Friday, July 26, 2024
LB Anthony Walker Jr.
(What was the review on the playlist?) – “Oh it was a little bit of everything, trying to make sure everybody felt like they were home. I told them I was going to take them to practice and bring them out of practice, so I hope I did my job.”
(Tell us about the orange jersey performance yesterday and how you feel you’re fitting in and blending in overall?) – “Obviously, I think a lot of guys deserve it. I think we’ve been practicing really hard as a team. Defensively, offensively, special teams wise, a lot of guys getting better every day. Obviously, it’s only, what, Day 3? It feels like 23 – that sun adds a couple. (laughter) I’m thankful. I’m thankful for the opportunity. Last year I thought it would be almost the end for me towards the end of the season with the injury and everything, so to be out here, I’m grateful for the opportunity. I can’t overstate that enough just knowing that the game was almost taken from me. So just thankful for that and ready to keep working.”
(Tell me about the mental approach of coming back from an injury. How much of it is mental and how much of it is physical?) – “The game of football is all mental, for real, for me. Obviously, the physical part that’s just what it is when you play football, but as you get to this age and you get to the backend of your career, it becomes more and more mental. Just the daily grind – the day I stop loving the daily grind is the day you guys won’t see me out here anymore. I love coming out here with my teammates competing and getting better. Like I said, just opportunity – the opportunity to win as a team and opportunity to use the gifts that God has given me.”
(What did you think of QB Tua Tagovailoa out there today in 11-on-11s? He’s always the focal point, he didn’t practice yesterday.) – “He made a throw today, I was like, ‘Dude.’ It’s a play that the Mike linebacker – I’m just happy that I wasn’t in. (laughter) But the Mike linebacker should be there, but he threw the ball before I think Tyreek (Hill) was even out of his break. You see what he brings to the table, you see what he means to this team, how he pumps up the offense. They know when he’s out there, it’s just a different feeling. They love everybody, we love all the quarterbacks, but it’s a different feeling when (No.) 1 is in there, and I think the guys feel that.”
(Kind of piggy backing off of that on how this offense can stretch you vertically and create that space on the second level, how have you taken from that for your three days of practice, just how much space you have to defend against this offense?) – “I think I had to run 40 or 50 yards yesterday to defend a play, but I told (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel), the middle of the field is closed down while I’m in there. I take pride in that, and that’s what he prides himself on. He broke that down to us in OTAs. This is how the Mike linebacker plays, showed clips of Fred Warner just owning the middle, and I take pride in that. That’s my job, and us as linebackers, we take that challenge. Obviously, when you’ve got the speedsters out there, the ‘DBs’ are already stressed enough, so we don’t want them to have worry about covering the shallows as well. As long as we can take away the middle of the field and let those guys stay on top, we are doing our job.”
(The tipped interception, I think it fell through your hands. What are you kind of feeling after that?) – “Yeah, got to make the play. We’ve got to make those. The ball is so precious in this league. The more turnovers you can get, the more opportunity to set your team up for success. Any time we’re able to get hands on the ball, we got to come down with it. Obviously, I missed an opportunity today.”
(You’ve been with him for a few months now, Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver, how would you describe his coaching style?) – “I think you can tell he played the game. He played the game at a high level, and he understands and respect the grind that we go through as players, but also takes the approach of that he’s the coach and this is his show. I think from Day 1, I felt that from him, that confidence that he has as a coach, but also the understanding that there are going to be mistakes as players and that we’re going to keep learning and keep getting better. It’s a new scheme, but we’re all getting better from it. I think that he takes that approach every day. You love playing for a coach like that.”
(You’re coming from a really good defense in Cleveland where Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz is there. How would you describe the difference in styles of scheme? You both probably do a lot of blitzing but in different ways.) – “We always said that the Ravens were very exotic – they had a lot of looks for us when we were playing in Cleveland and playing those guys two times a year. Now being in it, I see why. You want to show a lot, but it’s the same for us. You want the offense to look like it’s 1,000 looks, but defensively, it’s very simple for us. I think that helps us. (Jim) Schwartz was a great coach, he has a great scheme as well. Obviously 3-4 and 4-3 is a little different, but at the end of the day, they are all about the same thing – stop the other team from scoring. It’s defense.”
(The front office made a big push to improve the linebacker position with the collection of players you have here. Does this compare to anything you’ve had before or is this the best collection of linebackers you’ve been around?) – “Oh, don’t get me doing that. (laughter) No, this is a great group. I think I put this 1A-1B with – I had a group in Indianapolis with me, Shaquille Leonard, EJ Speed, Zaire Franklin, Bobby Okereke, guys that are all starts and all captains for their team. I think that was a special room as well, and I think we’ve got a similar type of a group of guys as far as the leadership and all guys being able to play, step in and play big role for this team.”
(I saw you guys going against TE Jonnu Smith in one-on-ones today. What has he brought to this team?) – “I’ve known Jonnu (Smith) for a very long time. I played against him twice a year for four years when I was with Indy. He’s very special talent and explosive with the ball in his hands, and that’s any way you can get it to him. I saw him get a jet sweep today, I was like, ‘Alright, we’re just installing stuff now. We’re getting bored on Day 3.’ (laughter) But again, he’s a very unique talent at that tight end position, pretty much can run like a running back, catch like a receiver and then get down and block like an o-linemen. So a very special talent.”
(He was telling me about how he finishes his runs in the end zone when he catches a ball. Do you like talk to him like, “You were down, I got you down right there?”) – “Always. He’s always down, don’t let him tell you… He’s just running for cardio at that point. (laughter)”
(What’s it like to be back in South Florida?) – “It’s hot. (laughter) My dad was at practice today. He hasn’t seen me practice in the NFL before. He was like, ‘Hey man, how is it?’ And I’m like, ‘It’s hot.’ I haven’t practiced here in 12 years – since my last senior year of high school practice. Getting back used to that, obviously global warming is a real thing I’m assuming because it’s hotter. (laughter) But definitely just happy to be out here, be home. Like I said, my dad’s first time seeing me practice in the NFL is very special. Being able to have family come out every day is very special, so I’m thankful for that.”
Friday, July 26, 2024
CB Kendall Fuller
(What’s it been like working here in a new setting?) – “It’s been fun. I mean football is always football. Just learning new people, being around the building, new coaches, new players. Any guys that I’m around I always like to learn from, always like to compete with. So at the end of the day, football is always football, but anytime you get to get around a new group of guys, a good group of guys, it’s always fun.”
(We like to keep our eye on QB Tua Tagovailoa, how was he spinning it today? What did you think in 11-on-11, 7-on-7, everything?) – “Yeah, I mean he’s impressive. He’s always looking impressive on Sundays, but it’s different once you get to see somebody on a day-to-day basis, just their mental, how they process information, how he processes defenses. You can just tell his intent with every snap that he takes. So it’s been fun to see him, learn from him and watch him compete.”
(Three days against this offense in practice for you, how does this offense and what they do schematically challenge you as a defender?) – “You got to cover them vertically, horizontally. You got to be able to make one-on-one tackles in the open field with a lot of athletic and fast guys. It’s funny because playing Miami last year, I kind of know a little bit about the offense, but being able to go against every day and just see how much they attack you vertically, horizontally in space. So, you got to be prepared at each level.”
(Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver seems to give a lot of defensive backs a lot of freedom – talking about CB Jalen Ramsey as a chess piece and S Jevón Holland wants to play all over the place. How do you feel it’s been? Do you feel that freedom in the backend?) – “Yeah, it’s been fun, man. We all move around. Jalen (Ramsey) is all over the field. Sometimes we’re playing right, sometimes you’re on the left side. Even just within the defense, corners can be asked to do different things that a nickel would do, that a linebacker would do. So that’s what makes the game fun, just being able to have a lot of different responsibilities, a lot of different techniques that you got to do – it makes the game fun. So we’ve been enjoying it man. ‘Weave’ (Anthony Weaver) has been good, energetic, fun, so definitely a guy that a lot of guys enjoy playing for.”
(In the past, have you been moved around all over in your other years?) – “Yeah, I mean, I started out playing nickel, nickel corner. I played a little bit of nickel safety, played a little bit of corner safety. I’ve pretty much lined up everywhere, so I’m comfortable just about lining up anywhere on the field.”
(At this stage you still would play nickel? You still feel comfortable inside?) – “Yeah, I mean genuinely – especially with the systems that I played in, you’ve been asked to do so much, so genuinely I feel comfortable anywhere on the field.”
(Can you talk a little bit about the mentality that it takes in there as compared to out on the perimeter and maybe how some of your past experiences have kind of set you up for all of the versatility in this system?) – “I mean, nickel was just – to me, nickel was a more challenging position, just because it’s so much more green grass. A lot more responsibility, specifically mentally, physically, it’s the NFL anywhere. Any position out on the field is going to ask a lot of you, but just from the mental standpoint of all the grass that you’ve got to cover, just even playbook wise having to remember, ‘Alright, do I run on this motion? Do I not run on this motion? Do I align here? Align there?’ Corner, you pretty much know what you got to do, but nickel to me is a very, very challenging position. I’m glad that now they’re starting to get a lot more respect, All-Pro, Pro Bowls and stuff like that, because it’s a challenging position.”
(Does the way this defense kind of meld together in those two roles as far as being able to do multiple things – does it make communication easier on the backend for y’all?) – “Yeah, I think you just have a lot of guys that – my biggest thing, no matter what position you play, is learning where everybody because once you know where – it’s all about knowing where your help is, knowing where your teammates are going to be, knowing their responsibility. They make a mistake, if you know what they’re doing, you might be able to cover up for him. So it brings everybody together, everybody is just working on being a better football player, understanding the game of football more, not just learning what you can do and that’s it. So I think even from that, you’re able to have – all of us are always having constant communications and things like that, because all of us have played all over the field.”
(What’s it like covering WR Tyreek Hill and WR Jaylen Waddle and maybe, soon WR Odell Beckham Jr., in practice?) – “Yeah, it’s been fun man. Just like I said, the speed that they have, the talent that they have. People can focus so much on the talent, but just the competition, you know what I mean? All of us are big little kids out there on the field. So just being able to go out there and play the game that you love and enjoy and just have fun working against one another and learning from one another. It’s been real fun to get out there with them.”
(You have a unique perspective with WR Tyreek Hill because you’ve been his teammate a couple times now, right? Can you talk about how he’s kind of evolved, especially while guarding him? And has he made you a better player over the years of your career, him specifically?) – “Yeah, I mean 100%. I think any guy that you line up across on a daily basis is going to get you better, because every man that’s made it to this level can do something at a high level, you know what I mean? Other guys may do one thing at a high level, another guy may do another thing at a high level, so what he can do, his speed, and probably what separates him from a lot of guys that are fast, how he can stop at a dime, his routes and things like that. So it’s been fun. The biggest thing that I can still see from him, and I appreciate, is just the joy being out down the practice field. He still always has that same work ethic, but you always want guys to make the most of this opportunity, have fun being out here. We’re blessed to be able to come out here and play football for a living. It’s been like four years since I played with him, so to still see that joy is always good to see.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel his leadership has kind of evolved. Have you noticed that? Any difference between the WR Tyreek Hill back then and the Tyreek now?) – “That will be hard for me to tell just because me being on defense and him being on offense. But I mean even just being on the opposite sideline, seeing him going in there and work – a guy at his level still taking all the reps that he can, still trying to work and perfect everything, everybody sees that. So it’s not all about what somebody says, but what they do that speaks loudly.”
(Now that you’ve been around him for a couple of months, how would you describe Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver’s coaching style?) – “Fun. Just fun, energetic. I mean, he definitely is going to demand a lot out of everybody, but he’s there with you every step of the way, pushing, pushing you. You make a mistake, he’s going to come to you, talk about what you could have did better, talk about what you need to do going forward. I think the biggest thing, he’s always willing to listen. And that’s something that you appreciate being a player, having a coach that’s just – he wants to hear what you see. He wants to hear what we think, and I think that says a lot. I used to have a coach that said – he always talked about how you always got to be green. You always got to be willing to learn, willing to grow. So to see him as our defensive coordinator still having that mindset of like wanting to learn, wanting to grow and wanting to hear from us, that trickles down throughout the whole staff, whole team.”
(I guess on the scheme side of things, obviously, you were with Jack Del Rio over last few years. I guess what has been the biggest adjustment for you going into this scheme in what you’re asked to do?) – “I mean not a lot, honestly. I had Jack (Del Rio) for the last four years, but I would say my first four years in the league, I probably had a different defensive coordinator each year. So I think I probably played in every system, almost, under the sun. So it’s not too much. Terminologies are a little bit different, but at the end of the day football is football. You might do a couple of things, more coverages that you may run per snap percentage versus in Washington, but end of the day, it’s all football.”
Friday, July 26, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(QB Tua Tagovailoa – we didn’t observe him do anything yesterday. Was that veteran day of rest or was that part of his hold-in and what do you expect today?) – “Nothing has changed really from that standpoint and how we’re collectively approaching practice. As far as today, I do think you’ll observe him playing football in a multitude of fashions.”
(Do you guys talk every day about the plan for the day or is there a plan for the week? How do you do that?) – “Every day. I think it’s important to assess all variables, take into consideration everyone involved as the head coach so you’d love to get in front of it, but there’s a lot of days that if you’re trying to extrapolate that, a lot of days that you can’t account for different way the wind blows. So every day assessing exactly what we’re doing because we’re trying to do good jobs here.”
(How do you I guess loop the team in on that? Is that something where you say, “Hey, this is a me and Tua thing” or do you try to keep them abreast of…?) – “As professional athletes, people pretty much know and understand and are very considerate of business dealings. I think our team specifically has found opportunity in the situation really because I haven’t even been fielding questions, concern – people have enough on their plate and their focus in situations like that, you could have some people that were exposed to not be focused. Fortunately for us, the deliberate intent and focus from each and every player has been on maximizing the opportunity on the field and getting their job done because collectively we’re trying to achieve things as a team.”
(Yesterday I asked FB Alec Ingold about QB Tua Tagovailoa not being there and he said, “Don’t allow it to be a distraction. There are going to be games where we don’t have our star player. Use this as preparation.” Is that kind of your attitude or have you talked to the team like collectively overall about how they should approach this?) – “No, I think that’s outstanding. It’s exactly how I feel about it and in a lot of ways I’m very hopeful that everyone sees it the same way. We’re a bunch of grown men working together day after day. You start to learn each other so that fires me up. I can’t wait to give him a fist pound because that’s exactly what you do. You use the opportunity for any sort of advantage.”
(With the TE Jonnu Smith and – it was a laundry list of guys yesterday – DT Calais Campbell and – nice extensive list, I’m sure you know the list. Was it more veteran rest day or are these nicks that we need to just monitor and address?) – “The former. What you try to do is you have your group of players that you’re going to establish on the forefront – who do you want to manage before you get to managing and find more people to manage? And in that, you’re trying to disperse veterans so that no one position is put out of sorts or left vulnerable by lack of legs, thereby making their position group and players more vulnerable to injury. So it’s all very strategic. Trust me, it’s not just me involved in those plannings. That takes a whole team that when they bring the best ideas and the good ideas, I cosign those and make them my own.”
(I wanted to ask kind of a related question. We saw yesterday, I think WR Tyreek Hill caught two balls from QB Gavin Hardison. That doesn’t seem likely to happen in the regular season. What’s the benefit in July of having those reps – well, maybe I’m wrong…) – “So you think.”
(So I think, I’ll stand corrected if that happens, but what is the thinking broadly about having your franchise wide receiver catching passes from an undrafted rookie?) – “You feel comfortable doing that when you’re trying to work on your entire game. That’s happened since we’ve got here, it’s kind of something that I’ve always believed in. If a receiver needs to run a route versus man, instead of forcing the defense to cater to your needs, why not have – wait for a rep that goes against man, maybe that’s in the second or third group? That’s kind of erroneous. And so our skill positions really rotate that way so they can get opportunities at point of attack stuff. Generally – I’m kind of hesitant because this might give our defense a competitive advantage against our offense – but generally if Tyreek (Hill) is in with said quarterback, the ball is probably going to him. (laughter) So there’s a lot of things at play. The quarterback-receiver connection, but it is one of many things that are important and there’s a lot of work to be done in between.”
(LB Emmanuel Ogbah said that he came back here because of unfinished business and it sure looked like he’s playing great these last two days. He’s already got the orange jersey. Assess what you see in LB Emmanuel Ogbah this time around.) – “I just got little goosebumps there because it was cool to see the timing of things. You just know when a player is a free agent for any amount of time, there’s uncertainty so you’re thinking through all the different scenarios and he gets here and then it was not just like a – it wasn’t charity to give him that orange jersey. It was one of, if not, the best practice that I’ve seen from him since I’ve been here and there was a level of focus, a level of concrete certainty of his assignment and he came out hungry. And whatever he’s drinking in the morning – might be a little fountain of youth in there – it was exciting. But you know the coolest thing about situations like that, is you learn a lot about people just by observing the reaction of teammates. And when I tell you everyone, when they found out that he was the orange jersey, was juiced. And then all he did with that, is he was the – I think he ran 19 miles an hour yesterday at practice wearing that orange jersey.”
(You were talking about WR Tyreek Hill earlier. I was curious, does he still surprise you athletically and is there anything he’s done that really stands out for you where he really shocked you with something maybe we haven’t seen in practice or anything over the last couple years?) – “Yes. Tyreek is a guy that is supremely competitive and within that, in practice, he gets game reps. And so being able to put him in different situations, for him to try different things, is a really cool process, because he has a skill set unique to his own. And I think he – every month that I’ve been, every year with him, he’s really grown more and more into the leadership role and the responsibility of being one of, if not the best player in the league and what does he want the Miami Dolphins to look like? Instead of having to carefully and deliberately coach players and tell them, he can just show them how he wants his teammates to practice and play by his effort, strain and not just the pass game, the run game as well.”
(A few guys have mentioned that Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver has a nice package of full-out pressures and simulated pressures. Can you kind of tell me what kind of advantage that can create and what you sense might be coming as this Anthony Weaver pressure package develops?) – “That’s a very good question that is layered in ways of like, a pressure in it of itself, everybody has that. It’s about the how you are able to package that with like looks that can keep an offense off balance, as well as have multiplicity where the pressure is going to come from. I think as teachers, our scheme here are, ‘Weave’ (Anthony Weaver) and his staff really do a great job of finding concepts that players can understand and from one player understanding all 11, so that you can put different pieces in different places. So that balance of keeping an opposing offense off-balance, while being sound and multiple, yeah, everyone would like to do it. We’re confident that we’re headed in the appropriate direction in that way because we’re trying to be as challenging that we can each and every Sunday. And I think it’s playing that way, being able to do simulated pressures specifically, you can have blitzes and coverage that overlap. You can have technique that overlaps, which means you can be better at what you do while being more multiple. So I think with that focus, the coaches have communicated the whole vision to the players in a very good manner, because I can see by how they execute their jobs that they understand it and really how they strain shows me they believe in it.”
(WR Tyreek Hill said the other day that he and some of his offensive teammates without the coaches, they want to get more 10-12 player drives this year rather than the two-strike 75-yard bomb I guess in an effort to tire out the opposing defenses and they really want to focus on that this year. What’s your take on that?) – “I think he’s in his own way, what he’s describing right there, is our players on offense here are immersed enough in the system to understand areas where if you improve, can make everything improve. So what he’s saying, he is confident in our ability to score explosively in short drives. Well, we’ve lived experienced the last two years, that defenses don’t want you to do that. So they give you up space initially close to the line of scrimmage to make sure they can keep a roof over the offense and their eligibles. It’s all about taking advantage of overplay. So if you’re overplaying deep, how can you get most efficient yardage? Through execution on shorter things – run game. As a leader and a football student, Tyreek understands that unless you want to see very deep coverage with everyone 30 yards down the field, you better make people pay, otherwise they’re going to keep doing it. So that’s something I think our locker room does a great job of, is as players identifying consistencies of what’s happening to us. And then our coaches, we try to come up with a plan on how to counter people’s counter.”
(Obviously, there’s a lot of anticipation to see WR Odell Beckham Jr. at some point. Obviously, he’s on PUP now. Is this something that he’s had coming into the season or is it something that popped up more recently as far as his injury?) – “It wasn’t recent. It’s something he’s working through and we’re trying to – like we do with all the guys that are coming off something – we don’t want setbacks because really, and I don’t really explain this ever, but setbacks in this time of year are pretty problematic most of the time for guys for the whole season, because this time is for you to be able to be game-ready for football. And then if after that, you happen to get dinged or injured, it’s a lot easier to reassimilate. You go in, you start playing football after with the last football that you’ve played is last season like everybody and then you have a quick exit from participation, especially in Year 1 of a system, that’s problematic. So we signed Odell to be Odell, and we’re – between the Miami Dolphins and him – we’re making sure that we get him back on the field the right way and hit the ground running. So for him all, it’s just that much more important that he’s on it in the classroom and he’s been as attentive of a veteran, basically stalking Wes Welker, as one could hope.”
(I wanted to ask a follow-up if I could. WR Odell Beckham Jr. had the ACLs. When it’s a recurring thing like that, how do you manage it to make sure God forbid something doesn’t happen again to the same knee?) – “It’s science. Don’t ask me any more than that. I think every individual is unique to their own, that people respond differently. Our buddy Frank Gore, I think tore an ACL every year of his adolescence or something and then played 30 years. So you just have to be – and players need to know that you can’t just take things at surface value. For him, you see how the body responds and you don’t go into it assuming anything, but if the body loves it, you just let him roll. If there’s some swelling, you chill out and then you kind of go that way.”
(As far as some of the early returns you’ve seen on RB De’Von Achane in his second year utilizing a full offseason for the first time as a pro?) – “I’m seeing a pro that – not to say that he wasn’t a pro last year – he was a rookie that really impressed his teammates with his ability to digest and execute. And he really impressed guys about how the game – you hear this a bunch – the game is not too big for him. Right. Well, that’s cool for De’Von (Achane), if that’s where he wants his ceiling. Thankfully, for the Miami Dolphins, that’s not. So he’s expanded roles expanded, different ways that he can get the ball, but he’s become a guy that pretty much every person on the offense counts on to know his responsibility and that helps everyone. So he’s become a pro, diet, strength – it’s really cool to see. He had a taste of success and fortunately for us, he’s not satisfied with that.”
(With QB Tua Tagovailoa while he wasn’t throwing, was his level of attention to practice where you want it to be as far as mental reps, communication with you? I think he was listening to play calls.) – “Absolutely. And you know what, everybody involved has been super professional because if he’s not going to be taking a rep, he’s not going to have that rep lost on him. And in Year 3 of the offense, that’s a lot more impactful than if that would be the case in Year 1. You have the muscle memory on a lot of things so every rep can be – whether you’re doing it or not – can be something that you can use to your advantage because that muscle memory, it’s not what he really needs to train. It’s the visual scene, this particular picture. Our defense presents so many unique pictures, and he’s been – basically all those simulated pressures, keep your awareness and locked in focus.”
