S Jason McCourty
(Opening Statement) – “Before we start, it’s just National Food Allergy Awareness Day and right now I think you guys are probably aware that the Miami Dolphins, we have partnered with FARE, an organization that has done a ton of work for food allergies. For me, a father of a young daughter who has severe food allergies, I mean if you name it, she’s allergic to it. It’s something that’s very important to my wife and myself. FARE will be serving food down at the stadium and it’s something that is real important to me and it’s an awesome job that they are doing. I wanted to start it off and make everybody aware of that.”
(Has she ever had any type of reaction herself?) – “Yeah. The year we spent in Cleveland, she had butternut squash but salmon was on the plate, and at that point she wasn’t even a year old. We weren’t aware of all of her allergies. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie Hitch, but Will Smith has an allergic reaction and his face blows up, and that’s what her lip looked like. I had to give her the EpiPen and bring the EMTs by. Very scary, but a learning experience at that. She’s now four and she has two siblings and all three of them are well aware of all of the things she’s allergic to. It’s kind of impressive to see how much you kids can pick up on and how much they can look after one another in the process of the youngest one growing up with allergies.”
(How much fun is it for you as someone who is a total team guy helping develop a young player like S Jevon Holland, even though the natural progression that he might be taking some playing time that you would get. You’re good about it as a team guy, but is it hard? Does it come natural for you?) – “No, it’s not hard. I would say no because I can remember the specific guys my rookie year that poured into me. Cortland Finnegan who was here, Chris Hope, Vinny Fuller, so many guys took the time to pour into me. They were all defensive backs as well and we were all competing. For me, it’s a blessing. I’m blessed to just be able here my 13th year, whether my role is prominent and I’m playing every play of the game, or if my role is 15 plays here or five plays there. Whatever it is, I’m fortunate to be out here. I think as a older player you realize that not matter if you want to help a guy or not, that’s the natural progression. A young player that can play ball, and knows what he is doing, he’s going to find his way on the field. I think what makes it easy is the type of player and the type of person Jevon is. He’s very serious about his job, he is very serious about football. He puts in a ton of work, not just physically out here, but mentally making sure he knows what to do, knowing his checks. It’s been fun kind of joking and getting to know him and helping him along on the football field.”
(Has it started with you and your brother yet, because the opener is not that far away?) – “(laughter) It’s always going between me and my brother. Our wives can attest to that in our later years, and our mom for sure in our early years. We’re always competing but we’re always rooting for one another. I know it will be a blast not only to play against him but to get to see him. We’ve been together for the last three years, so now being apart, it will be fun and probably a lot of trash talk between us two.”
(Then a picture after the game?) – “For sure, for sure. Lasting memories, so definitely we’ll do all of that good stuff after the game.”
(What a vivid memory of a game that you either played with him or against him?) – “I’ll exclude the Super Bowl but I would just say our Pop Warner days. Our games used to be on Sunday mornings and we’d wake up super early in the morning, and we’d go outside with our ball. Me and him would review and go over all of our plays, and put ourselves in positions – I could remember dreaming of being able to make it to this level. The first time we ever played against each other was the opener in 2012. Kind of going against each other, we were both captains and just being able to be on the field in those moments, realizing from those Pop Warner days that those dreams and those plays going over, that we were actually doing it at the highest level.”
(You talked a little bit earlier about the leadership aspect and being a mentor. This is such a young team and when you look at the roster, the McCourty line with the age…) – “Don’t remind me. (laughter) My birthday was the Friday we were in Chicago, and as guys came up to me, (Jaylen) Waddle came up to me ‘happy birthday J-Mac, how old are you turning?’ I was like ‘I turn 34.’ ‘Damn, 34!?’ and it’s the realization of how much older you are than the other guys. Jevon I think is 21. It’s funny, but it’s a lot of fun, and I take pride in that. Just like you said, to look down the roster and see a guy 34 and still being able to be out there and run around with these guys, I take a lot of pride in that. I take pride in my experiences in being able to share that with those guys. Not only the things I’ve done, but the stories I’ve heard over the years in the locker room.”
(Do you see yourself coaching eventually?) – “I don’t know, these guys don’t leave the building until probably midnight. I don’t know if my wife wants to put up with me playing for X amount of years, and then coaching. She taught me never say never, so we’ll see.”
Head Coach Brian Flores
(The three roster cut down days all come on Tuesdays that you are practicing, I know last Tuesday you all practiced with a full roster and then made the cuts. Are you doing that today or are your five cuts going to come before? What’s the thinking on that? Are you just trying to take a final look at guys before cutting them?) – “We’ll do them after. We are still kind of going though those conversations. Yeah, we’ll do it after”
(With guys like WR William Fuller V and WR Devante Parker, I know they were doing some work before the game and obviously they work with the rehab assignment group. Where do you get to a point where you begin to worry about them, not necessarily Fuller, but for their season-opening status?) – “Those guys are working hard to get back. I wouldn’t say there’s any worry, it’s more they’re working to get back. They’ll be out there today. From that standpoint I know they are doing everything they can and that’s really all we can ask of them. That’s kind of the approach I take. Injuries happen, guys get dinged. All that we can ask is that they do everything they can to get back as quickly as they can. All the guys who are dealing with nicks and bruises are doing what they can to get back.”
(Would they be out there if it wasn’t a walkthrough today?) – “Look, they are doing everything they can to get back. I think we are getting closer. Would they be back if it wasn’t a walkthrough? I think they are getting closer. We will have to find out tomorrow since we will be here tomorrow.”
(WR Jaylen Waddle went back in last game but is it something that you will still have to monitor this week going forward?) – “Jaylen is a tough kid. It’s his first training camp, dealing with some nicks and bruises. He’s in the training room doing preventative work, getting treatment. He’ll be out there.”
(What have you seen from TE Hunter Long? And if you could also include in that he seems to be showing some toughness playing through this leg deal.) – “He was down for some time there. Worked hard to get back. Got back last week and did a couple good things in practice against Atlanta and then played in the game. He’s a tough kid, he’s a hardworking kid. He’s young, he needs reps and he’s getting them. We’re going to try to get him in this practice week, which is an important week for us, in the game and just try to take it one day at a time and get better.”
(I know you said you were going to have a meeting to decide how many of your starters might play. I guess I’ll start with QB Tua Tagovailoa, do you know if Tua is going to play?) – “We are still going through that. Still having discussions about how much we will play those guys. Still undecided.”
(When it comes to the new IR rules the league has – I know it carries over a little from last season – how much thought does that play into when you are putting together the 53 and trying to figure out whether or not guys can begin the year on IR and come off?) – “They’re different. It’s different in training camp. The IR rule, I think you are alluding to…”
(When it’s regular season in terms of guys who initially make the 53, then once that day has passed you can put them on IR with the opportunity to remove them after three games.) – “I guess for right now, if we put a player on IR, he’s done. If a player who makes the 53, after that day then assuming an injury, which you never want to assume that, but if an injury happens you can put him down for a minimum of three games. I don’t know how much that applies right now because we would have to release a player and he’s out on the street and he can get picked up by anybody. I guess the conversation is whether or not that’s worth – I guess I’m having a hard time understanding the question.”
(I will rephrase it later.) – “So basically, when we get to the 53, those guys are healthy.”
(But you have guys like WR Lynn Bowden who is not healthy.) – “Right.”
(Initially he can go on the 53 and the next day go on IR and create an extra roster spot for a wide receiver or…) – “A wide receiver that we just let go?”
(No, I’m saying carry him. Yeah, good point. You create an extra roster spot for somebody else if he’s not going to be healthy to begin the season.) – “Yeah. All of those conversations, Chris (Grier) and his staff, we have those conversations. Look, if you like a player then you keep him because you don’t want to expose him to the rest of the league and think you’re going to finagle a rule. That’s not what the rule is made for. I think what you’re alluding to, I’m not really sure how we can get that done given how – the mechanism you have to go through to put a player on IR. To make the 53, which means you have to cut 30 or 20 or whatever the number it is to get to 53, then after that you can put a player on IR but you just exposed a player you are going to bring back. There’s a lot of, ‘do you want to expose said player or just put that player you are going to put on IR on IR.’ There’s a lot of moving parts there.”
(In terms of the shape that LB Elandon Roberts and WR Preston Williams are in, obviously rhythm and getting back into football activities. From what you see and what the medical staff tells you, does it look realistic that they could help you in Week 1 potentially or might this be a several-week ramping up process to team football activity for those two?) – “You always want to ramp up and give them as much time as possible. I thought getting them out there last week was good for their confidence. I think they both felt good getting out there on the field with their teammates. They did some good things. They weren’t out there all that long. We will try to ramp them up, get them into some more team drills this week and hopefully build on what we got started with last week.”
(I’m sure there’s a lot of thought that still remains on this subject but even at this relatively early stage, what are your thoughts on how difficult it’s going to be to set the roster at wide receiver?) – “There’s a lot of competition in that room. That competition is still playing out and again, this is a big week. We’ve got guys who have practiced, we have guys who haven’t practiced and we’re always going to do what we feel is best for the team. There’s a lot of competition there and there’s going to be some tough decisions that are going to have to be made, and we will always make them with the thought that we are doing what we think is best for the team.”
(I know rosters are fluid, especially the back end of an NFL roster, but in terms of the importance of this week and the last preseason game; is it fair to say that there are literally three or four or more spots that have just not been claimed and are still being fought for?) – “Yeah, that’s fair to say.”
(What would be the message to those guys who are acutely aware that they are literally on that cliff?) – “Work hard. Keep improving. Take advantage of your opportunities. I mentioned that to our team many times. In life, it’s about taking advantage of your opportunities. Whether it’s football or business or really anything that you’re working towards, if you get an opportunity, you want to take advantage of it. For those guys who are two, three spots that are available, they’ll have some opportunities to practice, they’ll have opportunities in the game. If they play well, then they give themselves the best opportunity to maker the team and if they don’t, then they don’t give themselves the best chance.”
(With the NFL preseason going three games, you have that extra week. In your eyes how beneficial is that extra week and will the preparation for Week 1 start when you get top the 53-man roster?) – “You’re talking about that three-day weekend that they got?”
(Yeah.) – “Yeah, that’s different. It’s something that we haven’t really delt with before. We’ve had some conversations about how we’re going to handle that week with the strength staff, with the medical staff. How we are going to prepare, whether we do it before or whether we do it after. We’ve had those conversations. That’ll be a good weekend for our players. They won’t be here. They won’t have our direction so they are going to have to do a lot of things on their own from a hydration standpoint, from a workout standpoint. You don’t want to lay on a couch for three days and think you are going to get up and practice and practice well. That’ll be the message to our guys. Scheduling-wise, we will try to do what we feel gives us the best chance to have success. We’ve had some of those conversations. I would say they are in their early stages. We always come back to, ‘hey, let’s focus on today.’”
(Going back to the two or three spots that are still available, is that something that you like to see in camp? What does that tell you about competition in camp?) – “That tells us that there has been a lot of competition on the team. That’s a good thing. Competition brings out the best in all of us and it’s no different for the players. Hopefully that’s something that motivates them to do a little but more in meetings, do a little bit more in practice, do a little bit more in walkthrough, study a little bit more and that’ll give them a chance to take advantage of the opportunity.”
(I know you value high-character guys. We’ve noticed over the years how many guys come in and out and all of your coaches yesterday mentioned how unselfish the players have to be, so where does that factor when you have such few spots? Character guys vs. guys who could jump out of the gym. How much harder is it becoming to evaluate that?) – “It’s a sport where you have to get 11 guys on the same page. Selflessness is a trait that’s important in this game. There’s just no way around it. I learned this at a young age from a high school coach. You played baseball; one guy can hit four homeruns. You play basketball; a guy can score 70 points. Football is not that way. You have to throw it, if you want to throw it to somebody then somebody has to throw it, somebody has to catch it, somebody has to block. If you want to tackle somebody, somebody has to set an edge. You need your teammates so there’s an innate selflessness that you have to have to play this game. Yeah, it’s an important trait along with everything else; speed and quickness and intelligence. I think it’s a characteristic that’s important in football and we have a lot of good guys from that standpoint. They do a nice job; they understand that and they lean on each other. That part of it has been good.”
(T Liam Eichenberg has been back and forth; right tackle, left guard. G Solomon Kindley up and down units. Could you assess each one through their movements on the line or through different units?) – “Both guys are working hard, both guys are making improvement. Both guys are competing to play. They are competing for an opportunity to play, to play a lot. Both guys have had good moments and not so good moments and again, this week is a big week for everyone on this team. We’re still competing, we’re still trying to get better, we’re still evaluating and that’s where we’re at.”
WR Will Fuller
(Are you fully back from what was keeping you sidelined? Do you feel totally fine?) – “I feel pretty good. I’m ready to get back in practice and start doing some things with Tua (Tagovailoa), so I’m excited to be back.”
(I know QB Tua Tagovailoa said he worked a couple of days with you off-site in the summer. Where do you feel your chemistry is with him at this point?) – “Of course I want to be out here to gain that chemistry but we still have some time here before we break camp to work on those things. Like I said, I’m excited to be back and get some chemistry with Tua.”
(How much rust do you feel like you have to work off considering you had so much time out?) – “Yeah, I haven’t played a game in a long time – since I guess Thanksgiving. That’s just something I have to work out through practice and shake that rust off. I feel pretty good, though. I’m out here running routes today and I feel pretty good.”
(You’ve been in explosive offenses before obviously with WR DeAndre Hopkins, QB Deshaun Watson, etc. When you look at you being able to put out five guys – you, WR DeVante Parker, WR Albert Wilson, WR Jaylen Waddle, TE Mike Gesicki – how much havoc could that cause for opposing defenses do you think?) – “Definitely a lot. This is probably one of the deepest and talented receiving corps that I’ve been a part of, just as far as all of the guys. We all can get it done and of course the tight ends as well and the running backs. It’s been fun to watch these guys. I’m excited to get out there with them and put my best out there.”
(What intrigues you about the offense that Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey, Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville and Quarterbacks Coach Charlie Frye all came together and created? What intrigues you most about it?) – “Yeah, I like that we get the ball around to all of the guys. Just watching the games, Myles (Gaskin) had a day, Mike (Gesicki) had his day, some of the younger guys were catching touchdowns. We spread the ball out a lot. There’s one ball so it’s going to be fun playing with all of these guys around here.”
(Just watching QB Tua Tagovailoa, just your thoughts on watching him evolve over this last month – what impressions have you had?) – “Yeah, definitely in a game just his poise – making all of the right reads, doing everything the coaches ask of him. It’s been fun to watch Tua. He’s a very accurate quarterback. I love that about him. Like I said, I haven’t been out there with him but I’m excited to get out there and get this chemistry going.”
(When you have an accurate quarterback like that, what does it lead a receiver to do in terms of opportunities?) – “I think you just know where that ball is going to be. It builds that trust with the quarterback that you know he’s going to put the ball where it needs to be. That’s it.”
(You’ve been around this league a little bit. How tough would it be for a coach to make a decision, specifically in your room right now?) – “Just looking at the guys, I don’t know what we’re going to do. We’ve got so many receivers, so much talent. If not here, somewhere else. I think we’ve got 13 receivers that can play in the league. I think it’s going to be a tough decision so I don’t know.”
(I know you haven’t been in a game with QB Tua Tagovailoa yet but how nice was it to finally be in the huddle and see WR DeVante Parker and yourself and WR Jaylen Waddle?) – “That’s one of the most important things for me is just hearing the play call from Tua in the huddle. I’ve been sitting in meetings and I’ve been hearing it in meetings but it’s different when you’re out there and you actually have to go to your spot. Like I was asked earlier, just knocking that rust off with hearing a play from him and just playing fast, it’s going to be a fun year.”
(How good did you feel out there running around and catching the ball? How close to how full are you?) – “I feel real good. They took their time with me so I felt ready to go a little bit before this. Just getting out here on the field, I’m excited to be back out here.”
