Liam Eichenberg – May 28, 2024
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Tuesday, May 28, 2024
OL Liam Eichenberg
(What is this camp like for you now that you know the offense? You know Offensive Line Coach Butch Barry’s approach. How much is this sort of like a redundancy for you?) – “Yeah, I think obviously we’re out here in OTAs, similar structure, similar drills, but honestly for me, I like that. I like the repetitiveness and improving on what I know I have in practice. Get out there, stance and start – every day I’m trying to work on that. I think for us personally, it’s kind of that repetitive nature where even though we’re doing things over and over again, that’s the offensive line position. There’s always something to improve on. It’s great having Butch (Barry) back and I’m lucky to be here. We’re just working to improve every day.”
(Where’s your mindset going into this offseason with basically a new center added. You did a lot of work there. You’re doing a lot of work there now but then those guards spots seem to be vacant?) – “Yeah, I mean as you guys know I’m going to play wherever they need me to play. I’m excited to be out there. I’m excited to be healthy right now. End of the year last year, I was kind of banged up pretty good, so it’s nice being able to run without some pain. I’m at center right now. I’m working to be the best center for this team right now. Obviously when (Aaron) Brewer gets back, I’m going to start working at guard. I got some good work in the first couple weeks of OTAs, so I’m looking forward to getting out there in team and kind of showing what I can do.”
(What position is second nature to you right now?) – “Second nature – I mean honestly, anything on the inside. Haven’t done tackle in a couple years, but getting kicked over center not expecting to the first day, I was like, ‘It’s fine.’ I know the offense; I know how to run the offense. I know how to point everything. Just kind of going to be out there eventually, hopefully at guard, and kind of help (Aaron) Brewer out as he learns this offense, too.”
(How much did work at center help prepare you to go over and move back to other positions like guard?) – “I mean I think, especially coming from outside at tackle and moving into guard, I’d recommend that every player plays some center. I think it kind of opens everything up for you, teaches you how to kind of understand your range on the inside. It’s just a different game. It kind of gets you more comfortable playing inside.”
Nik Needham – May 28, 2024
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Tuesday, May 28, 2024
CB Nik Needham
(I understand you’re working combination of safety and nickel. How much does that differ? Because you’ve done some safety in the past, right?) – “It’s not too different right now, because I think it was like three or four years ago when Jevon (Holland) and Brandon (Jones) were battling injuries, I stepped in and played a little safety. That was my first time really playing it, so now it’s just kind of breaking it back in, hitting up some old notes that I had on safety and talking to Jevon and having Jordan (Poyer), too, helps as well – two of the best safeties. And then nickel, that’s just football really. I’ve never really had an issue with that going from corner to nickel.”
(So it has been a while since that year you’re talking about? Or did you do some last year?) – “That I played safety? Yeah, that was like – oh, I did. I actually did, yeah. I’m tripping. (laughter) I played a little bit. I played a little bit but yeah, it was practice. I played some nickel last year, and just emergency safety – if someone got hurt, I would go in. So it wasn’t anything…”
(What’s the biggest challenge going from corner to safety?) – “Just the mental aspect of it. At corner, it’s really your physical abilities. It’s one-on-one, you verse the guy right in front of you. When you move to safety, you kind of control the whole defense. You have to understand how to put guys in certain positions and in certain situations what to do. I think that’s probably the hardest part, but I feel like I’m a capable guy and versatile enough that I can handle the workload and play corner, safety, nickel, linebacker. Like I said, whatever they need me to play, I’m going to play.”
(How does it help having a guy like Jordan Poyer? A veteran like him, for the safety group, kind of the most experienced veteran since Jason McCourty, right?) – “For sure. He’s helped tremendously. I told him he’s one of the coolest dudes I’ve ever met in the league. Our first day, he was super open, wants everyone to learn from him. He’s not trying to act like, ‘I’m the big 12-year vet.’ He’s very open, he has us over for dinner. We haven’t done that as a DB group since I’ve been here. Having that I feel like will create more camaraderie and have us be successful on the field, because we’ll really know each other. It’s not just going out and playing and see you at work. We can actually create a bond, and he’s the one that started that with everybody. We takes walks with our shoes off and (stuff), but we’re just talking and bonding. I feel like that’s what the good teams do.”
(So he’s hosted you? He’s had you guys over?) – “Yeah, he just did for Memorial Day yesterday. Once a week, the safeties go to dinner. Like I said, I haven’t done that since I’ve been here.”
(Had you had any interaction with him before he signed with the Dolphins?) – “No, we just started talking. Like I said, he’s a cool dude. He’s one of the coolest dudes that I’ve met. So I’m like, you’re very open. He was just like, ‘We should have dinner.’ ‘Alright, bet.’
(He hasn’t thrown any jabs over about his record against you guys?) – “Nah, nah, nah. (laughter) I mean we’ve obviously talked about that (stuff). Like I said, I tried to ask him how their defense had success, because they’re a very successful defense as well. They have some of the top DBs too. Just learning from that and using stuff he knows for us.”
(It’s the safeties and corners?) – “That go to eat? Yeah, all the DBs.”
(You’re a lot farther ahead in the game than you were last year because you were coming back from injury. How much of a difference does that make?) – “Like a whole 180 in the mindset. Last year coming off injury, battling, keep getting injured while I was trying to come back, it was just messing my head up. I was kind of down and just wasn’t in the right headspace. This year, I’m back to myself, I feel confident. I’m not out hurting and (expletive).”
Anthony Walker Jr. – May 28, 2024
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Tuesday, May 28, 2024
LB Anthony Walker Jr.
(How does it feel being back in the South Florida heat? I know it’s a little different.) – “You see me over here, I’m a little drenched. (laughter) No, just getting back acclimated, just playing football again. Obviously, the Miami heat provides a different element, but it’s what you embrace opportunity. I’m happy to be back home embracing the opportunity to compete and just having fun doing it.”
(How important do you feel like coming to these voluntary workouts are? Just building team chemistry and just that cohesion?) – “Yeah, you only get better by putting the work in, and then as a defense and as a team, you get better by being all here together and putting the work in. This is a great time. I don’t know any other way to do football besides playing it. For me, just physically getting in shape and being out here with my teammates, communicating, making calls, flying around. It’s fun, you embrace that part of it. It’s a grind, but that’s why we’re here.”
(What do you look forward to as far as these coming months? I know you being down here and being able to be around family, but what are you looking forward to these next couple months?) – “Yeah, like you said just being around family. First time being able to play football and be around family at the same time. Get my work in, but also enjoying the family time and relaxing and all that stuff. There’s no better place to do it than Miami. To be here and be able to have my family here and my teammates here, get better and train and everything down here is a blessing.”
(Thoughts on S Jevon Holland’s playlist?) – “Yeah, started off kind of fast. Kind of died down a bit, then he brought it back up. Got a couple old school classics on there, I was proud of him.”
(Just touching on the defense, with this linebacker corps just being a vocal point and assuming that leadership role, what are some things you’ve noticed from the group as far as the guys just being vocal and having that presence felt?) – “Coach Weaver talked about it the first day, that obnoxious communication – everybody putting the work in and communicating. That’s defense. That’s defensive football. You have to be able to communicate, all 11 have to be on the same page. We’re either all right and we’re right, or we’re all wrong and we’re still right, because we all did the same thing. It’s huge when it comes to that. You’ve got to be able to do that, and we understand that. So as a linebacker, we take that very personally to be able to get everybody set and be the calm presence of the defense, and then just be that vocal voice that gets all the guys ready to go and also calm within the system.”
Mike McDaniel – May 28, 2024
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Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(How does it feel to be in your third year of coaching and now having the type of coaching tree with Teddy Bridgewater at the high school level at Miami Northwestern?) – “I am glad you brought that to my attention. I needed the ego boost – I have a tree. (laughter) I hadn’t thought of Coach Bridgewater as a disciple of my tree, but technically I guess you’re right and it’s cool to see. I kind of had an idea that Teddy would go this direction when he was kind of figuring things out and what he wanted to do. He’s a very talented individual and has a lot of things that he could do with his time, but he’s passionate about football so it doesn’t surprise me. That’s pretty cool, Year 3, to have a tree. That means there’s growth in life. It’s not fall and there’s not people scattering around the league just getting fired because of their association with me so that’s good.”
(I wanted to ask you about Year 3, but primarily QB Tua Tagovailoa. One, is he going to be here today and then two, what kind of growth do you think you can expect from a guy who’s still young and this is the first time he’s ever been in a third year in an offense and I know last year you were at the point where he was directing you in terms of what he liked or what he felt. What do you expect as you continue to grow?) – “That’s been a cool process because you have two years under your belt together where all you’ve seen is his game progress and I think Year 3, we really got to take a step back and assess not just the things that he liked or looked comfortable with, but what are some things that maybe he hasn’t looked comfortable with in the past that we can get him some comfort levels with. We’ve kind of re-challenged ourselves and how we verbalize stuff, and the bottom line is our connectivity with how we see things and what we’re trying to do with every different assignment. That can always get cleaner and I think it really has. I think there’s been some cool things. He will be here today and in the short amount of time – he had two practices last week, and we saw some growth and development within what we’re specifically asking him to do. So it’s been very exciting because at this point we’re like, ‘Alright, well let’s really push ourselves to really challenge this guy,’ because all he ends up doing is rising to the challenge within what we ask him to do. I think to expect the same if not more growth within your game from each year, I don’t think is crazy. I think for us to expect just as much if not more from Year 2 to Year 3 is very safe for our expectations and I know he feels the same way, too. There’s a lot of places where we can get our game better so excited about this opportunity on May 28.”
(Have you seen a difference from him? He hired that personal quarterback coach. Now in OTAs, I know he’s only had two practices. Is there something that you’ve seen personally, like, woah that’s been surprising that’s caught your eye?) – “I think the deliberate intentionality with anything you do renders some unexpected consequences that are definitely desirable. I think he without thinking has probably generated a little more force on some throws that he’s trying to drive. I have actually extensive experience with the coach that he’s working with, John Beck. I was a coach in 2011 for the Washington team that he quarterbacked and have been on a couple teams where he’s worked with some of the quarterbacks that we’ve had already. So there’s some familiarity with that which is awesome because with John, he knows what we’re trying to do and the direction or how we ask the quarterback to play. I think just that connectivity to your game and trying to unearth every single inch and iota of professional development; that in itself, you’re headed in the right direction. So I think there’s some things that I’ll probably see every day and when you talk to him, I think there’s some times that he’s effortlessly doing some of the things that he’s used to doing, just not having to think as much because he’s been so deep diving into his trade.”
(How important do you find it to have a lot of your top guys together for these sessions? Granted, they’re voluntary and also what can you gain when a lot of starters are away?) – “There’s probably two things existing simultaneously in that this is all voluntary, but there’s ways to get better in a team environment each and every day. So for me, individually kind of assessing each circumstance, the good news is with this team and with the players on it, they communicate with me very well so I kind of know what’s coming. As long as I know what’s coming, you can plan for the opportunity, and I mean, shoot, in the two seasons that I’ve been the head coach here, you see how much your roster’s depth comes into question as the course of the season goes. When there aren’t guys on a certain day attending practice, there are guys that supremely benefit from that. The biggest thing as a team, I think the connectivity where people’s expectations on how our standard of practice is, anybody that hasn’t been at practice, people getting more reps because of it have taken advantage of it in that they’ve known their assignment and we’re actually coaching them on technique and fundamentals within the play and not what they should be doing. So because of the team and their mindset and the way they’ve really gone about it this offseason, we’ve had a tremendous offseason of growth really in our schematics and our fundamentals, because people have taken advantage of opportunities. So that doesn’t necessarily – that’s not always the case. So in situations where people don’t rise to the challenge or really understand the opportunity presented when they may be getting reps with the ones instead of the twos or they may be getting reps with the twos instead of the threes; when people don’t rise to those occasions, it substantially affects your team. I’m happy to say that we’ve had really a lot of growth in what we’re trying to do in our practices and the guys that haven’t been here in a voluntary situation, I don’t see it hurting our team right now.”
(Have you had a chance to see WR Tyreek Hill, WR Jaylen Waddle and WR Odell Beckham Jr. together on the field yet?) – “Their individual processes through the offseason, where they’re at; we’ve haven’t had that opportunity yet, but I’m not in any hurry to see that. Each individual has to earn their keep and earn their targets, so having all three at the same time isn’t necessarily a big deal to me. It’s each and every one of them understanding our offense, how to separate in the timing of the play, understanding how to align and who and what to block; all those things are the most important to me especially as you are right live in the offseason.”
(Quick follow up if I may with WR Tyreek Hill, I remember the last couple of years, he wouldn’t want to take a play off during practices. Now that he’s 30 and got to think about the long term for him, do you kind of ramp him down some in the summer to…?) – “Another great benefit of Year 3, especially with the guys that this is their third year in this program with me as the head coach understanding who they are and how to best serve those individuals is huge. So knowing Tyreek’s all-or-nothing type of mindset on the grass, yes, we do take that into account. There’s multiple times that he’s usually trying to talk us into it, but we’re talking him out of participation on the field knowing where his Ferrari horsepower is at and making sure that stays that way so it is very helpful with some of the types of practice players we have – knowing them and being able to keep them out of harm’s way as best we can.”
(Regarding QB Tua Tagovailoa again, I’m going to bring up a word you used last week about him being “svelte.” About a year ago at this time, the thinking was the added weight would help his durability and as it turned out, he played all 17 games. So obviously there’s been some kind of shift in the thinking now. Can you kind of take us through the decision?) – “That’s a very understandable misconception. We were not on an offseason weight program last year, it was strength. So him getting stronger and the unintended consequences for him personally and he saw his game, his strength increased but he felt like he could have the same amount of strength and kind of reshape his body and be a little lighter on his feet. So it’s kind of the natural evolution of you get stronger and then you really pay attention to your diet, the times that you’re eating and when your caloric intake is, those types of things, so he can maintain those strength gains while also being a little more limber in the pocket I think is what’s drove him to kind of attack that which he’s done a great job of.”
(There’s been discussions with the NFLPA and players that came out today about moving OTAs before training camp staring next year. Obviously, this year we have the current format, but I’m curious your thoughts of the split and maybe how it changes how you coach knowing there’s a six-week gap coming up?) – “To an annoying degree, I don’t really have opinions on ‘we could.’ To me, mastering the time from the end of the season to the beginning of it is something that everyone is trying to really execute in a high degree. My only history from the coaching profession is under the current kind of pattern that we really operate under, and with those, you have to really be intentional with the types of things you’re doing, the buildup, the ramp up and then it’s kind of like a trust fall when you take that break between the end of this period of time now to when you see the players again. I can understand why the schedule is as it is and of course, there’s going to be a lot of retooling. If that does change, I can understand the whys and whatfors. Apparently, we might be on deck to have the longest season of all time. With that, if you don’t adjust your schedule – so we obviously will – and if that comes to fruition, but it doesn’t really bother me either way. Whatever the rules are, you just have to be very mindful and intentional of what you’re doing within those rules and we can adjust to whatever. If you come back a month earlier, I’ll probably have different types of breaks and different types of evening meeting schedules and you’re just constantly evolving to have your team full-cylinder Week 1. So it’ll just be an adjustment of calendar stuff which is a whole lot of fun. If you guys want to come to the office on that day if we are to retool our schedule, it’s going to be awesome. I mean you talk about some really stuff within the calendar. But we’ll adjust to do right by the players and maximize their performance which is our jobs.”
(Where does RB De’Von Achane go from – how does he build on his rookie season? What areas do you hope he develops in over the course of this offseason?) – “I think important offseason for him because you were just really hanging on by your coattails as a rookie in this league in general. The way things are kind of structured is there’s so much time devoted to working out and getting your testing numbers right and then the second that you – and you’re training for kind of these timed measurables. Then you immediately transition once you’re drafted into kind of practicing. You get a little breath of a break and then you’re still on your rookie season. Year 2, you kind of let everything settle, understand much more of the whys of everything that you do and for him, the more he can understand within the offense, the more ways he can get the ball. He had outstanding ball production, some of which I know he feels specifically that there’s more out there from the opportunities he had last year and then being able to find different ways to get people the ball whether that’s different types of pass routes, whether that’s different types of run schemes that you can get comfortable with, all those things. More ways to be at the point of attack to play within this offense, that’s what this offseason really provides for him. Seeing some strength gains and you can tell by his body he’s put some work into it and then him just understanding everything about our offense so he can be as big a part of it as possible. That’s his goal.”
(To follow up real quick on that, where is that line between taking the next step as a sophomore, as a Year 2 guy versus maybe entering a sophomore slump?) – “It is real. It is ever-present. It is never going to go away in the game, because a lot of times lessons have to be learned the hard way. A lot of times if you have success as a rookie, you go one of two ways: you’re either starved for more or you can get kind of comfortable. I know each and every year there are examples for both and that’s something that we were talking with De’Von (Achane) in our exit interviews when he was exiting the building that whatever you did this year, are you expecting more or less? Well, if you’re expecting more, you definitely can’t do less. You get out what you put in, and I think he’s aware of that because nobody wants to have the climax of their career be the first year so you just keep it real with guys and very honest and bring up examples that’s happened in the course of your career and try to give them the most tools to succeed the way you know that they want to, because a lot of times people always say, ‘Yeah, I want to be better,’ but it just doesn’t happen.”
