Matt Breida – August 5, 2020
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Wednesday, August 5, 2020
RB Matt Breida
(I was looking at your social media and I saw you picked up a white sports car that looked really sweet. Can you tell me, is it a Lamborghini? And also more importantly, I was thinking about driving a fast sports car and how that might feel in comparison to when you’re carrying the ball and you see daylight so if you can touch on those two things.) – “Yeah, (laughter) I got a Lamborghini not too long ago. I like going fast. I run fast. I just like doing everything fast. I always wanted one and God blessed me to be able to get one, so that’s that.”
(When you first got traded to Miami I guess draft weekend, what were your conversations like with Head Coach Brian Flores about maybe what they expect from you here and what are your own personal expectations?) – “They were just very happy to be able to get me. They had been watching me my past couple years and they were excited (about) what I’d be able to do in this offense and fit the scheme well with my running and route-running ability. They just said they were going to get me in here. I told them – I said, ‘hey, whatever role you guys want me to do, I don’t care. I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.’ That was the talks that we had.”
(In terms of what you’ve been able to accomplish so far early in your career, do you feel like you’re underappreciated or do you still have that chip on your shoulder?) – “I’m always going to have that chip on my shoulder. I mean, I came into the league undrafted. That’s always going to be with me no matter where I go or what I do. That’s just my mentality. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder. That’s never going to change. However people view me, that’s how they view me. I just control what I can control and that’s how good I play on the field.”
(I’m curious about just kind of the vibe and the energy that you guys are feeling now that you’re all in the building together. You’ve had a couple days of practice on the field. What’s it like here?) – “It kind of reminds me of my San Fran locker room a little bit. The way the guys are mingling around. Guys are just happy to be back to the building with energy. Everyone’s communicating with each other. Everyone’s trying to get to know each other, and that kind of reminds me of San Fran when I was there my first year. So we’re on the right track as far as chemistry is going.”
(What was your reaction when you learned that the Dolphins’ leading rusher last year was a 37-year-old quarterback?) – “(laughter) At first I thought it wasn’t true. Actually me and ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) talked about that the other day. He was hoping that he wasn’t going to be the leading rusher this year again, but it’s just one of those things where a bunch of things happened during the season that you can’t control and I feel like that happened last year with the Dolphins. I know it happened when I was in San Fran with injuries and stuff, and you’ve just got to make the best of what guys you have out there on the field and what you can do.”
(Actually it’s a two-pronged question: one, I wanted to get your reaction when you had heard you’d been traded. That probably was a bit of shock to you or maybe it wasn’t. And No. 2, have there been any discussions with the Dolphins about being here long-term?) – “Yeah, when I first got traded I woke up in the morning, it was on draft day, and yeah, it was a bit of a shock to me because I know the Niners were doing everything in their power to try and bring everyone back for another year. Just the way things worked out obviously with them, the cap space – but I’m happy that I’m here. (I’m) glad that I’m able to play back in my home state for a great organization. As far as expectations and stuff, we’re just going to take it one game at a time.”
(I wanted to talk about you clocking the fastest time in the NFL each of the last two years, but also there being more to averaging 5 yards per carry than just speed – I was curious to get your opinion on what elements of your game might be overlooked because of that speed?) – “I don’t really think about that too much – what elements of my game are overlooked. I always think about what I can get better at, and I’m just trying to be an all-around complete running back in this game, prove to everyone that I can be an every-down back. Like I said, I’m always going to have that chip on my shoulder, so every year I’m always going to keep grinding and keep trying to get better.”
(During that talk with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick did you kind of tell him to rest easy, that he’s not going to be the leading rusher this year? That it’s going to be somebody like say, you?) – “I just told him that, ‘hey, you can still run, ‘Fitz,’ so you’re going to have to give me a run for my money this year.’ (laughter) Even though he’s been playing for a long time, ‘Fitz’ is a great quarterback. He’s a great guy and we’ve got a great group of running backs this year, so I’m looking forward to all of us getting out there and just picking up the running game this year.”
(Can you settle a debate for us? Who’s the fastest guy in the NFL? Where do you rank?) – “Oh man, you guys know the answer to this question. (laughter) You guys (have) seen the Next Gen Stats for the past two years. I always get this question and until someone beats my time – beats me out in that same year – then I’m still the fastest guy.”
(I wanted to ask you obviously you and RB Jordan Howard are probably going to be pairing off each other in a duo scheme. How much do you know about his game and maybe how can you guys feed off of each other with different skillsets?) – “Yeah, I’ve been watching Jordan (Howard) since his rookie year. He actually came in the year before I did. He runs the ball very well at what he does. He also gets out of the backfield, too, so I think he’s going to do a great job in the offense here; but not only that, we have Myles Gaskin, Patrick (Laird), we’ve got Kalen (Ballage) and they’re all great running backs; so I don’t want anyone to overlook those guys, too, because we’ve got a great group of backs and I think we’re going to shock a lot of people this year.”
(I wanted to quickly go back to the fastest player title. I wanted to ask you how much of a source of pride it is for you and also how much chirping have you gotten from your new teammates about them being able to beat you, say, somebody like WR Jakeem Grant?) – “It’s a great honor to be known as one of the fast guys in the league. Just coming in undrafted, it’s pretty cool because it shows that no matter where you came from, you can still be one of the top guys in the NFL. Me and Jakeem (Grant) haven’t really talked about it too much, but Kalen (Ballage) got on me yesterday. He wants to race in the 100-meter and stuff, so I might have to race him. I think me and Jakeem will eventually race, but we haven’t talked about that yet.”
(One of the things I know you can do really well is catch the football and I was thinking about Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey. I remember this, when he was the coach of the Bills, they had a guy named C.J. Spiller and he was dynamic. He could run and he could catch it and make big plays as a receiver. Has Chan brought up any of the backs that he’s had or have you looked at any video? Tell me about the receiving side of things.) – “Yeah, we watch old film at a lot of old places where he was before, and a lot of the backs were definitely getting out of the backfield or lining up at wide receiver. I don’t want to give away anything for this year, but I know he’s got big plans for all the running backs and how he’s going to use us. Like I said before, whatever he wants us to do, we’re going to do to the best of our ability.”
(The Next Gen Stats are cool and everything, but that’s with the ball in the hand. So how important do you think that element of being the fastest player in the league is considering it is an actual play as opposed to you just lining up and racing somebody?) – “I mean, it’s football. I think you play football with an actual football and shoulder pads on, so I’m more than (willing) to race anyone without shoulder pads. It would be easier for me, but we play football with all of the equipment on, so I don’t see a lot of guys who can run that fast with a football in their hand and full equipment.”
