Christian Wilkins – July 27, 2021
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
DT Christian Wilkins
(What is your conditioning test? What do you do?) – “We run. (laughter)”
(This defensive line is young and talented obviously with you, DT Raekwon Davis, DT Zach Sieler, DL Adam Butler and what he’s going to have. DE Emmanuel Ogbah is obviously an edge guy and can play some end. How good can this group be? What excites you about this group and Adam’s addition to it as well?) – “Yeah, like you said we’ve got a lot of good guys. We have a lot of guys who are versatile and play a lot of positions along the defensive front. We have a lot of guys who are hungry and work hard every day from working with them and OTAs and last season and everything. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do but we’ve got to get off on the right foot and restart every time. Every year is a new year so we’ve got to work on the little things, come in every day ready to work with the mindset of getting better and if we do that, we’ll see where we end up.”
(Any thoughts on DL Adam Butler joining the group? Obviously he put pressure on the quarterback in New England.) – “Yeah, I like Adam a lot. He’s great for our locker room, is great for our d-line. I really like his game. I’ve got a lot of respect for him too. He’s a pro. I really like Adam.”
(What do you think of the new facility?) – “It’s pretty cool. Not bad at all. We’ll definitely have some fun in here. We’ve got some nice new digs and everything. I like it here a lot.”
(How did you spend your offseason?) – “Just training. Working hard. Working on my game. I was able to train with a good group of guys from around the league. We had about eight of us. We all went away and just locked in, were able to train, get away from everybody and take care of business.”
(Where did you guys go?) – “We went to an undisclosed location off the grid. (laughter) We did a good job of getting after it and putting some work in.”
(Are you still a player rep?) – “Yes.”
(What role have you had in communicating with players as to the importance of the vaccine?) – “Well, really I just try to get information pushed out. Just giving it my perspective and how I view it is different from hearing from a counterpart or a coach or whatever. I just try to help guys, try to give them information. As far as vaccines and everything, to each his own. It’s up to every guy about what they want to do and whether they want to do it or not. Nobody’s wrong, nobody’s right. It’s all up to you.”
(How do you balance that I guess with the new rule that there could be forfeited games if there’s an outbreak? Obviously you want to win and do things for the team but…) – “Yeah, like I said, to each his own. You’ve just got to respect people’s opinions. There’s reasons to do things, to not do things. You’ve just got to be able to respect what guys are about.”
(What are your early impressions of LB Jaelan Phillips?) – “I like Jaelan. He’s a good kid. Just getting to know him a little bit during OTAs, I really like him. He’s a hard-worker. He’s a really cool, chill guy. He loves to listen. I’m trying to take him under my wing a little bit and just be there for him any way I can. Just be a good big brother to him. I really like him a lot. I feel like he has a chance to be pretty good. He’s just got to put the work in.”
(You’re one of the guys who made a big second-year jump. What goes into that? Just comfort? Familiarity? Understanding the scheme? What contributes to the progress that you guys make?) – “It’s a lot of things. Just knowing how to – you just learn so much in that first year. It’s all just kind of going fast so definitely in Year 2, you kind of know what to expect – just the comfort on the field, knowing the playbook, just everything. You’re able to make those small adjustments to your game and you’re usually able to make a good jump. I’m excited for a lot of the second-year guys to see that jump that they make.”
(When the league announced that teams might be subject to forfeits and all of that, what was your reaction? What kind of reaction did you get from your teammates?) – “Well I’m not going to really get into that. I’m not going to get too much into that. It’s all over the place with different feelings about it but I’m not going to get too much into that.”
(How has your approach changed from Day 1 when you were a rookie walking in? How has your approach changed?) – “It’s changed in some ways just as far as things like comfort, you know what to expect and things like that. But I’ve still got the same mindset every day, just have fun with the game, be a good teammate and be my best. That’s always my mindset and always what I try to take into each and every day, each and every practice and each and every game.”
(From a team standpoint, coming off 10 wins last year, what are your expectations as far as what this team can accomplish? Do you look at yourself as a team that should be in a race for a playoff berth up until Week 17?) – “We don’t have any – we’re not given anything just because we had a good season last year. It’s a whole new year. We’ve got to start over, like I was talking about a little bit earlier. Guys have to put the work in. Just because we were a borderline playoff team last year and we got 10 wins, that doesn’t mean anything. Last year’s touchdowns aren’t going to do anything for us. Last year’s tackles for loss, sacks, whatever – last year’s interceptions. None of that is going to do anything for us this year, so we’ve got to start over. We’ll see how training camp goes and that starts today. We’ve got to put the work in.”
(Do you have any individual goals or priorities that you want coming into this year?) – “Yeah, I always write down a set of goals before every training camp, just for myself personally. They’re pretty general. I’m not going to exactly say what they are but I set goals for myself every year. I try to be a goal-oriented person.”
(Was leadership on the list?) – “It might be. Like I said, I’m not going to get too much into it. But yeah, I definitely feel like that’s always important.”
(Not having been around a locker room over a year for us, maybe you can give us a little insight – who is like a defensive leader that maybe isn’t so obvious? Like a little bit underrated.) – “Well, I feel like we’ve got a bunch of guys who just add to that and do a good job, whether it’s leading by example or the vocal guys, because you need a little bit of all of that on the team. We’ve got a lot of good pros on this team. Just guys who handle their business. You can see leadership and find that in a lot of the guys on our defense.”
(For a position that’s so heavily reliant on contact obviously, when there’s no pads on, what exactly are you trying to get accomplished when you don’t have the benefit of having the pads and full contact?) – “Really, that’s where you really have to hone in on your technique and be a lot sharper. You’ve still got to make sure – it’s still ball, whether you’ve got pads on or not; but just that physical aspect obviously when you do have pads on. Now it’s time to really polish up your technique and make sure your hands are – your technique has to be a lot better when there’s no pads because you’re just not striking or have anything to grab on or things like that. Yeah, that’s really just what it is. The biggest thing is working into football shape and being able to run around, run after the ball and do those little things that matter.”
(You’re not telling us your goals for this year and I get that. So let’s go back a year. What were your goals for last season? How many of them did you meet? How did you grade yourself?) – “My goals are pretty similar. (laughter) Maybe there’s one small adjustment or two. So yeah, I’m not going to share my last year’s goals. (laughter).”
(Last year at this time there was so much uncertainty about the season and you guys were coming back to training camp with kind of this weird feeling about you don’t know what’s to come. This year it feels like there’s a little bit more security and you guys get to be in-person. Is there kind of a new level of excitement or giddiness to just all be together and have a sense of normalcy?) – “Yeah, it’s definitely different. Last year had it’s hard parts and some benefits too. With it being COVID and us being so isolated from everyone else, we were able to get real close I felt like, and bond with guys and things like that. So hopefully some of that will carry over to this year and guys will be more excited to be around each other, being here every day and having a little bit more normalcy.”
(How much weight do you lose during training camp and how do you account for that?) – “Definitely the biggest thing is that each day, I lose a lot of weight – whether it’s water weight just at practice. You’re out there in that sun, working hard. So I lose a lot of weight. The biggest thing is just hydrating and nutrition, making sure I stay on top of it by fueling before practice and refueling afterwards. That’s all important to be able to sustain your weight. That can be a problem for guys. Some guys overheat, over-do things and get a little weight. Everyone has their own routine that they kind of find and those are usually the more successful guys in training camp – guys who find a good routine and take care of their bodies and know to not lose too much weight and not to gain too much weight.”
(What’s the average of what you lose a day?) – “Double-digits. Probably like 10 pounds a practice I’ve lost before. But if I just rehydrate and refuel, I will get that back on.”
