DJ Reed Has One Goal: A Super Bowl

Playing vs. San Francisco Week 1 [Music] DJ great to see you again one thing I want to talk to you about today was Origins not just the show that we'll get to here coming up but what did you think when NFL schedule came out and you saw the Jets opener was against San Francisco the team that drafted you I liked it you know I was excited to be honest um I love playing against Francisco you know what they built over there is really good like they probably have you know one of the most talented rosters if not probably The Talented the most talented roster um they have a great coach and Kyle Shanahan John Lynch is a great GM so you know I love games like that especially it's on a Monday night too right that's right yeah it's GNA be fun I'm looking forward to that game but but were you reflective at all in terms of hey man that's the team that drafted me yeah yeah and no uh to be honest like I would honestly be excited for anybody that we was playing whether it was the bills Miami um even like another NFC West team if it was the Seahawks or whatever like but no I don't feel any type of like all extra like you know I'm excited just for the first game how different are you as a player from the guy who walked out of Kansas State to now I would just say just more technical um just more deliberate with like my steps every step that I do on the field mean something to me um not wasting a lot of wasted movement everything being like intentful I think that's the biggest difference when San Francisco drafted you the defensive coordinator was Robert Salah yeah he told me Hey listen one of my big mistakes was I pegged this guy and said here's his size so he's going to be on the inside how do they initially use you do you remember remember those first OTA practices with the 49ers yeah I remember them um I mean when they when I got drafted they pretty much called me and said you know we're going to put you at free safety and then we're also going to have you play nickel and I was on board with it uh as far as like the pro typical stuff you know there's a evaluation there's a process with scouting you know a lot of coaches like guys at a certain length a certain height especially for a scheme like cover three um so I mean it was definitely understandable at the time but like you have exceptions um like obviously I was an exception so you know it's a normal thing for you know a coach or a scout a scouting Department to you know make that decision so I understand that but you know it was a little overwhelming my Ricky year just with learning free safety it's a lot of it's completely different than playing corner corner you really just go out there you play any safety in school um no so like before yeah before I got to uh San Francisco I didn't have any experience of playing safety other than high school but like you're just really roaming right but like as far as like the details and making all the calls and like being the you know the point guard of the defense it it was a lot for me it was overwhelming I remember uh Jeff Halley he's a DC over at Green Bay right now great dude yep he was my positions coach and like man he was really he really wanted me to like just be successful at safety so like we would spend like hours I'm talking about like I'm still the facility when everybody left and we still watching film so it was just like you know just a lot your rookie year do you still view yourself as the exception because when you look around the National Football League if you turn a game on it's Sunday it's Monday night is Thursday they not a lot of dudes like yourself who look like you playing on the outside yeah I would say that I'm definitely exception I feel like you know the NFL is is trendy yeah I mean like for example like when I came into the league all the corners you know in San Francisco were pretty much six foot other than Jimmy Ward at the time but he played Safety as well but like most of the guys were six foot and above um even when I got to Seattle the corners there were six foot and above you know we had dunar we had uh Shaq Griff we had um Trey flowers these guys are like 6'2 and plus um so when I got there obviously I got the chance to play because of injuries and you know I did my thing or whatever and then the next year they drafted Trey Brown who was 5'9 and Trey Brown's a baller as well he's still in Seattle so I just think it's a it's a trend and you see one guy do it then you think another guy could do it that did it in college and then also receivers like you got Tyreek Hills you got wles you got smaller type of receivers um that give you know bigger guys problems so you probably want to go smaller at corner to you know I guess keep up with the speed and the quickness so I just think it's all trendy um and then you had guys in the past like Calvin Johnson so you probably want to have a bigger Corner guard him so it's just I just feel like it's just the NFL just goes in TR and flows Epson flows exactly how would you explain your two years here I think this stage in New York has helped you but I don't think people in the National Football League were sleeping on you like we've had this conversation before you thought that breakthrough happened for you actually in Seattle even before you came here but how would you explain kind of your first two years here yeah I think you know I've been playing at a high level uh my first two years here I think that you know I'm really starting to notice how big like the New York media is yeah I feel like my first year here I didn't really grasp the understanding of that um even with the comments I made last year about the 85 Bears I didn't I didn't understand like when you say stuff like that like like those are headlines that you know the media and stuff is looking for it's just something that I genuinely felt and I said it but I didn't understand like what that stigma would cause so like I just learned like you just got to be careful what you say um you know to the media obviously you still got to be your authentic self but like you know everyone here wants to headline and you could use it as a positive thing as well like when you play well in New York you know people are going to know your name people are going to blow you up but it's also vice versa effect if you don't play well you know you're going to be the worst thing in the world so it goes both ways um but for me at corner I know that you know it's going to be highs there's going to be lows and that comes with the game but it's really just about focusing on myself you're s such a thoughtful dude and you also care about your teammates when that reaction came back about the 85 Bears how did you take it honestly I didn't care cuz I knew like where my intentions were I knew our defense was going to be good I mean I believe PFF graded us as the number one defense I know that you know across the league that we ready to top five defense but I just feel like the statement that I made it basically just overrice that we had last year on defense because it was always U oh or it wasn't the 85 Bears or if we didn't have one great game as a defensive unit like oh the 85 Bears like you know what I mean like you see stuff like that so you know you just live and you learn like it is what it is to be hon honest I got imagine no players talked about that on the field when when you're competing against them hey could you ever imagine though if I told you when you signed your free agency deal here and you landed with the Jets that it was going Playing With Sauce Gardner And Michael Carter II to be you GNA be paired up with s Gardner and Michael Carter man you could have never imagined that no I couldn't I didn't expect it to be how it is to be honest I knew we're going to be good but to this extent I didn't know how good we could be but I do know that you know every day like I go out with those guys like we work hard at practice and it shows in the game we definitely developed the standard and yeah it's known across the league that we're considered the best CB Trio but it's a testament to how those guys work like they really put in the work every day and it's just a we just continue to just want to grow for real for real like we just want to get better every day and that's going to lead to success on Sundays how do you as a professional compartmentalize because it's funny they were just asking you downstairs saying Hey DJ do your threeyear contract you know you signed a three-year deal how do you go about dis approaching every day keeping the main thing the main thing and letting the future take care of itself yeah you know I consider this job a day-to-day job like you can't really look too far out I feel like if you look too far out then you can miss the present and you know things I don't think good good things can happen if you do that in my opinion um for me I'm just comfortable as far as like with what I signed um coming here um financially I'm in a great place my family's happy you know I was able to like buy my mom a home um buy myself a home you know that was really like coming into the league what I really wanted to do um financially like I said I'm in a great place um and my family's happy so for me playing my third and final year is like I signed a three-year deal so I intend to play those three years out what's the luxury you just talked about sauce in mc2 what's the luxury of having you guys back there as far as communication and the way you guys work together and also you guys can play non-traditional coverages yeah yeah we're doing some really cool things this year um as far as the defense I won't get into like details or everything right but I will say like sauce and MC they are talented as far as covering and being able to cover guys but they're really smart and I don't think people understand that but if you start watching tape and you start seeing like the success of certain plays it's it really comes down to film study and just anticipation of what we already watched um with what our coaches showed us during the week um I would say like we're very smart um I think that goes a long way especially you know during a long season your body gets worned down but to still be able to play at a high level like when your body is sore because of the long season is a testament to like how they do treatment how they watch film etc etc can you speak to that how everybody's gotta be on a string so to speak because we've looked at plays in the past as far as hey you guys might be in some combination coverages or you might be in some Zone coverages and passing guys off you have to be on it oh yeah yeah like it funny cuz like you see like some things on social media and it's like oh that's his fault or that's and quite honestly they have no idea what we're playing um and that's okay like they're fans or whatever they're they're not supposed to know but um we definitely have some complex coverages that requires a lot of talking a lot of communicating especially with motions and things that the offense does so like yeah it it definitely comes with that isn't it funny do you smile when you hear some of those things because I think with Sal's defense and they say well he's coming from San Francisco and then you go back to the days in Seattle where he started with Pete and stuff like that um hey you know they're just running zone back there it's a it's a simplified coverage system when you guys look at some of those things that you guys are doing where it's very complex and there's combinations going on and on top of it you do have the ability on third down to say you know what we're manning up across the board because all you guys can man up yeah exactly um you know our defense I would say is simple to an extent I feel like offenses are always changing therefore our defense is always changing because if you just run the same things and offenses are going to game plan and you know have have give you a lot of problems like they're going to get to like what we call you know coverage beaters they're going to make it really hard because they know what we're in so you have to adjust as well um that just comes with the game and yeah like don't get it twisted like we play all this Zone and stuff but like when it gets real we play man and we have the guys to be able to get that job done as well how patient did you have to be the last couple years because often times you guys weren't scoring a lot of points so that means in the back end where I can look at you guys and watch the film and say these dudes are they're playing their ass off you're not getting the takeaways because it's late in the game it's the third and fourth quarter and maybe you guys are just coming down and playing the Run no for sure um you know that's how it's been the last two years and you know as a team you just have to you know basically deal with your dealt you got to just figure it out and just you know you can't really complain about it um but I will say that you know I'm excited about this year I will say that and you know when we are up you know on the scoreboard there will be more opportunities and I'm looking forward to capitalizing on those opportunities when they come yeah you got to be chomping at the bit right because number one is Aaron Rogers coming back number two is you look at the defensive line add Hassan reic to the equation you got the big start in the Middle with Quinn and Williams you got Germain who made this monster jump last year like if this goes the way it's supposed to yeah you you guys are going to have the opportunities to make those plays that you want to oh yeah I was looking at our D line the last couple days like kinlaw too can't forget about kinlaw he's a big dude huh yeah he's a big dude and we got rck man he's I've been watching him for a while now and man he's just you could just tell like he he really like it's a art like when you watch him pass rush it looks like it looks like an artist like it's not just him like he he's really strategic and I love that like I'm a Hooper so I like watching Kyrie Irving and he's real technical like I really like like he he seems like he has that like he's really technical with his pass rushing and you know his Production shows that so I'm definitely looking forward to him same as Jermaine um like you said he had a big leap in year two so just with the D Lin same with kenlaw like I know he's working hard this off season so like I'm definitely you know excited about our D line and obviously Q Q's the man it's the reason why he Comm mans you know all the double teams every game it's a reason for that um so I'm looking forward to you know getting those takeaways this year you're a competitor I know you enjoy playing against him but Practicing Against Aaron Rodgers what kind of stress does Rogers put on a defense just practicing against him man he changes everything like I was just telling the reporters in there like when you go against AR everybody around him seems better the receivers feel better the tight ends feel better the running back feels better it just seems like everybody UPS their game more um obviously AR is a Hall of Fame quarterback for a reason as far as his his arm Talent is second to none in my opinion like even now even now second to none in my opinion as far as like deep ball accuracy and all that the no looks it's crazy obviously that's important but I think the mind like the mindset is more important like he knows the looks he knows what coverage we're in and he's going to get to what he wants to get to if you make a play on you make a play on it but he's going to get to the weakness of the coverage which a lot of quarterbacks are not really good at doing that he understands like what we're in like if we communicate something he knows like oh this is that so we're going to get to this he he could change the play at the line of scrimmage he does things that I've never seen a quarterback do so what do you do in that situation where you know he's getting out yeah and it's right prior to his snap you just got to play football you just got to do your job at the end of the day but it makes it tough for sure especially the no look passing when you're playing Zone you're thinking he's looking this way and he's throwing to opposite side it it affects the safeties it affects people when when you when you're throwing no look passes like that's just different for real for real that's what I was going to ask you about the no look passes and you guys being in zone because for a lot of dudes even at this level you can watch the eyes and you're going to get some keys exactly where I got to think sometimes if you're watching aon's eyes it's not helping you at all actually I'll be telling the safties like don't just stay on your Landmark bro like don't don't look at his eyes bro because he his eyes is gonna deceive you bro yeah don't do that sauce is his athleticism underrated not by you guys but maybe out there externally because I I think people can get lost in the sauce by saying yeah big dude he he just takes care of it because he's lanky you know like his athleticism is just yeah I agree he's athletic though like like the way he moves is not fair for a dude who's that big right I agree like he's he's he moves like he's like 5'9 he moves like a little guy the way he could like stop on a dime the cood and then the flip of the hips the turn yeah like he just he just moves real fluidly to be that tall to be honest um is very different um as well as like his long arms like at the catch Point like it's hard to catch a pass on him like even if he's beat by a little bit and he sticks his arms out he's great at like the time like when the receiver has to catch the ball he's great at getting the ball out like I think that's what one of the things that he does best like I watched this film from last year and I was just saying like I just wanted to see what he does great just watching all his cut-ups or his Target tape and and at the catch point I think that I think he's the best um at cornerback at the catch Point like when the ball's in the air getting the ball out he's like Elite at that his timing his timing punching the pocket getting his arm in there to get the ball out pbu ball disruption he's the best in the league at do you see receivers I mean you're taking care of business on your side but do you see receivers get frustrated playing against him to your point you see sometimes where receivers get their hands on the ball with sauce but then he's there and he's able to punch it out and get it right there maybe at the it's the top of somebody's jump or the timing's good and also the physicality do you see the frustration from the receivers I definitely see when we play teams I definitely see receivers getting frustrated at him because they're frustrated by their production yeah definitely see that um do you guys talk about interceptions for sure amongst yourselves do you have like internal competition because for sure like we definitely like that's the most important thing is to get the ball back to your offense so we definitely like even though we played well last year we definitely want to get the ball but you know it goes overall as a team like like I like you said like when you're up in the score scoreboard like when we look at teams like Dallas right Dallas is usually in the league so like the corners there they get you know they get opportunities teams to throw the ball and you know they get opportunities like I'm just keeping it real like and you know they're great players don't get me wrong but just the opportunities is just a little different like if we're not in the league then teams are going to be conservative because they don't have to score they have the league they're just going to play conservative football so that's that's just what comes with it h how have dudes over time changed the way they' approached playing you like the receivers because when you come out you're a late round pick you're working your way into this game whether you're getting trained up as a free safety or a nickel it's a lot different than now where everybody in the league knows that DJ Reed is one of the best cornerbacks that we got out here yeah I think it's um you got to know who you're playing like when you when you study teams you know some teams don't care who you are they're going to try but then there's also other teams where you see like you're not getting targets so like they just have that type of respect they're not even going to try it so you just got to really know who you're playing um you got to know really like who the OC is like always talk about like knowing the players is cool but like knowing the offensive coordinator like does he want to try stuff or is he not going to try stuff vice versa so it's really like knowing who the offensive coordinator is is it the same thing with the quarterback too where quarterbacks too for sure cuz like you know you got quarterbacks some quarterbacks don't care who you are like Stafford I was just telling somebody like Stafford I've seen like bro you can get an interception on Stafford and he going to come right back at you the next Drive interesting and certain quarterbacks if you get a pick then they're going to more than likely leave you alone so like it just depends who the quarterback is too but that's the beauty of it with you guys too is you can't stay away from everybody but you are arguably in my mind and you said it as well the best trie on football but they can't say okay we're not coming at any one of you they have to attack no I agree they definitely have to so come to me give me some tet I love it give me the targets just I love it all right so we got some exciting news on the production front we are our DJ Reed's Story internal production crew feature crew is doing a big piece on you Origins DJ breed can you talk about them going back and what the storytelling is going to be involved there yeah I'm excited uh to be honest it's raw it's uncut it's authentic um you know know I did a couple things on the ners so I had a story but I just felt like it was like very like vanilla but this is like the realness of like my story and my truth and I told them that you know I wanted to film that way I didn't want it like vanilla like I wanted to show like the struggles that I went through in life from a childhood to coming up to get to this point and I wanted to make make it pretty much a nonfilter just to give somebody hope that's going through a similar situation as me and even if you're not going through something similar just motivation um and just to let them know like if I could do it then you know you could do it um that was really like my main object objective for it all right so preview it for us though because they went back to California you grew up in California you got a story here where After High School you go to Fresno then you ended up going to Junior College then you ended up going to C you want me you want me to explain like this yeah okay okay I thought y'all wanted to like you know what I'm saying keep it a little secret but yeah I got you so we went back to high school many people don't know you know I got arrested in high school so I was 16 I got arrested actually with my little brother and a couple friends at the time and you know that really changed my life really impacted my life you know during that time um I was a point guard for Independence High School we had a great team we went 33 and two that year um I had to actually miss the playoffs because of um me getting in trouble and I had to watch it and I had to serve time in juvenile hall and you know for me it was something that really changed my life because God just made it clear to me that you know you could either go this way or this way and you know I'm from Bakersville you know a lot of guys getting trouble and they end up you know going getting out of jail working in the oil fields etc etc um it's very rare that you know guys have been able to get out you know now we have a couple guys in the league but but during that time that that really wasn't a thing uh so for me it was about you know making my mom proud I didn't want to ever like make my mom feel like she didn't raise me the right way and I want to be a great example for my uh little brother who I got in trouble with so it was just a wakeup call for me um that was the first time that I really developed a relationship with God um when I was in there I was actually reading the Bible and I actually I always believed in God but that going through that I actually had a relationship with God I actually felt the Holy Spirit I actually felt God working in me and he gave me a sense of Peace during that time and I just locked in like my senior year ended up winning MVP in basketball and football was the first player to do that um had schools talking to schools a lot of schools were kind of afraid of the situation that happened so I didn't end up getting any offers so that's when I walked on the Fresno State um we didn't document going to Fresno State we actually documented um when I went to Jo right so they talked to Coach kanes they talked to Coach grossfield um so that was a cool experience I talked to the guys there yeah that was pretty much like the main the main story we also talked about my pops as well how he impacted My Life um you get to see my mom we go to Bakersfield get to see my mom um she's as real as it gets in my opinion she raised me like she raised me the right way and yeah man she shares her story her testimony as well and she's a you know she's probably the main reason why I'm here she wasn't you know she didn't impact my life the way she did I definitely wouldn't be here so I'm I'm forever grateful for my mom so what do you think about being in this position Family right now to to be able to retell that as a guy who's not only accomplished professional was not only one of the best defensive backs in football but now you're married you got a couple kids you got one on the way one on the way one on the way one and one on the way yes you got a beautiful daughter one on the way I mean how does that make you feel man it's a blessing bro like that's why I'm always grateful I'm always smiling because it's just like how I'm living now is just crazy like obviously I still work hard I still putting the work but like this is just gravy on the top for me like this is my job to play football still at 27 years old so like I'm just forever grateful go home be a family man that's really all I ever wanted in life was you know to have a successful career in whatever I'm doing but most importantly be a great family man um raise kids in a in a friendly environment and yeah just be a great husband as well that's really all like I'm I'm really a simple person when it comes to that so I'm living out basically the dreams that I I set out to achieve but you got to give yourself a lot of credit because 16 you could have want one way yeah but that showed a lot of maturity to take that kind of situation that kind of adversity that you self admittedly put yourself in and said you know what I got to take a different direction yeah man I just felt like I I knew I had I knew I was talented like I knew God gave me gifts um from an athletic standpoint of course but I just feel like my mindset was always you know I'm G get out of Bakersfield I'mma do something positive for my city and for my family most importantly and I knew like that situation didn't show that I remember how people looked at me like when I went to school how teachers how students was like treating me and it was just like man this isn't it bro this isn't it so like I just made it a made a decision basically when I got in trouble like we gonna go this way and we're GNA see where the where the stars fall where the whatever whatever the saying is that that's Origins DJ Reed we're all looking forward to that coming out uh what's the plans for you this summer we're going back home to Calabasas man yeah we're going back home it's gonna be with the fam just training getting ready for training camp you're gonna chill okay and then uh lastly you were talking about Hoops before any thoughts on what's going on right now I mean listen the NBA Finals might be over by the time this airs but I wanted to get your thoughts on the overall maybe the postseason where we are NBA landscape right now can can I keep it real bro yeah man keep keep it real let's roll Celtics have the best team me personally I want Dallas to win because I'm a Kyrie guy yeah but to be real with you man you know injuries and stuff happen I just feel like the way that the Celtics got to it which they can't control that just with Gianna's getting hurt just the injuries Jimmy Butler it just a they had yeah bro they had a lot of Fortune going their way which I'm not taking anything from them but I would love to see the superstars that should have been playing play I was hoping Minnesota be in the finals yeah did their thing too I wanted Minnesota I'm not gonna lie yeah I wanted Anthony Edwards in Minnesota Carl Anthony I wanted them to to really win it but I I was happy for Kyrie because I love Kyrie and I like Luca's game as well um but I don't I don't know if they have they're not coming with the Firepower and start them that at the Celtics but that that's where I wanted to end is who whose game do you relate to most DJ Reid going back in the day you said you were a point guard who who who would be a guy in the pros right now like that's most like my game I'm not g to toot my horn bro come on give us something I wasn't I I was nice but I'm not NBA nice like but but but your style I'm saying your style okay my style I would say like that's a good question I would say Prime Chris Paul Prime oh really Prime Chris Paul because I was getting my teammate I was getting assists but I can't I can get Buckets though too don't get it twisted I you know what I mean I cross get my buckets shoot threes all that but you had a mid-range game that if you Chris you telling me Chris Paul yes yes I had all that but I would like to say Kyrie just with his yo-yo yeah but Kyrie was is is a peer scorer like kyri could play shooting guard too so I wouldn't go that far but like I would say Chris Paul and then defense too Chris Paul's getting hella steals back then too yeah Kyrie off the bounce incredible Kyrie I remember I watched the Brooklyn we went to a playoff game last year was it last year it was when he was in Brooklyn I don't know if it was last year or my first year here but I was watching him bro and it was just crazy like the way he dribbled bro he really got the ball on the stream know he only had 20 that game but it was just how he was scoring it was just so technical bro yeah like it's just amazing bro I ain't going to lie DJ Reed a man of many talents great seeing you enjoy the summer appreciate that bro you too [Applause] [Music] [Applause]