Ted Karras – January 4, 2021
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Monday, January 4, 2021
C Ted Karras
(You are one of the few and the brave to actually play on a one-year try-me-out deal. Your thoughts on making it through the season without injury and what do you feel like you’ve proved this year?) – “Very grateful that I did make it through injury-free and did some good things. Obviously we were 10-6 and that wasn’t enough. Obviously we did some good things winning 10 games but came up short ultimately. But I got to play in 100 percent of the snaps. That’s the first I’ve ever done that in college or any time in my career. I’m very grateful and lucky. It’s a big spring coming up and looking forward to what’s next. Hopefully – I would love to be here in Miami.”
(This team is obviously building something and made big strides from 2019 to 2020. What’s it going to take to take that next step because what we saw, obviously there is still some work to be done?) – “Whenever a season is over, you look back and there’s a lot of things that you want to take back play-wise. It’s making plays – you look back at some of the games, some of the close games early and then we went on a little run and then dropped a few – looking back at those, we’d probably be playing this week. But just making plays when your number is called and taking advantage of opportunities and the goal is to play in the postseason. We didn’t make enough plays to get there.”
(What can you say about how QB Tua Tagovailoa kind of performed in his nine starts and what it kind of says about him and the future of the team based on his performance?) – “Like a lot of us, most of us; we did enough to win 10 football games but didn’t get into the playoffs, which is when you look back at it, you’re not going to think of it as ultimately super successful. But we did a lot of great things. (Tua is) a great leader and it’s been a pleasure to work with him and hopefully can moving forward. I’m looking forward to growing with him if that is what it comes to.”
(If QB Tua Tagovailoa asked you for advice this offseason on maybe how he can improve as a player or as a leader of the team, what might you tell him going into Year 2?) – “The biggest jump you take as a football player that I’ve seen is from your rookie year to Year 2 and just being more familiar not only with your guys; but (Tua is) going to have a full offseason which will be great for him. Just take advantage of all those moments to get reps with guys. This is a repetition sport and he’s going to take a big jump and I’m excited for him.”
(You played every snap this season. I just wanted to ask you what that meant to you to be a guy that was so reliable and dependable for this team?) – “It was one of my biggest accomplishments in my career, in my life. I’m very grateful to make it through and look forward to continue to play some good football. But it was really special and I’m glad that I got to make it out injury-free – like (you guys) said, one of the brave on a one-year deal – so that was pretty important coming out of that last game healthy.”
(One of the surprises of this past offseason was Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey coming out of retirement after three years away. Just wanted to get your thoughts on what it was like working under Chan?) – “I thought it was a fun, great year and we did a lot of good things. Again, we had a great relationship and I hopefully look forward to working with him in the future, but it was a good season and I learned a lot. It was fun to learn a new system and I had a lot of fun with the guys at the helm and being able to play with them was great.”
(The one area of this team that I felt needed to improve and was kind of inconsistent was the run game. How do you guys take that – if you’re around – to the next level? How does that improve? How does it become more consistent?) – “Repetitions and really honing in on our fundamentals and our techniques and then when it comes time to perform, playing our best and sticking on blocks and the main thing – getting some more movement on double teams. So there’s a lot that factors into it and we’ve got a lot of guys that work really hard and got it going there towards the end of the season, which was encouraging. We’re looking forward to building off that in the future.”
(If I could ask a two-parter, I asked a couple of the guys earlier. If you could maybe say what the biggest jump you would like to see this team make from where you were or I guess the offense in 2021, what would you like to see most?) – “Being able to go in the fourth quarter and just go win a ballgame. I think that early on, we could’ve stolen a few. That would be – being an offense that could go out there with a lot of confidence in the fourth quarter and going to win a football game at the end.”
(And then I guess for you individually, you mentioned playing all games all year on a one-year deal. How do you sort of handle this period not knowing and not knowing if you’re going to be back or not and heading into free agency?) – “I know that it’s a business and there’s a lot of decisions that have to be made and I’ve really loved this season. It was the most fun I’ve had playing football in my life. There’s such great guys here and I’d love to be a part of it and I understand the business of it and I’m going to be patient and I will be grateful for any opportunity in this league. It’s very special to have a job in this league and I will never take that for granted, and I’ll always look forward to the next challenge, the next opportunity.”
