's it like looking at those cut up tapes,
03:27 which shows you all the missed opportunities from a year ago?
03:32 Is it frustrating or is it encouraging that you're all close and there in position?
03:37 >> It's definitely frustrating, but at the same time, it encourages us to come out
03:40 here and take that out of our game.
03:43 Not a lot of people get the opportunity to come back and fix it.
03:49 But having that, knowing that we're all here and we're all in a mission,
03:53 definitely gives a sense of we gotta fix it.
03:55 And if we fix it, we're gonna be dominant.
03:58 >> You feel like that's the step you'll have to take as a defense?
04:01 >> Definitely, we have to cut out mistakes and everything.
04:03 Cuz the only way we can be beat is if we beat ourselves.
04:07 And if no one's aligned or they have a mental error, that's on us.
04:11 We gotta fix that.
04:12 >> How early in camp did they start talking about take aways and turnovers?
04:16 >> This happened in the OTA, during workouts.
04:20 It's always been talked about, we needed more take aways.
04:22 We needed to capitalize on a lot of things.
04:24 So having the emphasis leading all the way up to now and
04:28 continuing to work on it now is definitely gonna correlate with it.
04:32 >> How often do you hear Coach Hodges screaming, punch the ball out?
04:36 Like in bed at night?
04:37 >> The whole practice and probably when I'm sleeping, even though I don't know.
04:41 It's just in the back of my mind.
04:42 >> Yeah, I know.
04:43 >> [LAUGH] >> It's constant.
04:44 >> He's going horse.
04:45 >> Yes.
04:46 >> So this is something you all talked about internally and-
04:50 >> Throughout the-
04:51 >> Point of emphasis.
04:52 >> One of the-
04:52 >> Anything else?
04:55 quarterback.