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Byron Jones – July 30, 2021 Download PDF version

Friday, July 30, 2021

CB Byron Jones

(I saw you and CB Xavien Howard sort of commiserating on the sidelines when you weren’t out there playing. How would you describe your relationship with Howard at this time?) – “It’s healthy, baby. Of course. We’re both trying to get better each and every day. We’re in the meeting rooms talking together. We do individual meetings with the coach, so it’s perfectly fine.”

(How does feel you’re sort of dragged into CB Xavien Howard’s situation, which he referenced in his statement, not being the highest paid cornerback on his own team?) – “I didn’t mind because truthfully man, the guy is one of the best. The guy had 10 interceptions last year. There is no secret to his impact on the defense and his impact on the team. When a guy has a season like that, he’s the freaking best. I understand what he’s trying to do. That’s my boy. We played a lot of hard snaps last year together. We’ve bonded close together, so I understand the business.”

(How would you like this situation to playout for the club and CB Xavien Howard?) – “We’d love to keep ‘X.’ Everybody knows that. It’s really that simple.”

(For you, what’s the next step after the season you had last year?) – “Continue to build, man. Continue to get better. I’m never satisfied with anything. Obviously turnovers have been a big thing for me in my career that I need to kind of improve on. I took a little minor step last year, but obviously the step needs to be bigger this year. That’s the fun part. That’s the fun challenge in this camp. I’m working with ‘Chuck’ (Cornerbacks Coach Charles Burks) in between periods every single day.”

(Where is your confidence in that respect considering you did have a couple of picks last year?) – “It feels good. I’d love to get some technical things right. Being able to make some plays for the team and for the defense, it feels good. It feels good being that guy who is giving our offense another chance at scoring some touchdowns.”

(I enjoyed some of the juice we saw over here in that last period on the sideline. You guys seem to have that camaraderie already built in here. I was wondering if there is any one or two things you can point to that is a catalyst for why that group is so tight?) – “It’s football. What we go through looks nice on the outside, but it’s really hard. You build those bonds very quickly. We’ve all kind of been through it, we all understand what’s it’s going to need to take. It takes that bond, that energy, that juice. When one guy does well, we uplift him; when one guy does bad, we still uplift him. That’s kind of where you build it during camp.”

(I saw yesterday you had a nice deflection and I know you want to force more turnovers. On that one, you did pushups after though you didn’t come up with the interception.) – “Yeah, I dropped that ball. It’s one of those things I’m trying to do better is just getting my head around so I’m able to compete for the ball. That’s one thing I wasn’t always great at, so I’m always working that. If I do get it, it’s good; but I’ve got to catch the ball. We have a rule in our DB room, if you miss a pick  it’s10 pushups.”

(What was your reaction when you saw CB Xavien Howard’s post and specifically how you were mentioned?) – “Like I said, I understand what he’s trying to do. Obviously we’d love to have him here, but there are no hard feelings. I’m not scared of facts. The dude is the best. There is no question about that. Last year we gave him all of the hard covers and he showed up. Not only did he show up, but he also excelled at those too. He didn’t get cupcake interceptions. He went and got those – with one hand, high-pointing the ball. He made his money. He earned it definitely.”

(Have you guys talked about the post?) – “Oh yeah, we always talk. We talk every single day.”  

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