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Nik Needham – December 18, 2019 Download PDF version

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

CB Nik Needham

(Obviously the team has had its struggles this year, but for you, this is the high point of your career. How have you balanced that? What has that felt like for you?) – “I wouldn’t necessarily say this is the high point of my career. Like you said, the team’s had struggles and I’ve also had a lot of struggles this year. I definitely feel it’s a learning experience but I’m just trying to take full advantage of everything and embrace it all, and just try to go out there and do my best, and do whatever I can in order to help the team win. That’s the main goal.”

(I take it it doesn’t take much to get you motivated for another game as you head towards Cincinnati this week?) – “No. I’m ready to go, just like every other week. I’m ready to roll.”

(Is it a little difficult over the holidays with all of this stuff going on?) – “No. With football, like last year we played around the holidays. We play on Thanksgiving. It’s not really Christmas. I haven’t spent Christmas with my family the past two years. It’s going to be the same thing. It’s nothing new to me. I’m ready for football. I’m not a big holiday guy either, only for presents (laughter).”

(It’s a different vibe in the locker room. Some fans are focused on whether QB Josh Rosen should start or not. Some are focused on draft position. Give me an idea of what the locker room is focused on and just what the motivation is.) – “Yeah, we’re all focused on the next practice and really the Bengals. That’s who we are playing this week. (Head Coach Brian) Flores just said that after practice today. He said there’s going to be a lot of talk about that stuff – like you said, the holidays, a lot of distractions with family coming in. Just make sure we’re locked in on the Bengals and locked in on the task at hand and we’ll be fine. We’re focused on the win for sure.”

(What have you learned about yourself this year? Just your saga coming in from training camp and being where you are now.) – “I think it’s all about mental toughness. It’s about mental toughness, just believing in yourself and not listening to outside noise. Just know that you’re young and you have to learn and you have to grow; but you have to learn quick because you’re out there competing for an NFL team. They expect for you to do your job and do it well. I think I’ve learned that. Not try to get to high on myself, not try to get to low. Stay away from Twitter. I’ve definitely done that because they will love you one day and hate you one day. Just don’t even worry about that stuff – social media – and just focus on who we play every week, who is my matchup, what do I need to do, what do they do, what they like to do and how I can make a play on the ball.”

(Do you have any family members or friends that do the social media and fill you in on what they say?) – “Yeah, my mom. She is big on social media, especially these past two or three years. I’ve been trying to tell her to slow down and chill. (laughter) She’s definitely gotten a lot better. She is really on that a lot. My dad is on it but not so much telling me about myself or anything. Every once in a while my friends will send me something, like when Saquon (Barkley) shook me. They’ll be like ‘How is your ankle?’ (laughter)”

(Did you phone blow up after that happened?) – “Yeah. I mean not bad; but I have people asking me (about it). What about the two tackles when I tackled him? Nobody talks about that. (laughter)”

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