New York Giants' Bobby Okereke 'excited' to see what new NFL season holds
New York Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke found time in his offseason to participate in the NFL Africa camp in Lagos, Nigeria - a city which he has deep ties to - and was called a 'top three player' by Giants legend Osi Umenyiora.
Umenyiora - a two-time Super Bowl champion at defensive end for the Giants - praised Okereke for his work both on and off the football field.
"He's just a fantastic player - probably a top three player in his position - and I think he's just now getting the recognition that he rightly deserves," Umenyiora told ESPN.
Okereke had his best season yet statistically over the past year after joining the Giants from the Indianapolis Colts, with 149 combined tackles, 2.5 sacks, 10 passes defensed and 2 interceptions, but the Giants went 6-11 for the season.
Despite his personal stats looking good, Okereke is not satisfied with where he is and wants to do more both for the Giants and Nigeria, as the season kicks off on September 5, and the Giants take on the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Sept 8.
"There's a statement that complacency kills, so I'm always trying to stay hungry. I'm always telling myself that last season wasn't good enough. I still have to improve; I still have to get better," Okereke told ESPN.
"I'm not satisfied. I have a lot of goals in this league. Obviously, my number one goal is to win a Super Bowl eventually in my career, go to the playoffs, team goals, but I have personal goals as well.
"I want to make the Pro Bowl, I want to go All-Pro, so I still have a lot of work left to do and I'm very inspired to do that work."
The Giants have only appeared twice in the playoffs since their last Super Bowl win in February 2012, when Umenyiora was part of the team. However, in Okereke's view, they have recruited well enough to ensure that they do more in the upcoming season than merely making up the numbers.
He said: "We obviously have a lot of talented players. We added Brian Burns in the free agency [to complement] Dexter Lawrence - the beast that he is - [and] Kayvon Thibodeaux is growing in year three [this year alongside] me and we have a very star-studded defense.
"On offense, we all have a lot of faith in Daniel Jones. Malik [Nabers], who is our first-round pick, obviously looks very great. Wan'Dale Robinson, Jalin Hyatt - those guys form a great trio on the offense - so we're very excited.
"We have a great leadership council, a great leadership room on our team, and we're just excited to get after it."
Okereke is heading into his sixth year in the NFL after being drafted 89th overall in the third round by the Colts out of Stanford.
The NFL airs live on ESPN's channels in Africa (DStv 218 and 219, Starsat 248), as well as repeats and highlights.
