Cortland Finnegan brought it up even before the media had a chance.
When someone asked him about how much pride he takes in being a good locker room guy and a teacher to his young teammates, the New Orleans Saints’ newest cornerback replied, “You know, when your reputation is you’re a dirtbag … you like to hope and think that you add some value in real life to the locker room.”
A small smile came across Finnegan’s face as he answered, as if he had beaten reporters to the punch while addressing them for the first time.
“You know, you guys probably think that,” Finnegan added.
The 32-year-old veteran is able to laugh about his notorious reputation -- he was routinely voted as one of the NFL’s dirtiest players during his prime and became infamous for a 2010 fight with receiver Andre Johnson.
At the same time, Finnegan showed great self-awareness in the interview, which can be seen here on the Saints’ website.
“I don’t think it’s a misconception. I think it’s a stated fact, people just think that. So I’ve just got to live with it. It’s just part of who I am now. So we’ll just take it,” said Finnegan, who often was accused of taking cheap shots at the end of plays and who openly admitted that he would try to get under receivers’ skin by yapping at them throughout the game.
“I never fought (that reputation). Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield,” Finnegan said. “And so after the (Johnson fight), it was gonna be known that you were just gonna be the villain, but you just have to work through that. Not everyone sees what you do off the football field. And whatever someone thinks, you just can’t lose any sleep over it. I haven’t lost any sleep yet.
“When you see everything I’ve done in my career and the way I play with emotion and grit and kind of just old school, you kind of think that this guy is one way. Then when you meet him, it’s totally opposite.”
Finnegan, who came out of retirement last year to join the Carolina Panthers and played well as a slot cornerback during their Super Bowl run, pointed out that he has “stayed out of the personal foul business for some years now.” The way he described it, he aims to play the game “fairly, but with a little bit of edge as well.”
Finnegan said he also tries to change people’s opinion of him by “just meeting them and being you.”
Now heading into his 11th NFL season, Finnegan seems grateful, humble and eager to “pay it forward” to younger teammates, as he said several times on Sunday.
“You want to teach them all the little things that you learned, you want to pay it forward because this game has given so much to you. And not everybody does it, but I hope to be the one to do it,” said Finnegan, who was drafted in the seventh round out of Samford in 2006 before playing six years with the Tennessee Titans, two with the St. Louis Rams, one with the Miami Dolphins and one with Carolina.
“My whole dream was to be a firefighter. So I was just gonna play until God said otherwise. But here I am 11 years in, I wouldn’t even think a safety out of Samford would be here,” Finnegan said. “But there was a lot of guys around me that helped me get to this point. So I’m just thankful. Every snap, practice is definitely a blessing because at this age, you don’t get but so many more years to do something you love.”