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River Cracraft – September 13, 2023 Download PDF version

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

WR River Cracraft

(Head Coach Mike McDaniel was talking about just how resilient you are. In light of that, in light of just keep going, keep pushing, what is it inside of you that, let’s be frank, you didn’t want to give up.) – “Like I was just saying before, I think just knowing what you’re worth and never giving up. I’ve had a dream to play in the NFL my whole life and I’m not going to let somebody that’s telling me no, stop me. I’m not going to let that be the last straw. I have been cut a lot and I’ve always felt like it shouldn’t have happened. I like that to be my mindset because I know that I belong out there. When you get chances to prove it, you want to take advantage and prove people wrong and prove people right that believe in you.”

(Was that what kept the fire going? That I know I still have this and this team may not see this, or that team may not see it, but maybe somebody else will see it, like the Dolphins?) – “Yeah, and I think that’s just believing in yourself. Lucky for me, I was with Mike (McDaniel) in San Francisco. Although I didn’t play a lot over there on offense, he got to see me every single day in practice. I think that’s one of the reasons he wanted me over here, because he was able to see my work ethic and how on top of it I was without even getting reps in the game. It’s definitely something I pride myself on and continue to do.”

(I know you kept the faith up, but was there ever a time when that faith was wavering? Or, was there ever a time that you took an outside job just to keep going?) – “No, I never took an outside job, thanks to my parents forcing me to stick to my dreams and whatnot. But yeah, of course, in 2019, I got cut Week 2 and I was basically out of the league the whole year. Didn’t have any tryouts and that was a really frustrating time. Coming off of an active roster for over 10 straight weeks the year prior and the first two weeks of that season, to not get a tryout is frustrating. But I knew I belonged in the league, and I just stuck it out and luckily found my way back in thanks to my agent and my work. We’re right where we want to be.”

(Were you a stubborn kid growing up?) – “(laughter) Maybe in a good way, I’d like to think.”

(To be part of an offensive performance like we saw, the buzz of Week 1 really, Head Coach Mike McDaniel said obviously you can’t take the 35 points and bring it to the next week, but how much confidence does that give you guys as an offense, that even better things might be to come?) – “Well, New England’s a different defense, and they got us last year at the end of the year. We’ve got to come in with a new mindset that we’re going to attack them and we’re going to bring the fight to them. I think that’s what’s important starting in our room with the guys that we have. The leadership with Tyreek (Hill) and Jaylen (Waddle), those guys are hard to stop and when you have good compliments off that, it’s good ball.”

(Not that you’d want to go this route if you had your choice, but do you appreciate what you’re going through now, that much more because of the road you’ve taken?) – “Of course. You always like to look ahead and I always looked at things as milestones rather than, like, this is my goal. This is a milestone. The goal is larger than where we’re at right now. So, I’m keeping my goals to myself, long term. We’ve crossed a milestone as far as making the roster and whatnot. Now, being able to produce on the field is obviously another milestone that you just keep improving each week.”

(How much fun was it to see the ball flinging around the way it was on Sunday? You guys putting up the kind of points who were, it’s like a circus, Madden almost.) – “Yeah, it was awesome to see No. 10 and No. 1 dialed in the way they are. Like I said, those guys are elite. It’s like watching a video game between those two. It’s pretty special.”

(Turf versus grass. Do you have a preference? Is there a difference? And if you prefer grass, would you like the NFL to have all grass fields?) – Absolutely. I blew my knee out on turf on a non-contact injury in college, so I’m definitely team grass. I hate seeing guys get hurt. Obviously, with (Aaron) Rodgers getting hurt the other day, you don’t want any guys around the league to get hurt. It sucks. When people say that it could be preventable, you just wish that people would look more into it, I guess. I’m not an expert on turf and grass, but I do know that grass is more forgiving on your joints from personal experience.”

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