August 31, 2020 • 14 mins
The Falcons' hard-hitting safety is back from back-to-back season-ending injuries and talks about the long road back, how he's learned a lot about himself, being a better pro and more with Matt Tabeek.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, I've had some great guests on Bird Noises
in Atlanta Falcons podcast about football and mostly everything else.
But today's guest, without a doubt, makes me smile more
than any of them and should make Falcons fans everywhere
happy because he's back. Welcome to Bird Noises, Sean O'Neil. Thanks, Matt.
(00:23):
It's it's really man. It's good to see you back
in Flowery Branch. It's good to see you running around
on the practice fields, and uh, it's just it's just
great to see your smile, man, And uh, how does
it feeld just to be back? I appreciate it, man,
I'm I'm excited to be back. You know. It's a
blessing to to be here, you know, after the past
(00:43):
two seasons and you know, going out and moving around
and doing everything. So it's just I'm just I'm really
blessed and excited. Awesome. Well, so much has happened since
the last time I've had a chance to sit down
with you. I think it's been a year. I think you,
me and Ricardo Allen sat down about a year ago
and wasn't this podcast, but it was for a podcasts
(01:04):
and a lot has changed. Um, for everybody for the world,
and I want to talk to you about that, what's
going on with your life, how you're dealing with this
global pandemic. I'll squeeze in at the end and maybe
a question or three about the falcons, and then we'll
wrap it up about you again. But first, first thing
I gotta do, and it's what I do with every
(01:24):
guest on this podcast, Kiano, I have to ask the
one question, what do you think about the name bird noises?
What the name bird noises? What do you? Be? Brutally honest?
Because it's been up for debate. A lot of people
think it's weird, some people love it. Caleb McGarry liked it,
Hey and Hurst liked it, but Jeff Olbrick said it
(01:45):
needs some juice. What do you what says you? It's okay?
I mean I don't I don't think it's too bad,
all right, nose right, Yeah, it's it works. It works.
Yeah when you're searching on iTunes for it, and I
don't know what you're gonna expect you're gonna get. But anyway, well,
let's let's just jump right into this. Um. You know,
(02:08):
this whole pandemic has sucked and just be really, it's
changed our way of life. Some of us have lost
loved ones, um and been really affected by it. But
not everything has been bad. Um. There's actually been some positive,
some really good things that have happened the last few months.
And before I say anything more, I just want to
congratulate you on from what I saw on your Instagram,
(02:34):
you got married. I did you have a new bride?
I did May night. That is awesome, congratulations. I just
want to make sure I said that, because that's that's
life changing, that's positive. It's man, we need some positive
news around here. And uh, you know I had COVID.
I lost my dad to it in May. And so
when I saw that, I was like, man, I'm glad
(02:56):
some good things are happening, no doubt. Well listen, uh,
And I know that must have been just challenging just
to just make that happen. I know my niece up
in New York she had to postpone her wedding twice.
So kudos on you, congrats and good luck to you guys. Um.
All right, so let's just jump right into one question
Falcons fans are dying to hear the answer to here.
(03:18):
How is Keyano new a feeling and where are you
percentage wise as far as being the hard hitting Keyano
Neil that we all know and love and all that.
How how you doing right is? How do you assess
where you're at right now? I feel awesome. I feel
I feel really good moving around doing everything cutting. I
(03:41):
have two people say they don't notice anything, so um wow,
that's that's that's definitely a good thing for me. Uh yeah,
test to the work that I put in and the
people around me, keep my mindset right and everything. So
like I said before, I'm blessed to be in this position,
blessed to be here. But now I feel I feel
really good. That's really awesome. I get I do this
(04:02):
mail bag Monday through Friday with fans, and I get
so many questions about how's Keiana was? Kiano back is?
You know? And and I you know, I think we
have to go buy what we hear and what we read,
and you know, DQ kind of gives us some some
updates here and there, and everything's been positive. So to
hear it from you, it's awesome. That's awesome. M really,
(04:24):
I mean, fans is just going to be stoked. So
every time I see you, You're always smiling. And sometimes
I see you walking through you know, the halls of
Flowery Branch, the team facilities, when you kind of come
up by the digital team, or if I see in
the cafeteria, you know, you say hi. You're always smiling,
You're always positive, and I know you always try to
(04:45):
find the positive in everything you do, whether you know
it's whether it's on social media or if you're on
Good Morning Football or wherever we see you in a
press conference. You've always got this vibe about you where
you just you don't want to harp on the negatives.
You always look at the positive. So I want to
ask you from that perspective. As difficult as the last
(05:08):
two seasons have been, especially the last one with back
back season ending injuries and all that, you've been through
some really hard times. But a lot of us and
a lot of people are going through some really hard
times right now. Um, what what how do you fight
through all that? And how did you get to this point?
And what's the secret secret you know, secret to your
(05:30):
to your method as far as just staying positive and
in doing what you do and in having the mindset
you have. I mean, it's really my faith honestly. I mean, uh,
you know, God has a reason for everything, and me
believing that. I mean, I can't walk around being negative
and thinking about the wrong things. You know. It's a
blessing to be alive, blessing to be in this space.
(05:52):
So I don't I don't really try to look at negatives.
I mean, obviously our mind goes there at times, but um,
we just have to find positives and things because they
are there if you look for them. So so, especially
the last ten twelve months, what would you say is
the most positive thing as you as you had to
(06:14):
You know, you were working hard behind the scenes and
working hard to get back to where you are right
this moment, But as you watched the season, as you
stood on the sidelines and could not be out on
the field, what's the one positive that you took from
all this? What's the one thing do you feel like?
This may sound crazy, but do you feel like you're
a better pro, a better person, a better player right
(06:36):
now for having gone through that. I do. I feel
like I've learned a lot, a lot, a lot more
about my body, for one, and just getting away from
the game for a little bit, you know, it allowed
me to grow in other areas, So I think overall
as a person, it made me better and you know
(06:58):
that obviously falls into the players side as well. That's awesome.
All right, Well, lot's change in the in the last
year with you, but also with the team. I'm gonna
switch gears here and talk about one major change, and
that's the uniforms. You got practice jersey hanging behind you there.
(07:20):
What do you think of the new lids? What do
you think of the new duds? What is your just
initial impression when you saw them? I like him. I
like him a lot. Uh. The all black is by
far my favorite. It takes me back to high school.
Oh really you like the all black? Yeah, I'm a
(07:40):
fan of that one. Yeah, that's cool. I love the
all white. I saw the Deon jones h model of
that one and I was like, that looks pretty slick
and Matt Ryan and I also like the white with
the black pants with the white jersey. That's kind of
cool too. It's different, it's different, it's different. What do
you think of the Matt black helmets? You like those
(08:01):
two in the in the silver grill, the chrome grill.
It's a good touch. I thought that. Yeah, it's I
think it's unique. Yeah, as a player, this is kind
of a quirky question. But as a player, when you're
wearing a black grill all that time and then switched
to a chrome grill, is there an adjustment or now?
Is it pretty easy? I really, I mean I don't
(08:22):
really see it or think about it that much. So
I mean it just really never you never you never
know what people are gonna say. Um, well, the Falcons
have had quite an off season. Two They not a
lot of people expect them to be active in the
off season free agency, and no one knew what they
were going to do in the draft they had. You know,
(08:42):
there's a lot of experts out there that thought they
would go one way or the other. But I got
to ask you, they the Falcons were pretty ambitious in
the off season with some moves. Uh specifically, they traded
for Hayden Hurst, they signed Todd Gurley, They added to
your unit edge rusher Dante Follower. They drafted four guys
on the defensive side of the ball. So I gotta
(09:04):
ask you, what do you think of the change is
specifically on defense right now? I think it's great. Like
you said, we added some some great guys, I mean,
through draft, through free agency. I'm a huge fan of Dante.
I mean I played with him in Florida and I
know his motor and what he brings. So seeing him
out there really really puts a smile on my face.
And um, you know, obviously the rookies that we added
(09:27):
and and everything, so we got a good group, and
then obviously the guys that we still have. So I'm
excited to see what we put together. If you had
to describe Dante follower in a word, what would it be.
I don't know. I'd say like motor. I guess, like
(09:50):
he's just NonStop on the field. He's he's that guy,
like he's Thomas smid Trop said he's got a little
bit of a wild child in him. And he said,
as long as he's he's that wild child on the field,
he's all good with it. So we're looking forward to that. Well,
last last week we had um the last show. Actually
(10:12):
we had Raheem Morris on here and uh man, he
is locked in on next season. I tried, you know,
we had a little fun. We gonna talk about his
Jersey roots and stuff like that, and uh Osborne place
and Irvington, New Jersey and all that, but he is
locked in on those Seattle Seahawks. I couldn't get him
off it. Everything he said I did. I tried some
(10:35):
word associations with him. Everything was Russell Wilson, Russell Wilson.
So let me just ask you about Raheem what? What
what excites you? You know, playing for You know, I
know that you saw the change last year, but and
you've been around it. But in your mind and your words,
what's what's it been like with coach Morrison? You know
(10:57):
of course coach Albrick and you know d he still
has his hands on stuff. But describe what it is,
what it's like playing for Rheem Morris. Yeah, like you said,
they all have their hands in it and everything, but
like Rogers brings this energy. It's a different energy that
he brings. Obviously he was with the receivers at one
point and he just like when you're around him, you
(11:19):
just you just feel that presence in him being the
decordinator and everything like that's all he brings. Its juice
and it's cool, we need that. What excites you most
about this defense right now as it stands, the opportunity
that we have, Like I said before, we got a
(11:39):
lot of great guys, a lot of athletic guys on
the defense, and you know, we can really put something together.
So I'm excited for the opportunity. You said, you've learned
a lot, you know about yourself, about your body, about
being a pro. And are you approaching this year, you know,
this specific season, any differently than previous seasons or now? Yeah, um,
(12:02):
I said, just being smarter understanding my body. Um, no
one want to push it and no one want to
like slow it down a little bit because you know,
I've always been the type to just go after it NonStop.
And um, I've realized that sometimes less it's more, you know,
so interesting exactly, so I have to, you know, sometimes
(12:27):
back off a little bit to continue to gain. So
that's one thing that I think I'm gonna correlate into
this year. Yeah, it's interesting, that's that. Yeah, less is
more sometimes for sure for all of us. Um, all right,
So we're gonna wrap this up with a quick round
of word association and and this I like doing this
(12:51):
in the preseason with with guys and coaches too, because
it really kind of shows some shed some light on
where people's heads are at the mindset a little bit sometimes,
you know, like with Raheem, it was all every handswer
with Russell Wilson. So um. And I'm not going to
ask you about Manscape either, because I know we joked
about that last time. All right, so here we go.
(13:16):
I'm gonna say a name or phrase and then you
just blurred out whatever comes to your mind. And you know,
if you know, keep in mind, we can bleach things out.
I'm not encouraging for Fanny, but you know I'm not
discouraging Ani. But anyway, all right, here we go. Damn
Quinn energy energy, all right, Falcon's defense, relentless, Julio Jones, Beasts,
(13:47):
Rob Gronkowski running through the middle toast NFC South Falcons.
I like it. Last one Lombardi Trophy, Algames, I like it.
(14:08):
That's a perfect place to wrap up episode eighteen of
Bird Noises. And thank you Keane O'Neill for coming on
to Bird Noises about I appreciate him, appreciate it. Thanks
so much,
You know, I've had some great guests on Bird Noises
in Atlanta Falcons podcast about football and mostly everything else.
But today's guest, without a doubt, makes me smile more
than any of them and should make Falcons fans everywhere
happy because he's back. Welcome to Bird Noises, Sean O'Neil. Thanks, Matt.
(00:23):
It's it's really man. It's good to see you back
in Flowery Branch. It's good to see you running around
on the practice fields, and uh, it's just it's just
great to see your smile, man, And uh, how does
it feeld just to be back? I appreciate it, man,
I'm I'm excited to be back. You know. It's a
blessing to to be here, you know, after the past
(00:43):
two seasons and you know, going out and moving around
and doing everything. So it's just I'm just I'm really
blessed and excited. Awesome. Well, so much has happened since
the last time I've had a chance to sit down
with you. I think it's been a year. I think you,
me and Ricardo Allen sat down about a year ago
and wasn't this podcast, but it was for a podcasts
(01:04):
and a lot has changed. Um, for everybody for the world,
and I want to talk to you about that, what's
going on with your life, how you're dealing with this
global pandemic. I'll squeeze in at the end and maybe
a question or three about the falcons, and then we'll
wrap it up about you again. But first, first thing
I gotta do, and it's what I do with every
(01:24):
guest on this podcast, Kiano, I have to ask the
one question, what do you think about the name bird noises?
What the name bird noises? What do you? Be? Brutally honest?
Because it's been up for debate. A lot of people
think it's weird, some people love it. Caleb McGarry liked it,
Hey and Hurst liked it, but Jeff Olbrick said it
(01:45):
needs some juice. What do you what says you? It's okay?
I mean I don't I don't think it's too bad,
all right, nose right, Yeah, it's it works. It works.
Yeah when you're searching on iTunes for it, and I
don't know what you're gonna expect you're gonna get. But anyway, well,
let's let's just jump right into this. Um. You know,
(02:08):
this whole pandemic has sucked and just be really, it's
changed our way of life. Some of us have lost
loved ones, um and been really affected by it. But
not everything has been bad. Um. There's actually been some positive,
some really good things that have happened the last few months.
And before I say anything more, I just want to
congratulate you on from what I saw on your Instagram,
(02:34):
you got married. I did you have a new bride?
I did May night. That is awesome, congratulations. I just
want to make sure I said that, because that's that's
life changing, that's positive. It's man, we need some positive
news around here. And uh, you know I had COVID.
I lost my dad to it in May. And so
when I saw that, I was like, man, I'm glad
(02:56):
some good things are happening, no doubt. Well listen, uh,
And I know that must have been just challenging just
to just make that happen. I know my niece up
in New York she had to postpone her wedding twice.
So kudos on you, congrats and good luck to you guys. Um.
All right, so let's just jump right into one question
Falcons fans are dying to hear the answer to here.
(03:18):
How is Keyano new a feeling and where are you
percentage wise as far as being the hard hitting Keyano
Neil that we all know and love and all that.
How how you doing right is? How do you assess
where you're at right now? I feel awesome. I feel
I feel really good moving around doing everything cutting. I
(03:41):
have two people say they don't notice anything, so um wow,
that's that's that's definitely a good thing for me. Uh yeah,
test to the work that I put in and the
people around me, keep my mindset right and everything. So
like I said before, I'm blessed to be in this position,
blessed to be here. But now I feel I feel
really good. That's really awesome. I get I do this
(04:02):
mail bag Monday through Friday with fans, and I get
so many questions about how's Keiana was? Kiano back is?
You know? And and I you know, I think we
have to go buy what we hear and what we read,
and you know, DQ kind of gives us some some
updates here and there, and everything's been positive. So to
hear it from you, it's awesome. That's awesome. M really,
(04:24):
I mean, fans is just going to be stoked. So
every time I see you, You're always smiling. And sometimes
I see you walking through you know, the halls of
Flowery Branch, the team facilities, when you kind of come
up by the digital team, or if I see in
the cafeteria, you know, you say hi. You're always smiling,
You're always positive, and I know you always try to
(04:45):
find the positive in everything you do, whether you know
it's whether it's on social media or if you're on
Good Morning Football or wherever we see you in a
press conference. You've always got this vibe about you where
you just you don't want to harp on the negatives.
You always look at the positive. So I want to
ask you from that perspective. As difficult as the last
(05:08):
two seasons have been, especially the last one with back
back season ending injuries and all that, you've been through
some really hard times. But a lot of us and
a lot of people are going through some really hard
times right now. Um, what what how do you fight
through all that? And how did you get to this point?
And what's the secret secret you know, secret to your
(05:30):
to your method as far as just staying positive and
in doing what you do and in having the mindset
you have. I mean, it's really my faith honestly. I mean, uh,
you know, God has a reason for everything, and me
believing that. I mean, I can't walk around being negative
and thinking about the wrong things. You know. It's a
blessing to be alive, blessing to be in this space.
(05:52):
So I don't I don't really try to look at negatives.
I mean, obviously our mind goes there at times, but um,
we just have to find positives and things because they
are there if you look for them. So so, especially
the last ten twelve months, what would you say is
the most positive thing as you as you had to
(06:14):
You know, you were working hard behind the scenes and
working hard to get back to where you are right
this moment, But as you watched the season, as you
stood on the sidelines and could not be out on
the field, what's the one positive that you took from
all this? What's the one thing do you feel like?
This may sound crazy, but do you feel like you're
a better pro, a better person, a better player right
(06:36):
now for having gone through that. I do. I feel
like I've learned a lot, a lot, a lot more
about my body, for one, and just getting away from
the game for a little bit, you know, it allowed
me to grow in other areas, So I think overall
as a person, it made me better and you know
(06:58):
that obviously falls into the players side as well. That's awesome.
All right, Well, lot's change in the in the last
year with you, but also with the team. I'm gonna
switch gears here and talk about one major change, and
that's the uniforms. You got practice jersey hanging behind you there.
(07:20):
What do you think of the new lids? What do
you think of the new duds? What is your just
initial impression when you saw them? I like him. I
like him a lot. Uh. The all black is by
far my favorite. It takes me back to high school.
Oh really you like the all black? Yeah, I'm a
(07:40):
fan of that one. Yeah, that's cool. I love the
all white. I saw the Deon jones h model of
that one and I was like, that looks pretty slick
and Matt Ryan and I also like the white with
the black pants with the white jersey. That's kind of
cool too. It's different, it's different, it's different. What do
you think of the Matt black helmets? You like those
(08:01):
two in the in the silver grill, the chrome grill.
It's a good touch. I thought that. Yeah, it's I
think it's unique. Yeah, as a player, this is kind
of a quirky question. But as a player, when you're
wearing a black grill all that time and then switched
to a chrome grill, is there an adjustment or now?
Is it pretty easy? I really, I mean I don't
(08:22):
really see it or think about it that much. So
I mean it just really never you never you never
know what people are gonna say. Um, well, the Falcons
have had quite an off season. Two They not a
lot of people expect them to be active in the
off season free agency, and no one knew what they
were going to do in the draft they had. You know,
(08:42):
there's a lot of experts out there that thought they
would go one way or the other. But I got
to ask you, they the Falcons were pretty ambitious in
the off season with some moves. Uh specifically, they traded
for Hayden Hurst, they signed Todd Gurley, They added to
your unit edge rusher Dante Follower. They drafted four guys
on the defensive side of the ball. So I gotta
(09:04):
ask you, what do you think of the change is
specifically on defense right now? I think it's great. Like
you said, we added some some great guys, I mean,
through draft, through free agency. I'm a huge fan of Dante.
I mean I played with him in Florida and I
know his motor and what he brings. So seeing him
out there really really puts a smile on my face.
And um, you know, obviously the rookies that we added
(09:27):
and and everything, so we got a good group, and
then obviously the guys that we still have. So I'm
excited to see what we put together. If you had
to describe Dante follower in a word, what would it be.
I don't know. I'd say like motor. I guess, like
(09:50):
he's just NonStop on the field. He's he's that guy,
like he's Thomas smid Trop said he's got a little
bit of a wild child in him. And he said,
as long as he's he's that wild child on the field,
he's all good with it. So we're looking forward to that. Well,
last last week we had um the last show. Actually
(10:12):
we had Raheem Morris on here and uh man, he
is locked in on next season. I tried, you know,
we had a little fun. We gonna talk about his
Jersey roots and stuff like that, and uh Osborne place
and Irvington, New Jersey and all that, but he is
locked in on those Seattle Seahawks. I couldn't get him
off it. Everything he said I did. I tried some
(10:35):
word associations with him. Everything was Russell Wilson, Russell Wilson.
So let me just ask you about Raheem what? What
what excites you? You know, playing for You know, I
know that you saw the change last year, but and
you've been around it. But in your mind and your words,
what's what's it been like with coach Morrison? You know
(10:57):
of course coach Albrick and you know d he still
has his hands on stuff. But describe what it is,
what it's like playing for Rheem Morris. Yeah, like you said,
they all have their hands in it and everything, but
like Rogers brings this energy. It's a different energy that
he brings. Obviously he was with the receivers at one
point and he just like when you're around him, you
(11:19):
just you just feel that presence in him being the
decordinator and everything like that's all he brings. Its juice
and it's cool, we need that. What excites you most
about this defense right now as it stands, the opportunity
that we have, Like I said before, we got a
(11:39):
lot of great guys, a lot of athletic guys on
the defense, and you know, we can really put something together.
So I'm excited for the opportunity. You said, you've learned
a lot, you know about yourself, about your body, about
being a pro. And are you approaching this year, you know,
this specific season, any differently than previous seasons or now? Yeah, um,
(12:02):
I said, just being smarter understanding my body. Um, no
one want to push it and no one want to
like slow it down a little bit because you know,
I've always been the type to just go after it NonStop.
And um, I've realized that sometimes less it's more, you know,
so interesting exactly, so I have to, you know, sometimes
(12:27):
back off a little bit to continue to gain. So
that's one thing that I think I'm gonna correlate into
this year. Yeah, it's interesting, that's that. Yeah, less is
more sometimes for sure for all of us. Um, all right,
So we're gonna wrap this up with a quick round
of word association and and this I like doing this
(12:51):
in the preseason with with guys and coaches too, because
it really kind of shows some shed some light on
where people's heads are at the mindset a little bit sometimes,
you know, like with Raheem, it was all every handswer
with Russell Wilson. So um. And I'm not going to
ask you about Manscape either, because I know we joked
about that last time. All right, so here we go.
(13:16):
I'm gonna say a name or phrase and then you
just blurred out whatever comes to your mind. And you know,
if you know, keep in mind, we can bleach things out.
I'm not encouraging for Fanny, but you know I'm not
discouraging Ani. But anyway, all right, here we go. Damn
Quinn energy energy, all right, Falcon's defense, relentless, Julio Jones, Beasts,
(13:47):
Rob Gronkowski running through the middle toast NFC South Falcons.
I like it. Last one Lombardi Trophy, Algames, I like it.
(14:08):
That's a perfect place to wrap up episode eighteen of
Bird Noises. And thank you Keane O'Neill for coming on
to Bird Noises about I appreciate him, appreciate it. Thanks
so much,
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.