Duke Riley – July 28, 2023
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Friday, July 28, 2023
LB Duke Riley
(You’ve had three good practices. No 100-degree heat. Inside one day.) – “It was a cool day today. Have to call it cool in the shade. But I just take it day-by-day. I don’t look at good practices, bad practices. I just try to focus on each play, reset everyone and focus on getting better each rep. I did good, but I did some things I wish I could’ve done better as well.”
(Was today blitz install day. It seems like you guys were coming from every angle.) – “We try to change things up sometimes, give the offense different looks. They’re giving us different things as well. We’re just trying to work different things.”
(The news about CB Jalen Ramsey being sidelined for some time, Head Coach Mike McDaniel said he spoke to the team … What was the overall message?) – “I like to keep that confidential for Jalen. If he wants to speak on it, I want to let him speak on his behalf. He came and spoke to us and let us know he’s in a good spirits and he wanted us to be in good spirits for him as well.”
(Your music video was released. Did you have any thoughts on having T Terron Armstead on the remix or the original?) – “It was crazy, because when I used to play in Philly, I knew Terron was making music ‘cause I hear a lot of things that happen in New Orleans because I have a recording studio there. I told him about this music a couple years ago, and now we’re together and definitely have talked about hitting the studio together and we’re definitely going to make that happen for sure. I love Terron’s music as well.”
(What do you love about music?) – “I love that it’s timeless. You can listen to a song right now and it’ll bring you back to a moment that you had in the past. It’ll bring you back to a loved one that you knew or whatever it may be. I think that music is timeless. That’s also why I have a fishing business as well because water covers most of the world, so you can always do it and it gives me the same feeling I have with music. Fishing is the same feeling that football gives me.”
(It was a blitz heavy day. What have you noticed on the different blitz packages in Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio’s defense to Josh Boyer’s?) – “A lot of similarities, a lot of differences. Don’t want to get into too much detail because it’s new to us as well and we’re still trying to work everything out and get all the terminology down. There’s a lot of great things for us, a lot of great changes. A lot of guys will be more involved as well.”
(Only day three of training camp, but when the defense has a day like this, how much do you make of it? Does it have a lasting effect? Does it put a smile on your face?) – “In this league, it’s all about what you do next. You can’t dwell on it too long, good or bad. We are going to definitely go up in there and be proud out there of a lot of things that we’ve done. There’s also going to be things that we will need to correct. I’ve always been taught to have surf boy shoulders. It doesn’t matter what you do good or what you do bad, be happy if it’s good and if it’s bad, especially at practice, it’s good that it happens in practice and you can go correct it. We did a lot of good things, but there are also things we know we can get better at. As good as you can be, I’ve always tried to look at myself and never think I do good, because as a pro, that’s what you’re supposed to do. It’s just owning the details and trying to get half a step better regardless of what it may be.”
(Can you describe what the energy is like on a day like this when it seems like the defense can do no wrong?) – “Offense made some plays as well. We did good on defense. It’s just something that we try to do every day. As a defense, your objective is not to let the offense score or get a yard. Obviously that’s hard in this league because everyone gets paid and is performing at a high level. It’s good for the offense. Some days the offense does it to us. It’s a back-and-forth, holding the offense to a high standard just like they are holding us to a high standard to be great every single play. You see guys celebrating and being loud and being happy. It’s creating game environments every single practice. That’s how it’s going to be if we want to go where we want to go.”
(The guy we heard the loudest was DT Christian Wilkins chirping out there a little bit. How do you guys feed off his energy?) – “I love Christian. He knows it. He’s probably one of my favorite players on the team. I love everybody but Christian every day I see him, his laugh, his smile, he’s probably one of the happiest guys on the team. You can tell the guy loves the game. I have the upmost respect for him. We definitely feed off his energy. It all relates to the type of work he puts in. He constantly is getting extra. There are days no one is in the building but he is in the building. There’s days he’s here first. I try to get here early so I can get extra in and I always see him. It’s no secret when you see a guy like that. He’s able to celebrate. He’s able to be confident in what he does because of the work he puts in behind closed doors that no one sees.”
(CB Kader Kohou and CB Cam Smith, two young corners, from your perspective, what are some possible similarities you see?) – “I would say the footwork. They both have great feet. Kader’s footwork is amazing. He has really good hands and feet. They both have really great ball skills. The thing about Kader is he played a lot last year. He’s accustomed to the game speed a little bit more. Cam is getting more adjusted coming out of college. That happens as a rookie. Two great young players with bright futures. They come into work every day constantly asking questions, constantly wanting to get better. I always tell them when they come in to be a sponge. Soak up all the information from everybody. You can learn from every single person in this building, and try to find a guy who, like Christian Wilkins, the guys that are an example every day of what the standard is that we try to create here.”
(From being around Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio for a couple months, do you have a feel yet for why his defenses have generally been very successful aside from having good players?) – “Just the way he breaks down every detail in his scheme. I’ve been around a lot of coaches and I can say he’s one of the smartest guys on defense that I’ve been around. I personally have learned so much from him within a few months that’s going to help my game. Just seeing things the way he teaches it, and you learn that from every coach. Every single coach you’re going to pick up a few things. Fangio has been around so long and he’s seen so much. He’s able to break things down to a different level because he sees it from so many different angles and so many different guys and teams and schemes. I think he’s great for us.”
(What’s Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio’s teaching style?) – “You have coaches who are loud and raw-raw. He’s more – I’m not going to say laid back, because he’s not laid back at all. But he’s just big on detail and persistent on situational awareness. You could say he’s a student of the game with what’s going to happen. Helping you anticipate things. It’s kind of hard to explain but he’s like a guru to me. Any time he talks, I try to write everything down he says because if I want to coach one day, I want to take some of his stuff and use it as well.”
(How have you seen LB Channing Tindall grow coming into his second training camp?) – “Just like any second year, the game kind of slows down for you. Channing is definitely getting better. He’s learning. He’s understanding the game a little more. He’s picking up on things better. He’s coming to work every day. He’s trying to get better. He’s asking questions. He’s improving, definitely improving. He’s coming in and doing what he’s supposed to. He’s understanding what the league is. We have high expectations from every single person in the building. If you’re going to be on an active day and you’re ready to go, we need everyone to be at the same level.”
