Yahoo Sports’ Nick Krueger spoke with Philadelphia Eagles RB D’Andre Swift about joining his hometown team in Philadelphia, why he’s excited to be the first Eagles player to wear number 0, and his thoughts on sending an autographed jersey to Taylor Swift.
D’Andre Swift joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of Pepsi Zero Sugar.
Video Transcript
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NICK KRUEGER: Very excited to be joined today by Eagles running back D’Andre Swift who joins us in partnership with Pepsi Zero Sugar. But first, D’Andre, you changed your number to 0 this season. I know for professional athletes, the number is something that’s very personal to them. But you’re making the move here in Philadelphia. Why did you change to number 0 for this season?
D’ANDRE SWIFT: Originally it was the best number available. But now being that’s pretty cool, nobody’s ever done it before. Being as though I’m from the city Philadelphia I thought it’s a great way to a fresh start.
NICK KRUEGER: Talking about how things are going right now for you in Philadelphia. Head Coach Nick Sirianni had a lot of great things to say about your receiving skills especially. Why are you receiving skills so important to you as a running back and where do you feel they stack up against other running backs in the NFL?
D’ANDRE SWIFT: I feel like it’s really important to have some type of skills as a running back. It allows you to do a little bit more. Allows you to do different things, create different mismatches for the defense and stuff like that. Like it just allows you to do more. Being well-rounded in every aspect of the game something I really want to work on and really what I stand on, being a balanced running back. So I feel like the more you can do, the better it is.
NICK KRUEGER: One of the other things that we’ve seen this offseason, Aaron Rodgers, Travis Kelce, who we mentioned earlier, they’re all going to Taylor Swift concerts. You have the same last name as Taylor. Have you had any interaction with her? Have you thought about sending her a jersey? What’s going on with you and her, anything?
D’ANDRE SWIFT: A thought of sending the jersey has crossed my mind. I never had any interactions with her. I don’t even know if she knows who I am. But the thought of sending her a jersey has crossed my mind. That’d be something I’d probably think about a little bit more.
NICK KRUEGER: Jason said he wanted to give her his number. Would you autograph the jersey with your phone number on it for her?
D’ANDRE SWIFT: I’ll probably just autograph. I’ll leave my number out of it. I’ll probably just autograph.
NICK KRUEGER: Fair enough. Last thing I want to talk to you about before we let you go. Obviously the team making another Super Bowl push this season. How do you feel this team is prepared to get over the hump and win a championship this season?
D’ANDRE SWIFT: That’s just going to come with the work we put in daily. All the Super Bowl talk and things like that, I don’t feel like that matters right now. This is week two of training camp. I mean, we got a long ways to get there. So just putting the work in, taking it day by day. That’s all. We can get there at the end goal if we put the work in.
NICK KRUEGER: Tell us about your connection with the official 0 of the NFL, Pepsi Zero Sugar.
D’ANDRE SWIFT: Like you said, Pepsi is the official 0 of the NFL. So me and Pepsi Zero Sugar partnering up this season to do a lot of cool stuff for the fans. We’re going to do some giveaways for the number 0 jersey, the first year the NFL allowed players to wear the number. We’re doing some giveaways with their jerseys. And we’re also giving away some tickets to NFL fans that have that haven’t been to any NFL games. So we’re doing a lot of cool stuff this season.
NICK KRUEGER: Very good. Great talking to you, D’Andre. Good luck this season. Thanks for taking the time for us today.
D’ANDRE SWIFT: Thank you for having me.
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