Head Coach Brian Daboll

Daboll: How's everybody doing? Good. Cruising right along. Day four here. Different situation today. Been pleased with the coaches, the players, their effort, their energy. Just like a normal training camp, you go out there, you work. You come in, you correct it. Good communication. So, try to have a good day today.

Q: What's the situational focus today?

A: It is the high red zone and what we call the fringe. So, right when you pass the 50, a little bit past there. So, it'll be some good work today. Keep on hammering on those situations, and once we get into pads, we'll ramp up the physicalness, the blocking, the holding the point. But right now, we're trying to take care of one another and be smart.

Q: With (Safety Xavier) McKinney wearing the green dot, is that because you think there's an advantage to having a safety do it, or is it because you think he's going to be on the field every play? How did you kind of arrive at that?

A: So, I had a discussion with (Defensive Coordinator) Wink (Martindale). And I have a lot of confidence in Wink. He's done it that way for the past few years. So, that's who we chose to wear it right now. We've been doing that in the spring. We're doing out here now, so we'll do it in preseason games, and see how that goes. But he's done a good job of communicating.

Q: Yesterday seemed to be the first time you got upset because they couldn't get a play in or something like that. Is that -- ?

A: No, we had 12 guys on the field. And that's our job as a coaching staff to make sure the right people are on. You don't want to burn timeouts. That's why we crank music as loud as we can. We try to make everything as difficult as we can, whether that's on a coaching staff, the player side of it, one side of the ball to see how people react and units react. Because that's important; you're going to have to fight through some things.

Q: How do you look at a day like yesterday for your offense?

A: Third-and-six to nine day.

Q: Looked like they had kind of a rough day.

A: Well, you kind of expect – I'm not saying you want to expect that – but when you're formulating a practice plan, and it's six to nine and you have over 30 reps of six to nine, it's about three and a half average (per game) last year, six to nine reps. So, when you have 32, or whatever it was, you want to put some pressure on it. You got to answer the bell in those situations. If you're 40 percent, you're usually top five in the league. So, you know, if you just do it over and over again in one practice – we'll have another one that's going to be third-and-10-plus. So, you know right when we get into it, and we talk about it in the morning, one side is a little bit excited and the other side is like, 'Here it comes.' But that's good; it's good for those guys.

Q: Do you find that the mental side of the practices are going great as opposed to especially the physical side?

A: Well, the physical side, we're not quite there yet. You know, we don't have pads on yet. So, it's like kind of like spring. I'm big on making sure we're taking care of our players, whether it's in the pocket. It's the nature of the competition. The D-line is getting a bit of power push in the pocket, and we're trying to hold off on that the best we can. And you can see, there's not a lot of runs out there right now. And that's for design. That's another reason why we've kind of done third down early on because we have no pads on. And again, when you get to third-and-6 plus, it's – I don't know, you guys can tell me the stats, 95 percent pass? So the pass rush and everything, we're trying to do things to make it difficult on one side early on, and then when we get the pads we kind of …

Q: How close is (Line Backer) Azeez (Ojulari) to returning?

A: He's working through it. I don't want to give you a timetable, but he's gotten better.

Q: Are we talking soon? Or weeks?

A: I'm not there yet.

Q: The five guys who didn't practice yesterday –any of them back today?

A: Yeah, there's a couple of guys that are back. Working through the heat stuff and some normal bumps and bruises. But overall, pretty healthy.

Q: Brian, they're individuals obviously. But do you look at (Tackle) Evan (Neal) and (Linebacker) Kayvon (Thibodeaux), your two first round picks, as linked or connected in any way? Obviously, they're different players on different sides of the ball, but do you kind of look at them and say, 'Foundation, building pieces," or those kinds of things.

A: Absolutely. It's hard coming in as a rookie, regardless of what round you're taken. But they've been excellent in meetings. They've done what they're supposed to do. They've worked extremely hard in practice. There's good competitiveness in practice. But sure, you know, you take two guys that early in the first round, and you want to make sure you hit on them and not just as players, which is important, but as people and the right people for the organization. So yeah, counting on those guys.

Q: Do you think also the way that one guy's an offensive tackle, a very premier position, and one guy's a pass rusher – do you say, 'Yeah, that works in symmetry there, we can be really good there."

A: It just happened to be that way. There's good competitiveness out there. Evan's done a really good job this camp. Again, we'll find out when the pads come on, but in terms of his sets and picking up the system. And Kayvon's done a nice job. And finally, we got (Tackle) Andrew (Thomas) out there, who he's competing against, whose a good player. So, there's good competition on the edges.

Q: With Kayvon, I noticed right from the first practice it looked like he knew right away that when he got in the backfield not to get anywhere near (Quarterback) Daniel (Jones). I know that you drill that into your guys, but for a rookie that's so eager, do you take anything away from that?

A: He's a good listener. (Laughs) It's hard. It's hard to play defensive line or be a pass rusher and have to stay away from the quarterback and be smart. But that's something we stress. We only have a certain number of players, and we're trying to keep them as healthy as possible. And whether that's keep receivers up on the ground late in the play like we talked about the other day. But he's done a good job, most of those guys have. We're trying to be smart.

Q: How much are you looking forward to getting them into pads?

A: That's really when training – I mean this is great. There's a lot of good teaching out here. It's really, like I said in the spring, it's a teaching camp. It's competitive because there's fans and the nature of training camp. But the evaluation process of the things that they need to do physically and they're able to do that, really exert that a little bit more, I think we're all waiting for that.

Q: What's your tempo when they're in pads?

A: We'll keep them off the ground and stay away from the quarterback. But you can actually see the fundamentals that you're teaching. They're doing a good job right now of trying to execute it, but when you have the pads on, particularly in the trenches, you get a good feel for some of those guys, their power, their ability to anchor, their ability to pass rush. It's hard to tell (Defensive Line) Dexter (Lawrence) don't bull rush right now without pads on. So, when we get to these pads, we'll be able to see their full arsenal.

Q: How much tolerance do you have for the inefficiency or lack of production on offense? At what point in preseason do you go from, 'It's okay to make mistakes," to "This needs to look better than this."

A: In what regard.

Q: Like completing passes …

A: Like practice at third-and-six to nine? Like a full like first down, second down? Or just a game? In what regard?

Q: I just three practices to base it off of, but you know completing passes, receiving and executing the plays that you call.

A: Well, it's not tolerance, I think that's what a coach does. You go out there, you try to perform. You go out there and have 30 snaps of a variety of blitzes, different looks. There's so many different things that happened yesterday, like a lot of really good things: hots, breaking off routes. Were there some miscommunications? Absolutely. For some of those guys, it's the first time in this offense where they're practicing with Daniel. It's their third practice. So, we're kind of day-by-day. Get better each day, have a positive mindset, and correct the things you've got to correct. And that's coaching. that's at least the way I've learned to coach the last few years.

Q: Yeah, so you view it as a longer-term evaluation of how the offense is functioning…

A: We're in day three without any pads on. So, I mean we got a long time to evaluate here.

Q: Have any of the guys running with the threes and fours particularly stood out to you?

A: I think they're all working right now. Again, they're just trying to get the playbook down. We're throwing a lot at them. Come Monday, it'll really start up on the evaluation. We're not going to sit down as a staff – we did that at the end of the spring. This is like an extension of spring relative to the scouting staff and the coaching staff. After we have a few days of pads in and get going. There's an old ball coach who's been pretty successful who used (to say), "Let's not be an instant evaluator." Three days of practice, we'll give these guys a little bit of time here.

Q: (Defensive Back) Gavin Heslop is a guy you brought in last week. What have you seen from him? He's coming back from a pretty bad injury, too.

A: Just working through it. Kind of like the other guys. These guys are grinding along. We'll have more as we get going.

Q: You put restrictions on what can be videoed during team periods. I'm just curious on the flip side of that, do you have people in the building who are monitoring what's coming up on social media from the Titans and the Panthers and that type of thing?

A: Well, I think there's 32 teams, and you're trying to gain as much of a competitive advantage in every area: strength and conditioning, practice, everything you can do to try to gain a competitive advantage because it's so competitive. So yeah, certainly do.

Q: In this point of training camp, what is more important: Doing it right, or developing a winning attitude?

A: I think both. It's a really good question. Look, we want to do everything right. I want to make every call right. I want to make every practice right. I want to put all the reps together so every person's getting a good opportunity. You want to develop a winning identity. And I think developing a winning identity starts on how you do things right now. And again, we're not competing. We don't have a game here for a long time. You're kind of competing against yourself and trying to build team chemistry. And then look, that's why you go out there and practice. That's why we sit down, we try to make a detailed schedule. Is it always prefect? No, obviously. But you try to put guys in different positions to teach a lot of different things: technique, fundamentals, the ability to deal with adversity because things are going to hit. You stress, 'Hey, let's have really good focus each and every period.' But again, there might be a practice where we're doing all second-and-1 and second-and-2s all day and put the defense in a really stressful situation to back us up. Fundamentals, technique. I think you're never satisfied as a coach and really as a player. You want to be as good as you can be. Some of things – botched snaps, 12 guys on the field – like, that's inexcusable. But other things, physical things and some mental things that show up for the first time, that's going to happen. That's why you have training camp, and that's why you teach.

Q: You mentioned the botched snaps, is (Offensive Lineman) Jon (Feliciano) going to be out here today? Or probably another day?

A: He's probably another day, yeah. He's still, he's grinding through it. But no. We'll have these other guys that were snapping yesterday. And you can't have those, they know that. It's like a drop or a bad pass. We got to fix what we can fix and go out there and not do that. : In what regard.

Q: Like completing passes …

A: Like practice at third-and-six to nine? Like a full like first down, second down? Or just a game? In what regard?

Q: I just three practices to base it off of, but you know completing passes, receiving and executing the plays that you call.

A: Well, it's not tolerance, I think that's what a coach does. You go out there, you try to perform. You go out there and have 30 snaps of a variety of blitzes, different looks. There's so many different things that happened yesterday, like a lot of really good things: hots, breaking off routes. Were there some miscommunications? Absolutely. For some of those guys, it's the first time in this offense where they're practicing with Daniel. It's their third practice. So, we're kind of day-by-day. Get better each day, have a positive mindset, and correct the things you've got to correct. And that's coaching. that's at least the way I've learned to coach the last few years.

Q: Yeah, so you view it as a longer-term evaluation of how the offense is functioning…

A: We're in day three without any pads on. So, I mean we got a long time to evaluate here.

Q: Have any of the guys running with the threes and fours particularly stood out to you?

A: I think they're all working right now. Again, they're just trying to get the playbook down. We're throwing a lot at them. Come Monday, it'll really start up on the evaluation. We're not going to sit down as a staff – we did that at the end of the spring. This is like an extension of spring relative to the scouting staff and the coaching staff. After we have a few days of pads in and get going. There's an old ball coach who's been pretty successful who used (to say), "Let's not be an instant evaluator." Three days of practice, we'll give these guys a little bit of time here.

Q: (Defensive Back) Gavin Heslop is a guy you brought in last week. What have you seen from him? He's coming back from a pretty bad injury, too.

A: Just working through it. Kind of like the other guys. These guys are grinding along. We'll have more as we get going.

Q: You put restrictions on what can be videoed during team periods. I'm just curious on the flip side of that, do you have people in the building who are monitoring what's coming up on social media from the Titans and the Panthers and that type of thing?

A: Well, I think there's 32 teams, and you're trying to gain as much of a competitive advantage in every area: strength and conditioning, practice, everything you can do to try to gain a competitive advantage because it's so competitive. So yeah, certainly do.

Q: In this point of training camp, what is more important: Doing it right, or developing a winning attitude?

A: I think both. It's a really good question. Look, we want to do everything right. I want to make every call right. I want to make every practice right. I want to put all the reps together so every person's getting a good opportunity. You want to develop a winning identity. And I think developing a winning identity starts on how you do things right now. And again, we're not competing. We don't have a game here for a long time. You're kind of competing against yourself and trying to build team chemistry. And then look, that's why you go out there and practice. That's why we sit down, we try to make a detailed schedule. Is it always prefect? No, obviously. But you try to put guys in different positions to teach a lot of different things: technique, fundamentals, the ability to deal with adversity because things are going to hit. You stress, 'Hey, let's have really good focus each and every period.' But again, there might be a practice where we're doing all second-and-1 and second-and-2s all day and put the defense in a really stressful situation to back us up. Fundamentals, technique. I think you're never satisfied as a coach and really as a player. You want to be as good as you can be. Some of things – botched snaps, 12 guys on the field – like, that's inexcusable. But other things, physical things and some mental things that show up for the first time, that's going to happen. That's why you have training camp, and that's why you teach.

Q: You mentioned the botched snaps, is (Offensive Lineman) Jon (Feliciano) going to be out here today? Or probably another day?

A: He's probably another day, yeah. He's still, he's grinding through it. But no. We'll have these other guys that were snapping yesterday. And you can't have those, they know that. It's like a drop or a bad pass. We got to fix what we can fix and go out there and not do that. : We're in day three without any pads on. So, I mean we got a long time to evaluate here.

Q: Have any of the guys running with the threes and fours particularly stood out to you?

A: I think they're all working right now. Again, they're just trying to get the playbook down. We're throwing a lot at them. Come Monday, it'll really start up on the evaluation. We're not going to sit down as a staff – we did that at the end of the spring. This is like an extension of spring relative to the scouting staff and the coaching staff. After we have a few days of pads in and get going. There's an old ball coach who's been pretty successful who used (to say), "Let's not be an instant evaluator." Three days of practice, we'll give these guys a little bit of time here.

Q: (Defensive Back) Gavin Heslop is a guy you brought in last week. What have you seen from him? He's coming back from a pretty bad injury, too.

A: Just working through it. Kind of like the other guys. These guys are grinding along. We'll have more as we get going.

Q: You put restrictions on what can be videoed during team periods. I'm just curious on the flip side of that, do you have people in the building who are monitoring what's coming up on social media from the Titans and the Panthers and that type of thing?

A: Well, I think there's 32 teams, and you're trying to gain as much of a competitive advantage in every area: strength and conditioning, practice, everything you can do to try to gain a competitive advantage because it's so competitive. So yeah, certainly do.

Q: In this point of training camp, what is more important: Doing it right, or developing a winning attitude?

A: I think both. It's a really good question. Look, we want to do everything right. I want to make every call right. I want to make every practice right. I want to put all the reps together so every person's getting a good opportunity. You want to develop a winning identity. And I think developing a winning identity starts on how you do things right now. And again, we're not competing. We don't have a game here for a long time. You're kind of competing against yourself and trying to build team chemistry. And then look, that's why you go out there and practice. That's why we sit down, we try to make a detailed schedule. Is it always prefect? No, obviously. But you try to put guys in different positions to teach a lot of different things: technique, fundamentals, the ability to deal with adversity because things are going to hit. You stress, 'Hey, let's have really good focus each and every period.' But again, there might be a practice where we're doing all second-and-1 and second-and-2s all day and put the defense in a really stressful situation to back us up. Fundamentals, technique. I think you're never satisfied as a coach and really as a player. You want to be as good as you can be. Some of things – botched snaps, 12 guys on the field – like, that's inexcusable. But other things, physical things and some mental things that show up for the first time, that's going to happen. That's why you have training camp, and that's why you teach.

Q: You mentioned the botched snaps, is (Offensive Lineman) Jon (Feliciano) going to be out here today? Or probably another day?

A: He's probably another day, yeah. He's still, he's grinding through it. But no. We'll have these other guys that were snapping yesterday. And you can't have those, they know that. It's like a drop or a bad pass. We got to fix what we can fix and go out there and not do that.

Linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux

Q: How's it feeling out there so far?

A: It's been pretty good. It's the fourth day. Pretty sore. It's been hot as ever. Today was pretty cool though, so it's pretty good.

Q: You have this big personality, but watching you on the field, it's pretty business-like. Is that do you take a different approach there when you're in the lines?

A: I mean you got to know how to compartmentalize. There's a time and place for everything. So, when we are on the field it's all business, and now it's training camp. We're getting ready for a long journey.

Q: How much new technically are you learning about how to rush the passer? Looks like you guys are working a lot on hand placement, speed and how you're bending.

A: Now it's about bringing everything together. When you're at home training, hitting bags, doing drills it's one thing. And once you really start to get in that game mode, you got to start putting it together with the play calling with the situations and what you need to get done.

Q: When you're in those individual periods, I see (Outside Line Backers Coach) Drew (Wilkins) spends a lot of time with you. What is he emphasizing to you that he wants you to work on?

A: Just that you know good isn't enough. You always want to continue to get better, and no matter how hard you are working, you still haven't reached your peak. So, for me to keep sharpening my tools.

Q: What was the spring like for you? You didn't get to go out there and play most of the time. Is it something you still have to manage, and where are you at with that?

A: As far as what?

Q: Being injured.

A: Oh yeah, I'm full go now. So, it's been great to get out there. And I conditioned a lot at home. So, it's been a pretty good pace trying to get into the football shape.

Q: What about in the spring what was that like having to sit there? You know you could only do so much.

A: Yeah, you got to do what's best for you at the time. So, the (athletic) training staff felt that it was best for me to sit out, so that's what I did. And I think it was good, so I could be fully healed for the future or for now.

Q: You've talked a lot about how when you were coming up and when (Tackle) Evan (Neal) was coming up, everyone said, 'Oh man, I want to see those two guys,' Now you're out here every day. What has that been like again him?

A: Oh, it's been great. Not just him, but (Tackle) Andrew Thomas. Them as a unit. Me being able to go back and forth. You never – there are no plays off. Everyone asks me, 'What is the difference between now and I mean college and the NFL,'? It's like, you have to be 100 percent and have a move every play, there is no getting by. Just going against both of them, and Evan especially is good to continue to grow and share info now and again.

Q: Do you look at you two because of the way you were drafted, different sides of the ball, almost like you're linked in some ways?

A: Definitely. You obviously – football is a game of trenches. And starting with the trenches is a great start from the man upstairs, and they did it and I feel like as we continue to get older and mature, we're going to continue to grow and gel together, and keep bringing both sides to the forefront.

Q: Kayvon, at your position should we be judging what we see so far, or should we wait until the pads come on?

A: For the whole front line, you really have to judge when the pads come on. Because there's a different type of play. We can't really bullrush. We can't use our moves, and we have to hold up on the quarterback. I'd rather lose a rep than get yelled at by (Head Coach Brian Daboll) Dabs. So, we try to stay off the quarterback, and we do. And we want to keep everybody healthy.

Q: That said, how excited are you for Monday?

A: I'm very excited. There are a lot of things as a pass rusher, as a defensive guy, you aren't able to do without pads. The offense has the baggy jerseys you can just pull on them. Now it'll be more of a fair game. I'll be able to use all the moves I've been working on.

Q: You said about pulling out, that's a mental thing really at any level. When you hit a good move, like yesterday you hit an inside move against Andrew, and you know right away it's 'alright hold up hold up'. How much are you convincing or stopping your instincts? Because look, it's practice. You hit a great move; you almost want to finish it off.

A: It's kind of like that invert. You know they say bulls see red. When we see red, we kind of run away. So, when you see that red jersey, you know to stop. Even if I'm bull rushing. No matter what I'm doing you've got to stop when you see that red jersey. So, it's kind of like training yourself, for now, to still get your work and do it on air and let him throw. Let everyone else get work.

Q: How would you describe (Defensive Coordinator) Wink's (Martindale) message of approach to the defense on how he wants you guys to play? And coming into this game – because it seems like you guys are loud like you're out there every day.

A: Communication is key, and that's competing. Everybody's competing for a job, and we're all competing to be better. So as long as we continue to compete and continue to grow as a team and communicate, we'll be good.

Q: Working with (Linebacker) Jihad (Ward) been like? It seems like he's a guy that's been very vocal. He said in the spring he's a guy that's going to be on you.

A: Yeah, he's definitely super vocal. Haddy (Jihad) is who he is. For me, the greatest thing he does is that he doesn't just talk about it. He's a guy who's going to run 80 yards down the field even when the play is over and get a shot on goal. So, he's a guy who just always puts the work in, and you have a standard to look up to. So, there is no excuse.

Q: What have you been able to learn from (Defensive Lineman) Leonard (Williams) over the past couple of weeks?

A: Just the preparation. You need to find a routine when you're coming through and you're going into camp and you're sore and everything's going on. So, he's really been helping me figure out my own routine so I can prepare myself.

Q: How many sacks do you think you would have so far?

A: Say it again.

Q: If you were allowed to hit the quarterback, how many sacks would you have?

A: You got to check the tapes. I don't know. For me, for me honestly, I don't really count the sacks. I count the moves. So, it's all about execution at the end of the day. Obviously, finishing is a part of execution, but for now, I just want to get better and make sure the little things are good within those rushes.

Q: With that process, do you find yourself now throughout camp playing through processing? You're not really playing fast yet; are you still figuring out how things work?

A: I wouldn't really say I'm processing. I get what you're saying, but I wouldn't say it's processing because I know the plays, and I know what I'm supposed to do. As far as looking at how do I grade myself? I grade myself on the execution of moves. Right, so today I didn't have the best execution on the moves I wanted, so it wasn't a good day. Even though I was working hard and got – probably got the quarterback a couple of times – I still really like to sharpen it and hold myself to a high standard.

Q: Is there any particular move you're working on today?

A: Just getting them off me. You know, Andrew and Evan they got big hands, and they're heavy up top. So, I'm making sure I'm using my second move and I'm really working hard. And when they get me on that first move, I got another one to counter.

Q: What was the last month for you? You had a chance to go home. Was it different now that you show up and you're a first-round pick? Or was it already the same because you were already elevated while …

A: In what aspect? Do you mean like training?

Q: Just everything. Like were people around you. Did people view you differently? What was it like for you?

A: Yeah, people definitely view me differently. I got a lot of love. You know, I'm from LA, so it's a big city. A lot of people already know me. I still train at – everywhere I train now is where I used to train before. So, seeing a lot of people that I used to play with or that coached me, and they really do believe in me. So, it was a proud moment for me. And just knowing that I need to keep going. This is just a milestone, and now, you know, all the work is still ahead to be put in.

Q: Is coming into the NFL a sort of a NIL athlete, you already had stuff beforehand, right, from a business perspective. Does that make it any different for you to come into here in the locker room? Do guys look at you different?

A: What do you mean?

Q: You're further along on the business side because you were able to capitalize on the NIL stuff before you came here maybe more than everyone else here.

A: Well, I kind of think that's a – what do you call it, a framed question? One thing that a lot of guys do not do is put themselves in the 'crabs in the bucket mentality. They're pretty much focused on what they have to do individually. So, when I came in, I think everybody really judged me for who I am once they got to know me. It's not really a big – the media's not in the locker room, and social is not in the locker room. And whatever you're doing outside the locker room isn't really in. So, for me just being able to show who I am and get to know guys – it's been great.

Q: A lot of rookies come into camp, and the first goal is to make the team. You and Evan come in, and you're first-round draft picks. And you've started running with the ones. Do you get a sense of how much they're counting on you?

A: Yeah, one thing about me is that I've always been hard on myself, and I've been a stickler. They have articulated that they're counting on us, but I'm counting on myself to make the plays and live up to the goals I have for myself. It's been a great journey so far, and I know that they believe in us. And they've given us all the tools to continue to elevate. So, now it's just up to us to make it happen.

Offensive tackle Evan Neal

Q: Why didn't you fight?

A: Why didn't I fight? I was focused on the next play. I honestly didn't even notice it until I heard the fans oohing and aahing. I looked behind me and there was a pile, I wasn't going to jump in there.

Q: What's been the biggest adjustment for you so far? I know it's early and you haven't even put on pads yet but what's the biggest difference?

A: It's been good. Just adjusting to the playbook, the speed of the game, of course. It's only day four, everyday I feel myself getting better and better. I'm just excited, I'm just excited for the next day.

Q: How much are you excited for Monday? It's actually training camp start for you guys where you get to put on pads and actually do more in the run game, do more in aggressive pass sets.

A: I'm extremely excited I get the chance to get better because when you don't have pads on, you get better from a sense in pass protection and stuff like that, but it's not the same. We really can't fit our combo blocks or really lean on guys in the run game. I'm definitely excited for that standpoint of it, for sure.

Q: Anything about this first training camp surprise you? Anything that just feels different to you?

A: Not to say anything is surprising me but like I've said, our fall camp at Alabama was pretty much run like a professional training camp. The coaches are running it fantastic. I feel like everybody out there is getting better and I'm just excited to see how far we go.

Q: How harshly do you evaluate yourself when you watch film of yourself after a camp practice even without pads on?

A: I like to say I'm my biggest critic. Nobody can criticize me harder than myself. I focus on the bad stuff, but I've also got to acknowledge the good as well because there is good that I do. I just watch the film and I take away from it what I can and just focus on getting better, not making the same mistakes and building off the positive things.

Q: What have you been able to take away from (Tackle) Andrew's (Thomas) path as a first-round draft pick over these last couple of years?

A: Drew, he's a great guy. Definitely a great resource to lean on because he's been through it. He's been a top-10 pick, a lot of expectations coming in, and I feel like he's handled himself very well. I'm extremely grateful to have an asset and a resource like that for sure. As our relationship continues to grow and evolve, I'm sure that I'll learn even more from him.

Q: Even through you are on different sides of the ball, do you feel that you and (Linebacker) Kayvon Thibodeaux relate in some way or another?

A: I'm not sure. It's crazy that through high school, and through recruitment, and every major camp that was the matchup that everybody wanted to see. Me versus Kayvon. It's just so ironic that we ended up on the same NFL team. I'm just excited to go against him every day, get each other better. I believe that iron sharpens iron.

Q: What do you think of those matchups so far?

A: We are getting each other better. He beats me some reps, I get him some reps. That's what it's all about, that's the name of the game – getting better, getting each other better, and iron sharpening iron.

Q. Do you guys talk about it on the field? I'm sure he is a bigger talker than you.

A: Quite honestly, he hasn't been chirping like that. We've just been putting our head down and we've been working.

Q. Off the field in your down time, do you guys talk about the reps to try to get each other better? You know, what did you do here or what did you do there?

A: I know he doesn't want to give me any of his secrets, so I am not going to give him any of mine either. I'm sure he watches me just like I watch him on film. Like I said, I'm just excited to continue to go against him and get better.

Q. Is Monday the first time you get a crack at him really in pads? Even when you went up against him at camp, I assume it's been in shorts.

A: Right, Monday is the first day of pads, so I am just excited to see what that's like. I'm ready to get after it.

Q. You never got after him in a game though, right?

A: I never played him at Oregon. Yeah, I never played him.

Q. How did you spend the past month?

A: The past month, I took some time to spend with family for the Fourth of July. Went back home to Florida, spent the weekend with them but primarily I was in Dallas, training and just getting prepared.

Q. Do you get a sense of how much this team is expecting of you in the sense that you and Kayvon are five and seventh picks overall? Is there a sense of what is expected and what you are expecting of yourself?

A: The team expects me to go out there and do my job and I expect myself to do my best every day. In preparation, in the film room, and out there on the practice field. I expect a lot out of myself more than anybody else would expect out of me, that's for sure. There is a reason why they drafted us, so we are just going to take it day-by-day. At the end of the day, we are still young, we're rookies, we are still getting the hang of this process. I feel like so far, we've been doing a pretty good job.

Q. Right now where do you feel you are as far as the process of getting the hang of everything and getting in the mix of things and so on?

A: I'm just taking it day-by-day. I like to say I'm never going to be a finished product I just want to make sure I'm better than yesterday. At Alabama, Coach (Nick) Saban liked to say, "Out work yesterday." That's where I'm at really.

Q: What have you noticed from (Quarterback) Daniel (Jones) over the period through OTA's and minicamps and now the beginning of camp?

A: Daniel is a great dude, a great teammate, a great guy to be around. He is a hard worker. Always in the weight room, a lot of times doing different mobility, core and stuff on his own. Flexing his shoulders and stretching his shoulders and stuff like that. On the field, he commands the huddle, and he does his best for the team. I'm extremely proud of him and grateful for him.

Q: A day like today when you look at the weather, in Alabama this is considered what?

A: California (laughs).

Q: You probably came outside today, and some guys think it's hot and you don't.

A: That's the thing about Tuscaloosa. August in Tuscaloosa, it is brutal. The heat index gets to 102, 103 degrees and the humidity for sure. I'm definitely grateful that I had the chance to go through Coach Saban's camp. That definitely hardened my steel.

Q: Do you think (Offensive Line Coach) Bobby Johnson would wear a sweatshirt down in Tuscaloosa?

A: Hey, not too many people are wearing sweatshirts in Tuscaloosa around this time of the summer. Unless they are trying to lose weight or something.