Christian Wilkins – June 8, 2021
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Tuesday, June 8, 2021
DT Christian Wilkins
(There’s a lot of talk, especially among the coaching staff, about second-year leaps that players can make in the NFL. You’ve already had your second year. What do you believe you improved on from your first year to your second year?) – “Yeah, definitely that’s a big thing that’s talked about. I feel like for me personally, I just try to hone my overall craft and game. The biggest thing was first trying to get into proper shape to be a pro. I feel like that helped me a lot and then I was able to work from there, just work on my technique, improve as a teammate and as a leader and just everything. I feel like I made a lot of strides in a lot of different areas.”
(If I could follow up on that, I didn’t think you were out of shape as a rookie or anything like that. What do you mean by being in better shape?) – “Well, I’m my biggest critic, so I’m just working on everything. But definitely, I want to be able to feel like I can play at any time, as many snaps as I’m needed, anything like that – run to the ball, get out of the stack, those kind of things. Those things I pride myself on, so that’s where it starts for me.”
(I wanted to congratulate you on being part of the first graduating class from the HBCU Florida Memorial University construction trade program. I wanted to ask you how much pride that brings you, the graduation for that; but also, a little bit about the experience, if you could tell us about it.) – “That was awesome. Obviously last year with everything going on in the world, a group of us just decided to form the social justice impact committee and we’ve been able to make some strides and help out our local area, our community and everything. So I’m proud of all the guys and all their work, and that was great to be a part of. It was better than I could have imagined, just being able to help out our community and get people graduated and things like that, so they can go off in the world and do great things. So that was awesome to see.”
(I saw some video on the Dolphins Twitter of LB Benardrick McKinney walking out there today. He looks like a relatively large man. And LB Jaelan Phillips looks like he’s put together pretty well together too. How do you think those two guys, as sort of newcomers, might be able to have an impact coming from behind you?) – “I feel like those guys, just being around them for the short time that I have been, they’re just guys who soak things up, listen and work hard, from what I’ve seen. I haven’t gotten to play with them or anything like that; but just from what I’ve seen, it’s all looking positive, so I’m excited to see what they can do.”
(What did you think of Marion Hobby’s departure and what approach is Defensive Line Coach Austin Clark taking?) – “I definitely think Coach Clark is a great coach and he’s going to have our d-line ready to go, so I’m excited to see what he can do this year for us and just continue to – it’s the second year with him so I think he’s going to do great and help us out a lot.”
(How did you and DT Raekwon Davis kind of work together last year and where your relationship and comfort level is with him on the d-line next to you is now?) – “Raekwon is my guy. That’s my little baby big brother. (laughter) Nah, me and him are real tight and I’m excited to see him, definitely, in Year 2 because he’s a good player, he works hard as well and is fun to be around. He’s a fun teammate to have.”
(When we were talking to Defensive Line Coach Austin Clark a couple of weeks ago, he said your two-week bout with the COVID-19 protocols may have hurt you. He felt like you were coming on right at that time. Did you finish last season how you wanted to? Do you feel like you kind of left anything out on the field that you wanted to accomplish?) – “Like I said earlier, like I kind of talked about, I’m my biggest critic so I’m always going to be hard on myself. Even if I finished with every stat, every category and every award, it still wouldn’t have been enough. I just look forward to this year and improving this year, and try to be the best player I can be.”
(The football nerd in me has me going back and looking at some of the analytics about your pressures and how they come from multiple different positions along the defensive line. I know a lot of your game is creating chances for other guys as well; but I’m curious from your perspective, what does playing all of those positions do to kind of open up your game and give you more chances? Like how does it benefit you to play so many spots along the d-line?) – “Definitely something that I pride myself on is versatility. Our defense is based off a multiple scheme with multiple fronts and guys who can do a lot of different things; so that’s what a lot of us pride ourselves on. Really, the biggest thing for me is I just like to – wherever I am, I like to try to make an impact and help the team as best as possible. That’s my job. That’s what I’ve got to do and that’s what I try to do down in and down out.”
(You said something earlier about obviously stats not really defining what you are; but I’m curious because on the outside, a lot of fans see sack numbers and that’s how they decide whether people have a good year or not. I’m curious if you have an individual stat or multiple that you look at that maybe defines the best way of how you see, am I playing well or not?) – “The biggest thing for me is I just try to just be a good teammate. I pride myself on that first and foremost. So whatever I’m asked to do, whether it’s hold guys up, whether it’s to make a play, whether it’s to knock guys (down); whatever I’m asked to do, I just like to play within the scheme and be the best I can within my role and be a good teammate first. That’s the No. 1 important thing to me.”
(A lot of the veteran players on the defense – there’s been some turnover with some of the guys who had been there a while, so now as you head into Year 3, you could take on more of a leadership role. I’m curious, what to you being a defensive leader means?) – “Definitely for me it starts with just the work. You’ve got to put in the work in the film room, in the weight room, on the field and then hopefully guys will follow that. It doesn’t always have to be a vocal rah-rah guy or anything like that, but really just serving my teammates is a big thing for me. Whatever anyone needs – rookies, older guys, younger guys – they need someone they can talk (to), anything. That’s what I pride myself on, so definitely just the work, leading by example and then always being myself, bringing that energy, bringing that juice to every day because I really do love this game. As much as it is work, it’s a game and it’s a lot of fun, so bringing that energy and bringing that juice and just being myself.”
(And how do you get other guys – you talk about that energy, that juice. We see you celebrating other guys’ touchdowns. We see just energy that you bring to the sideline. How do you spread that to your teammates so they can sort of match your intensity?) – “Like I said, just being me and doing what I do from that standpoint; it really matters on those days where it’s the 12th practice of camp and everybody’s dead and tired and you’ve got a little bit more of a spark and you’re like, ‘all right, I’ll be the spark today, like I’ll get those guys going. I’ll try to make a play,’ or ‘I’ll try to bring a little energy or just pick it up out here.’ I feel like it’s hard but when the mood can be down or anything like that, you’ve got to always just be yourself day-in and day-out.”
(We just spoke to your teammate G/T Robert Hunt. He had some pretty stylish nails. I was just wondering if that’s a new trend that we don’t know about or is it just a Robert Hunt thing?) – “(laughter) I think that’s just a Hunt thing. I noticed the stylish nails; but yeah, that’s just him.”
(Is that something you can see other guys maybe picking up on and being just as stylish as your man Rob Hunt?) – “Maybe. (laughter) To each his own, I guess. I don’t know.”
(I wanted to ask you, how has it kind of been lining up against the offensive line this season? Obviously you have T Liam Eichenberg and G/T Robert Hunt making the transition. How has the offensive line kind of looked to you at an early glance?) – “I really like our offensive line group just because they’re good teammates and they’re guys who work hard and they’re very helpful. Just in between plays, ‘What were y’all trying to do here?’ Or ‘how can I service you guys?’ Or whatever it is. Like when we’re getting looks, just that kind of stuff and I know we’ve just got a hard-working group of offensive linemen and they’re fun to be around. Like I said, they’re good teammates so I really do like them.”
(We asked you about what you’ve done the first couple years. What do you want to accomplish this upcoming season?) – “Really just the day-in and day-out improvement. Just get one percent better and the rest will take care of itself. Just get better at the small things and the big things will come. So every day, just locking in on the little details, just trying to find ways to finetune my body, try to find ways to finetune my spirit, my game, all that. Like I said, the little things so those will lead to the big things.”
