Minkah Fitzpatrick – April 17, 2019
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Wednesday, April 17, 2019
S Minkah Fitzpatrick
(On if he’s been told what position he is playing.) – “It’s the first day or the second day, so nobody knows where they’re playing. We don’t even know what kind of defense we’re running. Nobody knows anything. Coach is going to put us in the best possible positions to be able to win games and that’s it.”
(Have you been at safety the last two days with S Reshad Jones not here?) – “I’ve been moving around a little bit.”
(What’s your preference on where you’d like to be this year?) – “A football player. (laughter)”
(I know the point you had made in December was that it would be helpful to know just in terms of how much weight to lose or gain. So without them telling you to this point, what have you done from a weight standpoint? Have you played at a bigger safety weight or have you put yourself in a position to where you’re at a bigger safety weight or a smaller corner weight?) – “I’m just sitting in the middle. Just in case so if I have to lose weight or if I have to gain weight. I’m just sitting in the middle.”
(So that’s around…?) – “About 204 (pounds).”
(You finished last year at what?) – “About that – 204 (pounds).”
(So have they explained to you when they’ll be able to tell you what you’ll be playing?) – “No. Like I said, it’s still the second day. This is the second day that I’ve been working with these coaches out in the field. They don’t even know us as players yet. They only have film on us. They haven’t put our hands on us at all for real. Nobody has any idea of where they’re playing or what we’re doing. We don’t know the defense that we’re running. We’re just out there trying to learn the basics and the fundamentals of everything before we get our positions set in stone. And anyways, the defense that we run, everybody has to move around. I don’t think anybody in the secondary is just going to be sitting at one spot.”
(What’s your first impression of the new coach – Head Coach Brian Flores – been?) – “He’s a great coach. He’s all business. He’s serious, which is a good thing. That’s how you win games. You pay attention to detail. You pay attention to little things because that’s what wins games. We just had a meeting today just about the small details. That’s how you separate yourselves from good teams and average teams and become an elite team. It’s just those details. I like him.”
(You’re a big believer in that personally, too, aren’t you?) – “Yes, for sure. That’s what we learned at Alabama and that’s how we won games at Alabama.”
(How unsettling is it, all of this talk about S Reshad Jones? Maybe he’ll still be here, maybe he won’t. Where do you come down on that?) – “We’re just focused on everybody that’s here. Reshad is doing what he thinks is his best business decision and we just have to focus on the people that are here. He’s a great player. We’d love to have him with us. He’s a great vet. I’ve learned a lot from him so we’d love to have him here; but we just have to focus on the guys that are here, do what we can with the guys that are here and move forward.”
(Let me use a bad word for you – tank. It’s been suggested that maybe the best approach for the Dolphins is to be bad in order to get real good. Where do you come down on that?) – “The head coach already answered that question and I think all of us feel the same way about it. It’s a term that only losers use. It’s not something that I would ever use or ever even think to use. Even if somebody were to decide that we were going to do that, I don’t think anybody in this program would try and buy into it. We’re professional athletes. We’re paid to not just play the game but to win games and be the best that we can be, so I think tanking shouldn’t even be in the vocabulary of any professional athlete.”
(We were talking to QB Ryan Fitzpatrick yesterday and he gave us a stirring look at first when we mentioned ‘Fitzmagic’ and then he kind of laughed and said that was something he tried to smooth over with you. What was that like to kind of have that smile and move on?) – “It was funny. The whole thing was just funny and everything like that. Some people made it into a bigger deal than what it needed to be. We both made a joke about it. I call him cousin and he calls me cousin and stuff like that. (laughter) It’s funny. We’re just both out there and going to play the best we can and that’s it.”
(How does your approach change now going into your second year? You’ve been around this once. What are you expecting?) – “Well, last year I just learned so much that I’m just applying everything that I learned. It’s just learning, growing and everything like that. I’m just applying everything that I learned last year because last year, I stepped into the game and I didn’t know what to expect. I was just soaking everything in and just absorbing everything. Now this year, it’s just applying it and move forward and growing every single day.”
(Do you think you’ll have to – I don’t want to say a step back – but hit the reset button because there’s a new approach and a new coaching staff?) – “For sure. The basics and the fundamentals of what they want and what other coaches want are different. It’s almost like my rookie year all over again, just going back and learning the basics, learning the fundamentals, learning the details and stuff like that. Then just keep growing and continue to grow so you can go out there and play fast and play physical and just play how we want to play.”
(There’s a lot of mystery associated with you in terms of where you’re going to play. I know you played cornerback, safety and nickel last year but do you feel like that’s going to help your growth if you continue to play all three positions?) – “Yeah, I think so just because the type of defense that we’re projected to run, you’ve got to be versatile. You have to move around. I don’t think anybody in the secondary is going to just be sitting at one spot. You might sit at one spot in one game and then the next you’ll be in a different spot. I think no matter who you are in the secondary, you’re going to have to be able to move around. You’re going to have to cover guys in the slot, cover guys outside. It might be a different matchup every week but you’re going to have to learn how to cover people and do different things in different spots.”
(Where’s home base for S Minkah Fitzpatrick?) – “It’s out on the field. That’s it.”
(There’s a lot of Patriots influence on this defense. Is there someone you watch or were told to watch on that defense whether it be S Devin McCourty or someone else to kind of give you an influence of how you could be impacted?) – “I asked the same question and they said just watch all of them. All of them moved around. There was no guy who just sat in the box. There was no guy that was just a cover guy. A couple of guys just covered guys but out of the three guys that moved around a lot, none of them just sat in one spot specifically. You’ve got to watch all of those guys, see how they play, learn from them and that’s it.”
(It makes your job harder, I guess?) – “Harder but it’s worth it. You get to make more plays.”
(You were so easygoing last year about switching between positions. What makes it easy for you to keep doing that even without really having clarity on where you’re going to be playing.) – “I think it’s what the coaches want and what the coaches think is best for the team. If that’s what it is, then you just have to go into it with a positive mindset. It adds value to myself, just being able to move around and do some things and play different spots on the field. It adds value to me. Even though it may be extremely tough, hard and taxing, it’s worth it.”
(Have there been cornerback snaps this week for you so far?) – “No, not yet.”
(Have they told you in May whether you’ll get some work there?) – “They haven’t told me anything.”
