Lonnie Johnson Jr speaks with the Saints media following Day 18 of training camp.
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00:00 >> So that was an interception?
00:01 >> Huh? >> That was an interception?
00:02 >> 100%.
00:03 I just let him live today.
00:05 >> [LAUGH] >> They know it's an interception,
00:07 I'm saying.
00:08 >> Was that kind of the work today too,
00:10 was to where y'all kind of taking it a little bit easy or what was that?
00:14 >> I mean, kinda I guess, but we always working.
00:18 Every day we work hard here.
00:20 So I just decided to just let him catch the ball.
00:25 It was AT Perry, he's a rookie.
00:28 But in the game, that's my candidate, as long as it's a rookie.
00:32 >> Lonnie, obviously not the way you wanna start the game with the penalty, but
00:35 you finish it up with the pick.
00:36 >> Yeah.
00:37 >> Is that kind of the quintessential, where you start, where you finish?
00:41 >> Man, always.
00:43 Honestly, it was kind of like a tough play.
00:46 He had a guy in between him, and I tried to reach around him and
00:51 a guy and just tackle both of them.
00:52 But it happens, it's football, it happens.
00:56 Coach just said, man, just it's an effort play.
00:59 And just try not to pull it through with the helmet coming off at the end.
01:03 But other than that, man, it's just like the next play mentality, man.
01:07 Just go to the next play and continue playing.
01:10 Go ahead and try to make a big play for the team.
01:13 >> So like to pick to wrap it?
01:16 >> I mean, I've done that before for the Texans, but
01:20 it just felt good doing it here.
01:23 Cuz we got a lot of great fans, Tyron, Marcus May, Marshawn, all of them.
01:31 And I kinda told them before that I'm about to end it.
01:34 >> Is that kinda, I don't know, Coach Woods talked about,
01:39 that's what I'm talking about.
01:42 Yes, with Isaacs, just make the East.
01:46 >> Yeah, man, when I seen the ball in the air,
01:49 I was actually just talking to myself as it was coming.
01:52 I was just like, man, Lonnie, slow your heart down, slow your heart down,
01:55 slow your heart down.
01:56 Just slow it down, man, make everything slow motion, make the easy catch.
02:00 Cuz them the hardest ones to catch is when it's a gimme.
02:03 So just make sure I slowed everything down and make the play.
02:07 >> Did I hear you right, you said you called game?
02:09 >> Yeah, for sure, I called game.
02:10 You can ask some of my teammates.
02:12 I told them, it was a TV timeout a little bit before that.
02:16 So I was like, hey, I'm about to end it.
02:19 >> You mentioned Tyron and Marcus Mays, the talent in the safety room.
02:23 And where do you put it against other safety rooms in the NFL?
02:26 >> Man, obviously being in Houston for a few years and
02:30 seeing all the transition with the coaches and the staff changes and everything.
02:37 Seeing a lot of DBs come in and out of there.
02:40 Man, this is the top group I've been around.
02:42 The top group from top to bottom, staff wise from top to bottom.
02:47 Everything over here is just perfect.
02:49 So we got one of them teams that can push to that championship.
02:55 We just gotta do the little things right, man, and we can get there.
02:58 >> What's it like being in that, just from a competition standpoint?
03:01 I mean, are you fighting for a spot on this team?
03:04 >> I don't look at it that way as fighting for a spot.
03:08 I just look at it as what is my role to help the team?
03:11 Obviously Tyron and Marcus Mays are their starters.
03:16 And where can I fit in today?
03:19 And you seen today they had a role for me out there with the ones today.
03:23 So just where can I fit in?
03:25 Then obviously helping out on special teams any way I can possible.
03:29 So that's my job here.
03:31 I'm not looking to be the guy.
03:33 But if my opportunity comes, like it came in the game,
03:36 I'm gonna execute on it and I'll be ready for it.
03:38 >> How do you feel you played on special teams?
03:40 The A said you played pretty well on special teams.
03:42 How do you feel like you played there?
03:43 >> I think that was one of my better special teams game.
03:47 I feel like I did everything they asked me to do.
03:51 They was looking for a lot of things out of me in special teams.
03:54 And I went out there and tried to execute everything that they wanted me to do.
03:58 >> Maybe this isn't even a thing for you, but a lot of guys around your age
04:04 remember watching Tyron and LSU.
04:07 >> Yeah.
04:08 >> Kind of inspired by him.
04:11 Are you one of those guys, do you watch him growing up?
04:14 >> Yeah, I watched him at LSU, man.
04:17 Just watching highlights, remembering that I wanted to model my game after him.
04:22 And then I got drafted to Houston, he left Houston.
04:27 I got traded to Kansas City, he left Kansas City.
04:31 So then part of the decision to come here was to be around a great vet like him.
04:38 And that was somebody that you wanna model your game after.
04:42 >> Yeah.
04:43 >> Lonely enough, I guess, not to give away the shot, but
04:45 you said they asked you to do certain things in special teams.
04:47 Can you tell us what those things were?
04:49 >> Just go out there and be fast and physical.
04:52 Like at Gunner, showcase my speed at Gunner.
04:56 I felt like I did that, whether that was down in the ball at the five or
05:00 wherever it was, making a big hit at Gunner on special teams.
05:06 And I was at the five on kickoff, so just interchangeable five, four.
05:11 Just doing everything possible.
05:12 I feel like I sell myself short if I don't show them everything that I can do.
05:18 So I wanna go out there, whatever they need me to do,
05:21 whether it's one through five on kickoff or KOR.
05:25 I feel like I can do all of them, so just put me out there and let me showcase that.
05:29 >> Can you tell us a little bit?
05:31 >> Did you talk to Tyrone before you got here?
05:33 Hey, man, I'm coming, I'm going, don't leave.
05:35 >> No, no, no, I didn't talk to him before I came over here, man.
05:40 But I feel like we built a great relationship over here now.
05:44 Not just him, just with all the guys there.
05:46 Like I said, we have some great bets here.
05:50 With it being my fifth year, I'm trying to help the younger guys below me too as
05:54 well, just trying to build the team up as much as we can.
05:58 Because that's what you need in a good group and a good team.
06:02 They only gonna be as good as you help them.
06:04 So that's what we're trying to do here.