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**Q: You are in what seems like it is going to be a long career, what has it been like changing situations this year?**
M: It has been kind of hectic this year for me, free agency and stuff. I had to sell my up there and the moving and getting settled in here. But it is finally coming to a point where my family and everything are getting settled in, getting used to the coaching staff and the surroundings in Cleveland. But I'm not used to the way our season is going, we are two and eight and they're not doing too well either. I talked to the guys on the Patriots and we're both kind of in the same boat.
Q: It is not as surprising though for a startup franchise to be struggling especially with some of the injuries you guys have had?
M: I think that the Patriots and the way their season is going, I think it's surprised a lot of people because last year, heck we went eight and eight. We had times there where we had a run, you know we were six and two and then we went two and six. So we kind of fell apart towards the end of the year. I think a lot more was kind of expected with Coach Belichick coming in and things like that. But I guess the salary cap and some other things have really kind of got their hands tied and they are just trying to get some things going there.
Q: Is it difficult to severe your emotional ties to your first team, the team that drafted you?
M: Well I think it is always hard when you go through the first couple years. The first year we went to the playoffs, the second year we didn't, then going to the Super Bowl and going to the playoffs, and my last year not going. I think you grow a bond with the organization. You kind of feel like hey they drafted me, they gave me the opportunity to show what I can do in the NFL and you spend six years with an organization and getting to know the people within an organization. It is kind of tough to cut the ties a little bit, but that is the way the league is now. Unfortunately when I went to try and resign up there some things happened and I just decided to go in another direction. But yeah, I mean I still talk to the guys on the team, have really close friends up there and it is going to feel weird going out their this week and going up against those guys.
Q: Did they try to keep you?
M: The first offer they gave me was…I was initially going to resign. Then like two days later they dropped it $50,000. First they dropped it $25,000, then they dropped it $50,000, and then they gave me no guarantees. Which in the position that I am in, I am primarily a back up player and a special teams guy, if you take $50,000 of my pocket and then you don't guarantee me the rest of the money, I kind of feel like you are using me as an insurance policy and you're looking in another direction. Their whole indication was this is the way we are going to do it from now on and this and that. I just got an uneasy feeling when it went from a guaranteed signing bonus to well here is a workout bonus to here's a roster bonus. That was OK and then when the roster bonus went to well you have to make our team to get the money and then there is another roster bonus for the following year if you are on our eighty-man roster for March 1st. I thought Holy Christ, you know. I know I'll get the workout bonus because I workout, but that other part of the money, that is no guarantee at all. So Cleveland, they guaranteed me my signing bonus and they gave me a workout bonus. So I got all my money instead of with the Patriots, but they were trying to leave it out where I could get these incentives but at any time they could cut me and I couldn't get any of them.
Q: You were paying attention the last six years weren't you?
M: Yeah, so that is kind of what happened with me up in New England.
Q: You already had a relationship with Chris Palmer, at least he was a coach here when you were here?
M: Right. I called Chris here and talked to him about me coming to Cleveland and said they would be interested. And then Romeo Crennel, which was the defensive line coach there for the first three years with Bill Parcells, he is our defensive coordinator. So he knew me. And Ray Perkins he is the running backs coach here, which was our offensive coordinator when we went to the Super Bowl, so he knew me. There were several coaches here within the organization that knew of me and knew what kind of person and player I was. So that kind of had a big part in me coming here too.
Q: You called them?
M: Yes I did.
Q: So you went out and pursued the job?
M: Yeah, it was kind of one of those things where me and my agent sat down when things were kind of going south with the Patriots. We started to see who was interested and as soon as we made the call here then they acted quickly and everything looked like it was going in the right direction here. So that is why we decided to come here.
Q: You have had a good career so far and seem to know your role in the league, but it must have gone by quickly so far for a guy who was the last pick in the draft?
M: Yeah, it has. I mean I look back and gosh it just goes by so fast. You kind of try to think about when you were the rookie and I can still remember a lot of things when I was a rookie, in my rookie season. I am one of the oldest guys on our team. I believe I am the oldest player on our defense. I look around and guys are like man you're old and how long have you been playing? I don't look it as being old because when I was at New England there was Bruce Armstrong, there was Henry Thomas, there was Ben Coates, and there were several guys like that. Around here, we just don't have that.
Q: You're 29 aren't you?
M: Right, I am 29 and I am looked at as one of the old guys. But it has been a great career. It has been something that goes by so fast and you just try to hang on as long as you can. Hopefully I am going to try to hang around a couple more years in this business until I get kicked out. But it is something that…it does, it flies by.
Q: Do you think that coming in to this league under Bill Parcells tutelage was a big part of how your career has developed?
M: I think so. I credit a lot of my career to Bill Parcells and the coaching staff that he had while we were there. Those guys demanded so much and made you be on top of your game and they just wouldn't settle for anything less than your best. I think that was a big part of me hanging around in the NFL because a lot of guys in my position, seventh round draft choice and last guy picked, they wouldn't have given me the opportunity to develop as a player. Coach Parcells saw that I worked hard and I hustled, you know I gave a lot of effort out on the field, so he was willing to kind of let me progress as a player. I attribute a lot of my success in my career to him.
Q: You also worked with Bill Belichick for a year too, whatever his title was that year?
M: Yeah. I think his title was defensive backs coach/assistant head coach but he and Al Groh were probably essentially co-defensive coordinators that year. That's is pretty much what everybody felt on the team at that time.
Q: One's having a good time, one is having a hard time?
M: Yeah that is just the way it goes in this business. Some things happen and for Al Groh it is going well and for coach Belichick it is frustrating.
Q: Well Marty if you ever want to lose a little more come back here.
M: They have had some problems at linebacker this year.
Q: Ted [Johnson] is hurt again.
M: Ted, I saw in the film when he grabbed his hamstring again so I don't know what his status is for the week. I hope he gets better because he is a heck of a ballplayer and a great person. But they seem to be having…[Andy] Katzenmoyer goes down, he's on the IR. You've got Tedy [Bruschi] and Chris [Slade] and Ted [Johnson], those are the mainstays. And then Ted gets hurt, so I don't know. They'll probably bring Rob Holmberg in and play him and they've got some rookies and they've got some second year guys. But that is a position that they have been struggling with this year.
