Michael Bennett joined 710 ESPN Seattle's "Justin and Gee" show on Thursday afternoon. It was the Seahawks defensive end's first meeting with the media since the days that followed Super Bowl XLIX.

Bennett was asked to address a report that surfaced last month from Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that said Bennett was seeking a trade to the Atlanta Falcons and a new contract. Bennett, who signed a multi-year deal with the Seahawks ahead of the 2014 season, denied the news.

"Like I said, they made rumors about Jesus," said Bennett. "They'll make rumors about anybody."

Bennett said he found the whole situation hard to believe.

"No, I never asked for, I didn't come to them and ask for a trade," he said. "I'm still trying to figure out how a guy from Dallas made up a story about me, I'm living in Seattle and it's like, 'How does this happen?'"

During Thursday's interview, Bennett also talked about how he's staying in shape this offseason, the team's acquisition of tight end Jimmy Graham, his love for the 12s, the promotion of Kris Richard to defensive coordinator, and a charity event he has coming up this summer - which you can learn more about at michaelbennett72.com.

Here's a few more highlights from Bennett's talk with "Justin and Gee":

(On how he stays in shape during the offseason...) "I do a lot of boxing, a lot of swimming. That's the types of things I like to do because the older you get the less stress you want to put on your body. You want to do things that you can still get the cardio without having to do all those heavy things."

(On if he uses the team's Super Bowl loss as motivation...) "Yeah, I think about it sometimes. Sometimes I just watch highlights and I get motivated whenever I watch - the list goes on, James Harrison, or I watch some highlights of Ray Lewis or Julius Peppers and I just get a little more motivated to go out there and work a little harder when you go out there and see those guys play."

(On what he's looking forward to this season...)"I'm looking forward to the fans, honestly. I'm looking forward to going out there and hearing that crowd jump up and down on that third down play when the other team is backed up. You just feel that vibe, you've got your teammates with Cliff [Avril] and [Brandon] Mebane and all these guys. Just lucky to play with all those guys, they're like my family. On the D-line we're so close I always tell them, 'You guys are going to be in my life for the rest of my life' because I talk to those guys so much and they mean so much."

(On what makes the 12s such great fans...) "They treat every player with a respect. Sometimes you go places and fans only treat certain players that they know about with respect. Obviously, there's the guys that every team pushes and those are the guys that usually get a lot of the pub. But on this team they know all the guys and that's something that makes a player feel really special when you're just a guy on the bench and all the sudden the fans want an autograph from you because you feel special and that just makes the fans good and that makes the players feel really well."

(On Kris Richard taking over at defensive coordinator for Dan Quinn, who accepted the head coaching job with the Falcons...) "I love DQ, obviously. He's been part of my life since I started the NFL. He's always been a friend of mine and he'll continue to be a friend of mine forever. But Kris Richard is such a great coach. He's a young guy that really wants it and he's hungry and I think he's going to be special with us next year [with] the things that he wants to do. And obviously he took all those guys in the 'Legion of Boom' and made them really, really, really great players in the NFL and I think he's going to do that with the whole team. We're going to get guys and keep getting better and better and I think Kris is going to continually push us to be better."