Cortland Finnegan was on 104.5 the Zone's 3 Hour Lunch this afternoon, speaking on a variety of topics.
The show asked Finnegan to break down Hasselbeck's game, and he did not exactly give a ringing endorsement.
"He throws the ball with good checkdowns, good intermediate passing game. That's a west coast offense they run, he throws the ball quick. I don't fear his deep ball. Don't get me wrong, he's great at what he's done. Pro Bowls, All Pros, even playing in the Super Bowl, but for what we have going, what direction I want to go and the team wants to go, I don't know if he fits what we need, but I'm not the GM, I'm not the front office.
On the other hand, Finnegan had nothing but praise for Jake Locker.
"He's got all of it, I mean he can make all the throws, and you go back to college, he's a tough physical kid, doesn't mind running the football, getting down and dirty, and he works hard. Hard work beats talent. Hands down, man down. That's something he's done consistently. The thing I've seen thus far is that he's worked hard, and I can go to battle for someone like that. No matter the interceptions, no matter the growing pains, we can go to work with him"
Asked about Jerry Gray, the Titans' new defensive coordinator, Finnegan seemed extremely excited to be going in a new direction.
"When I was able to speak to him before the lockout, he said 'What are your strengths?,' and I told him, and he said okay, 'Well we're going to play to them'. That was so encouraging to hear from a coach, because so much of last year and the year before was just, 'We're going to do this just because.' When a coach says we're going to play to your strengths, we're going to do that, we're going to get you to the best possible position, it's up to you to make the play, I can live with that all day."
He was then asked if it bothers him that he has a national reputation completely opposite from the nice guy he actually is.
"No, it's actually cool, I'm like a rockstar. This year I'm definitely going to try to change that though, I think it helps in that aspect that I don't ever want me being called a dirty player to overshadow me being a good player. That's one of the things I want to get away from. Get a lot less penalties, less flags, but I ain't gonna back down from anybody."
Something I did not know about Cortland Finnegan is that his sister passed away with down syndrome. He's been very involved with Special Olympics since then, and he started a foundation called ARK31 (Acts of Random Kindness). I encourage you to visit its website and make a donation.
Cortland Finnegan is a great guy. It's a real shame that the country doesn't see him that way.