Julius Thomas – May 24, 2017
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Wednseday, May 24, 2017
Tight End Julius Thomas
(A lot of people talk about your football IQ. In fact, TE Anthony Fasano just mentioned it. QB Peyton Manning apparently talked about that with Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen. Where does that come from and how does that help you on the field?) – “It comes from getting to play with some great players and having some great influences on my career when I was younger, just really to instill that high-level IQ and how to make the game a little bit easier and do things at the right time. So I think it helps me a lot on the field. Mostly … Every play, there’s going to be something that you don’t expect. Early on in this league, I was taught when you get to the line (of scrimmage), prepare for the worst situation, and that’s probably helped me out more than anything else as far as pre-snap. I think that’s one of the most underrated parts of the game is seeing what’s happening before the snap. It’s great for quarterbacks but it’s great for every other position too. I just try to apply the things that I’m able to get from other people and pay attention the best I can in the meetings, and then try to go utilize that on the field.”
(How excited are you to be reunited with Head Coach Adam Gase?) – “It’s exciting. Not only is he a guy that I think is one of the best football minds – he’s really good at teaching and instructing – but he’s also somebody that I consider a friend and somebody that I trust in this game. To have that marriage is pretty good.”
(Do you expect to pick up where you and Head Coach Adam Gase left off your last two years in Denver?) – “Our offense is always going to have the same standard and that’s to go score points. If we’re coming out here to do anything else, we’re not doing our service to the team. How many points we score a game, how many yards, that’ll be determined; but it’s definitely going to be our goal to go out there and put points on the board.”
(Did you put a little extra work in today? It seems like you just came from the practice field.) – “Yes, I just came from the weight room. I was like, ‘I might as well handle this before I go get ready, eat, shower and everything.’”
(What’s going to be the best way for you to develop chemistry with QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “Time. There’s no other way. Sometimes we have some of the smartest football people in the world in the NFL, but there’s no way to get around hard work and time. It’s not going to happen this week. It’s not going to happen by the end of OTAs. It’s going to take rep after rep after rep and we’ll get there.”
(You’ve been around for a while but you are only 28 years old. Do you feel like you still have some prime years left in your body physically?) – “Yes. I think this is the best I’ve ever felt. When I was younger, somebody told me that the hardest part about playing when you get older is getting your body right and the game slows down. I’m kind of in that sweet spot where the body still feels good and the game is slowing down. So I’m really looking forward to this year – Year 7 – so that’s going to be an exciting time for me.”
(If you look at the roster that Head Coach Adam Gase has to work with now and the offensive weapons that are with you on the field. What’s your impressions of them thus far?) – “Looking at the guys and seeing a lot of the film from last year – seeing the explosiveness, the speed, the swagger that they play with – it’s really exciting. I see myself fitting in really well with the guys. Then, also, just trying to be a stable presence. We have a pretty young offense so even guys like Laremy (Tunsil) and Ja’Wuan (James), having somebody (like me) that can line up next to them, has seen a lot of stuff (and) looking to build that communication and help throughout the offense, not just the receivers.”
(Can you talk about your early impressions of QB Ryan Tannehill and also how you think RB Jay Ajayi and the running game will complement your play as well?) – “I think that Ryan is probably going to make his mark just by how smart he is. You can see from talking to him – working with him – that he’s very cerebral. He puts so much time in and he really wants to make this his offense and to own it. I’ve been extremely pleased and excited just to see his work ethic, outside of his physical ability. Just the quarterback that he’s becoming, I expect him to continue to grow as a player. Jay is a dynamic back and if we do what we need to do on offense, we’ll be able to keep teams off-balanced, mixing up the run, mixing up the pass (and) putting ourselves in the best position on each play. I think it will all complement well.”
(You’ve been away from it for three months now. How would you assess what happened in Jacksonville and maybe why you didn’t have production there when you thought you might?) – “Sometimes things just don’t work out. I don’t have any ill-will towards anybody in Jacksonville. I like everybody there. We all got along great. But not everything always fits. It just wasn’t a fit for me. It’s definitely appreciated, the opportunity they gave me, and the people that I met and the things that I learned in Jacksonville, and I’ll take that on to still become a better player every year.”
(I’m sure you went to Jacksonville with very high expectations and then the injuries and the way the team struggled, how much did that test you those few years?) – “I became a much better person the last two years. To have some struggles on the field really helped me grow as a person, mentally and in my own personal life. I’m not upset by the way things happened. Sometimes the best way to learn is when you’re going through things and I definitely took advantage of that in my own life.”
(How so exactly? How did that change you?) – “I think that sometimes you get the impression that your success on the field defines who you are as a person and how well you’re living your life. That’s really not the case. As you get older, you start to realize that when you’re 25, 26 (years old and) having amazing stats and you’re playing in Super Bowls and stuff, it’s really easy to just be focused on your game and not the kind of person you’re being (and) the relationships with your friends and family. It was a good opportunity. God showed me some things I needed in my life and I’m definitely going to continue that moving forward.”
(How much has the playbook and Head Coach Adam Gase’s game plan evolved since your first stint with him?) – “It’s definitely changed. (There are) certain things that I have to unlearn (and there are) certain things I have to now learn. I think the skeleton of it is pretty similar, but he’s grown as a coordinator. He’s grown as a coach and it reflects in the offense. I think that him having complete control over what we do offensively and really getting to have his vision and put it out there to attack a defense the way he’s known and learned, it’s been fun to make some adjustments.”
(When you were in Denver, how tough was it to go to a legend like QB Peyton Manning – I don’t know if you viewed him that way – and ask him how to watch video? Can you take us through one of those video sessions with him?) – “It’s not really tough to go to somebody that loves and enjoys getting better and asks them ‘Hey, can we watch some film?’ What more would he rather have you ask him than to sit down and say let’s get better? So that wasn’t the tough part. The tough part was trying to catch up to the way that he noticed and he recognized the game. There were a lot of times where I made some mistakes and he wasn’t exactly the happiest with me, but that’s part of growing. That’s part of getting better. I definitely took all of the things that I learned from him and keep on trying to apply them to the game and use it to make myself a better player.”
(You said it takes a long time but with QB Peyton Manning, you made some pretty nice catches for him. How long did it take you to get his trust?) – “I think catching is the easy part. I think getting there and understanding what the defense is doing and understanding how our scheme affects that was the toughest part. Trust is developed every day by being in the right place at the right time. That’s what we all have to have offensively. We’ve got to work together. We’ve got to be able to count on each other. That’s how the best offenses perform at a high level.”
(Can you recall the moment where you felt you really had gained QB Peyton Manning’s trust?) – “Even before I was playing … My second year, I had an injury. I was coming back and felt pretty healthy and I remember one time in the elevator – I wasn’t playing then, Joel Dreesen and Jacob Tamme had it – and (Manning) told me ‘Just keep working. Everybody sees the player you’re becoming, sees the things you’re doing. Just keep working and it’ll pay off.’ That’s probably the first time I really understood that he recognized my ability and then it was turning that into translating on the field.”
(When it was determined that you and Jacksonville would be parting ways, how much say did you and your agent have in where you ended up? Were there other teams that reached out to you with Jacksonville’s permission besides Miami?) – “All of that is between me and my agent. We’ll just leave that one alone.”
