Christian Wilkins – September 4, 2023
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Monday, September 4, 2023
DT Christian Wilkins
(Will you watch Thursday Night Football? How ramped up do you get going into Sunday? Will you watch college football? What will your mindset be getting ramped up for Sunday?) – “Well, first thing’s first, there’s a more important game coming on tonight. Go Tigers, shoutout to Clemson University, so I’ll be watching that. I’m a big fan of football. I always like to watch the game, see what guys are doing around the league, see what other teams are doing. I’m always pretty locked in. This is an exciting time of year. You work so hard year-round, day in and day out, not just the days required, but even on your off days, doing whatever it takes. So, it always gets a little more exciting, but yeah, usually I watch a little ball. I always watch the Thursday night game. Just try to keep it calm until Sunday, though, for the most part and let it all out on Sunday.”
(You and QB Tua Tagovailoa are two of the biggest leaders, obviously both captains, on this team. What he’s been through, the opportunity Week 1 for him. What’s his mindset like right now? Where is he at right now in terms of excitement level and just getting that opportunity again?) – “I don’t want to completely speak for him, but I will say, I just see another year of growth for Tua. Just confidence, understanding the offensive system and the scheme and taking more command and control of the offense. He just grows every year as a leader. You just see the growth constantly. I feel like he’s always attacking each day ready to improve and I’ve been able to see the results.”
(I think that Chargers game last year was one of your most productive. How much do you take from that tape to apply to this year’s game against the same team?) – “They do some different stuff this year, but you could kind of understand matchups and just take a good mindset into the game. But that really doesn’t matter. It’s a new year so just all the work you put in should carry you through and just got to lock in on the new scheme and a new system and different things they do now so that way I can have another productive performance and we can ultimately go out there and get a win.”
(Along those lines, obviously it’s a new offense for them or a new offensive coordinator. I don’t think they played a lot of their starters in the preseason. Are you still watching preseason and just kind of seeing how their top guys fit into that?) – “Yeah, you always try to just watch a little bit everything, try to see what you can pick up on. I watch last year’s stuff, just to even kind of see tendencies, maybe, or whatever it is. This year, even though it’s a small sample size like you’re saying, I try to watch a little bit everything so you can get a beat for individual players and for the scheme.”
(You were describing QB Tua Tagovailoa’s growth as a leader and his maturation process. How would you answer the same question about yourself?) – “The biggest thing for me, since my rookie year I just came in every day and just put my head down and worked and grinded. Slowly but surely, I don’t realize how much my teammates pay attention, but they pay attention. Slowly, but surely, they’ve just been able to respect me more and more. When you get to see the fruits of your labor and all the work you’re putting in actually translate on the field, that only gives you a little bit more credibility and a little more respect amongst your peers. I’m just humbled, really, just to be respected by my guys. You play the game for a lot of different reasons, but the respect of your peers and the guys around the league is up there with all of it.”
(You’ve been a player rep I think since your rookie year, right?) – “Correct.”
(What did you learn from that experience?) – “There’s a lot. I didn’t really know what I was getting into my rookie year and kind of just fully understood the role and that position. But now I do more, and there’s a lot that goes into that. Just representing the players on your team and just the guys around the league, it’s a lot of responsibility, but I’m up for it and I feel like I’ve got a good sense of the guys in my locker room and just kind of typically how guys think. It allows me to be good in that role as well.”
(You were here at the beginning when this organization started building what they have right now. The one thing that I’ve noticed is that this year’s team is not afraid to talk about Super Bowl. They’re not afraid to say the word in terms of talking about what you guys are aspiring for. Is that just the mentality? Or is that just growth?) – “Obviously that’s the reason you play the game. You want to compete at the highest level, win at the highest level and be the best team. Or else you wouldn’t be out there in hot-ass sun every day at practice working your butt off. But ultimately, it just comes down to a daily focus. I feel like we do a pretty good job of that. When we do a lot of those little things that’ll lead to the bigger things and those bigger things will come. But yeah, each and every day, we’ve just got to focus on the little things and the task at hand. We know we’ve got potential. We’ve just got to, like I said, build on those little things and see where we end up.”
(Talking about your duties as a player rep, can you take us back to the WR Daewood Davis conversation? How surreal was that? Talk about being on the field talking about that.) – “I’m not going to get too much into actually what was talked about for the most part, but a call had to be made and it was just kind of getting all the information from both sides, from the NFL, from the refs, talking amongst each other, their coach, and our coach and everybody. Then just a call had to be made in obviously a tough situation. Again, just another time where a lot of responsibility is put on the guys, us as leaders, to make a decision.”
(The decision to actually not play, to not continue the game, did you and the kicker – I can’t remember his name, from Jacksonville – you guys talked about that? Or did you talk to a couple other players? How did that work?) – “Again, like I said, I’m not going to speak too much about what actually the conversation was and wasn’t, what was said and what wasn’t said.”
(Off the top of your head, do you remember any other times where your team has been the first to play against a new offensive coordinator?) – “I don’t really recall.”
(What is the difficulty in being the first team to kind of debut against a new system? Do you watch Chargers Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore’s Cowboys film?) – “I see what you’re saying. I feel like you’ve kind of just got to take a little bit of everything and watch as much as you can. That would help, obviously, watching some of the Cowboys stuff and trying to figure out some stuff. But you just try to pick up as much as you can so that you can go out there and have a productive game.”
