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Nick Westbrook-Ikhine – March 24, 2025 Download PDF version

Monday, March 24, 2025

WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine

(The idea of you and WR Tyreek Hill and WR Jaylen Waddle and TE Jonnu Smith on the field at the same time is pretty exciting. What do you think having them with you on the field will allow you to do, even with all you accomplished for the Titans last year?) – “I’m excited for it to be a great opportunity. A bunch of weapons, a bunch of speed. I’m just excited to find my role within there and then try to find out the best way to operate. I’ve got a little bit of history with Jonnu. I played with him for a season here in Tennessee. I’m super excited. I really can’t stress that enough.”

(What has Head Coach Mike McDaniel told you about your role or what he likes in your game?) – “Big body and use what God gave me there and then just being that guy to take advantage of the opportunities on the field that present themselves, whether it’s mismatches and whatnot. You have a lot of weapons around me and finding open areas, being physical. I’m excited to see all the different ways that he plans on game planning, scheming stuff up because I know he’s got some great ideas.”

(We all saw how explosive the Dolphins offense was in 2023. It took a bit of a step back last year. What will it take to get it back to the 2023 version in 2025?) – “I guess I’ll learn more about how the offense works and the guys and their roles within it. But I think with any great offenses buy-in by everybody –not one guy doing too much or whatever it is but just buy-in by everybody, everybody accepting their role. When I’ve been in successful offenses, that’s what I’ve seen, is everybody just playing their part. One game, one dude might shine, another game another dude might shine; but just everybody playing their part and playing their role into making the chains move and getting in the endzone.”

(What were your first impressions of Head Coach Mike McDaniel?) – “He was fired up. The first thing I remember was just the energy that he had when I shook his hand, dapped him up. It was really cool. It was awesome just to feel wanted like that. He was fired up. I can’t wait to see what that looks like going forward in meetings, in practice and in the games.”

(The wide receiver blocking needs to be better this year, otherwise the run game is not going to improve. The wide receivers are a key element in this run scheme. What is your approach to that?) – “It’s a gritty game. I feel like with wide receiver blocking, you’ve just got to get dirty, you’ve got to find a way to make it work. It’s not going to look pretty half the time. You’ve got really athletic DBs, safeties, linebackers, d-ends sometimes and it’s just finding a way to get a piece of them at the right time so the back can get through. So yeah, it’s something I’m excited to do. I’ve always enjoyed blocking and as a receiver. I feel like it’s a lost art and I’ve luckily been coached pretty well in the last few years about it and how to get it done.”

(You mentioned physical and big body. What does that look like on the field when you’re playing? In the red zone, blocking, when you’re going up for a ball. What are you doing? How are you living out that physicality?) – “Blocking, it’s just using that to my advantage. A lot of times I can use that to maybe block a d-end, block a linebacker when it’s needed. I feel like sometimes they might be a little surprised the receiver is in there trying to block them. But then in the passing game, maybe it’s not creating separation all the time, but in a way it does, boxing somebody out for a jump ball or just positioning yourself so that you can make the catch on third down and move the chains. There’s a lot of different ways. I probably don’t think about it presently in the moment as much, but I can go back and watch the tape and be like ‘okay well, I can use my body here a little bit better to position myself better.’“

(You were undrafted. Tell me about your Draft night experience. Were you disappointed? Were you expecting to get picked? What were you hearing? What was that whole experience like for you?) – “I wasn’t really first day, second day. I wasn’t really expecting anything. I had realistic expectations just from my agent and whatnot. I was hoping for maybe a late round to find a way onto a team, but I wouldn’t wish it any other way or else I wouldn’t be sitting here with you all right now. So yeah, I was a little disappointed. After it all played out, you see names, you see guys that you can compare yourself to and it’s really easy to be like, ‘well, I feel like I’m better than him.’ But like I said, I wouldn’t change it for a thing because I’m really blessed to be sitting here talking to you all right now.

(As you’re watching those names go off the board, is there anger, frustration, motivation; what are you thinking?) – “Frustration for sure. And then I feel like after it’s all said and done, once I did end up signing as an undrafted guy, the motivation was probably the biggest emotion being felt.”

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