Elandon Roberts – April 13, 2022
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Wednesday, April 13, 2022
LB Elandon Roberts
(It’s been a pretty hectic offseason to put it mildly. A lot of changes on offense but on defense, you guys are running it back. How surprised were you to see that and what are your thoughts about that – to everybody on defense running it back?) – “It was a great thing because I know all of those guys. You’ve got that team camaraderie with your defense. I’m glad we got all the guys back and it’s going to be fun. I know somebody is going to have this question, but the NFL changes every year so to not have your defensive unit change that much is a good thing.”
(Obviously Brian Flores is no longer here but Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer is staying as the defensive coordinator. What do you expect to change in that aspect with him really taking the reigns with the defense?) – “I think Josh is going to do a great job and do what he’s been doing since he took over the last two years. That’s it.”
(How does that continuity help you as a communicator to just get the defense with the rest of the guys? There’s no real going back to step one. You’re already at step four or five or whatever. How does that help you as a communicator?) – “It’s good because now you can build on it. You can start putting yourself and your defense in situations that you might have not been able to put in last year in OTAs. You had to start from the foundation. Every year, you still have to start with your foundation because guys have been off. You’ve just got to revamp things but it’s a quicker process and stuff like that. As a communicator, as a guy that guys know on the team and I know them and know the best situation to put each other in, it’ll really complement us in the long run that we were able to stay together.”
(I’m sure you had some options. Why did you decide you wanted to come back?) – “To be fully transparent, I just felt like this is my defense. I’m a leader on the team and a leader on the defense. It was kind of a no-brainer for me, to be honest with you. I love being in Miami. My family loves it out here. I have a good relationship with everyone in the building. It was kind of a no-brainer.”
(What are you going to do when football is over? Have you thought about that?) – “For me, this might sound funny but I tell everyone around the building because I’m successful off the field in what I’m doing. I’m doing my own thing off the field and I’m going into year seven. I tell them all the time I’d love to just be a high school head football coach. That’s it.”
(Why high school?) – “Because I feel like the foundation for kids starts then. You’ve got a lot of kids that are going to college and coming to the NFL and really still don’t know or really still don’t know who they are – even as a football player. You can be this great athlete, a great football player and still not know who you are until you get to the NFL. I feel like me, being a guy that’s financially stable and stuff like that, maybe down the road I may be like, ‘I want to coach in the NFL.’ Or I might wake up next year and be like, ‘I want to coach in the NFL.’ But right now, I just want to mentor kids and give them the right opportunity to be prepared for certain situations because when you’re in college, you have competition coming in every year, so you’ve got to approach that a certain way. If you don’t build that foundation when those kids are in high school and start them off on that path – there’s a time and a place to pat them on the butt and say, ‘It’s going to be okay,’ but when you throw them in the fire and you’ve got the wolves coming every year, the strongest survive. At the end of the day, it’s just like my situation. Every year (the media) tries to push me out. I’m still in here looking at you guys. (laughter)”
(Do you find yourself serving as a mentor to some of the younger guys with a new coaching staff and just helping get things set in place? I know CB Xavien Howard talked about that last week saying he’s just trying to lead guys with a new coaching staff and get them to buy in. Do you think you’re doing the same?) – “Yeah, I think that’s the energy around the whole building. Just guys in this time, it’s a different year then the past two years when you haven’t been able to come in for OTAs, minicamp and all of that. None of us were really in the building so now that everybody is in the building, you’re able to really, really build with your teammates and stuff like that. I just like that we’ve got some normalcy going around the NFL. These last two years have been kind of weird. I kind of forgot how an offseason program can go. I was doing my own thing. So yeah, it’s cool.”
(So we’re all starting to get to know Head Coach Mike McDaniel. What do you think? How would you describe his personality?) – “I think he’s his own guy. We had conversations and it’s been great. Him around the building has been great and I feel like everything he told you guys, you can kind of go off that. He hasn’t hid anything from you guys or tried to do anything of that nature and stuff like that. For me and him, him as a head coach – my job is to make sure that I lead the defense and the team in the right direction. What way that he wants me to do that, that’s the way I’m going to do it because at the end of the day, that’s my head coach and I’m going to follow behind him and do my part with the team. I feel like everybody dealing with coach and whatnot is having a positive mindset and everything with it. He kind of told y’all everything so I don’t really know how to fall in. (laughter)”
(What has been your impression on this team’s additions on the other side of the ball, specifically with all the new speed that’s been infused on offense?) – “I was at home. I kind of got the news like y’all. I feel like it’s been great. It’s exciting but all we can really do is control today and when the day is by, we control tomorrow. If we live in the future, we wont handle what’s in the present. We’ve just got to handle every day day-by-day.”
(I know it’s been a while since it happened but what was your initial reaction when Brian Flores was let go? He’s a guy you had a long-standing relationship with.) – “It was months ago. I can’t remember like that. I just worry about the present, not the past. I’m not trying to be, but I’m just, yeah.”
(With you coming off an ACL tear and then having a career year – I don’t know if you were fully recovered when you were playing but what does that say to you about yourself and what you can do?) – “I just feel like me, myself, every year I come in, any year, and I just try to get better in what I need to get better at. This year for me is a 360 of difference because last offseason, all I did was worry about rehab. Rehab, get my knee right. Rehab, get my knee right. Now this year, I can really get back to looking at me as a whole, looking at what I can really have a true offseason and really put my best foot forward for my team. That’s leading the team, doing my job and making sure each week we are ready to go. That’s how I look at it. To answer your question, I am excited to have a full offseason (where I’m) not worried about rehab and worried about getting bigger, faster, stronger and all that.”
