Duke Riley – August 2, 2022
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Tuesday, August 2, 2022
LB Duke Riley
(What have your experiences been this training camp and what are some things you’ve been working on to really solidify your role on this defense?) – “Just enjoying the process, enjoying still being in it Year Six. Enjoying still being back with a lot of the same guys. Familiar faces, familiar defense. Just working on taking it day by day, meeting by meeting, practice by practice, second by second. That’s all I can do. Not looking back, not looking forward. Just trying to improve every single day in every single thing that I do.”
(What do you think about year six and going into that. What does that mean to you, and everything you’ve gone through in your football life?) – “I look at it like I’m an older guy. I’m a guy that should be in some situations, not all situations, but in some situations counted on to do the right thing. I’m looked at as a guy that whenever my name is called, I’ll be the guy to do my job, to make sure that it’s done 100 percent. That’s what I’m focused on is just making sure I do my job for my team, to make sure I put my team in the best situation that they can be.”
(On the other side of the football, what have you seen from QB Tua Tagovailoa and how he’s performed this season so far?) – “I’ve seen a lot of growth. I’ve seen a lot of camaraderie . (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) does a good job. He’s an offensive-minded coach, so he’s taking care of the offensive side. We usually stay to the defensive side. Even in defensive meetings, we don’t see the offense really until it’s time to go against them on the field. They are electric. There is a lot of speed, a lot of weapons for Tua and that’s a great thing. It’s like you got this guy covered, but then there is somebody else you’ve got to worry about as well. That’s a good thing that Tua has is there’s a lot of weapons. He’s doing a great job. I love Tua. He’s a better person than anything. He’s a guy that’s going to hit you up almost every day throughout the offseason to see how you’re doing throughout the week. I love Tua as a person, not even as a football player. I obviously love him as a football player, but Tua is a great person and a great friend to me.”
(Speaking of Tua, there was plenty of pressure looks out there for him today. How do you think he did against those?) – “I think he did a good job and I think it’s really good that we’re giving him those looks. We obviously as a defense have a lot of looks and we show a lot of different things and we’re making it harder for him. I feel like we’re giving him some of the hardest things he’ll see throughout the season so I think will help him throughout the games and in like-game situations.”
(What do you think about the linebacker rotation and the depth that you guys can produce at the beginning of the season as opposed to mid-year last year where you guys kind of struggled?) – “I think it’s good. Like I said before, just using guys in certain situations. I think it’s really good that we got a lot of the guys back. We all know the system, we all work together well. We all encourage each other every single day to be better, and we’re pushing each other. It’s great. It’s competition and we all love it.”
(Does having that group back enable you to get more vulnerable with each other? And to really work as a unit?) – “Being with people longer, it’s easier to have, I guess you could say more uncomfortable conversations with people. It’s really rare because we know how to work. A lot of guys in the room are older. We have one rookie in the room with Channing (Tindall) and we’re definitely bring him along. But most of the guys are four, five, six, seven years in. We already have a standard set in the room of how we’re going to come to work every day and how we’re going to bring each other along. I don’t think there is a day that we come to work and everyone in the room isn’t trying work as hard as they can and do their job and bring each other along. It’s constant. When I’m in, I’m helping the guy next to me, and they are helping me. In the game, there are so many things moving at one time, and we’re constantly helping each other get in a better position. We’re constantly celebrating each other’s wins. I think that’s what it’s all about. We’re happy for each other. We’re very vulnerable like you said, and we really have a great relationship with each other.”
(Having the one rookie in LB Channing Tindall, and now you going into year six, how special or what’s your perspective on seeing a guy go through a process that you’ve already gone through?) – “It’s a beautiful thing, to be honest with you. Me being the guy that I am, I know when I came in as a rookie, I was competing. I came in with a young linebacker corps and those second-year guys, I was competing with those guys. They were learning as well. The fact that I’ve learned a lot in this league. This is my third team, I’ve been around a lot of good veterans, I’ve been around a lot of good players. It’s like I can teach him. I always tell him every single day to make sure you write down everything you hear because at the end of the day, we’re getting information that coaches – I love the game so much that one day I may coach it. So I’m getting so much information and I’m getting some of the most elite information from these coaches so I try to write down as much as I hear. Even if I hear the same thing, I’m writing it down again. I feel like if I write it down so much, I won’t be able to get it wrong. I don’t do it until I get it write, I do it until I can’t get it wrong. Just constantly creating that repetition, and those habits of taking notes and film study and things that coming from college and the NFL, especially in the SEC like Channing was, the game speed is kind of similar. But the anticipation and the knowledge of the game has to go a step up. I think he’s doing a good job. I think he has a lot of potential and I love being the guy that helps the younger guys. Not even the younger guys, the older guys and everyone that I can. I love being that guy.”
(Do you like being a leader?) – “Yes, ma’am.”
(Do you have a notebook? What kind of notes?) – “I actually don’t have a notebook because I had it when I first got into the league. But I have an iPad. I bought an iPad and I have this app that I have every single note that I have taken from 2018 from every single coach. Instead of having it in a paper form, I have it in an iPad form where I can go back to 2018 OTAs, 2018 training camp, 2018 season from the Falcons. I have all of my Philadelphia notes. I have all of my notes from last year from every defensive coordinator I played with and every special teams coach I played with. I can go back and write down and look at everything that they said because I’m writing down the stuff that they’ve done. That’s going to be my edge one day if I want to become a coach one day, if that’s the route I want to go.”
(You said you love QB Tua Tagovailoa as a person. Do you feel like he’s been able to be that person more this year or show that person?) – “I don’t know how to say this but I feel like he’s coming out of his shell more. I don’t want to sound like he was in a shell, but he’s getting more comfortable. He’s in his third year. He knows a lot of the guys are counting on him and a lot of the guys on the team have always believed in Tua. There has never been a doubt in anyone’s mind. I think he’s getting a better feel of the game and the players and the repetition. I think he’s an amazing person like I said. We talk more on the golf course than we do out here in the building. I think that’s the best part about it.”
(Was it kind of an uncomfortable environment because it wasn’t as supportive of QB Tua Tagovailoa overall at times?) – “I wouldn’t say that. It was just different in it’s own ways. I think that this year with this team, a lot of the same guys back. We brought in more talent, brought in more weapons. I just think that the old veterans that they brought in (Terron) Armstead, Tyreek (Hill), they are bringing their own type of certain energy to the table. I think everybody is doing their part, playing their part.”
(How is your golf game?) – “Tua can get me. He got me. (laughter) He’s actually been teaching me because I wasn’t a real golfer but I’m definitely getting better. He’s Tua. Just how he does football is how he does anything. He wants to be perfect. He’ll practice and work at it. He’s definitely out there way more than me hitting golf balls. But that’s offseason stuff. Right now it’s straight ball. I think he’s a great person and a great human. He’s our quarterback. We’re going to protect him at all times.”
