There's a lot of guys out there that can play at this level, and sometimes they might be discouraged because they come from a small school or a tough situation.

You have to have a great offensive line, great quarterback and guys around you that believe in you and help you.

It doesn't matter who you are in this league: You're always trying to have a bigger role. Anybody who said they weren't trying to do that would be lying.

I really am genuinely happy for guys that get paid and have success when they actually work their tails off.

A lot of times you don't see that, doesn't matter when they're drafted, first round or not. You usually don't see guys come in and wow you.

By the time the season's over, I'm ready to get back in the weight room and start training as far as getting stronger.

It's really nice to be able to go into the offseason and attack the training as soon as possible.

It doesn't really matter who's getting the credit. We just love to be on the field and winning games.

We know how hard it is to get to the playoffs in general, and then to get to the NFC Championship Game. You just never know if you'll have the opportunity again, so you really want to make the most of it.

The players have got to make the plays.

It doesn't matter what play is called, you have to run that play and you have to be successful on it. It just comes down to execution, all 11 players doing the right thing.

In this league, it's all about being close to 100 percent on game day.

We put everything we have into the offseason.

You have to be able to hit the deep balls.

You have to be able to make plays.

At some point, you're not going to be able to run the ball for 180 yards, even with the best running back in the NFL. That's when you have to be able to throw the ball.

Being a part of the practice squad was a tough year for me.

I just want to make sure that I'm competing every day and giving my best effort, because everything else just falls into place.

If I get a target, I want the ball in my hands.

I love to compete and I hate failing.

I had no idea the Vikings were interested. I was actually expecting other teams because the Green Bay Packers and three or four other teams asked for film after the combine in Dallas, and the Vikings weren't one of them.

I think there were a lot of people at Mankato reaching out to the Vikings saying to just bring me in for a tryout.

The whole goal was to get an opportunity to go somewhere for OTAs because OTAs in this league are extremely important, especially for undrafted guys and guys who are on the bubble. You don't get a lot of opportunities in preseason games and training camp, so OTAs are huge.

When you're a competitor, you just want to go against the best.