Chase Edmonds – March 21, 2022
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Monday, March 21, 2022
RB Chase Edmonds
(Obviously you played for the Cardinals previously. You’ve faced Head Coach Mike McDaniel’s former team several times. What was your impression in being on the other side of the field and kind of seeing those offenses and then how you can kind of fit yourself in this offense that he seeks to bring to Miami?) – “Yeah, I think the one thing that really just stood out to me watching San Fran twice a year and their offense was the creativity of it. It really felt like McDaniel did a really good job of just being creative and kind of playing to his players’ styles. I feel like that’s one thing that’s lost in coaching, is that guys sometimes try to always rely on the scheme or whatever it is that they’re bringing into an offense and then they kind of lose the focal point of really playing to your players’ abilities. And I felt like McDaniel and the Niners, they did a great job of just playing to their players abilities, playing to their strengths, finding ways to utilize guys and maximizing their efficiency.”
(How do you think you and RB Raheem Mostert could work together, complement each other in this Mike McDaniel run game you mentioned?) – “Yeah, I love the idea. I love the concept of me and Raheem in the backfield together. I was a big fan of his game unfortunately before he got injured and just to really see his explosiveness. Honestly he’s probably the fastest running back in the NFL when he’s at top speed, so I think it really brings a sense of explosiveness to the offense and being able to just capitalize on just us both having really good yards per carry averages. I think that’s something that we can look to do to help this offense.”
(Trivia question. My dad actually played football at Fordham so we’ll have a conversation about that one day. He’s a couple years older than you. Another Dolphin – Isa Abdul-Quddus played at Fordham, too. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him. He was a Dolphins safety.) – “Yeah, yeah, I do remember Isa playing in Miami. Yes, sir.”
(So I guess I’ll ask you a football question. How would you describe your strengths at this point in your career?) – “Yeah, I think my strength is just my versatility. I feel like I can be an every-down back whether it’s first, second down and taking the carry, or whether it’s third down to become a receiving back and also third down in terms of pass protection. So that’s one thing for me that I think is really my strength and what I’m trying to just continue to build on with career going into the NFL. Just being more versatile, I feel like especially just the way the NFL is going, you see the running back position and it is kind of devalued. Guys circle in, circle out. They always try to get younger guys and cheaper guys, so I really feel like in order to keep my career going and be able to positively impact whichever team I’m on, that’s just building off the versatility whether it’s catching out of the backfield, being somewhat of a receiver or whether it’s obviously blocking in pass pro for the quarterback.”
(I guess my follow-up will actually tie in the Fordham deal. How would you describe your journey obviously from a smaller school to where you are today? How would you describe the journey?) – “The journey has been a hell of a ride and I think in life, really, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about how our individual journeys – everyone has their own journey and for me it’s just been one hell of a ride because coming out of high school, I didn’t really have a lot of offers. Not a lot of people really wanted to touch me. Going to Fordham and kind of just trusting that I felt like that was the right place for me scheme-wise and being able to build on that and then taking that blue-collar mentality that I have in terms of just working hard, making sure I’m always the hardest worker on the field and making sure I’m a great teammate, I think that really molded me into the man and to the player that I am today coming from Fordham to Arizona and just again, just trying to build off my resume from Arizona now to Miami and just always finding ways to improve.”
(What factors made you give the go-ahead to Drew Rosenhaus to accept the Dolphins offer really early in free agency as opposed to waiting it out a little bit?) – “For me when I made my decision, I kind of had a list of things. I had a list of my priorities and I kind of already had an idea of which teams were interested in me, so I just laid out my priorities. I kind of laid out each team of did it fit those priorities, kind of where it stood at in terms of what I was looking for. Miami, I really liked Miami because (Mike) McDaniel – I really felt like McDaniel could utilize me in ways where it benefits me to my playing ability, so that was really a home run hitter for there. Obviously no state income tax helps a little bit. (laughter) And the location is cool. But really I just felt like Miami was building up something special. I think there were nine wins last year, if I’m not mistaken. Nine was the year before that?”
(Nine last year and 10 the year before) – “Yeah and I liked the defense. The defense is already set in stone. I think I read somewhere where like every starter on the defense was under 30, so to me that was a strong foundation. I felt like I trusted (Chris) Grier, I trusted (Mike) McDaniel to bring in the pieces that they felt the team needed to take that next step on the offensive side of the ball, so that kind of led into my decision going to Miami. I just felt like individually and collectively as a team, it was a good fit for me.”
(You touched on it a little bit earlier of backs being sort of devalued and the game sort of evolving. How important is it that this kind of seems like a team that’s going to be run-first, run-heavy and anti-what’s going on with football today? How important is that part of that?) – “Repeat the last part of that question one more time for me?”
(In terms of you guys have a fullback. You guys want to be – the offense. How important was being part of something like that going basically anti-establishment?) – “You know, importance-wise it has something to do with it, but I kind of – I’m more so, I was following (Mike) McDaniel. I really believe that he’s a guru. I was told he was a guru from players that I trust and that he was a really good player coach as well. So I’m kind of putting my faith in him. I feel like he’s a creative guy. He’s going to find a way to utilize all his players that we have on the offensive side of the ball, find a way to utilize what we’re all good at, what we’re best at and keeping it at that. And I think that’s really important for just a player’s development in this league. When someone or when a coaching staff asks a guy to do too much, that’s when you kind of see the mistakes. But if you ask a guy to do what he’s comfortable with, if you ask a guy to do what he’s (good) at, what’s he’s best at, that’s when you see the best version of that player. And I think McDaniel can get that out of us offensively.”
(I’m just curious whether you had any connections – either former teammates, former friends, anything like that with anybody on the team?) – “Yeah, so I did not actually. Funny thing is after I got signed – I think like a day and a half later, one of my best friends from the Arizona Cardinals – Trent Sherfield – he’s coming down to Miami. So that’s really the only connection that I have in terms of people I knew in the NFL. So it’s kind the start of a whole new situation for me myself, so I’m kind of just learning on the fly.”
