Linebacker Micah McFadden

Q. Tell me how much – I know you talked about it at the end of the season, how obviously the recovery from the injury was going to complicate things a little bit. How does it complicate your search and your decision to decide to re-sign here when there's a lot of unknowns going forward here for you?

MICAH McFADDEN: It does complicate a lot of things. Not being able to put film out there, I think I only had 12 plays last year, so just a lot of question marks around that and the recovery process. But obviously being here with the Giants the whole season, and then them seeing me recover and get back to where I was by the end of the season, I think that answered a lot of the questions that they had. So that kind of narrowed down some of the options by the end of it.

Q. Just to follow-up on that, being with the same people that have been a part of your rehab, does that become a big factor as well when you're going through something like this, knowing that if you do go elsewhere now all of a sudden you're going into a new training staff, a new medical staff, or is that not really at the top of the list?

MICAH McFADDEN: For sure, yeah. I think that it plays a huge role. It's a huge factor in all this. Just the physical and everything going into it, having them see me and knowing what I had already got to by the end of the year, and the process of recovery after surgery, that was a big piece of all this.

Q. Where are you at physically right now? I know the off-season program's a couple weeks away, but just kind of an update on where you're at.

MICAH McFADDEN: Doing great. I've improved a lot. Even since the end of the year. But getting hurt game one you have a lot of time to recover after that. And like I said, working with the Giants and getting back to a place where I was able to go back home and kind of start my normal off-season program, working out and running and doing everything I need to do to play football this year.

Q. So do you think you'll have you any limitations this spring or how are you approaching that?

MICAH McFADDEN: No, I don't think I'll have any limitations, no.

Q. Just for you though, when you see the team obviously reward their faith in you in giving you a one-year deal, how do you take that approach now going into losing almost a whole year to now having one year to kind of just remind everyone kind of the level you've shown the last two seasons before this one?

MICAH McFADDEN: Yeah, no, I mean, it means a lot. I'm excited to be back. Obviously missing all last year was, it was disappointing for me. I wanted to play with the guys, the new guys we had brought in and the guys who were already here. I wanted to go and perform for this football team and help them win games. So I'm excited to be back, I'm excited to play with everybody that's been here, and the guys that we've already brought in this off-season and continue to bring in. So, yeah, I'm excited to be back.

Q. Does it change your mindset at all, because obviously like is there an eagerness or a rush to kind of prove where you were beforehand a little bit?

MICAH McFADDEN: I guess you could say that after the injury, but every year it's the NFL and there's a urgency to this every year to come out and perform and put good football out on film and I'm excited ad ready to do that.

Q. You mentioned this, obviously you have a new coordinator, Tremaine Edmunds joining. I'm sure you're going to have conversations with coaches moving forward, but what's your excitement level playing for (head coach) John Harbaugh and a new staff?

MICAH McFADDEN: I'm really excited, I think it was a phenomenal hire. I got to speak with the coaches and John this morning. I'm really excited to be a part. I think they got a great thing going that they have been building around here. And I'm excited to be in this scheme. Bringing in Tremaine I think was a great addition as well, and I'm excited to get in the room with him and learn from him and learn with him and put this thing together as we get going in the off-season program.

Q. Did you have some other options – I know that the injury sort of messed up the market for you – but did you have some other options, and was there any question in your mind that, with the changeover, that whether or not this team was going to want you back.

MICAH McFADDEN: Yeah, it was kind of my first process or first time through this process, it was definitely different for me. But, yeah, there was some conversations going on, and there was some other possibilities. But I had spoke with the coaching staff and some people in the building over the weekend, and I knew that there was a possibility that they wanted me back, and I was excited to hear that from them.

Q. What did they present to you? Like, it's obviously a new scheme and everything, Tremaine's there. What did they present to you as the expectations, your expectations, and sort of what your role is going to be, what they want from you?

MICAH McFADDEN: Yeah, I think this scheme is, I haven't played in this exact scheme, but I had some coaches in the past that have been with John and kind of run something similar. So, yeah, obviously it will be a competitive room. I think they will continue to bring guys in, and that's no surprise, it's the NFL. But, yeah, my thing is I'm going to go out there, compete and go and try and win a starting job, and go put my best foot forward during this off-season and into training camp and we'll see where it falls after that.

Q. What did you know, what do you know about Tremaine, do you know him? What have you heard about him if you didn't know him, if you don't actually know him personally?

MICAH McFADDEN: I haven't met him personally. But obviously I've seen him in the league over the past few years, and I think he's a great player, great athlete, and I'm excited to get out on the field with him. And I said a little earlier, just learn from him and learn this defense with him and kind of put this thing together.