Terron Armstead – August 5, 2022
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Friday, August 5, 2022
T Terron Armstead
(First off, how did it feel being back? I know you’ve had some load management for maintenance, but how did it feel to get back out there, especially in team drills?) – “It felt great man. It’s fun. It’s a fun game. Getting back out, I’m feeling well enough to get out back out and participate, being with my guys, competing against the defense, it was fun.”
(I was curious, I know you said you did a similar maintenance program in New Orleans, but how does that – knowing that you have a ‘day off’ from practice, how does that make you change the process? Do you do anything differently to make sure that maybe the mental side of the game is still sharp there?) – “That’s the key word – process. Understanding all this is a process, this entire segment of a season is a process where we’re building up to get to peak performance and be ready when the real live action starts. So if you’re not doing full 11-on-11 drills, you have to attack that process in a different way – that’s weight room, that’s training room. So whatever the task is that day to improve, just taking care of that.”
(You obviously have nothing to prove. You’ve proven you’re one of the better players in this league. Now getting here, you have a whole new fanbase. What do you feel as an athlete you have to kind of re-prove to the people who have never seen you on an every-Sunday basis?) – “I appreciate that. I think that’s probably the tough part of the sport or professional sports, is that every day you have to prove yourself. Your career, whatever you’ve done, it really doesn’t matter up to this point. You have to come with it every day, and that’s the hard part of greatness and sports success is that consistency. Getting to that level every day, whether I know or you know that I can go out and do it and perform, you have to come with that mentality every day to show and prove.”
(How do you compartmentalize when they’re constantly measuring all of you by the salary that you make, what cap space you take and all those kinds of things?) – “I don’t really know where that takes place. In the building, in the locker room and on the field, we all go out and try to perform with one goal in mind and that’s to win. So we’re not discussing salary caps or anything when the play is going on. We’re just trying to perform, execute and get the job done.”
(What’s been your impression specifically in team drills going against that defensive front? Obviously there’s a lot of continuity. It seemed like they were blitzing you guys a lot. What’s been your impression of that?) – “Man, real active group. Real active group. Highly talented. A lot of skill. Adding Melvin Ingram to that group is, I think, extremely underrated. He’s an amazing player and has been that way for a long time. A guy like Christian Wilkins who has been highly productive but hasn’t been that notable as far as popularity, he’s going to have a – I’m projecting that he has a standout year, more so in the stat line than ever before. (He’s an) extremely talented player, intelligent player, real good hands and feet technique. Man, Zach (Sieler), another one – extreme technique. (Emmanuel) Ogbah, I’m a fan of those guys.”
(Next week when you get to go scrimmage against the Buccaneers, a lot of people talk about whether it’s practice or preseason games, a lot of people say you get more work out of those kinds of scrimmages. For players, do you feel like you get more out of those kinds of scrimmages than you do a regular practice or a preseason game?) – “The type of the work we put in out here is high level. It’s high level, and (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) demands that. So the level that we get to and compete at every day, you’re not going to get much different. You might see different styles of play, different schemes, but we get after it. We get after it out here. I think it’s great and will translate when we go to Tampa. I played those guys twice a year for nine years now, so I know that team, the defense, and they come with it – a championship caliber team. So it’ll be a good time, good chance to get in and go technique verse technique, scheme verse scheme. But as far as the level and effort, nothing is going to beat what we’re doing out here.”
(At this stage of your career, do you need much 11-on-11 work in practice or many preseason snaps to feel ready for the opener?) – “It always – it kind of varies. You never want to put a count on it (and say), ‘I need this amount of reps.’ It’s a feel. It’s a feel. So you’re getting that rust knocked off, technique, getting your eyes, hands and feet where you want them to be, that can take however long. Ideally, I want to be able to feel like I’m ready, like I’m game-ready and season-ready as early as possible. But I’m not there yet.”
(Have you ever played with two guys like WR Tyreek Hill and WR Jaylen Waddle and the kind of speed that they have on the outside and the cutting ability that they have? I just wonder how corners are going to be able to stay with both those guys?) – “I’ve never seen it. I’ve never seen the likes of Tyreek Hill alone. The explosiveness, the zero to 60 in 2.5 (seconds), he’s a Model X. And Jaylen (Waddle) too, those guys are extremely talented. Their burst is insane. Them, Raheem (Mostert) and Chase (Edmonds), we have a lot of weapons. We’re just trying to get those guys an opportunity to make plays.”
(As great of a player as you’ve been, obviously you’ve had some tough luck, too, unfortunately with health. Is that something you think about ever in terms of, “Boy, I would really like to play every game in a season?” Is that something that ever crosses your mind?) – “Absolutely. Absolutely, this is my job. This is what I do for a living. This is how I feed my family. This is how I make my life. So that’s – ideally, all I want to do is play. All I want to do is play. Unfortunately, we don’t always get to do what we want to do. My injuries have been a result of a lot of different things, more so compounding, coming back too early and all those good things. (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) and (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle (Johnston) and the rest of those guys have been conscious and cognizant of everything that I’ve dealt with previously, but I’m trying to get on that field every day, every play. This is what I do. I love it.”
(Is it almost a … to stay healthy in this league?) – “Listen, there’s a 100 percent injury rate in the NFL. It’s just a guarantee. Now the severity, the magnitude of the injury – you try to prehab, do all this preventative work that I’m definitely tapped into – the nutrition, the mobility, all those good things. Do everything that you possibly can do, then it’s control what you can control.”
(How difficult has this been to take a cautious approach to your practice participation and just be guarded and careful about it?) – “I wouldn’t say it’s a cautious approach because once you’re in there, you have to go. You have to go. I think it’s being smart and not just jumping right in, especially coming back from some offseason work and getting healthy. If I was just coming in fully, fully healthy, I think my rep count would be different. It was more so of a ramp up with the different studies and science and health, technology. This has been proven to be most effective.”
