Emmanuel Ogbah – August 13, 2024
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Tuesday, August 13, 2024
LB Emmanuel Ogbah
(LB Jaelan Phillips came back from injury finally yesterday. What’s it like having on the field these past two days?) – “It feels good. We know how much he put work in just to get back out there, we’re happy to see him. He brings that energy back from the old LB room, so we’re just happy to see him back out there with us.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel had said that he’s at y’all’s level mentally despite not being able to get any reps on the field. Has he been active in the meeting room and on the sideline for you guys?) – “Oh yeah, he’s there every day. We’re there learning together, talking together during special teams, when we’re having walkthroughs. He was mentally locked in, so I know it’s going to be an easy transition for him coming back out there.”
(How have you seen the rest of the pass rushing unit develop in his absence? How much will that depth help once he’s back?) – “It will definitely help. Any time you have Jaelan (Phillips) on the field, it always helps everybody else. We’re happy to see him back out there, but the guys in the room are still working to get better every day. Working together, that’s what training camp is about.”
(LB Chop Robinson had another good day today. Where have you seen the most growth from Day 1 to now with him?) – “He’s listening, man. He’s listening, coachable. He’s asking the right questions. I’m happy to see him get better every day. He’s always working, he’s always asking for advice. The sky is the limit for him.”
(What did you gather about the team in joint practices last week?) – “We’re fighters. We got each other’s backs. We know how to work well together when we have another team come in here. We’re coachable. We listen. We work hard and we try to be the best on the field, the best defense on the field every day.”
(You’re playing kind of hungry out there almost every day. I know you talk about kind of unfinished business. Can you talk about your personal motivation? It feels like you’re taking it serious every day out there.) – “You can never take this game for granted. Just sitting on the couch, training and also mentally preparing for my opportunity, I finally got it. I’m talking full advantage of it.”
(We don’t know a lot about these defensive tackles. They are in the mix for roster spots, obviously DT Teair Tart is no longer with the team. What can you tell us beyond the top two or three guys?) – “We got guys hungry; they want that spot. We got Calais (Campbell) and Zach (Sieler), we need that third guy that’s going to step in. Benito (Jones) is there, (Brandon) Pili is doing a great job for us too. But you know guys are hungry, guys want to play. Guys want to be a part of this squad, so they are working constantly.”
Jordyn Brooks – August 13, 2024
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Tuesday, August 13, 2024
LB Jordyn Brooks
(Obviously you didn’t play on Friday, but from your perspective on the sideline, how did you notice your teammates that were on the field picking up this Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver system?) – “I thought it was good. Any game – it was a long game. It was a lot of plays, so any time you’ve got a lot of plays there are going to be some mental errors and mistakes, but for the amount of young guys that we had out there – even vets, first year in the system – I thought that the mistakes were limited and played great defense.”
(What was it like being on the sideline for a preseason game? I’m sure it’s kind of like an internal conflict of always wanting to play but knowing that this is we are where we are in the season?) – “It’s kind of like a bittersweet thing. Like as a competitor when you get out there, you want to play. You feel the juices from the game, but at the same time, it’s an opportunity for young guys to get their reps in, show the coaches (and) organization that they can play football. So it’s kind of the best of both worlds.”
(We saw you knock down a pass today. Your numbers in pass coverage were good last year. Is that something that you’ve made an emphasis over the past couple years to improve and how do you do it?) – “I didn’t knock it down – I dropped it and so I’m trying to catch it next time. But yeah, that’s always the emphasis (in) all of my game, try to get better in each and every phase. So next practice I plan on catching it.”
(The defense had a good showing out today. What do you think was behind that?) – “It’s just the standard every day. You can’t be perfect every day, but we’re trying to be great and not just be one of them teams that talk about it but actually put in the work, day in and day out. Practice is the only time that we get that opportunity to be better, so I think everybody has a collective mindset of getting it done.”
(I know you made a really good recovery last year from an ACL. You played a whole season, but do you feel different at all this year, another year removed from that?) – “Yeah, I feel great. I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life. Got down here, lost a lot of weight, put on some muscle. I think the strength staff and the nutrition staff here have just been great for me as far as getting myself in the best shape that I’ve been in. So I feel the best that I’ve ever been in my career.”
(You said you lost some weight. Where do you want to play this year weight-wise?) – “Two-thirty. Right now I’m 230. I haven’t played that since high school and so I feel good, feel fast, feel light. So everything’s good.”
(Saw a couple plays there where it looked like you anticipated both pass and run game and got there before the receiver or the running back. I’m just curious, what do you think contributes to that for your game to playing so fast?) – “Just being instinctive and knowing what’s going on. Just doing your pre-snap reads, playing ball and knowing what the offense likes to do in a certain formation or just anticipating. I think that helps you play fast.”
(Going back to injury, the mental side of learning to trust your knee again and not to have that in the back of your mind – how long of a process does that take?) – “I think for me personally I never had that problem. I always believe in my Lord and Savior Jesus, and he helped me go out there and play worry-free from Day 1 when I came back. So I never had that problem and that’s what I trust in.”
Tua Tagovailoa – August 13, 2024
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Tuesday, August 13, 2024
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(So do you think you’ll play in this preseason game?) – “I hope so. It’s always good for any of us, whether you’re a vet or whether you’re new, to get some reps, get back into the pregame routine, get back into the feel of what it feels like to prepare getting ready for a game, all of that. Get in to game-like situations, getting hit – hopefully not, but you never know when you’re out there and sort of the mental gymnastics of that when you prepare for a game.”
(How does that work with Head Coach Mike McDaniel? Do you negotiate with him? Or he just says, ‘This is what it is?’) – “I think it’s sort of like a mutual thing. He gets with the leaders of the team, guys who have established themselves and guys who have earned the respect of the guys in the locker room – gets with those guys and has a conversation with them and we come up with basically the idea of ‘Yeah, we’re all playing’ or ‘Maybe not this one,’ or ‘We’ll see what that looks like.’ Hopefully we do get that opportunity. It would be good because this is our last one at home before we go to Tampa and then we actually start the season.”
(Is there anything different about the red zone calls this year? And obviously you don’t want to give away strategy, anecdotally it appears to me that you guys are going a little bigger – going to tight ends more, running more. Is that the case or no?) – “I would say not necessarily, it’s just a new look with the defense that we’re seeing. If you look at the past couple years, outside of (Josh) Boyer’s defense, it hasn’t really been the same since then of the looks that we get in the red area and then third downs and situationally. We’re just taking what the defense gives us and if entails us to throw it more to the big guys down there, that’s what it entails us to do.”
(These are kind of the dog days of camp. Obviously the excitement when it started and excited when it ends, but how do you get through this middle part and what do you look for at this time of year?) – “I think you really just got to look at it like one day at a time, sort of have that mentality. If you start to look into the future of things, then you start to think of unnecessary things like ‘OK, what am I going to do? How am I going to prepare for that?’ I mean, you still got to get through this practice, you still got to get through this rep, you still got to get through this play. And I think that’s sort of how you take it. So now that practice is over, OK, what’s the next thing that I got to focus on? All right, it’s my nutrition. All right, it’s my weight room training, it’s my conditioning. Whatever that entails for you, so that’s why I think guys are pretty adamant about their routines and what not.”
(Are you still experimenting or is this fine-tuning time yet? As far as an offense, where are you at?) – “I would say just because of the guys we don’t have out there at certain positions, it really forces us to work on some other things and get really good. It’s really just getting back to the basics and really honing in on that – what the footwork is, what that play asks of us to do with our job, and from there we do it.”
(What was your assessment of the other two quarterbacks in Friday’s preseason game?) – “Like I said whether you’re a vet, whether you’re not, for everyone it’s to get the jitters out, for them to get back into the routine of things. I’m sure it was a little dicey for them getting out there because you’re getting new guys. It’s not the same guys as last year that are snapping to you, that you’re having to call the plays to, you’re having to tell what to do, so everything is new with the guys that they got to go with. I think they handled themselves really well, I think they did a pretty good job.”
(How long do you think it takes to develop chemistry with a guy like WR Odell Beckham Jr. or TE Jonnu Smith, the two new weapons that you have?) – “I think in order for me, at least, as a quarterback to be able to create chemistry with someone, I got to see how they run routes. I got to see how they are on their brakes, ‘OK, this guy I can’t really, really zip the ball. I got to layer it a little bit because when he breaks out of his route it’s not as fast as it is with Tyreek’s.’ Or ‘Jaylen on his out routes, it’s not as fast as it is with Tyreek’s,’ so maybe sometimes you do have to layer in. You’ve just got to know the personnel in that aspect and then with the footwork that we have for different in-breaking routes, the timing of that as well for those guys. Are they guys that like to turn their body to get in front of the ball? Or are they guys that love to run through the ball? So that has a lot to do with placement and building chemistry with those guys in this offense.”
(OL Aaron Brewer now is going to miss some time, how key was the time that you did have with him? And how key will it be not having time with him before the regular season starts?) – “It was very key having ‘Brew’ (Aaron Brewer). We were just getting into a good rhythm. Unfortunately that’s what he’s dealing with now, but I’ve had Liam (Eichenberg) the entire last year, so I have the utmost faith and confidence that we’ll be able to get back to doing what we need to do. I mean you can see it out there – not a lot of dropped snaps, if any, so it’s been really good.”
(We’ve heard the statement throughout camp about trying to make it as hard as possible on each other, offense and defense. I’m curious how would you describe that and the benefit of trying that?) – “I think you try to make it as hard as possible just because you know the defense that you’re going against – for us, we try not to focus on what our defense does. Essentially, it’s with the mindset going out (that) as long as you know what you got to do and you play within the rules and what the play entails for you to do, you should be fine regardless of what they do. If you’re hot, you know where you’re hot answer is. If you’re not hot and you got to go through your progression, two-high, one-high, you know where you should go with the ball. It makes it hard that way so that by the time that we do come to season, we understand what we’re going against and sort of makes it a little easier. Going against these guys, they’ve seen a lot of the plays, they’ve seen a lot of the tendencies that we have with motions, motion snap points and where we’re trying to beat them with the weakness of their coverages. So that’s what makes it tough and it makes it good for both of us.”
(So that entails like, if you get a look you don’t like, not checking and trying to run into that look so you can get the rep of it on tape, is that something you do?) – “That’s not the idea, but essentially that’s what you get to if we don’t have the right play we would want. It’s like all right, this is the play we got, that’s not the look we want to throw this into, we’re going to live with it because if that’s not open, you know that’s why you have the progression here to here. And so it’s just working on the training on that.”
(What were your thoughts on RB Jaylen Wright’s performance? How quickly has he acclimated to this complicated offense?) – “He’s acclimated pretty quick. I think that was one of the first times I can really say that I’ve seen his personality with running the ball. Runs the ball and then throws one of those – I was like OK, he’s got some swag to him. And I think he’s still trying to feel out the guys, he’s still trying to feel out the offense. I think once he feels comfortable and gets comfortable, then I think we’ll all start to see his personality flourish.”
(Have you had a chance to throw with WR Odell Beckham Jr. some? I know he’s not able to practice.) – “Yeah, I got to throw with him some. Not routes wise, but him spot catching, him getting to see the way the ball spins, get a feel of it.”
(What gives you confidence that you guys will be able to hit the ground running when he comes back?) – “I’ll tell you what. I think it’s more confidence for him once he’s able to start running and catching balls and seeing it in that sense with guys across from him. Then also it’s a whole other thing to do that and then also he has to know where to line up and then what that play is, if he has a motion or if he doesn’t have a motion. So that’s where I think will be one of the tougher parts, and it’s not just for him but for everyone and anyone trying to get to know the playbook in this offense, it is tough.”
(You’ve talked about I guess the motion in this offense. This offseason has kind of been a reemphasis on that motion. How much has that affected maybe you in practice and the legality of the motion?) – “I mean I wouldn’t say any of them are motions that are illegal, I mean at least they didn’t call it. We’re not having Tyreek (Hill) run from ten yards all the way up to the line of scrimmage. (laughter) But outside of that, it just gives us different ways to present what we want to see with the defense. OK, if this guy is moving just a little bit, we know we have this little crease of space right here for this route. And you know where the guys are going to be, it’s just defensively what a certain motion does to them and then what we get from that?”
(Where do you see WR Odell Beckham Jr. fitting this offense once he finally gets on the field?) – “Well, I’ve got to see ‘O’ (Odell Beckham Jr.) catching and running routes with our guys first and getting into the mix first before I can say anything. What I can tell you though is the guys out there, they’ve been working their ass off in this heat and they’ve been studying. Like I said, it’s not an easy offense to learn, so I just want to commend the guys that are out there. It’s hard, because there’s a lot of guys that are also down too. So the guys that are there that are out there right now, I commend them for what they’re doing. So hopefully we can – God willing we can stay healthy and continue to stay healthy throughout this year for all of our positions.”
Jaelan Phillips – August 12, 2024
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Monday, August 12, 2024
LB Jaelan Phillips
(How does it feel?) – “It feels great. It feels amazing. I’m just happy to be back out there. It was a little bit of a tease. I’m ready to start hitting some things, but it was great. I’m just so blessed to have my health and be out here running around with the boys.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel mentioned that he feared that you might be the No. 1 violator as far as sneaking in extra workouts. How did you resist that temptation?) – “Just trying to take it day by day, trying not to get too ahead of myself. Obviously, I’m a high achiever and I want to come back healthy as quick as possible. So throughout this whole process I’ve just been listening to my body, listening to my trainers obviously, and it’s been great so far. Been definitely great.”
(What’s your main takeaway from this whole process?) – “It’s just taught me a lot of patience. Your body is going to be ready when your body is ready, so I’ve just been doing everything humanly possible to give my body what it needs and take the time to get after it. I have such a good training staff here and such a good strength staff, and we’ve been working our asses off for eight and a half months now. I just, like I said, feel very fortunate to be back out here doing what I love again.”
(The mental part is just as big as the physical. Are you in your mind completely comfortable on the Achilles, or will that take some time?) – “I think it’s a process. I definitely found that the more that I’ve done, the more confident that I’ve gotten. If you asked me two months ago or whatever, ‘Oh, are you going to be ready to play?’ I would say, ‘Oh I don’t know, I haven’t done anything yet.’ The more that I keep putting load through it and doing football movements, I just get more and more confident every day. So yes, I feel great.”
(If we had told you at the time of the injury you’d be back by August 12, what do you think you would’ve said at the time?) – “I wouldn’t be surprised, because like I said, I’m a high achiever and I’ve been pushing myself as much as I’ve been able to. I didn’t really know what the timeline was. Frankly I didn’t really care because what was more important to me was taking it day by day, week by week. Now that August is here, it just feels great. It feels really strong.”
(Where do you stand as far as the big question, the season. When it starts, what are your thoughts on where you think you’ll be then?) – “We’re just playing it by ear. This is the first time I’ve practiced with the boys in eight months. It’s hard to give you an exact timeline or an exact date when I’m coming back, but all I know is that I feel great and I trust my coaching staff, I trust the training staff to get me back into play when they think I’m ready.”
(What have you learned from your rehabilitation process and also what you’re being told by your doctors and trainers about the explosiveness return. Obviously, it’s not going to be immediately right?) – “People have told me in general like – some people have said the explosivity doesn’t fully come back until the second year. I talked to Shaq (Barrett) for example, because he did his Achilles a couple of years ago, he was saying he felt pretty good, pretty great his first year back. With me, I’m trying to hit the ground running. How it’s going react, how it’s going to feel is to be determined but I feel really explosive and really strong right now.”
(Who else have you consulted about the Achilles and the recovery process?) – “I’ve talked to Aaron (Rodgers) some when it first happened. I checked in with him, he’s checked in with me throughout the process. His situation is a little different than mine, it’s kind of not really comparable in that sense. Shaq was somebody I talked to, I talked to Kirk (Cousins), but again another quarterback, it’s kind of a different situation. Vince Biegel is a guy who I played with – you guys know Vince. He did his Achilles a couple of times. Cam Akers when I was back in LA doing my rehab, he was there as well. I’ve just been picking people’s brains and kind of the main takeaway I’ve gotten from everybody is that they feel 100%. They don’t feel like they had to miss a step or whether it’s a year or two years afterwards, they don’t feel there is an injury there. That just definitely reassured me, like I said, the more I’ve been able to do, the less I’ve been thinking about the Achilles and the more I’ve been building confidence. It’s feels great.”
(Because of Hard Knocks we got a unique look into the injury and post-injury process. Did you watch that episode of Hard Knocks?) – “Several times. (laughter) A lot of times.”
(The emotional journey the fans went on with you on that episode, I’m curious to kind of reflect with you going back to then versus today, just those dark days of your journey by yourself versus getting back on the field. When you think about that. what comes to your mind?) – “When it happened obviously, I was just so devastated that all the work we put in together as a team, and obviously individually, throughout the whole offseason and everything culminating to that and kind of just the way the season was going. Obviously I had some adversity at the beginning of the season injury wise, and I felt like I was really hitting my stride. Especially the way that game was going, like I said I was hooping, I was balling out. (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) had told me before the game, ‘This is your opportunity to kind of be a household name,’ so I was riding high. Like probably the highest I’ve been in my NFL career, and then to be humbled just like that, it was devastating. But right when that happened, I remembered going to the shower and I was crying. I just told myself, like ‘This is OK. I’m going to attack this. I’m going to get over this and this is going to make me stronger at the end of the day.’ I really thanked God. I really said thank you. Thank you for giving me this opportunity, because I know it’s going to make me a monster. So yeah, it’s been a hell of a journey just having to test my patience like I said. I couldn’t walk for basically four months, and then getting back into it, obviously I love running. I love speed that’s my whole thing, so coming back into it, having to start on the treadmill, and then when I’m out running on the ground the first couple of times, I was running it felt good, but then afterwards I’m super, super sore and having to cut it down for a little bit. It’s just been an up and down process. Most things in life in general aren’t linear, but especially recovering from an injury and a major injury like that is not linear. There’s been a lot of peaks, a lot of valleys, but I feel like I’m in a really strong part of my recovery now and I’m making a lot of big strides. I don’t have a lot of time to reflect on it just because like I said I’m so present. I’m so focused and really so eager to get back. When I watch those videos and stuff like that, sometime I have to remind myself who I am as a player. Looking at old film, looking at the Hard Knocks episode and stuff just to give me that confidence because I’ve been away from the game. This is the longest, basically, my whole life that I’ve been away from football other than when I retired, but that’s kind of a different story. But I came back swinging when I retired, so hey, I’ll come back swinging now.”
(What was your reaction when the pulled you off the PUP list?) – “I’m not celebrating, because I’m ready to go. I’m excited for actually being back into playing. I’m really focused on being on point with the playbook and obviously a bunch of new teammates. My No. 1 priority is gaining their respect. They do respect me based off my merits and based off what they’ve seen, but I want them to respect me based off of what I’m doing right now. I know they do because they see me working my ass off and they see everything I’ve put into it, but I’m really just excited to actually get back on the field. This defense is really special. We have a lot of talented guys and it’s really exciting seeing them fly around, seeing them make plays, but I want to be a part of that too. I want to be that guy on this defense. It will soon come, but I’ve just got to like I’ve said I just got to play it day by day and be patient.”
(Speaking of those new teammates, what have your first impressions been of guys like LB Chop Robinson or LB Mohamed Kamara who’ve had these increased reps with you and LB Bradley Chubb being out?) – “They’ve been great. They’ve been super eager to learn. They’ve been picking my brain; I’ve been trying to give them as much knowledge as possible. When I see them play, like Chop (Robinson), he’s super athletic, super explosive. His get off, his aggression, his leverage, everything is better than I was when I was a rookie, for sure. His mentality too, like he doesn’t even celebrate. I’m trying to get him to be a little more emotive just because you could tell how that’s not enough for him, when he makes a big play, makes a TFL or whatever, that’s kind of the standard, which is an amazing thing. So I think he’s been doing a great job. ‘Mo’ (Kamara) has been doing a great job, like I said, super eager to learn. Grayson (Murphy) has been doing great – obviously, it was really unfortunate to see what happened to him. But the guys in our room are amazing, having ‘Og’ (Emmanuel Ogbah) back has been incredible. I know he is a great leader for the guys and obviously he can play his ass off still, and then ‘Q’ (Quinton Bell) has been the biggest – I wouldn’t say surprise because everybody within the organization knows that he’s been a dawg, but he’s taken that next step and he just embodies energy. He embodies confidence and he does all the right things right and his mentality is in the right place, so we got a hell of a group of guys.”
(I saw you talking to Kirk Cousins last week during joint practices – two things: No. 1, did you seek him out or did he seek you out? And No. 2, what have you learned about the fraternity of NFL players who have had similar injuries?) – “I actually met Kirk (Cousins) at the Super Bowl in Vegas and I was at some NFL corporate sponsor event just being a show pony. (laughter) I saw Kirk, went up to him and kind of approached him. He knew who I was, and we just started chopping it up. He’s just super humble, super down to earth guy, so we had some great conversations then and then obviously when I saw him out here, checked in on him, saw how he was doing. And then in terms of the fraternity of the NFL, especially when you’ve got guys who have similar injuries, it’s just kind of like you’re already connected off the bat. Obviously if they’re good people, you can kind of chop it up and stuff like that. I think in general the NFL fraternity is pretty great, is pretty cool. Most guys when I meet them outside of ball, it’s just like game respects game. People like Maxx Crosby, who is someone I met in the offseason, and we were able to chop it up and him telling me he loves my game, I tell him obviously I love his game. I think that’s pretty cool, it’s a really cool part about being in the league.”
(What does it say about the Dolphins faith in you that you’re going your rehab and then they pick up the fifth-year option not knowing if you’d have this moment today?) – “It means the world obviously. Contracts and things of that nature aren’t obviously my priority. I want to be here as long as they’ll keep me, I love being a Dolphin. Really with me, I’m focused on coming back, being healthy and staying healthy and doing everything I can for this organization both on the field and off the field. So it meant the world to me that they had the faith in me and obviously it shows how they feel about me as a person and as a player, so very appreciative of that, for sure.”
(Even if it was at a walkthrough pace, what were those moments like today being back on the field with the guys in the team setting?) – “Like I said, it was great but it was a tease – I need more. (laughter) Like I said, I’m patient and I trust the trainers, I trust my coaches and at the end of the day, I trust myself too. I’ll be honest with them about how I’m feeling, and I know that they’ll take care of me. They want to see me back out on the field too, but they also have the long-term vision – I do as well obviously, but Mike (McDaniel) said it perfectly, I’m like my biggest enemy when it comes to trying to get back just because I’m so eager to be playing and be back out there with my guys. But yeah, it will all happen on its natural course.”
Mike McDaniel – August 12, 2024
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Monday, August 12, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Will WR Odell Beckham Jr. and LB Jaelan Phillips come off PUP this week, do you believe? And also TE Tanner Conner – Tanner Conner left with discomfort the other night. Do we have an update on whether he’s out short term or long term or neither?) – “The backstory to this is unbelievable because I was assuming you wouldn’t state the right question and I was going to have to offer up as a gift to your diligence just that Jaelan Phillips will be off PUP today. What does that mean? I don’t know. It means he’s going to be practicing with his guys. Really excited for him because if you haven’t noticed he’s one of the most involved players through the whole offseason program and he hasn’t taken a snap yet so excited for him. And that was the news I was ready to break. I don’t expect to see Odell (Beckham Jr.) this week, but I would put it in the week-to-week category after that. I’m just feeling really open so I’m just throwing that information out.”
(And TE Tanner Conner?) – “It was uncomfortable and so he’s going to be with the training staff today. I think he will be working his way back. When do I expect – I don’t expect it in the next couple practices. Beyond that is really hard for me to forecast.”
(A bunch of other wide receiver questions that you guys have had – WR Jaylen Waddle, WR Braxton Berrios, WR Anthony Schwartz – what wide receivers do you expect to see at practice this week?) – “I expect to see a couple – there are some guys that haven’t been practicing that I expect which will help the depth for that position. I think I expect to see – in what amount, that will vary depending on how their body feels through stretch and warmup and stuff – but I expect to see a little bit of Braxton (Berrios) here soon and expect to see Erik Ezukanma today.”
(In talking to QB Mike White after the game, he said one of the things that he wanted to accomplish was being a calming influence on the team and in the huddle. He knew that some guys were out there for the first time. He knew some guys were going to be stressing over making the 53. Are there other things like that, that you are looking for from the backup quarterbacks? Things that aren’t on the stat sheet?) – “Absolutely. Those things are monumental. That’s cool that Mike (White) said that because that’s what we’re talking to each quarterback. You’re in a competition that is inherently within the game, a little different. You’re working with different players, different portions of the game like Mike alluded to and so you may not – and just knowing that from a coach’s perspective, very clear with the quarterbacks that there’s various things that you’re looking for when someone is in those types of situations in a close competition but with different controlled variables. How you handle yourself, how you add value to players – you can tell by the coordination of an offense the conviction and the confidence of the quarterback simply by how players exit the huddle. When I say we evaluate everything, it’s literally that deep of a dive because you’re responsible for conveying the initial conviction of every play with every play call and then your assertiveness and how you emphasize different words in a huddle call; that can bring clarity and conviction to just how people approach the line of scrimmage. And can you do that while also juggling a ‘Hey, make sure you tell the Z to run a high corner because he doesn’t know what that is.’ That happens in preseason games. And all of it is – you take that into account so you can make sure that you present those types of challenges, the equivalent challenges to both quarterbacks. Skylar (Thompson) has the same opportunity in that way and we can assess from there.”
(I believe the last three years you’ve had two running backs atop the depth chart as co-starters. Can you describe your balance there between maybe a planned approach and then an adaptive or reactive approach as it goes through the season?) – “I mean, who says we have to stop at two? Maybe we can just have four. I think you have to let the players determine who gets the ball and how frequently and how much during the game, and that’s very important. I think the cool thing when you have a position group that on the front end you know by NFL standards is very, very talented – one of the most, if not the most talented that you can remember or you’ve been on teams with – you don’t worry about how that is going to unfold. You let it unfold and it’s always very obvious. You can tell by how people execute their blocks and their belief of the player carrying the ball and you have to be able to be open-minded to how it plays out. So I think the residuals of a deep room, you can see on each individual player. I’m seeing for instance some of Jeff Wilson’s best ball that I’ve seen him play. I worked him out as a player in North Texas back in 2018 and some of his best stuff has been in this camp and I can’t help but attribute that to the overall talent of the entire room. So it’s something that you just keep coaching, you keep seeing how much guys’ games can develop. You don’t put a ceiling on that because guys will continue to surprise you in a positive manner if you let them and we just know that a strength of ours can be handing the ball off to some pretty good backs and we just go from there.”
(What is S Patrick McMorris showing you so far in camp and Friday night as well?) – “It’s been cool to watch ‘Pat’ (Patrick McMorris) develop in non-padded situation, because you got to see a player directly take technique training and drill work and apply it in his game and evolve his game from the first day we saw him. Talking about breaking, being in a pedal and breaking at a direct angle towards an eligible as opposed to rounding out of it, those little things I’ve seen him develop. And then I think the team got to see him tackle, and we thought we’d be happy with it, but you never know until you get to see someone with the pads on in a tackle situation, and that part of his game is live and active. So it’s been cool to watch him really take some extreme – he’s taken advantage of the opportunity. The opportunity is that he has a room headed by Jevon (Holland) and (Jordan) Poyer that have an immense amount of knowledge. You have – Elijah Campbell is really going after it, Nik Needham is getting in there sometimes, Marcus Maye has done a lot of stuff in this league, and all those factors he’s taking advantage of. So he’s in charge of how far that goes and what he’s able to do on this team as a rookie, but what I do know is he’s taking full advantage of his opps, and his game continues to grow and it has to as a rookie. It’s very, very hard to contribute as a rookie in the National Football League, and the rookie year is not built for everyone to excel during. So it takes a special commitment and so far, so good with him. We’ll see what this week and this practice has in store for us from him.”
(When you went over the film of the offensive line, obviously I’m sure T Patrick Paul kind of stood out to you. What else were things that stood out positively and maybe something that needs to get addressed?) – “Overall I think there were several technique principles that we’ve really taken a look at how we articulate and coach them and emphasize them and so one of those being the line of scrimmage. And one I was happy with at times during the game and particularly in the group that Patrick (Paul) was playing with, I saw the line of scrimmage be reset and that is something that we work diligently at. We’ve tried to kind of reframe how we articulate it to engender better results, and I think overall you get to learn a lot about your overall team and where they’re at by some of the twos and threes and where their game is at, because it’s almost like a baseline of what is your starting point with where your game is at and what has clicked for the group. And to see the line of scrimmage reset at times, that was very encouraging and then I think there was some communication stuff that we will always be working on so we can have conviction and unity whenever we’re executing whatever phase. But I saw the line of scrimmage was a big positive coming out of that game with the younger guys in particular really gravitating towards their new technique and fundamentals. That being the first time in a competitive situation and game-like situation, they were able to execute those fundamentals.”
(How does the T Kion Smith injury impact that offensive line going forward?) – “It’s going to give some opps to some guys that – Kion (Smith) is a guy that, that was a hard – it’s always really, really hard to in real time watch a player really digest the reality of a season ending injury, because I don’t think … people don’t really think of it this way, but you have all these objectives and this forecasting that’s built up just like coverage for the National Football League is built up for months, and then all of a sudden, boom, wow, it’s all different. So for Kion, who’s really been bold in how he’s gone after his job and he’s developed since we’ve been here as much as anyone. One of our favorite guys to coach, that was tough. That was tough. I think there are some real strong battles going on on the offensive line that what does this do? Well, it forces guys to kind of clear those battles up, give some opportunities. Fortunately, I don’t know how many NFL offensive lineman we have, but it’s more than you’re able to keep on a roster. So that’s the good news, is that there will be guys that will get opps and have to step their game up because Kion is somebody that we’ve learned to rely upon more and more and somebody’s got to step up in his place. Who that’s going to be? They’ll have the first opportunity to tell me today.”
(I wanted to follow up on LB Jaelan Phillips. What was maybe your biggest takeaway about the way he attacked his rehab process?) – “For me, what I got to learn about Jaelan Phillps is that he is a very capable, strong learner because this was a test of internal fortitude. For Jaelan, his game, he’s always been an impact player. But right when he got injured, there was momentum swinging in a positive regard towards his conviction of how to play his position. He was feeling a different level of confidence and then for a guy that has ambitions as he does – he wants to be great in the worst way – it is a long vision challenge to attack this injury appropriately and not something that by nature is totally his speed. He wants to fix the issue and go play. So to watch him diligently go about the process – I thought he was going to be a No. 1 violator of secretly overdoing what he was supposed to do – to be patient and to have the vision for his teammates and what we’re all really relying upon him coming back and him being able to first find his footing from a health perspective and then be able to contribute to his team, I’ve been very proud of how he’s attacked that and while doing so, doing things that leaders do. Which is you feel his presence as a teammate. I think even when he’s not playing he definitely took note, both him and Bradley (Chubb) did, of how Jalen Ramsey attacked his injury last year and as a result he’s already impacted the 2024 Dolphins before he’s set out on the field. So excited for him to go to the next stage and we’ll see how his body responds to that.”
(Could you talk – we know by now watching you work and talk that you’re not constrained by tradition or doing things the way just because they’ve always been – training camp this year you guys scheduled days off. Little things like last week the Falcons were running sprints, you guys don’t. Can you talk about your mindset on training camp and sort of what you hope to get out of things like that?) – “To me the ultimate focus for our team is as rudimentary as, what do we want our football to look like? How do we want it to feel? How do we want to approach our technique and fundamental? And so built around that is, how do we get players adept at the system, adept at the techniques, while also with the long vision of the season? And so for me, it’s really prioritizing how when we go, we recreate game-like enthusiasm, focus, attention to detail. That to me is how you create and build and maintain your standard. Within all those moving parts, you have to develop a trust – from my perspective, comes from whys, but you have to develop a trust with your locker room that we won’t ever shortchange the way we go about full speed stuff, but we have to dive into the science, we have to follow trends, and we have to adjust our rep counts accordingly, so that we don’t do either end of the spectrum: not prepare guys or overwork guys. So that whole thing to me, if you have one group of people moving in the right direction or in one direction and you explain your whys with diligence and get the appropriate buy-in from the locker room, you can go out and we can get infinite amount of game reps more than our opponents. That’s kind of how I look at things. So it is a balancing act for sure which is why I have a hard time absolut-ing stuff and how things kind of change to a certain degree each and every training camp because you have a different problem to solve. And then what happens if you have too many players that need management and then you overwork – you can’t do as many reps. It’s ever-evolving. I think case in point, the practice today with various constraints at certain specific positions, we had to frontload with our full-speed reps and we kind of have to have an in-between walkthrough and light practice, jog-through at the tail end of it. That’s something that you guys aren’t used to seeing all the time, but that’s an adjustment to protect the way we train our fundamentals and technique which if you want to be a good football team or the best football team or anything that falls in the bucket of where we’re trying to go, you have to train those, much like I was talking to the team today about Steph Curry. Got a chance to talk to him this offseason and he talked about every time he shoots, his focus is the same on the front of the rim as in games. Well then you can do some elite stuff, but it comes back to his practice and preparation for those moments are why he can do things that no one else can. So that approach which makes it impossible to forecast exactly how things will play out because you always have to attend to all the – you want to talk about there’s a lot of variables? There’s a ton of variables, but you just do your absolute best with all the controllables that you can control and then communicate that amongst your team so everyone knows why you’re doing everything you’re doing.”
(You said you spoke with Steph Curry? Where was that?) – “It was at the Orlando Four Seasons visiting Disney. I think Golden State was on a road trip to play the Orlando Magic, and I ended up talking to him a little bit. My wife got a picture of us having a conversation. I think he got a picture of us, but I was too rattled to ask for his phone number. If he’s listening to this press conference, I would love to get that picture. But yeah, it was pretty cool. He’s the extreme version of everything I believe in in training for athletics, so when you bump into a guy when you have maybe five to ten minutes, I don’t even know what I said. I just rattled off a bunch of stuff and just remember what he talked about focus.”
(Did you introduce yourself? Did he know who you were?) – “Well, that goes to something that happens to me on routine. He did know who I was, which made no sense, much like every person in public that – people identify me a lot and it never gets normal. It’s always – maybe I’m delusional, I don’t know, I just don’t ever expect it.”
(Weren’t you a Halloween costume?) – “That doesn’t make any sense. Denial. (laughter)”
(How fun was it to face Raheem Morris in that game the other day? How different, how special was it for you?) – “It was cool. It was really cool to see him doing what everybody that’s worked with him has always known that he would be elite at. So it was fun, and it would have been more fun if he would’ve failed at his challenge. Unfortunately, he didn’t.”
Braxton Berrios – August 12, 2024
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Monday, August 12, 2024
WR Braxton Berrios
(Watching Friday’s game from the sideline and seeing tapes of other NFL games, your reaction on the kickoff rules back then – for returners, it looks a little chaotic out there, but how might you describe it?) – “I think in preseason regardless kickoff return is a little chaotic, but I liked it. I saw a lot of things, obviously in our game alone, a lot of things we did good, a lot of things obviously that we’ll learn from and get better at. But at the end of the day, I think the opportunities are there more so than any other year, and that’s exciting.”
(What’s it like to see a fellow Hurricane come back in LB Jaelan Phillips?) – “Oh, it’s awesome. Obviously when it all went down, you kind of knew that he would attack rehab. And to say that and think that then watching him every single day throughout the offseason, when most people aren’t here, he’s here, obviously through OTAs and through training camp, just absolutely get after it. The fact that he’s come back in such a short amount of time just speaks volumes to this training room and really him and his dedication and commitment to this team, it’s incredible.”
(After seeing the kickoffs, what’s the key here? Are there going to be opportunities to break some? Or are we going to see an awful lot of 1st-and-10 on the 23-yard line type things?) – “I think first and foremost, I think they’re trying to put the ball in play. The changes in the rule was to get more returns, and if they kick it straight into the end zone, it’s the 30 (-yard line) instead of the 25. If they don’t make it to the 20 (-yard line) or kick it out of bounds, it’s upward from there. So I think you’ll see a lot better field position, and I do, I think you’ll see a lot more returns for touchdowns. How that is going to happen, I have some thoughts on but I’m going to keep that in house and between me and (Special Teams Coordinator) Coach Crossman. But yeah, I think you will see more returns for touchdowns this year and at an absolute bare minimum, I think you’ll see better starting position for the offense.”
(What skill do you see with WR Malik Washington that kind of leaves you intrigued?) – “He’s attacking everything like a pro, I think, first and foremost from a learning standpoint, and then obviously that’s why he’s here. He can do a lot of great things with the ball in the air, and then also in his hands, running routes and blocking as we saw down there in the red zone. He’s really been awesome, been a great teammate and we’re looking forward to seeing what’s next for him”
(How is the inter-wide receiver competition going that you guys do every training camp?) – “It’s actually going really well. I think it’s either tied up or somebody has the upper hand by one after today. So it’s actually like really close and neck and neck how you would hope it to be to, so good job captains.”
(When does it end? Does it end as soon as preseason is over?) – “That’s a good question, I don’t know. It’s either that last preseason game or whatever practice or two after that whenever training camp officially officially ends. But I’m going to guess it’ll probably be through the third preseason game.”
(So is it the losers buy the winners dinner?) – “I’m going to keep that one in house, too.”
(Wasn’t that the case before?) – “That has been the case. Yes, that has been the case.”
(Nice dinner?) – “It was a nice dinner, yes it was.”
(It feels like on every level, offense, defense, coaches, players, that just building chemistry and camaraderie this offseason has been really important. Besides this competition that receivers do, what else do you guys do on offense as pass catchers to make sure that you guys are close off the field?) – “I mean honestly, we hang out and I think that’s key, just not inside meeting rooms but obviously in the locker room we see each other but getting out outside the building and doing things. Whether it’s the dinner for that, whether it’s hang out at somebody’s house and anything else, and then obviously all the team events that we through, we’re all there together. I think it goes a long way, seeing each other outside the building, seeing each other with their significant others and spouses and kids and all that, I think that really building the team chemistry ten-fold rather than just when you see people in the building.”
(Is that something that kind of gets lost at the pro level? Because it feels like – I didn’t play college ball, but it feels like in college, you guys are in class together, live together, everything.) – “It can, it absolutely can. Everybody is grown. A lot of people like I said have wives, have kids, have girlfriends they live with. Everybody has – football obviously is their career, but everybody has their own life around it. It can, it can get lost, and that’s why when you have a team that makes an effort and makes it a point and a coaching staff that makes it a point to get everybody together outside the building, again, I think it goes a long way.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa obviously has lost some weight after the team had wanted him to bulk up a year and a half ago. Do you see any change in terms of mobility at all going back to OTAs to now?) – “Yeah, I do, and I think he said it as well. I think at the end of the day, whatever he feels best at is going to be best for this team. Obviously he feels best where he is, and we’re all confident that he’s at his best.”
(WR Tyreek Hill gets the first pick and he chooses WR River Cracraft over you. How do you feel about that?) – “That’s OK. That’s OK. River is a dawg, man. He comes out every day and obviously he knows what to do, he does the right things and then he makes plays. Obviously we’ve seen him this camp, he’s had a tremendous camp. He’s absolutely earned and deserving of that first pick.”
Mike White – August 9, 2024 (Postgame)
Friday, Aug. 9, 2024
Postgame – Atlanta Falcons
Miami Dolphins QB Mike White
(There seemed like some young talent out there. When we talk about some of those guys undrafted and some of those guys that we drafted for this year as well, seeing WR Malik Washington and handing the ball of as well. Just kind of tell me who was it that really stood out today?) – “Malik (Washington) had a great week. If you were at the joint practice you would know, you guys saw it. But Malik is actually my locker mate so I got to know him really well. He is such a good kid. He cares so much. Every time we get out of meetings, he’s already in his locker looking at the script, writing things down, having questions for me like, ‘hey, what do I have on this?’ and ‘if I have to go in on this, what does this have or what are we trying to get accomplished here?’ So he’s been awesome. Whenever you’ve got a guy like that, that cares and puts in the work and then it shows on the field, you can’t help but root for him.”
(What did you feel like the left tackle Patrick [Paul] did for you guys today?) – “’Pat’ (Paul) was awesome. I think what I liked about ‘Pat’ too was his demeanor on the field, he was very calm, the moment didn’t seem too big for him. He’s a humongous human, so that’s one thing that benefits him, but his mentality today is what stood out to me. It felt like the moment never got too big for him. I’m sure he was gassed because he played damn near the whole game, and we practice and it’s hot and all that, but nothing compares to the game. I thought he did well. Now granted, I wasn’t really watching him the whole game, but the fact that I did notice him probably was a good thing. He did his job and I’m sure we’ll hear about it tomorrow or when the o-line gurus break it down and all that good stuff, but that’s not my forte. But I do know that I didn’t have to tell him what we were running, he broke the huddle and got to the line, good communication at the line of scrimmage. So I thought he did well.”
(Was there anything that surprised you after playing with this group today?) – “For the most part, the guys up front, the young guys, and new guys; they did a really good job. Protection calls were loud and normally when you get younger guys, they’re kind of iffy about it and they’re at the line of scrimmage for a long time and you’re trying to get a call out of them. But they got to the line and made their calls. And honestly that’s what I told them, whether they were right or wrong, we’ll just live with the call. As long as you’re up there, demonstrative, everybody knows the call, for the most part you can just play convicted like that so I thought they did a good job in that point ad same with the receivers. They were shuffling around doing things they’d never done before. Shoot, between (Je’Quan) Burton, Mike (Harley Jr.) who just got here, Kyric (McGowan). They haven’t played a ton of ball on this league so for them to go in there and to be able to execute the plays, whether they were successful or not, it’s Preseason 1, and we have much more to improve on, but their mentality is what I was proud of.”
Patrick Paul – August 9, 2024 (Postgame)
Friday, Aug. 9, 2024
Postgame – Atlanta Falcons
Miami Dolphins T Patrick Paul
(First game under the lights, how did it feel?) – “It felt good. Definitely a dream come true to put on that aqua and orange. I have dreamed of this moment and it’s finally here. It was great.”
(Obviously you have been absorbing and learning a lot, but to put that into practice is another thing in a game setting, what did that feel like?) – “It felt good. You definitely go out there and I haven’t played in an actual game since college. It’s a welcome to the NFL moment. You just got to go out there and have fun with it.”
(Talking to Offensive Line Coach Butch Barry, I asked him what quantifies a successful training camp for you. He said growing comfortable in our sets, our scheme. Do you feel just two weeks in that you are comfortable at this level?) – “I do feel like that. There are moments in it where you just go out there and you just realize ‘yeah I can do this, this is what I’m made for.’ I’ve had those moments. You just got to keep building, trusting in his coaching and trusting in what their plan is for me.”
