Hour 2: Don't Send Your Kids to Michigan

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
Demario Davis, D-Squared, what's up, how are you?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:03)
What's up, man, I'm by standing, dawg. Good to be here, man. Thank y'all for having me on.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:07)
Appreciate you being here.

**Craig Carton** (0:08)
Was this the third time through, I think, right?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:10)
Yes, the third time, man. Who would have thought? Not me. When I got drafted in 2012, that I would do three round trips through here.

**Craig Carton** (0:19)
Why'd you come back? What was it about this particular opportunity that made you say, assuming this is where your career ends, that I want to come back and play for Aaron Glenn for this particular team?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:28)
Man, honestly, I'm very big on trying to live a life of purpose.
Every decision that I make is very intentional as to where I feel like my life is at the current moment and where do I want to be in life. I didn't know going into, at the end of last year, I knew I wanted to play again, but I didn't know where that would be. I didn't know if it would be back in New Orleans or somewhere else. I never thought it would have been back in New York. I wasn't looking towards it, but I just didn't know it was a possibility. And then when Free Agency hit and the Jets let me know that they were interested in bringing me in as a linebacker, it quickly moved to the top of my radar as a priority. My wife loves New Jersey. She wanted to move here our first two times living here and with six kids. It's all about the happy, happy spouse, happy house. That's exactly right. I knew it was purposeful in terms of my kids and the opportunities that they would have here.
And where I am in my career, I got to think about what's next. New York is the land of many possibilities. But even more importantly, who was leading the organization, and two people in particular, Woody Johnson, who I feel very highly about, and Aaron Glenn. That meant the world to be able to come back and bring all the things that I've accumulated over 15 years in this game and be able to pour that into an organization that believed in me when I first came out. So it's into a no brainer.

**Craig Carton** (2:05)
Let's ask the question. People are concerned about the depth on this defense and the overall talent. You're out there on the field, you've been around many teams, good defenses, average defenses. What do you see about the talent on this particular team this year that makes you pretty confident that this defense is going to show up?

**Chris McMonigle** (2:25)
I just came from New Orleans and we finished the season top 10 in the league. And I would say from an overall talent and depth standpoint of this defense, we probably have more players and more depth at all levels on this defense than the defense that I came from. And that's not to take away from any of the players. I think when you look at the guys that have been drafted here, the guys that they brought in in free agency, there's specifically an investment into playing a certain brand of football that I believe that they backed up with the roster. And AG who's called in to play, is called in to defense. And the guys that he's assembled on the coaching staff and who he's brought in to players, it backs up the type of identity that he wants to play in the brand of football that he wants to play on the on the defensive side of the ball. I think you look at a coach like Carl Dunbar and what he was able to do with Pittsburgh and that defensive line and what he was able to do even here.
And in those Rex Ryan years, that's the defense that I was drafting into and how stock we were against the run. It starts with the defense and that's what Aaron Glenn preaches, that the defense line is the engine of the defense. And then, you know, having linebackers who can control the box and fly around, that was specific of bringing me not just in terms of my leadership, but how I can control the box as a linebacker. But I think you have a phenomenal linebacker already here that was already here in Jamie and Sherwood. The past two years, he's been at the top of the league in tackles. Maybe I think second overall in the past two years in tackles. That shows you that he can flow around the box making plays. And that's what's needed at the linebacker. But then you got many safeties, the investment that's there.