Q&A With Niko Koutouvides

A couple of days ago, I posted the Darrell Jackson interview. Let’s take a look at his friend and former Seattle teammate, Niko Koutouvides. Koutouvides and Jackson will suit up for the Broncos for the first time this year and bring some more Super Bowl experience to the team. Koutouvides is a middle linebacker that was drafted by Seattle in 2004 after playing at Purdue.

Are you concentrating more on securing a starting position or on special teams?

NK: I would love to start on defense, but Seattle used me mainly on special teams. I’m all for starters playing on special teams, and I would love to do both.

Why did you choose to play for the Broncos?

NK: I felt I would have the best chance to go back to the Super Bowl with this team. I felt comfortable with the city and all the coaches after meeting with them.

How do you like Denver so far?

NK: I like it a lot. The mountains are beautiful, but I haven’t been up there yet. Too cold for me. I just look at the top and shiver thinking how cold it must be. I’m from the east coast (grew up in Connecticut) and we don’t have mountains like that.

What are you going to do to stop Darren McFadden when you play the Raiders?

NK: I’ll give him a special rookie welcome if I get the chance. We’ll have something special for Javon Walker too. He’s not too happy with the Broncos right now. You work year round for those kind of games. It’s going to be exciting.

What does a typical day look like for you at this point in the off-season?

NK: I wake up around 6:30, eat, lift, watch film, and then practice. We’re usually done around 1:00. It’s a different story once August hits. During the regular season guys are putting in 11-13 hour days. Between working out, meetings, practicing, watching film, and getting treatment at the beginning and end of the day, we put in long hours. We only get 30 minutes for lunch too. It’s not like we can just show up for 3 hour games on Sundays ready to go. That’s the thing many people don’t realize. It’s a full time job.

Was Travis Henry a distraction to the team?

NK: The team did what it felt was right. Team unity is the most important part of the equation. If the team with the most talent always won it, Dallas would have won the Super Bowl last year. The organization was just trying to build team unity, and took this direction to do it.

* Note: I saw two Travis Henry jerseys all weekend at Fan Fair. The 3 year old kid wearing one obviously didn’t have a choice in the matter, but the 17 year old kid must have not received the memo. People are obviously over Henry’s antics here in Denver.