Positive attitude drives Kirksey
He wants to be ‘best people person’ he can be
GREEN BAY – Joe Thomas took to Twitter. So did Jarvis Landry. Even the Cleveland Browns organization, to wish Christian Kirksey goodbye and thank him for six seasons on the shores of Lake Erie. Another former Browns teammate not active on social media texted a local journalist to back up the “good guy” sentiments. A former head coach jumped on the phone when he got the word that Kirksey had signed with Green Bay.
Kirksey saw and heard the well wishes and thought of a message his late father, Elmer, had imparted: Let the other man praise you.
“It means a lot,” said Kirksey, who was voted a team captain three times in Cleveland. “When you get the approval from your teammates and your coaches as a man, and people respect you as a man, then everything else will follow. Not only being talented on the field but how do people view you as a person? That was something that was really important for me.
“You always want to see how well you treat people and see if people can really have you for a lifetime in their memory. Saying, ‘Oh, that Christian Kirksey was a great guy, stand-up guy.' I think that's more important than the other things. That's first and foremost. You want to be the best people person you can be and then your field will take care of itself, what you do on the field. I think I did a good job out there but still have a lot of room to improve football-wise. I'm steady learnin'. But as long as I know that internally I'm trying to be the best person I can be, being the best player I can be will always follow suit.”
The overwhelming message from those who knew Kirksey in Cleveland, a period when the Browns went 24-71-1, was he was a rock in the locker room and in the middle of the defense when everything was going sideways at best.
“Christian is one of my all-time favorite teammates,” said Thomas, who retired after the 2017 season after 11 years in the NFL.
“I have an especially large amount of respect for him. He and I both went through 0-16 and 1-15 together and the
way I saw him continue to lead emotionally and get guys up for those games in spite of impossible odds, and knowing that the Browns were in a deep and dark rebuild and had gone into the season with the expectations of not having any real success, but seeing Christian still show up and motivate players and bring enthusiasm and energy to practice and find little ways to get the best out himself and his players was really inspirational.”
Added Hue Jackson, who inherited Kirksey from Mike Pettine when he became head coach of the Browns in 2016: “I saw a guy that could handle it, more so than anything. Because not everybody can handle that. He was able to roll with it and because of other leaders like the Joe Thomases, they were able to work together through a very tough time and come out on the other side of it. But he never complained. He never questioned. He stayed true to the commitment and saw it though. That's just Christian. Some people are just made that way.”
One of the primary boxes Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said he checks when it comes to free agents is their ability to fit into and add to the culture coach Matt LaFleur has created.
No one in Cleveland doubts Kirksey will do that with the Packers, even if he won't be asked to be the vocal or emotional leader on defense the day he walks in.
“With me and my personality I feel like I can adapt when it comes to meeting new people, a change of scenery,” Kirksey said. “I'm an easygoing guy. I think I get along with a lot of people. That's just my personality. I think I walk into a place with open arms, I walk into a place with a clear mind and I love people. I love studying people, how they act, what triggers them, things like that. I just get a kick out of that. Going to a new team I think I'll fit in well.”
Kirksey said he has been in touch with Packers outside lineles backers Za'Darius Smith and Preston Smith, along with receiver Davante Adams.
“I know that they accept me for my play on the field but also just being a stand-up guy, just being myself and not worrying about trying to put on this image to try and be accepted,” Kirksey said. “I'm just going in there and just be who I am and I think my teammates will accept me for that.”
As a player, however, the linebacker arrives with some question marks surrounding his health.
His 2018 campaign was cut short after seven games with a season-ending hamstring injury, and he tore a pectoral muscle in Week 2 to end his 2019 season.
Kirksey will turn 28 before the season begins and the Packers signed him to a two-year deal worth up to $13 million with roster and per-game bonuses, incentives and escalators, with $4 million guaranteed upon signing.
Kirksey said he isn't sure if he'll be the play-caller on the Packers' defense in 2020, but if his former head coach and new defensive coordinator Pettine asks him to do so, he feels he'll be able to handle it. Watching tape of the Packers, he saw the number of plays Blake Martinez was involved in and is excited about his potential in the scheme.
In his first four full seasons in Cleveland, Kirksey made 430 tackand had 11.5 sacks. His only two interceptions came in 2018. He has never made a Pro Bowl, but from those who played with him and scouted him, Kirksey is a player who will be where he's supposed to be, make the plays that are there and won't make back-breaking mistakes.
“He's a solid guy, average guy, there's nothing exceptional about him,” said one offensive coach who game-planned against the Browns. “You don't plan for him. You don't worry about him. But you're not saying, ‘Oh, there's the weakness, we've got to go get him' either.”
Kirksey is a bit anxious to move on to this next chapter of his career but knows it may be a long time before he can meet his new teammates. The Packers were to begin voluntary workouts April 20, but there is no timeline now on when he'll be on the field or in the meeting rooms. But even if the NFL doesn't get up and running until late summer, Kirksey believes his personality and work ethic shaped early in life will allow him to transition seamlessly.
“As a kid, I feel you remember the most the times that were most impactful, and it's simple conversations I had with my dad (a pastor who died in 2010 at the age of 59), me just watching him lead by example and showing me how to work, showing me how to grind for something you want even if the circumstances aren't there,” Kirksey said.
“That's what I always think about whether it's training or whether it's going through adversity. I just look back at the little talks that me and my dad had. And now that I'm a father, I've been a father for three months now, I try to live that certain way that I was shown when I was a young kid. Especially seeing with everything that's going on in the world, circumstances are all out of whack, what are you going to do with the things that you have? That's taking advantage of the family time, that's taking advantage of being away from everyone and getting your mind right and kind of restricting everything and restarting fresh.”