SEATTLE — Any parent will tell you, having a child changes everything.

Your perspective on life, your purpose, whatever outlook you may have had before changes.

Suddenly, the center of your world is a little bundle of joy that relies on you for everything in the most beautiful way.

All of this is true for professional athletes as well of course, they just have a different and more demanding work life than so many others out there.

Imagine, for a moment, you’re under-center as a quarterback with an entire defensive unit trying to knock you down. Still, your little one pops into your head.

“Your mind is always thinking about him, like 24/7,” said Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock.

Drew and his wife, Natalie, are parents to a 20-month-old boy with another child on the way.

“Just to be so excited to see him, and show the love back to him that he constantly shows to us, it’s really cool,” Lock adds, saying that the little one is also the perfect distraction from the game when practice or an actual matchup is over.

“Having a baby that knows nothing other than loving you and us spending time together, it really, really separates the two, it’s nice.”

It can also bring you closer to your teammates.

Consider that all day in practice, offensive lineman Jalen Sundell battles with defensive lineman Quinton Bohanna. In the hot weather and fight for a spot on the depth chart, these guys truly go after each other on the field with everything they’ve got.

But as soon as it’s over? They go back to the locker room — where their lockers are right next to one another — and talk about being new dads.

Both men became fathers in June.

“We’ve been battling all camp, a whole lot of connection between me and Sundell right now,” said Bohanna, adding that it’s “building camaraderie with a guy, I would say we don’t have a ton in common other than being Seahawks, but now we have a real off-the-field connection. That’s my guy, that’s for sure my guy. “

“It’s been really fun to have her at home and it’s given me a new purpose in life, said Sundell of his newborn daughter, Sydney.

There can be challenges that come with being NFL players and new parents, as Drew Lock explains.

“The hardest thing is having to move all the time. Pediatricians change. When you get to the new city, it’s like, alright, where do we take him if anything happens? Traveling. We live in Florida in the offseason, Seattle to Florida, trying to get him there.”

But those are plights that are not only just part of the territory, but made easier by the moms in their lives who any partner will tell you, have a unique super power that only mothers can possess.

“It is a privilege, but it’s the toughest job in the world. Second can be quarterback in the NFL, first can be Moms that stay at home with the kiddos. Man, they’re superheroes,” Lock said.

“My wife, she’s a trooper, she’s up all night with Sydney, and I try to help out for the short while being home, changing a diaper or two, but really, it’s just my wife being awesome,” said Sundell.

“I can’t even imagine,” said Bohanna. “I can’t fathom what they go through or what they have to deal with, me being here all day. Kudos to them, my mom, and my grandmother as well as my child’s mom.”

The beginning of the best journey in life. One that, once they catch up on sleep, they can’t wait to see the next moments of growth to come. And how they can share these incredibly special and unique NFL lives with their little ones.

“The day he asks, “what is that? Whose jersey is that?” Well, buddy, that’s your old man’s. Your old man used to play a little bit of football. I’m excited for that,” Lock said.

An excitement earned in every way, by being parents and pro athletes. Teaming up with friends on the field and their partner for life off it to enjoy being dads for the first time.