Tuesday, July 25, 2023
CB Xavien Howard
(So Twitter rebranded itself as “X”) – “Why did they do that?”
(No more Twitter. It’s now called “X”) – “I’m not even on Twitter. It’s too negative on there.”
(What do you think about the name choice though? Do you think it’s good?) – “It’s cool. Yeah, it’s cool.”
(Do you get royalties?) – “No, not yet. I’ve got to look into that.”
(How was the softball classic, having those guys out and just the support from the community?) – “It was a great event, man. Some guys came out and supported me. The fans love us down there. Hopefully we’ll do it again next year. I’m looking forward to it being next year though.”
(You saw CB Jalen Ramsey today. What was the first thing you said to him?) – “We dapped each other up. Everybody came in, we dapped each other up. Just happy to be here and work with this guy.”
(CB Jalen Ramsey was just talking about always feeling like he’s a top corner in the game. I know you have confidence too. What is this situation now with you where you’ve got that guy who’s a true number one like you believe you are and y’all grow together?) – “I believe? I am a true number one. What are you talking about? (laughter) But we’re cornerbacks. We have that. That’s part of our game.”
(Do you guys go back-and-forth with that?) – “No, no we don’t. We respect each other’s game. I feel like every cornerback, they come in believing they’re the number one cornerback in the league. I feel like you’ve got to have that confidence playing on this level, going against these top receivers in this league.”
(You’ve had I think groin and hamstring issues last year. I’m wondering.) – “It’s 2023 now, brother. We’re not going back. (laughter)”
(I’m not asking you to. I’m wondering if they did load management on you, if they rested you in training camp and joint practices and preseason games, do you think that would have a benefit in the regular season? Or are those issues totally separate?) – “It probably would have helped. But we didn’t have many cornerbacks so I had to do what I had to do and be on the field.”
(Would it help this year if they started doing that do you think? Would it help you be healthy in December and January?) – “No, I feel like you’re in the NFL man. You’re going to have nicks and bruises like that. A lot of guys aren’t 100 percent playing on the field on Sundays. But some guys push through.”
(We heard QB Tua Tagovailoa did something different doing the jiu-jitsu this offseason. Did you do anything different this offseason to prep your body? Yoga or anything like that?) – “No. Same old stuff. Massages, a little bit of Pilates I’d say and that’s really it. Working out, running, doing a lot of running on the field.”
(There’s a lot of expectations and hype for what this defense can be. In your experience, especially given some of the good defenses you’ve been on here, what separates the great defenses from the so-so defenses?) – “I feel like the little things. I feel like we’ve got a great group of guys on the defense this year and a lot of playmakers on this side. So I feel like with our defensive coordinator (Vic Fangio), he’s going to put us in a great position to make plays, get a lot of turnovers and continue to thrive on defense. I feel like we’ve got a lot of great guys on defense and the sky’s the limit for the defense.”
(CB Jalen Ramsey and WR Tyreek Hill have been somewhere you guys are trying to go this year. How have you seen Tyreek’s experience in that area help you guys last year and how do you think CB Jalen Ramsey’s experience getting to a Super Bowl can help you guys this year defensively?) – “The first thing when Jalen got here, one thing he said when we worked out and he saw the guys around him, he was just like ‘man, this team has way more players and better players on this team than where I was at.’ So, I feel like it’s from there, from believing in each other. It’s just approaching every day and winning every day as a group.”
(CB Jalen Ramsey talked a bit about his Madden rating. I don’t know if that’s something that’s even on your radar. Some players are into it, some aren’t. Are you aware of your rating?) – “No. I’ve never really been a guy looking at the Madden ratings. I don’t even play Madden to tell you the truth. I probably hoop, basketball, or something like that. But other than that, I’m not worrying about no Madden ratings.”
(Do you know what your rating is?) – “No, what is it?”
(It’s an 84. You’re not even a top 10 cornerback to them.) – “Damn. I’ve got to talk to them. I need their number. (laughter) But it’s cool though, man. You know I’ve never been a guy to rah rah, talk, do this and that. I just show up and play. I let my play on the field do the talking and we go from there.”
(Does that kind of signal people might be sleeping on you in 2023?) – “(Expletive).”
(You’ve been here in Miami through a lot of stuff. From when you got drafted to 2020 to now. It seems like a lot of expectations now. You’ve got a lot of star power. How have you maybe seen the growth of how Miami and the Dolphins are viewed?) – “I feel like every year man, the Dolphins, the fans, everybody has expectations for the Dolphins. It all depends on us, how far we can take this team. Each year everybody has the goal of winning a Super Bowl during this time. So, I feel like we’ve just got to put the work in and continue, like I said, continue getting better each day.”
(In regards to Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio, one thing he mentioned to us when he first got here is he had been working on a new defense when he was on sabbatical. Have you guys got a taste at all of what that looks like?) – “Not yet. We’ve seen a little bit, but not that much. We don’t know what Vic is cooking up but I know he’s definitely going to get us right on that defense.”
(You’ve always been the guy that shadowed the best wide receiver. Obviously when CB Jalen Ramsey is here, that gives you guys a lot of flexibility. What do you think that that’s going to do for your game?) – “It’s going to open up some doors for me man. I feel like my game’s been my game. Intercepting the ball, that’s what I want to do. I want to get touchdowns and stuff like that. I feel like without playing as much man like we did last year and me also traveling, playing, following a guy here and there, it’ll also help a lot. I won’t have to travel, be tired during the play. Some teams, I feel like in my career, when they found out I was following their best guy, they put me in motion a lot, get me tired before the rep, then do what they do. Just staying left and right man, I feel like it’s going to be easy, easy for me.”
(In regard to the defense as a whole, how big is the job that DT’s Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler do up front for you guys?) – “They do a great job up front, man. Also ‘JP’ (Jaelan Phillips), a couple of guys, (Bradley) Chubb. They do a lot of great things and I feel like it’s going to help the back end even more.”
(You’re the longest tenured Dolphin, which is weird to say. What do you tell guys as they begin training camp? What do you say to them in terms of expectations for the season? Because it seems like this is a different level of your team.) – “Yeah, I feel like you feel an energy though when you come into this locker room. I feel like guys are walking around here like they’ve got to get stuff done. I don’t feel like anybody’s comfortable being here or being in a position they’re in right now and I feel like you’ve got to have that. Especially being here, you know. There’s a lot of great guys on this team and I feel like from pressure there I feel like it’s a lot of pressure from there.”
(Is this the least amount of turnaround in this roster? It seems like this roster has gotten the opportunity to grow. How much is that going to help?) – “This is a big jump from the roster, just being on the previous team, especially with the talent they brought over here. It has been a big jump real quick, though.”
(We talked a lot with the offensive guys about them being in year two with Head Coach Mike McDaniel’s system. Do you guys feel you might need to catch up or need to learn a little bit faster because you’re in year one of a new system?) – “Yeah, I feel like it’s definitely that. I feel like a couple guys bought into the defense. We ran a little bit of it, but a lot of guys ain’t got it down to the end, because we’re just getting a new defense. I feel like I’ve been in several defenses, that’s one thing about football is you can learn quick. I feel like the coaches won’t put too much on the guys neither though.”
(You’ve seen it up close. Is there a guy or two you’ve seen so far this offseason that we should look out for this year?) – “Kader (Kohou). My boy, Kader. Dude is a straight dawg. His mentality he has, just being an undrafted guy, I continue to see him grow and get better on the field.”
(How much did CB Kader Kohou surprise you last year as a rookie?) – “To tell you the truth, I saw it during training camp. When I saw him playing, I was like, ‘Who’s 38? I like him,’ when he was lining up against Tyreek (Hill) and everything. I’m like, ‘OK, I like him.’”
(And he overcame No. 38, too.) – “(laughter) Yeah, he’s got my college number (now). I was really upset. (laughter)”
(Sticking with CB Kader Kohou, how have you seen him respond to all the additions that y’all made at corner this offseason?) – “I feel like he responded good. There’s a lot of competition at the nickel spot also with what we brought to the team, but I feel like the best guy is going to be out there. If you’re the best guy, you’re going to be out there,”
(S Brandon Jones and CB Nik Needham both got a chance to come back. What have those two guys done in their short times here and how do they help you guys defensively?) – “Man, Nik (Needham) played a big role being here with me and everything, and I’ve seen him grow. Just a little hiccup he had in the road, everybody deals with that. I overcame a lot of injuries being here. Nik brings a lot to the table, and also Brandon (Jones) too. We call him ‘Blitz Boy,’ but he brings a lot to the table, man. He does his thing. When he’s out there, he’s going 120 miles per hour every day.”
CB Jalen Ramsey
(How was the summer? What did you do this summer?) – “Played with my kids. That’s about it.”
(Physically how are you feeling after kind of being limited during the spring?) – “I’m good. I’m good.”
(What’s this day like when you’re starting a new training camp with a new team?) – “Football as usual. Work as usual. Just being back with everybody. My day is the same as everybody else’s. There isn’t anything special to it.”
(Do you expect to go full-go during training camp?) – “Yeah, I’m sure I will. I’m sure we’ll have a good plan for me.”
(This team has heightened expectations. You dealt with that in Jacksonville after you guys went to the AFC Championship. You dealt with that in L.A. How has this team handled this from what you’ve observed so far?) – “It’s just Day 1 of training camp. We’ve got to do the work first. The work comes first. When you put the work in, you don’t really worry about none of that. You don’t really worry about what other people say. You know what you have done to prepare and you just stand on that and whether it works out for you or not, you know if you put the work in.”
(In June you were telling us that people’s expectations, you could use it as motivation – positive or negative, if they believe in you or if they don’t believe in you. Are you seeing any evidence of that? Did you see evidence of that from this team in OTAs or minicamp that they’re aware of the heightened expectations?) – “Yeah, maybe, but the work comes first. We’ve just got to focus on the work right now and then everything will fall in place how it needs to.”
(Acclimating to the weather, it seems a little hotter out there, but how are you guys managing yourselves just trying to stay physically fit, trying to stay hydrated and things like that?) – “It’s just our job. We can’t ever control the weather so we just go do our job. Work through it. It’s all good. It’s hot for everybody.”
(How does this compare to Jacksonville?) – “I don’t know, man. I haven’t been to Jacksonville in a while. I’m not really worried about that either, to be honest with you. I’m worried about right here in the present. So I’m not going to compare or nothing to any other team that I’ve been on honestly. Just got to work.”
(I meant the weather, I’m sorry.) – “The weather? I don’t remember. I haven’t been there in a while.”
(When you look at this defense, what makes you like most optimistic? What are you most looking forward to with this defense and the pieces you have?) – “The whole defense really. I’ve been a part of his defense for the past three years so I kind of know how to play it. I know what’s needed to play this defense and be one of the best defenses in the league and be elite. And we got all the pieces – edge rushers to the secondary. We even got the linebackers and all that. Like I said, I don’t compare, but I look at other teams I’ve been a part of and I feel like we, on paper, we stack up well. But the work comes first.”
(With your experience and knowledge of this defense, do you kind of feel a responsibility to be almost like a coach on the field for the rest of the guys who maybe are new in the system?) – “Yeah, I don’t force it though. If they need my help or guidance or if I see something that can help them or guide them, then I’ll give them my input, but everybody can kind of figure it out on their own and people like figuring things out on their own. And that’s what OTAs are for and that’s what training camp is for, to kind of figure some things out. You can’t micromanage or baby grown men through stuff. We’re going to get it. We’re going to put the work in.”
(In your experience, what separates the truly elite great defenses from the average or so-so defenses?) – “You’ve got to have the pieces. That’s of course, right? You’ve got to have the talent which I believe we have, but then you got to – I just keep saying it – we’ve got to put the work in. It’s a crazy amount of work that we’ve got to put in, but it’ll all pay off and then we’ve just got to play as one. We’ve got to have unity as a defense and as a team. So those are all things that we’ll for sure work on during this training camp.”
(One of your former Florida State teammates happens to be in free agency, has flirted with Miami. Saw it on social media. Dalvin Cook. What do you think adding Dalvin Cook to this team would do for this offense?) – “Any of my friends, I always want to play on the same team as any of my friends or any elite player, but that ain’t none of my business to be honest with you. I’m here with these guys that are here currently. If we add ‘DC 4,’ I’d be happy. I promise you I will and I’ll come up here and I might give you a longer little speech about it. But right now, I’m focusing on myself and my teammates who are in the building right now and we’re going to get after it.”
(You and WR Tyreek Hill have kind of been somewhere where this team hasn’t gone being the Super Bowl. How does that experience kind of help you in training camp to kind of maybe fine-tune things or offer advice or insights into some of your teammates?) – “A lot of will be instilled right here in training camp and we’ll start doing a lot of things, but it doesn’t end right here. We’ve got to continue being leaders throughout the year and helping our teammates throughout the year because there will be adversities throughout this training camp, throughout the season, that we’ll have to overcome and help those guys overcome, and kind of realize the big picture and always have goal in our mind of what we’re striving for as a team. But other than that, just every day. Just every day working and every day helping guys as much as we can, but just working. Being present and working.”
(You were the highest-rated corner in Madden. I think it’s the fifth time it’s happened in your career. I know it’s just a video game, but where do you kind of see your respect as the top or one of the top corners in the game at this stage?) – “The top. Yeah, about right, but I’m never one to – like I don’t care if I was a 70 on Madden. I’m going to still play the game, I’m going to still edit myself to 99 anyway. (laughter) Like I don’t really care. That doesn’t really matter to me, but it’s more so about being on a video game. Like that’s a blessing. Like as kids, I was playing Xbox and PlayStation. Being on a video game, I don’t necessarily have to create myself. I’ve got to edit myself a little bit, but I ain’t necessarily have to create myself so it’s a blessing. I don’t take that for granted. Like, ‘oh, they gave me this rating or that rating.’ It’s a blessing to me regardless. It’s cool.”
(So what do you edit?) – “99 everything. (laughter) For sure. 99 everything.”
(You always hear the statement “iron sharpens iron.” How much do you look forward to those one-on-one battles with WR Jaylen Waddle and WR Tyreek Hill? You and CB Xavien Howard?) – “Yeah, I look forward to it a lot.”
(A minute ago, when someone said “one of the top corners,” you corrected him. You said “the top.” How important is that to you to be the top?) – “Well, I have been for many years in my career, so it’s very important to me. I think people get things confused sometimes when guys show an individual goal for themselves or have individual hype for themselves. But honestly, it’s like, why wouldn’t I? Right? Why wouldn’t I want to be the very best and me being the very best is going to also help the team be successful. So I’m always going to strive to be the best and I got other guys in the secondary who should be doing the same thing and probably are doing the same thing. You ask ‘X’ (Xavien Howard), I hope ‘X’ will say he’s the best corner. You ask the safeties, I hope they will say they’re the best. If you ask me honestly, I’m going to say I’m the best DB in the league, the best DB in this secondary, all of that. And I’m going to challenge those guys to push me and make me prove it, right? And I’m going to challenge them to do the same. So you got to have that pride about yourself, especially playing this position. Like you got to have that ultra confidence in yourself or it’s going to be over for you. So yeah, I’m going to always have pride in what I do.”
(Just kind of on that same topic. Earlier this offseason, there were some of the younger corners like Sauce Gardner and some other guys debating that topic, best corner and whatnot. How do you maybe see some of these younger corners coming up and how you compare to your longevity and consistency?) – “To be honest with you, I never compare myself to them. Just because we all are our own individuals. And there’s this running thing that DBs hate on each other. and I actually don’t think that’s true to be honest with you. Like it’s a competitive fire where each individual should think that they’re the best, but you can ask – honestly, I challenge y’all to ask any of them like any young DB who does hit me up – Sauce (Gardner), Pat (Surtain), like literally anybody. I’m always sharing my knowledge with them. I’m always giving them positive words, showing them some love. I’m never tripping about that. What they do doesn’t control my career. They don’t control what I do. It doesn’t control my legacy or anything like that. I got to do what I do. So to answer your question, I just don’t compare myself to them. I wish them luck unless they’re playing us, right? But I got to do what I do regardless. Like it doesn’t really matter to me. I hope all of them do their thing to be honest with you.”
(A question about the current NFL. It seems like at this point of the season, teams put more emphasis on joint practices than preseason games to get work for veterans, experienced players like yourself. I’m wondering what are your thoughts on that? Is a joint practice more beneficial to a veteran player than a preseason game?) – “I’ll let the coaches handle all the logistics stuff like that. I just go out there and play whenever I got to play. I don’t care where we at. I don’t care if we’re in the offseason, in joint practices, in preseason, in the regular season, playoffs. It doesn’t matter. I’m going to play regardless. But I’m sure there’s benefits. There’s pros and cons to everything, right? And I’m sure there’s some benefits of being able to have joint practices and get a certain situation to work in, in certain times that you might not be able to get during a game just because the game has so many highs and lows that go on and unpredictable things. So I’m sure there’s benefits to it.”
RB Raheem Mostert
(We just heard from CB Jalen Ramsey asking him about Madden ratings. It doesn’t matter to him because he’s going to boost up to 99 anyways. Are you going to have to the touch of speed up?) – “I guess that’s the case. I tweeted at EA (Electronic Arts), probably what, two days ago or yesterday? Just basically saying like, ‘Hey, do I exist?’, and they sent back an image under my reply, like, a picture of the top 10 running backs. I’m like, no, no, no, that’s not what I mean, I want to be a top-10 overall. But it’s all good. Once you show that speed in-game, that’s when the adjusters come. I’m going to be talking to Chad (Johnson) hopefully here soon.”
(At the end of last year, you said, when you talked to Head Coach Mike McDaniel at the end of the season, and he said he wanted to run the ball more, did you get that in writing?) – “I should have gotten it in writing honestly, but no we had talked and it was a great conversation. I personally took on the challenge of being more of a productive back, just because last year, I was coming off of a knee injury, and then having to settle back in my ways, and I started picking those things up towards the end of the season. He realized that too. Early on, I wasn’t technically myself, just because like I said, I had that in the back of my mind. But once you gain that confidence in yourself, especially coming back off an injury, it’s definitely eye opening. Once the season ends, and you reflect and now I’m like, hey, look, I got one full year being healthy. Now it’s time to ride. I’m ready to go. Just having that conversation with him was definitely enlightening.”
(Players say in the second year coming back from that knee injury, they feel like themselves. So was it at the end of the year you started to feel like yourself? Or what are your expectations for year two?) – “When you come back from an injury, the first couple of months is almost a mental game. And that was the case for me, I was in a little bit of a slump, because I didn’t know if I was going to reinjure it, if the game was going to be a different pace than I’m anticipating or normal. But once you start getting that groove and feeling yourself, I mean you saw it towards the end of the year, I was starting to gain more confidence. Even you know, Coach (Studesville) mentioned that too. A lot of errors I was making early on and now I started honing in on my craft a little bit more, feeling more comfortable and then it was time to go. But like you said, coming into year two is definitely a little bit easier. Especially the fact that I’m not thinking about the knee. My focus now is solely on improving my game and how can I be elite at the top, upper echelon of the running back game. So that’s my main focus now.”
(Raheem, just kind of piggybacking off that. You mentioned this offseason, you don’t have to worry about rehab. So what does that growth been like for you like for you?) – “The growth has been unbelievable, just being back, running full speed, taking advantage of the opportunities that I have off the field during the offseason and really just honing in on myself and my abilities. I’ve been involved in the pass game throughout my career, but now I’m starting to really see myself being more of that elite pass catcher just solely based off of just focusing on that. It’s very enlightening. Like I said, I’m excited. I’m so excited guys. You really have no idea.”
(The team drafted RB De’Von Achane and you were really open to bring him in and taking him under your wings. Now there is talk of even adding another running back in RB Dalvin Cook. What would you think if the backfield got even more crowded?) – “When I was in San Francisco, we brought in Tevin Coleman, Jerick McKinnon and Matt Breida just to name a few guys. They’re all starters, they’re all elite guys. And they’ve all made unbelievable plays in their career. Just to add somebody like Dalvin would be good in the backfield. But at the end of the day, it’s more so about what’s on the team right now, the guys that we got to work with, and just be better as a group. It will always be a bonus to add a running back in. We all learn and piggyback off each other. You see what happened last year, when we added Jeff Wilson to the mix, you see how the game went for both of us in the in the running back room. So a lot has come from the value of adding another running back, it’s more of a running back group than rather than going against each other because we’re all on the same team at the end of the day. That’s the approach that you have to have and be a professional about it when you bring in somebody.”
(You guys obviously added a few pieces in the running back room and on the offensive line, but by and large, the same running back room back from last year, same starting lineup from the opening day offensive line is back again. How does the continuity of all those guys being back together for a second year benefit the offense?) – “The continuity is just going to get more and more explosive and you’re going to see, even with a guy like Tua (Tagovailoa), him settling in for his second year. I know, in previous years, he had a new offensive coordinator every year he’s been in the league, but to be able to finally hone-in on the second go round on the offense, I mean, the sky’s the limit. I’ve been in situations where I’ve had an offensive coordinator come in and then be gone the next year, and then another offensive coordinator come in, and next thing you know, he’s here for another year and just revamped, the offense just got better and moved more fluidly. I trust (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) that he’s going to get the job done and call the correct plays and doing what he has to do, as both the head coach and the coordinator and Frank (Smith) and everybody else on the offensive side of the ball. So the continuity is going to be there, it’s going to be great. I already know it. I’m truly excited about it.”
(This is your second year with QB Tua Tagovailoa. You worked out with him in the offseason. What have you seen in terms of growth from a leadership standpoint from him?) – The growth and leadership standpoint, he’s natural at that. But now he’s starting to take on that role of truly getting everybody in the right position, doing what he has to do. I was throwing with him a couple of weeks ago, with a lot of different guys. He was just on point, just the way he tried to have everybody aligned and made sure that ‘Hey, look, Raheem, I know you don’t play this position all that much wide out, but you have to be right here at this point so that way, when you break in or have an in-breaking route, then I can throw you the ball right on time.’ Just to see the maturity in a guy like Tua man, he knows that he wants to be on point. He knows that he wants to be a great quarterback in this league. And he’s doing everything in his in his power to do that and make it happen.”
(Going back to Head Coach Mike McDaniel, over the years that you’ve worked together. What are some things that you notice about how he approaches an offseason, and how he comes out of an offseason? Does he tend to maybe obsess over things that went wrong the year before?) – “With Mike, the beautiful thing about him is he’s going to look back at the season from last year. He knows everything that he did that was not his best work, and he’s going to readjust and do everything he possibly can to not make that same mistake twice. That’s the saying that he uses a lot. ‘I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.’ So in year two, being a head coach, I think that you’re going to see a lot of a lot of different changes with him, more so dialing in on different aspects of the game. He’s very intelligent, as you could tell. He understands the game a lot and he’s going to be working his tail off to make sure that he gets all the guys in the right position to win. I know that from firsthand and seeing it, when we were in San Fran together, to now. He’s going to make those corrections and he’s going to get on the same page with everybody.”
(Speaking about that firsthand experience, any specific memory come to mind of something that you just saw him change over the offseason?) – “There was a game where I know he will be on the plane, and me and him would talk. I would go up to him because as a friend of mine, and I would just talk to him on the plane, we’d have a long ride or whatever. I would ask him what are your thoughts not only on the run game, but overall? And a few instances where he was just like, ‘I made a couple bad decisions, I made a couple bad calls on my end and I can’t put you guys in that position.’ Which is understandable, as a head coach, but then you also have to look at as a player aspect too. If you call a certain play, you expect that play to be executed, regardless of the situation. For both of us, I know that is very important to him that he really wants to adjust and grow and mature in that aspect of not making those mistakes, and that’s what he’s been able to do so far.”
(There was recently a Zoom call among running backs talking about your role in the game. I’m wondering what you think about the running backs role league-wide financially, the running backs role league-wide on the field and the running backs role specifically in this offense? Because you talked about Head Coach Mike McDaniel wanting to run more.) – “It’s a very touchy subject right now, especially in the position of the running backs. This game is evolving, more so than ever, into a pass game. And you have to look at it as hey, look, this is something that we have to adjust to, but at the same time, we still understand our value. As you could tell, you can see what’s going on with all the different running backs not being paid the way they’re supposed to be, which is unfortunate, but I think it’s definitely one of those points where you do have to make a stand. I mean, think about other positions in the league that back in the day, they were nonexistent. Receivers were definitely that case, and now they’re being blown up in the aspect of being important in the offense and vice versa. So, in regards to the running back, we do have to do a lot. It’s definitely sad that it has to be at this point, but it’s understandable too just because the game is evolving. If you see what we are able to do, we’re the ones that are taking the hits. We’re the ones that are blocking guys that are two-three-four times bigger than us. And we’re also running the ball and catching out of the backfield and being in a position where we have to run routes too out of the slot. The value of the running back position is definitely going down. But it’s time for teams to make a stand and guys like us to make a stand that is definitely an important (part of the) game because when the pass game is nonexistent, who are they going to lean on? That’s just a question that you have to ask yourself and it’s definitely the run game. I was a receiver once. That’s my natural position. I understand the receivers’ aspect as well. But in this league right now, you definitely have to value the running backs and it has to happen, so something has to change.”
(Did you see OL Connor Williams come in today and if so, how nice was it to see your center after he wasn’t around for offseason workouts?) – “Yeah, I saw Connor and it was exciting just because I want to see all my guys out here. All the guys should be out here but if it holds true and guys feel like they need to do whatever they have to do, then so be it. But it was good to see Connor out here. He’s definitely a bright, bright guy in this offense and he’s a key aspect to it.”
