Criminal Minds has been a mainstay on television for 11 seasons, but now heading into its 12th, it’s getting a new star on set: Adam Rodriguez.

And when he spoke to USA TODAY Sports, he was happy to have an excuse to not be there for a few minutes.

“The cast has been absolutely horrible to me,” he deadpanned. “Totally made me feel unwelcome. I’m just happy to have escaped to be with you for a few minutes just to get away from them all.”

Wait, really?

“Nah seriously I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to show up and work with, they’re tremendous,” he said. “It’s tricky because you join a group that’s been together for so long and you’re just hoping to come and do your job and fit in and it [clicked] in minutes.”

Rodriguez spoke about his love for the New York Giants, Peyton Manning’s chances of acting and more.

The best rivalry in the NFL:

New York-Philadelphia

Do you think Peyton Manning has a career in acting or comedy?

I don’t know, I’ve never seen him try to do it other than in his commercials. Look, in a 30 second or a 60 second spot, I think he has a great sense of humor about himself, he doesn’t take himself too seriously. I like the commercial with him and Lionel Richie. I think in that format he does very well. I think telling a story in a longer format is a whole different set of variables. I don’t know, I think a guy like Peyton could probably do anything he sets his mind to.

On if his ‘magic mike’ co-star Matthew McConaughey would be a good football coach:

Oh Matthew would make a great football coach. I would love to see that. I would love to see McConaughey coach a football team wearing the chaps from Magic Mike and maybe a cowboy hat and giving a pep talk in that outfit, I guarantee he could take a team to the Super Bowl.

On who he’d want to play him in a story about his life:

I’d like Will Ferrell to play me. I think Will Ferrell could really interpret my life story and do something with it that people might not expect.