Kenny Stills – May 21, 2019
Download PDF version
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
WR Kenny Stills
(What makes this group different?) – “I think it’s hard to tell right now. For us, we’re just trying to learn the terminology and get on the same page with the quarterback. I guess it will be up to you guys seeing how different this offense is when we perform in games in the preseason and then during the season.”
(What about the learning process?) – “It’s different. It’s been the first time that I’ve had to learn an offense in a couple years. I like the challenge. It’s fun because all of us are learning it together. ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) knows it for the most part, so he’s kind of teaching us a little bit; but it’s a new challenge for us and I like that.”
(How does QB Ryan Fitzpatrick know?) – “Just the terminology I guess and working in similar styles of offenses. They’ve used the same words. If you think about it, sports, football – all of the concepts are pretty similar, it’s just what we’re calling it. I think he just had some experience with these formations and with this terminology, so it’s made it a little bit easier for him than the rest of us. He’s been around the block a couple of times.”
(I wanted to ask you about the slot position. You played some of the slot in New Orleans. How difficult or easy would that transition be to make?) – “If you look at my numbers, I’ve done pretty well in the slot so it’s not something that I’m too worried about. Wherever they put me right now is where I’m at and I’m having fun with it. This game of football, it will be seven years for me now in the league and I’ve been playing since I was a little kid, so anytime you can get a new challenge, you have to learn something new, you’re trying to refine your game, it’s fun. That’s what I consider every day coming out here for work. It’s an opportunity for us to get better and to grow and build on what we’ve done in previous years.”
(Did you know QB Josh Rosen before the last couple of weeks?) – “I had worked out with Josh when he was in high school. We’ve had some communication through texts, just trying to be there as an older guy and as a mentor if he needed it. So yeah, we had a little bit of a relationship.”
(Did you work out with QB Josh Rosen before he was a member of the team?) – “It was when he was in high school and I was coming out for the draft.”
(What do you like about how QB Josh Rosen throws the football?) – “Really everything. I don’t know what the right word is for it, but it doesn’t look like it’s coming fast and then it gets in front of your face and you see that it’s spinning well and it has some velocity behind it. He’s a great player and he has a bright future. It’s just like everyone else, we’re trying to learn this offense, trying to build chemistry within the locker room and with the coaching staff. We have guys here. We just have to come together and put it together on the field.”
(I don’t know how much you’ve seen from the workouts from back in high school with QB Josh Rosen to now, but where have you seen any improvements that he’s made in a short time?) – “I’ve just seen what I’ve seen here. We’ve been out here for a couple of days and he’s only been here for a couple weeks. He’s a great player like I said, and he has a bright future, so I look forward to getting out there and trying to make some plays for him.”
(A lot of things are new on the team. The receiver room has a lot of familiar faces. Where do you see the competition in that room?) – “For us, it’s pushing each other every single day. A lot of people on the outside and even some of us ourselves know that we haven’t played our best football yet, being that we’ve had injuries, we’ve had guys fighting through injuries. I believe personally that I haven’t played my best football either. We’re pushing each other every day. We have little goals, we have big chips on our shoulders and we feel like we don’t really get any respect so we have to go out there and earn it.”
(Obviously, we’re not here for every OTA, but there were a lot of plays made out here by the receivers. Is that typical?) – “We come out here every day and try and do that: make plays. We call ourselves playmakers and we know that we have a bunch of talent in our room and we have to prove that. We have to go earn the respect of every one of our teammates and the quarterback. We’re just trying to be consistent. I can’t tell you if that’s every day or not, but we’re happy with today and then we’ll try to do the same thing when we’re back out here on Thursday.”
(What’s the pushup deal that we’ve seen where if you guys score a touchdown, the defense does pushups?) – “That’s just competition. Every once in a while, coach will tell us ‘This one’s for pushups.’ Whoever wins doesn’t have pushups and whoever loses has them.”
(We saw only one set of pushups for you guys today. It was probably the goal, right?) – “Yeah. In the red zone, in the scoring zone, it’s a lot for the defense as far as communication. It’s the same with the offense. We had our day, but the defense has been playing well these past couple of days too.”
(And you obviously yourself don’t put up with half pushups. We saw that happening out there.) – “(laughter) I like to talk a little trash to ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) and the defense. Whenever we can win and whenever we can take advantage of a day like this, it’s fun for us, the competition. We’re out here trying to build something and I think that’s what competition does.”
(I saw an old clip – maybe this will ring a bell for you, maybe not – of you at a summer camp where you saw a very young QB Josh Rosen and he stood out to you. He caught your eye. What do you remember about that?) – “As you progress, high school, college and to the league, you can tell the difference between quarterbacks with their timing and the way the ball comes out of their hand. I was just impressed with the fact that he didn’t know me, I didn’t know him, and we were able to get on the same page pretty quick. It’s really impressive for a young quarterback, being a college receiver about to go to the NFL. We had a really good throwing session at that point, and I just remember telling the receiver coach or quarterback coach that we were with that the kid had a bright future and that I’ll probably be playing with him one day. That was kind of a joke and then here he is.”
(So you have a future as an NFL scout after you’re playing?) – “I’ve been around ball since I was four, five, six years old. I love it. I love scouting and looking at talent. I guess I got lucky there.”
(I’m not trying to be corny, but have you and QB Josh Rosen kind of talked about where you guys were and now kind of being reunited like this?) – “Yeah, definitely in text conversation. It’s just kind of crazy how the world works.”
