William Fuller V – September 15, 2021
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Wednesday, September 15, 2021
WR William Fuller V
(How does it feel to be back? Honestly, we’ve been asking Head Coach Brian Flores about you and he said that you need to get the chemistry back, the timing. Where do you feel that is with QB Tua Tagovailoa?) – “It’s getting there. Like he said, I haven’t played in a while. I haven’t been able to practice so just being back out there catching some balls from Tua in live practice was good. It was good to be back out there. It felt good.”
(I’m sure you watched the season opener. Finally getting into this offense for real for games that matter, what are you most excited about? – “Just being back out there playing, helping the team win. That’s why I play the game. I like helping my team win. Whatever it takes for me to go out there and help my team win, that’s what I’m going to do.”
(What was that perspective like watching games form afar, watching games from home or wherever you watched from? I can’t imagine it was too enjoyable for you but maybe it was. Did you look at it differently than you would on film?) – “I was just trying to make it as positive as I could. Just learn from a mistake that I made. Just not taking football for granted. Watching it on TV, wanting to be out there and help my team win in Houston and in Miami. Like I keep saying, I’m just happy to be back playing football. I can’t wait for Sunday.”
(I know that at one point in your life you ran 40 yards in 4.28 seconds. How close do you feel to top speed at this point in your career?) – “I’m still confident with my speed. I do a lot of work in the offseason – speed and strength. A lot more than I did earlier in my career. I feel good. I feel good with where I’m at with my speed and my strength.”
(How do you feel your speed impacts the strategy that defensive backs use on game day?) – “In a defensive room, the first thing they are telling the DB is don’t get beat deep. Don’t get beat deep. So I use that to my advantage just to play as fast as I can, and that gets the defense on their heels. Like I said earlier, we’ve got a lot of speed so a lot of guys can do that.”
(We saw the offense mostly work underneath in Week 1. How much does the infusion of a deep threat, like you present, now affect things?) – “We are going to see. We are going to see. I love throwing the ball deep, so we will see what the coaches do with the game plan. I’m just going to go out there and execute whatever they have for us. If that’s underneath, that’s underneath. If that’s deep, then I’m going to give it whatever.”
(You’ve done so well throughout your college and pro career tracking the deep ball. That’s one thing that I’m always curious about – when the ball is in the air and you have to make certain adjustments. If you were talking to a bunch of ninth grade receivers right now, what would be a tip that you would give them that they should try to keep in mind when tracking the deep ball?) – “Actually my second year, Randy Moss told me this – he came to training camp. He said when he ran his deep balls, a lot of receivers when they run their posts or go’s, they turn back and look at the quarterback. The quarterback, he’s probably already thrown the ball. He told me look up when you turn around, don’t look at the quarterback because the quarterback doesn’t have the ball anyway. That’s helped me a lot, getting the ball in the air quick, not turning around and looking at the quarterback but looking up for the ball. That’s helped me a lot and just running out of your break. Run three or four steps out of you break and then look up and try to find it.”
(Is there one part of game day that you are looking forward to experiencing again? It’s obviously it’s been such a long time since you’ve gotten to play an NFL game but is there one thing? Like putting on the pads or something.) – “Definitely playing in front of fans. Just watching teams around the league last week, it was electric. I’m ready for the fans to be back out there because I played last year without any fans. I’m ready to play here in Hard Rock (Stadium) for the first time.”
(When you are watching at home, the Patriots are driving late, CB Xavien Howard makes the play and you guys win the game. Are you calm in those moments? Are you reacting as a fan or as you would on the sideline?) – “I’m always more nervous when I don’t play. I don’t have any nerves when I play football. I don’t remember the last time I got nervous playing a game or got butterflies or anything like that. But when I’m watching, I don’t know why but I always am a little jittery. I guess because I just want to be out there so bad. It’s tough just watching from home.”
(The speed that this whole team has; you have you, WR Jaylen Waddle, WR Jakeem Grant and a lot of guys. We talked to Jakeem earlier this offseason and he said he was the fastest guy on the Dolphins. What is your thought on that?) – “We are going to have to set up a race after the season or something and get that out the way. (laughter)”
(I’m guessing you feel good about your chances?) – “Yeah, I mean I’m confident in my chances. I feel like I’m one of the fastest guys in the league. If we line it up, we’ll see.”
(You weren’t here last year for the 56-26 loss to finish the regular season; how much do you hear guys talking about it in the locker room?) – “We always talk about this a lot, about how in this league it’s always close games. That one got away from the Dolphins last year. I wasn’t here but we don’t want that to happen. It left a bad taste around the locker room. I can tell from just being around the guys hearing them. We are working hard this week to make sure that doesn’t happen and it’s a competitive game. Just go out there and try and get this win.”
(I thought Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey and Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville and QB Tua Tagovailoa showed some nice aggressiveness late in the game, in particular Tua throwing from the goal line on that slant to WR DeVante Parker. What has been the messaging that you have heard about the coaches and the offense and how aggressive you guys would like to be?) – “That just comes from confidence. I think we are just going to keep building that throughout the year as we keep practicing and playing games. Just having that confidence and knowing that the guys on the outside can win. We can run the ball and win. Just having that change of pace – run the ball, throw the ball and just being able to win wherever and just playing confident. I think we’ve got the guys that play confident and score points.”
(This offense seems to run a lot of the RPO scheme. I’m curious from a receiver standpoint, what you think of that style of play?) – “It’s real tough on the defense. You put someone in a bind. He has to make the right decisions. If we play it right, the defense is never right. I love RPOs. Like I said, you put a linebacker in a bind or a safety in a bind. If they make that wrong decision, we can go 70 (yards) or like last week we were hitting big runs. It’s fun.”
(How is your relationship with QB Tua Tagovailoa? Do you talk with him at all or do you just rely on what you do on the practice field?) – “Actually, Tua introduced me to his strength coach down here. That’s who I was working out with so me and Tua were throwing a lot in the offseason, working out together. We’re close, we’re cool.”
(I know players don’t like to look back, they look ahead. But your numbers last year across the board – even yards after catch – like everything, were the best in your career. What was working? Just older and wiser or there something that you changed that was allowing things to click?) – “One of the biggest things was ‘Hop’ (Deandre Hopkins) wasn’t there. He got a lot of targets when we played together. When he left, I changed my role to playing X. The X is the boundary receiver and just gets more balls in general. I just took advantage of it. I changed my workout routine a little bit in the offseason and like I was saying, I got bigger, stronger and faster. I was just playing a lot more confident and I’m working to get back to that now, being out here practicing and playing.”
(Without there really being any tape of you being out there playing with QB Tua Tagovailoa or on this team, is there an excitement of what can be without the Bills being able to scheme on anything you’ve done here in the past?) – “Yeah, I just try to be consistent and play my game. I think it’s a surprise. I don’t know what it’s going to look like, the Bills don’t know what it’s going to look like; but I’m going to do my best to get open and catch the ball. We’ll see how Sunday goes.”
