Former SMU safety Chris Banjo has emerged as one of the top special teams players on the Green Bay roster during his three seasons with the Packers (photo by Packers PR).

PonyFans.com: You’re going into your fourth year with the Green Bay Packers … playing every season on a one-year contract, right?

Chris Banjo: Yup — I’ve been on one-day contracts, really. Technically, I’ve been on one-year contracts since I have been in the NFL, but every year, every day, it’s great to have that opportunity to compete at this level.

PonyFans.com: Is there a deadline by which the team has to reach a contract agreement with you? Or is it like when you first arrived and you have to go to camp and earn your spot all over again?

Banjo: I’ll always have to earn my spot every year. No matter how long I play, I’ll always look at it that way. But they own my rights for this year, and they have already offered me my tender, which means I can’t go to any other team this year.

PonyFans.com: So you have a job. It’s just a matter of …

Banjo: I have an opportunity. That’s all I have, and that’s the way I’ll always look at it.

PonyFans.com: You have developed a reputation since you have been in Green Bay for your play on special teams. In your discussions with the team, are they viewing you primarily as a special teams guy, or do you anticipate an expanded role on defense, too?

Banjo: We haven’t talked a lot about that. Whenever teams lose at the end of the year, everybody has a bad taste in their mouths, so in terms of looking and thinking about what’s going to be done next year, that’s nothing we have necessarily gone over. So I really couldn’t answer that question, as of today. Maybe when we get back from OTAs and mini-camp, that’s something I’ll have more of a feel of. But at least right now, from what I’m understanding, I’ll be doing what I did last year and I’ll definitely look to grow special teams-wise and take a step on defense. I was able to step in in certain situations defensively. I definitely did my job, but I feel like I have a lot more to offer. So whatever I’m asked to do, I just want to do it at the highest level.

Safety Chris Banjo was the first player to be awarded jersey No. 23 in honor of former SMU receiver Jerry Levias (photo by Travis Johnston).

PonyFans.com: So in Green Bay, do you look at yourself as a special teams guy can help out on defense, or do you see yourself as a DB who also happens to play on special teams?

Banjo: That’s exactly how I look at myself: I’m a defensive back who also plays special teams. I really just look myself as a competitor, as a football player. Whatever I’m asked to do to try and help the team win, I’m going to try to do to the best of my ability. But at the same time, I believe in my talent. I know I have the ability to not only play defense, but to play at a high level.

But at the same time, the way the league is, everybody’s good. So at the same time, whenever your opportunity arises, whenever you’re called upon, you have to be ready to make the most of that opportunity.

PonyFans.com: Every team has turnover in personnel during the offseason. When you were at SMU, you had teammates who graduated every year, and in the NFL, you have teammates who leave as free agents. As a teammate, is it different on you when someone leaves for business or financial reasons, rather than because it’s time to graduate?

Banjo: At the end of the day, everybody is trying to win. I’m definitely driven to whatever it takes to help my team win to the best of my ability, and I play with guys who are the exact same way — they’re driven to win. But at the same time, it is a business, and you have to do what you can to help set yourself and your family up financially in the best way that you possibly can. Because that window is so short in the NFL, you have to do what is best for you, business-wise. I mean, whatever that opportunity may be, whether it’s more playing time, more money … Every club, every GM looks at it from a business perspective. As a player, there definitely are times that you have to do the same, because ultimately, at the end of the day, the NFL is a business.

All the guys I associate myself with — maybe it’s just because I’m in Green Bay — they all have been win-driven guys, if that makes sense. I play with a bunch of guys who are always doing whatever they can to help their team win. I’ve been fortunate enough not to be around any selfish guys who are just in it for themselves and for the money. They’re always trying to help the team win, but at the same time, with winnings comes those business decisions, those opportunities that allow you to better yourself and more forward in this career. You just have to find the right balance.

PonyFans.com: Ever since you got to SMU when you were — 18 years old? — you always have been a guy who has talked about being grateful for your opportunities, and then when you went to the NFL, you have talked about how grateful you are for that opportunity, that you would do anything to make the team. Now you have been in the NFL for three years, the Packers know what you are. Going into your fourth year, does that reputation change the way you prepare for a season?

Banjo: It’s exactly the same, to be honest. In terms of how I prepare myself mentally, physically … it’s exactly the same for me. I may know a little bit more, in terms of how the game goes, how it works, what to look for, what to expect in certain situations or scenarios. But in terms of preparation, I try to prepare myself the exact same way as I did when I first got to the league. I alter some things here or there, because I have learned some things or experienced some things, but for the most part, it’s the same.

Former SMU safet Chris Banjo will marry his fiancée, Jasmine, before the Green Bay Packers start training camp (photo by Banjo family).

PonyFans.com: When you first got to the NFL, you said something like “I hope I act my entire career like a rookie trying to make the team.” Do you still feel like a rookie who is trying to make the team?

Banjo: Now that I have been in it a few years, I do, (but) when I say that I mean it in a different context, just in terms of energy level. A lot of times, you can definitely see different energy from a rookie when he’s desperately trying to make the team. But at the same time, just because he has that energy, that doesn’t always translate well. In the league, you definitely want to keep guys healthy, you want to stay up, you want to be a professional about how you approach your work. At the same time, you definitely want to be seen as someone doing things the right way to the full amount of ability that they have. Some rookies will come in with a lot of energy but they don’t always get there because they’re on the ground too much or they’re taking guys out because they can’t control their bodies, or whatever the case may be. So when I say that, I just mean that I want to have the energy of a rookie, but it has to be good energy, smart energy.

PonyFans.com: If preparing for training camp wasn’t enough, you’re also planning your wedding. You’re getting married between OTAs and training camp. How do you balance wedding preparation with football preparation?

Banjo: As I have told a lot of people, I’m really just a guest that happens to be a part of the wedding, to be honest. It’s a blessing, it’s a big-time blessing, to be able to find somebody that you definitely want to spend the rest of your life with and to take a journey with.

PonyFans.com: Your fiancée was a dance student at SMU, and you’re coming up on seven years together. What’s it like for her, dealing with your one-year contract, knowing that next year you’ll go through that all over again, and the year after that you might have to go through that again?

Banjo: It has been difficult for her, but she definitely understands, because she’s in the dance world, and the dance world is really similar to the football world in that way, in terms of a lot of uncertainty and politics and all types of things that go into it. It’s somewhat similar, so she understands, but at the same time, it can be somewhat difficult for her, and she has been great about it every year.

PonyFans.com: Last question, and it might not be a fair one because the draft hasn’t been held yet and free agency isn’t over: how good are the Packers going to be this year?

Banjo: We’re going to be damn good. I really believe that. Maybe it’s easier for me to say that, because I know everybody in that locker room, and I know what everybody is capable of doing. I know their confidence level, I know their commitment level to helping us win in every aspect of the game. The Packers are damn good, and I would say that even if I wasn’t on the team, to be honest. If I was somewhere else, just from the guys I know that are in that locker room and what they’re capable of, the talent level, the camaraderie, the chemistry, they’re capable of doing some really good things this year. WE’RE capable of doing some really good things. This is going to be a good year.