Read the full transcript from TE Seydou Traore's media availability on April 27, 2026.
(Obviously a unique journey, coming from the NFL Academy. What things do you think you learned along the way, challenges you overcame, which are going to help you now at the game's highest level?) – "Honestly, a bunch of stuff. I tell people from the days when I was at the Academy, there's always better out there, so always prepare yourself to go against better competition. Don't think what you're doing is enough, so from a kid when I was at the Academy in London, yeah, I may have been one of the best guys there, but I'm thinking about competing against the best, so I guess that's the mindset I kind of took with me."
(Do you hope to be an inspiration? Obviously, you've got to concentrate on your own career, your own game. Do you hope to be an inspiration for other NFL Academy athletes and what would be your message to them?) – "For sure. Not even just NFL Academy athletes, just young athletes in general, whether that's in the US, the UK, Europe, Africa, anywhere; just because I was inspired by someone else. The game got brought to me in my late teenage years, and what the game has done for me and the enjoyment I have playing the game and everything about it, is so much, so why would I not want to kind of share that and pass it on to a kid, just how it was passed down on to me? But yeah, if I had anything to say to them, dreams do come true, so put in the work and really pursue it."
(Take me back to the beginning, how did you kind of develop this dream and idea of playing football? Were you just a fan of the NFL from across the pond who was interested? How did it kind of spark?) – "Yeah, so back home, there was a show called the NFL Show, with Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell, and what they basically did was break down the game of football for British viewers so that was my first kind of viewing experience of football. Then I first started playing for a 9v9 team when I was 16 down in South London. Then from there, like I've been playing sports all my life, but after playing football, it was pretty clear, this is what I wanted to do."
(And take me back, if you could, to coming from London to Clearwater as a high school senior who had never played 11-on-11 football, did anything shock you at first about playing that style of football, or did you kind of feel like you were a natural from the start?) – "I always say that a lot of the sports I played growing up gave me, kind of like, natural abilities, like me being a goalkeeper in football or soccer kind of gave me natural hand-eye coordination. I feel like I transferred a lot of stuff, but yeah, I mean, coming to Clearwater, my mindset was really just to come in and dominate, so I wasn't really thinking too much about, like, 'Oh, this is different, this is…' Listen, I'm here for a few months, I know what the goal is to get out of here so yeah, I came in with a mindset to dominate."
(I had the chance to be there on Saturday, and it's really going into my first question. The atmosphere, when it happened – how much did it mean to you to have Efe Obada go on stage and not just read your name out, but actually sort of explain the journey, not just to the people there but to people watching around the world?) – "No, it was good. I mean, anyone that knows Efe or his path to the NFL and his path back home in London; it means a lot. He was like a pioneer for international guys to make the travel overseas and play football. And then for him to have done it so long, like he kind of showed the whole UK and I'm sure a bunch more countries what's possible. So yeah, it meant a lot for him to kind of pass (the torch). He talks a bit about passing the torch to me, so that's how I kind of take it."
(When did it hit you that it was happening? Was it when you were walking up the tunnel or putting the hat on or when was it?) – "Honestly, I don't have a straightforward answer for that. Everything was kind of surreal. I tell people that hour after, like everything was kind of just a blur, like I was going to do these meetings and media and stuff. Yeah, just so surreal."
(Just finally from me, obviously the Dolphins have got very close ties to the UK. It could be a long way down the road with a lot of ifs and stuff, but what would it mean to you to potentially play in London at some point in the future, if the opportunity presented itself for the Dolphins?) – "It would mean a bunch. I mean, to come home, play in front of home, play in front of not my people, but people that have someone to say, 'this person came from London, came from England,' and just to have that backing and that support and be on that stage. Funny enough, I used to work those stadium games back when I was in London so I worked in Tottenham, worked in Wembley when the NFL games used to come over. So for me to flip that around on its head and now I'm on the field and people are watching me would be amazing."
(I'm good, I'm good. I wanted to kind of go back to that moment that you said that you first started playing at age 16. Was there, like, a specific moment in the game or what have you, where you were like, "yo, like, this is 100 percent what I want to do for the rest of my life"?) – "From training, even before playing games, from training, I was like, 'damn, this is really fun.' I guess especially at the young age when you're getting into something, fun is the No. 1 thing and then it just kept getting funner and funner. Then when it did get to games, I know it's 9v9, but when it did get to games, it was like, hearts pounding, I'm like, wow, like, scoring touchdowns, making tackles – I played a bit of safety back then, too – making tackles, and it was just like, this is amazing. So I guess it was maybe not a specific moment, but the collection of old moments made me realize."
(You talked a little bit about playing goalie and how that helped you when you made that transition to football. Like I'm curious, what about that position made it a little bit easier? I can already think of a few things, but I'm curious from your perspective.) – "First, like, hand-eye coordination, me tracking and locating balls and then leaping ability whether it's down low, up high, attacking the ball. That translates I feel like very well. For example, you're taking a corner kick in soccer and the keeper needs to be dominant, needs to attack the ball at his highest point in there; that's how football is when they throw the ball up to you, you attack it at its highest points. There's a bunch of stuff."
(Was that primarily the position that you played when you played soccer, goalie?) – "Yes, sir, yeah."
(I've got a burning question since the minute I found out you were from South London. Who is your favorite club? Is it… is it Palace?) – "So I'm from Norwood which is basically two seconds away from Crystal Palace, so I tell everyone Crystal Palace, but everyone gets frustrated with me when I say
I haven't been watching Premier League football for a good minute."
(I was going to ask how long it took you to start calling it soccer instead of football. I don't know if that was much of a learning curve.) – "Honestly it depends on whoever I'm talking to. Generally when I'm speaking to people from the US, I call it soccer. When I talk to my boys from back home, I call it football, but, yeah, trade between the two."
(I wanted to ask about – I'm making sure I got the name right – the Concrete Boys relationship that you have with WR Kevin Coleman Jr.? What was that time that y'all spent together at Mississippi State like?) – "Amazing. From the time me and 'Kev' (Kevin Coleman Jr.) linked up at Mississippi State, it was nothing but work. Every day, on the JUGS without fail, me and 'Kev', and a few of our boys, 'J-Mo' (Jordan Mosley) and Kelly (Akharaiyi). We were just working catching... me and Kev really like, once I got the call, it was not long after 'Kev' called, I was like, 'yo, like, it's back to work,' and he was like, 'oh, you already know it.' So happy to link up."
(How far away do you think you are realistically from being able to contribute to an NFL team?) – "To be honest with you, I feel like I can contribute as soon as I get into a building. What that role is, I'm not sure, we'll figure that out, whether that's me running down on teams, me making plays on offense; I'm not sure, but I feel like I can definitely come in and create value for the team immediately."
(We do have a lot of soccer fans in the football media here. The guys will want to talk to you about Inter-Miami and Messi and Beckham. Do you have any interest in meeting Messi or Beckham?) – "For sure. I mean, I'm from the UK, grew up playing soccer pretty much my entire youth, so guys like that, their names are often spoken so that would be amazing to me."
(I wanted to ask you a question about the transition from soccer to American football, but I want to ask it in reverse. If you had an American football player, what could he go across the pond and compete in? I mean, cricket, probably out of the question. Could he play soccer? Could he play rugby? Tell me about the transition in reverse.) – "A bunch of sports. A bunch. I mean, football players are arguably some of the best athletes in the world, so I mean at that point, it's just about learning the skill of a new sport. Obviously, it depends position by position, because it will be questionable for some people. But I don't know, I've just met so many people that usually, give them a few weeks doing something new, they can pick up skills pretty quickly, so I don't know what sport specifically but I doubt it would be hard."
(Do I have this right? Did you work at the London Games? And if so, what did you do there?) – "I used to hand out the kind of stat sheets. I think it was five minutes before every call was done, I'd hand out the stat sheets just around and then get to watch the rest of it."
(And how did that come about?) – "When I was playing for London Warriors – that was my 9v9 club – the head guy had a role of helping out, I think it's Gerry Anderson, had a role of helping out NFL teams once they came into London. So he basically said, 'Hey, you guys can come watch the game, you're going to have to do tiny bit of work here and there, but not much. But yeah, you guys can come work the game, watch it.'"
(I wanted to take you back to the green room. I believe you were there with your mum and your sister? What did it mean to be able to share that moment with them?) – "A lot. Those are two people that invested. My sister was really like a second mum to me. So, I mean, those two invested in me like no other. Right, wrong, or indifferent, they were standing behind me, so for them to kind of see the rewards, and they barely understand the game of football, but they kind of understand what the moment is and kind of how big the opportunity is. So for them to kind of be there and see that, it meant a lot."
(I see you've shared a lot of content on social media over the last couple of days and I'm sure you had loads of messages of support and congratulations as well. Is there any one message or any one picture – which ones had the most impact on you and made you think, wow, I can't believe how far I've come?) – "I'm not sure. Obviously keep seeing the video of me receiving the call and my mom and my sister in the background. I guess seeing it from that perspective, it was great because when I had the call, I was kind of just locked in, kind of hearing what they were saying, and I could feel my surroundings; but I guess seeing it from a different perspective was nice to see how emotional they got."
(How long did you play soccer? Like, from what age to what age?) – "I actually picked up soccer pretty late. Played here and there in the park as a kid. I want to say I got pretty serious about it in my early teenage years when I got to secondary school. That's when I actually started playing for school and then playing for clubs, and then just getting better at it. Just before I stopped, I was playing for Carshalton, which is a semi-pro club back home and then, yeah, that was kind of the peak before I got into football."
(So how does this NFL Academy situation work for a Londoner? Where did they find you? Do you have to apply for it? How do you make it to America? What's the college recruiting process like? Explain this whole thing to me like a I'm a fifth grader.) – "I was lucky enough to join the Academy when it was in London. It's now in Loughborough because of the facility. It's a different city in the UK because of the facilities they have and the housing that they have. But that was the first year that was created. Imagine taking all the best athletes from various sports – rugby, basketball, track – and then, getting them all for a trial. Then from that trial, shrinking it again to another trial, and then taking those guys, putting them on a team and then teaching them the game of football to give them the best shot of going to D-I. And then, from there, when they're at the Academy, the Academy would fly them out, whether it's the camps and different stuff, give them an opportunity to compete. They'll play against American high schools as well so they're playing real competition whether it's in the US or in the UK. From there, the opportunity to get recruited."
(So they take you in, and you live there, and you do education and football?) – "Yeah, so they really – because the sporting system back home in the UK is so different to the US where usually you play for clubs, not for your school, so they kind of adopted the American approach of you play for your school, do school, do all this. Then yeah, you play for your school as well."
(Then when you came to Clearwater, that was, I guess, to play, what, one year of high school?) – "Yes, sir."
(And what was that recruiting experience like? Did you already have offers before you came, or was that they just needed to look at you on American soil?) – "That was because whilst I was at the Academy, it was actually COVID year, so the Academy had gotten shut down that year unfortunately. So then when I went to Clearwater, didn't have any offers coming in and then, yeah, I was lucky enough to come out with a few offers."
