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Durham Smythe – August 31, 2021 Download PDF version

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

TE Durham Smythe

(It’s your fourth year. What has this camp been like for you this year?) – “It’s been good. I think it’s something I say every year. Obviously you want to keep improving to be a complete tight end, and improve things that have historically been weaknesses and things like that. I think that’s just stacking another year of that. Obviously with the room we have, it’s deep. We can all bounce ideas off each other and I think that helps everyone improve as well. It’s been good. It’s been a good thing.”

(How do you think this roster compares to the 2019 roster that Head Coach Brian Flores took over?) – “I think ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) over the last three years has really just gotten his type of guys in this building. Guys who love to compete. I think one thing that jumps out between those two rosters is obviously there’s talent on both, but this one’s so deep really across the board. I’m confident that whoever goes down at any position really, this year you have another starter-caliber guy that can jump right in. I think it’s just the type of guys in the building and the culture we’ve built – competitive, honest, things like that, and deep. From a depth perspective, this is a pretty deep team.”

(How are you seeing the offense itself evolve with QB Tua Tagovailoa versus last year with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick?) – “Yeah, obviously to an extent you build offenses around the strengths of your players; and with Tua going into his second year, he knows what those are. He’s been – like I’ve said every time I’ve been asked about that – he’s obviously more comfortable this year. That’s how every player is from Year 1 to Year 2, regardless of position. So you can see that he’s comfortable. This will be something based around his strengths, receiver’s strengths, tight end’s strengths. You’ll see that really across the league in how offenses are developed. But from that perspective, I think he’s a lot more comfortable.”

(With that being said, do you feel like you guys are doing more Alabama stuff because that’s what QB Tua Tagovailoa is familiar with?) – “To be honest, I have no idea what Alabama does, this far out of college. I think it’s more based on just personal strengths. Like I said, I have no idea what Alabama does but as he develops, and kind of like I said earlier, as tight ends, we’re trying to be complete tight ends and work on those weaknesses. He’s done the same things. These little strengths that you see early on start to become more total in terms of what he can do. I think like I said, he is more comfortable and he has more strengths.”

(Have you had conversations about any roster bubble guys? What’s today like for them? What do you tell them?) – “Kind of like I said earlier, the depth on this team is so significant. It’s always the worst day of the year in terms of that because you go through camp, you get close with this team. Like I said, the right guys were in this building from the beginning. We had 90 of the right guys in this building, so this is always a tough day. Specifically, like I said earlier, this team is do deep. There’s a lot of guys that there’ll be tough decisions that are made. From that perspective, it’s tough; but you wish those guys the best and I think there’s a lot of guys on this team that will have a shot, whether it’s here or somewhere else.”

(LB Benardrick McKinney was one of those guys that we found out yesterday. What was he like to go up against this camp and if you could also talk about LB Elandon Roberts and going against him?) – “Yeah, he’s a good player. That kind of validates what I’m saying is there’s tough decisions when you have a team that’s pretty talented across the board. He’s a good player, a good guy. Like I said, we wish everyone the best that’s been here with us. E-Rob is a guy who has been on the injury whatever it is, and with him coming back, he made his presence felt like he always does. He’ll be an asset to this team, really across the board from a leadership standpoint and a defensive intensity standpoint.”

(You mentioned just the depth of this roster. How is maybe the additional speed that you guys have added with WR Jaylen Waddle and WR Will Fuller and some of those other guys helped you guys become more complete offensively?) – “Yeah, that definitely adds another dynamic. I think the way this roster has been built, really from the beginning, there’s guys that can really fly, guys that can go make contested catches and guys that do a little bit of both. I think when you have guys that have strengths in different areas, specifically within position groups, you can be more multiple. When you have guys that have the speed that we have this year, it definitely opens things up so that will be fun and obviously difficult for defenses to deal with.”

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