Avonte Maddox, Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Back

Alrighty, our number two of our radio program, it is the Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. You know what, looking back we should have played some Big X The Plug going into this interview, because I was at that after party for the Eagles, and I love Big X The Plug, but I got to see him live, he was unbelievable. And even Vic Fangio was getting down on stage, celebrating as Big X The Plug was rapping after the Eagles won their World Championship, their second World Championship, Super Bowl champions once again, as two weeks ago, right down in the Big Easy, New Orleans, able to just destroy the Kansas City Chiefs.

And now joining us is a Super Bowl champion from the Philadelphia Eagles and Avante Maddox, who's kind enough to jump on board with us. Avante, first off, congratulations. I would ask you how you're doing, but I'm sure you haven't come down from the Super Bowl high, right?

No, thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, I'm still hungover, actually. Well, that parade, man, you know, I'm just getting back to myself after being in New Orleans and I've had a whole week. You had a parade. That thing was crazy in Philadelphia. It was crazy. It was crazy. It's like one of the craziest things I've ever seen, actually.

So many people, millions, probably. So it died down afterwards, and I saw a photo from John Clark, who covers the team, and it was you and Saquon Barkley just sitting down and kind of taking it all in. After all, the mayhem did go down. What was that moment like you and Saquon just sitting there kind of getting a moment probably to catch your breath and process everything that did go down?

No, it was good. It was just a moment for us to, you know, we played against each other in college. So, you know, it was a chance for me to, you know, just sit back and realize what we did.

And, you know, I was just telling him I'm happy for him. And, you know, being able to come here and be teammates for once is always on the opposite ball. You know, he played at Penn State. I played at Pitt. He went to the Giants.

I was here in Philly. So we always played against each other. And it was a chance for us to play our first year together and win the Super Bowl. It was like it was a moment that you never couldn't ask for. Is it still kind of surreal that he's on your team?

Because I can't believe how that did go down. He's with the Giants, right? You guys are rivals. And then I remember when you guys played them in the playoff game and Brandon Graham is like talking smack to Saquon.

And that was on miked up. And now he's an eagle and had one of the greatest rushing seasons we've ever seen. It's crazy. It's crazy.

I mean, it's so surreal. I mean, like, just have him on your team. I mean, just having him as a teammate, but, you know, knowing him as a person and I've known for a while, he's just a great person.

And, you know, bringing someone into this organization that's like that. I mean, I'm happy for every accomplishment he got and, you know, every accolade he had gotten in this year. And, you know, just being in a rush to most yards ever rushed in the season and, you know, winning the Super Bowl. It was a great feeling. And, you know, I'm happy for him. Now, I know when you play defense, right, you're on the sideline when Saquon's on the field and you're supposed to be listening right to Vic from a ball. I can finish. I can finish this for you. Go down. I do not sit down. My eyes are on the field 24 seven because I just know he's going to do. He's going to do something crazy.

And it's like I already tell I tell everyone that I know my family. Yeah. What do you do like after like you guys come off the field?

I say, well, we're supposed to be sitting down and taking corrections. But you got somebody like twenty six out there that got any time to get the ball in his flow for it to sound. I'm watching it.

And it's not just him, right? You got Jalen, you got AJ Smith, the best offensive line in the league. You probably get mesmerized on that sideline.

Definitely. I mean, I'm watching all of them, guys. I mean, every time they're lining up, there's there's a play that can happen that could be a touchdown at any moment.

And, you know, Dallas Gotti is one of my best friends. And I always tell them, you know, I'm always excited for when he catch the ball. But you can ask him now, like, what do I watch for you out there? He always say he might block it. So I'll be watching a lot of blocking, too. So I watch blocking. I watch I watch the handoffs, the throws, the catches, all that from the tee up to the down.

But, you know, I watch the blocks because, you know, that's how that's the game blocking and tackling. Avante Maddox here with us. You've been with the Eagles since twenty eighteen when you walked into that locker room. They were coming off a Super Bowl championship. I know you guys got close a few years ago and it didn't go your way at the end to finally be able to get one after getting a taste what it's like to be around champions and then almost winning one a few years ago and now getting yours. Just I know it's a simple question, but what does that mean to you when you kind of look back at it two weeks later?

It means a lot. I mean, it's like when you look back seven years ago, they just come off of the Super Bowl championship knees sniffing the Super Bowl and almost winning again. But, you know, it's it feels like you said surreal when you win it because. It's like no other accomplishment that you can get that's higher than that, you know, planning this ultimate team sport and, you know, you go into you create this relationship with guys over the years and you go out there and you all you all are sweating. And putting in a time effort and, you know, getting to know each other connecting and when you go out there and you can finish it with a Super Bowl.

I mean, it doesn't get no better than that for you personally, right? You've been with the team for a while. I know James Bradbury got hurt, but he's been with the organization for more than a few years and yet a lot of younger corners that were coming in that you had to kind of mentor as well. But you're still trying to get yours, you know, for it to end with the Super Bowl with all the ups and downs, right?

Getting released in the offseason then coming on back. Just how do you kind of define what this year was like for you with with the crazy roller coaster ride that you went on? Yeah, I mean, all I can say is it was worth it. I mean, you know, when I have opportunity to, you know, mentor the younger guys, you know, I'm all up for it because when I first got here with the Eagles, I feel like it's the organization, the culture. I had guys that mentor me, you know, in and out from since I've gotten here.

So, you know, when I had a chance to, you know, take a little step back and, you know, mentor the guy, the younger guys and help them any way I could. It was it was all worth it, you know, coming back here and playing in Philly. I love Philly and, you know, being bringing a Super Bowl, another Super Bowl here and, you know, making this my dream come true. So like everything, everything like played out well in my cars.

And, you know, I'm happy all for it. And it's amazing, especially at that position. What Quinon Mitchell and Cooper to Jim are able to do this year, they didn't look like rookies.

How are they able to make that transition just so seamlessly? I say the same thing. Everybody always asks me like, you know, they say rookie, rookie, rookie.

I'm like, I don't know. You know, I look at them and they don't really shot like they don't really look at it. I don't look at them as rookies because they know the game so well. They're smart. You know, they're they got all the physical traits and you know, they do it. They don't make the same mistake once and they're opening.

They open ears and they always asking questions. So usually you got rookies coming in, you know, they're kind of nervous and they don't fit in as well as soon as they get there. But as soon as they stepped into the building, you know, it was almost like they've been there for a while. And, you know, kudos to their organizations that they get their schools, their colleges they came from. You know, they they're definitely pro as soon as they got into the NFL and they made our job a lot easier. You know, when it came to coaching them and, you know, trying to give them little tips on things because, you know, they always had questions and they always had open ears. So Quignan and Coop, I mean, they're going to be definitely great pros in this league.

And, you know, I can't wait to see that how far their career goes. And that picked six by Cooper to Jean. Oh, yeah. That that still has to just send the chill up your spine, right?

Oh, yeah, it definitely did. As soon as I seen him call it. I was on the side.

I scream and go, go, go, go, go. He got into the end zone. I said, OK. And by the way, we're good. Hey, both of them at the parade. I don't know Quignan Mitchell, but he's very quiet, you know, from what I can observe. He was I think he may have been enjoying himself the most him or no one Smith that that might have been him. That's his he's quiet. But once you get to know him, he opens up a lot.

And that's what I'm saying. Like when we've been here, we got we built connections with each other. And, you know, you got here and usually they're quiet, but he talks a good amount. But right there at that parade, he was playing all his emotions out at that point. Yeah, he was lost in the sauce. I saw Cooper to Jean had that chain hit him in the in the face. Howie Roseman even took a beer off the beer off the head.

I know. But Nolan Smith, I thought it was the funniest thing, takes a picture with the child, puts him on his shoulders and then starts walking away with the child. It's like, oh, I got a child on my shoulder. He's got to get back to give the kid back. His shirt is drenched and he looks like he had got out of a pool.

I say, was that all beer on your shirt? He's just he screams. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, God.

Somebody help him. Unbelievable about the Maddox here with us and the Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles. When you look back at the game, what did you think was the biggest play of the game?

Because I have a thought in it, but I'm curious what you think it is. Of course, you know, Coop had a major, major, major play in that on that defensive touchdown. You know, that put us up a little bit more touchdowns, actually. So but I'll have to go with.

I'll say I'll have to go at the PBU stop because they came back out by me by me. But it's not just that play every right after that play, you came in with the dagger from Jalen to Davante for the touchdown. And that, you know, I felt like that just that just that just took all the hope out of them of making that run back, you know, because at that moment, I think it was twenty seven zero.

I believe twenty seven. It was like mid third quarter. And, you know, playing against a quarterback like Mahomes. You never know what could happen.

You know, they could put points up on a board as fast as you blink. So, you know, when that happened, I felt like that was that was a dagger there. So that was the first moment you exhaled and you go, OK, the thought of Mahomes and him coming back. And yeah, that was it's over with. It's done with.

Yep. Soon as somebody caught that touchdown, I said, it's over with. You know what I actually thought it was? I thought it was the bond interception because it's seventeen nothing, you know, with two minutes left. Did they go down, even get a field goal? They get the ball coming out of half to get that pick.

And then basically, I know it wasn't a pick six, but then you score a few plays later. It's right there. Yeah, that was big.

That match the dominance of what you guys kind of showed in the first half on the scoreboard to be up twenty four nothing. Oh, yeah. I mean, Zach, he's an incredible leader on our team. And, you know, I'm actually just so happy for him as well, because, you know, he never really had the opportunity here with the Saints. And he got his opportunity to show his, you know, his attributes, his abilities to play.

And, you know, he made the most out of it. And that pick was that that that can be in the line of the series as well. I mean, it's right before halftime.

Come on, I'll have time. That happened and that happened. It was it was definitely it was definitely a major play. And, you know, you know how this works, right? When you go through the course of entire season, people write us in the media, fans, they'll say nice things, they'll say bad things.

It's all play to play. When you had that past breakup, I went on Twitter and every Eagle fan was like, I'll never say a bad word about Avante Maddox ever again. They left. They left me now. Finally, it took them a while. I said, oh, man, we have a total of six years I was here. Now they don't like me, but now they love me.

Thank God. What is it also like? So I went to school at Temple. I lived by the art museum when the Eagles won their first ever Super Bowl. So I understand the passion of the city. But you've been a player in this league to just the fans, right?

They're going to hold you accountable. But when you win, they celebrate you like no other. To feel that love really through the last month and in the last two weeks, just how do you kind of put that into words? I mean, it feels good. I mean, it's everything. This city, like you said, this city is so passionate about the game. And, you know, what could you expect?

I mean, it's a hard nose fighting city. And, you know, they want the best out of us. They expect the best out of us. And, you know, we want the best out of us. And we expect the best out of us.

So why not hold us accountable? So, you know, as much as they, you know, they say their their their mean things as what they want to say. But at the end of the day, if you're winning, they won't let anyone talk about you. And if you winning, you know, they're going to praise you. And they're going to they're going to they're going to let you know how much they love you. And, you know, that's all you can respect for someone. It's almost like a family member. You know, they tell you when you're doing bad, but when you're doing good, they let you know.

So, you know, I got all respect for Philly. And, you know, I love it here in my first organization I've been at. And, you know, it's been the best the best best dreams come true for the rest of my life, really.

That's unbelievable. So when I have a child, but other than that, yeah. And then we'll get you back. We'll have you write those back up on that. Avante Maddox for the Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles with us. I got to ask you about Jalen Carter. You know, we always know what's expected out of him, but he just sets the tone for the rest of that defense.

Just kind of give me your perspective of him. Still out at a young age, what he's been able to do in the NFL. I mean, he's going to he's the leader of that defense. I've told him I've told him since last year, since he got in here. And I told Howie and I told him, I said, y'all might have just drafted the best defensive player to play in the NFL, because he has every every thing that that can make him the best. And, you know, he's smart. He's he's he's physical.

He's you know, he puts fear into opponents. And, you know, I always tell him, like, you're a leader on this team and you're going to lead this team to a lot of more Super Bowl championships. And because this defense don't run through nothing without you and that D line and he gets some boys going. And, you know, it makes it a lot easier for our jobs on the back end when you win the quarterback only hold the ball for a second.

And, you know, he's he's trying to double team when it's hard to do that. So, you know, having Jalen Carter, man, he's he's a dog and clearly from Georgia. But having them all up there on the line, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, all of them guys are going to be great defensive players in this league. And, you know, I'm excited to see their career goes on as well.

But Jalen Carter, he's definitely a beast. You guys always had the talent. The question was, could you put it together last year? Right.

You know, what about thematic? The team was 10 and won you in one game down the stretch. Obviously, now looking back at it, you guys were able to fight through that winning a championship. Why didn't you not allow last year to really define what this team was going to be able to do the following season? Because when you go through what you went through last year, that could have derailed the team for this year, too.

Oh, yeah. I mean, you don't want to dwell on what happened last year. Every year is a new year, new team. And also, you know, you got new players, you have new coaches and things change.

But the culture always stays the same. And, you know, we always been, you know, you know, what are our what are our key fundamentals when we connect and fundamentals and and and, you know, tough and things like that. But other than that, you know, we can't we can't we couldn't dwell on the last year. And it almost made us, you know, more hungrier for this year in a way of like, man, it was right there. We went that far 10 and one and then we let the wheels fall off. But we can't let that happen this year. And we're not even going to talk about last year. This is a new year and we're going to make sure we make everything right for this year. You know, lay it all out on the line. Now, when you're right, you're right.

You got to say you're right when you're wrong, you're wrong and you got to admit you're wrong. I was dead wrong on your football coach and Nick Sirianni. Why do you love playing so much for Nick Sirianni, who, man, all this guy has done since getting into the NFL as a head coach has been taking this team to the postseason.

You've been to two Super Bowls and now you won one. So tell me a little bit about Coach Sirianni from your perspective. He's a player's coach. I mean, that's what all a player wants is a player's coach. And that's a coach that, you know, dedicates to his players first and puts his players first.

And, you know, that's Nick Sirianni. You know, you might see him all out and going crazy on Sunday, but, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we want that. We want someone that wants to win.

We want someone that wants to fight. And, you know, that gives us a boost of energy. And, you know, Sirianni has been here. He's been here for the past four years now, three or four years now.

And, yep, four years now. And, you know, ever since he's gotten to this building, he's changed it and he's a winner. And you can see that.

And it's nothing you can really take from that. And at the end of the day on the outside, you know, you're looking in, you don't really know what he does with us or what he says to us. And maybe on the defensive side and he's more of an offensive coach, but he spends time on the defensive meeting rooms. He spends time to talk to us. He spends time to make sure we connect and do things like that because that's the number one thing.

And not just connecting between player and player, but player and coach. So, you know, I got tons of respect for Sirianni. I love playing for him. And, you know, he's going to be a great coach always.

And I love the story of Jalen Hurts going back to everything that happened in Alabama and what he did at Oklahoma and what he's done now in the NFL. It's nice, though, to see Jalen smile because he gets real serious in season. And I finally got to see a smile after you guys won a Super Bowl.

I had to be good, right? It takes a lot to crack his smile out of him. He's almost like Vic.

You got to keep poking him until he smiles. But, no, it was definitely nice to see a smile from him. And I'm extremely glad he got the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl again and he's going to have many more. He won the MVP. I mean, he's well-deserved. And, you know, he's a winner as well. He knows how to win and he knows how to get his players going and he knows how to win as well. Now, I ask you two more things to let you get out of here.

I saw Emmanuel Acho the other day on FS1. He was saying, oh, the Cowboys are an Eagle offseason away from doing what the Eagles did. And you guys just won the Super Bowl.

The Cowboys got a lot of work to do. When you hear stuff like that, you got to laugh at it, right? Yeah, you got to laugh at it. I mean, you can't sit here this or that away. I mean, they got to have all the pieces put together at the end of the day because it's not easy. I mean, there's times during our season where we had adversity and there's times throughout our season where we had the tough conversations. But, you know, you got to have guys that's willing to do that. You have to have coaches that's willing to let you guys do that.

And at the end of the day, you know, you'll put it all together and you'll be smiling at the end. Now, I love Brandon Graham. I think it was the worst kept secret in America. He was going to play in that game. Do you feel like that was Brandon Graham's last game? He's got right off into the sunset and retire. I don't know, man.

I don't know, man. I think the way BG was playing before he hurt him. So he was playing like he had five more years in him. So I'm not I'm not I won't be surprised if you come back. But at the end of the day, BG had a wonderful career if he decides to end it this year. And you can't go. And what's wrong with going out on top? I say, hey, you go out on top. You know, you demand. So with BG playing, he's a great, tremendous leader of our team.

I'm happy he was able to be. I'm sorry. My dogs are crazy. That's good. Don't worry. We can't hear you. OK, cool.

Yeah. So he's had a tremendous, tremendous captain of our team and leader of our team, leader of our defense. And, you know, he always spoke highly of us and we always spoke highly of him.

And, you know, I'm excited to see what he actually does. You know, my last thing for you about the Maddox that'll let you run for the Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles. So from when the game ends today, what was your favorite story since being a Super Bowl champion? What was the one memory story walking into that locker room after that game? It was almost like a party.

I don't know. The Saints locker room is crazy. Nice guy is it has almost like a like a party in there.

You can have the lights flicking in any type of way you want. And then but when you walked in, there were bottles and champagne bottles and goggles. And, you know, just feeling that enjoyment and excitement with your teammates that you have played this year all throughout the year with. And, you know, just being able to celebrate that moment with them. It was it was a great feeling, a wonderful feeling.

Well, Vontae, so happy for you. Really appreciate the time. Thanks so much for doing this. Enjoy the off-season. All right. Yes, sir. Thank you. Appreciate you.