 Derek, how nice is it to have some semblance of kind of back to camp normalcy after the last couple years and being able to have your daughter out here and that kind of just personal moment that's been so missing the last couple years? Yeah, I mean everything feels normal again and you know just getting back in the swing of things and family able to come out and watch practice and soon have open practice to the fans so yes, it's good to have everything back to normal. For you, has anything changed, I mean you've been through so many of these camps at this point, does anything really change about how you go about it from a day to day or just kind of a week to week basis? No, not really. I always try to prepare the same. Come out here and try to get better. It's like you've done more of the drills last year. Derek, it seemed like you did a lot of work in the pit and that kind of thing but you're doing a little bit more. This year, is that because you were off with the injury last year or is that just a change in strategy? No, just come in and get some work and get some reps in full speed. I want to be out here with the team and whatever coach want me to do, going out there trying to do and just trying to be a good teammate but just happy to be out here with the team and back to football. How much input did you personally have into the plan for you throughout training camp? I mean did you discuss it with the coaches or was it here's what we're going to do with you and how we're going to manage you through it? Of course you do come to me and tell me a plan and I'll just say yes sir and go out there and do it. As you continue to stack these seasons, I know it's something you're not overly concerned about but do you begin to kind of tweak just the way you prepare for the season or throughout the week for games? No, not at all. Just continue to do what I've done, not get too carried away with it, trusting what I do, just taking care of my body and preparing the right way with these guys out here and then go out there and try to help them win. Looks like you gave a trailer maybe a fist bump or two yesterday as he went through kind of day one out here. I wondered if you maybe remembered back to your days as a rookie going through the first day as a training camp and relate to him a little bit that way? Oh yeah definitely. Just want to tell him a good job and he's been doing a good job out here these last two days and yesterday he made some good catches, playing with confidence and just want to make sure he keeps it up. He's going to be able to make a lot of plays for us so just happy to see him come out here and make plays. Did you get a chance to talk to him? No, I didn't get a chance to talk to him. Hopefully I can catch him before he leaves but I wasn't a big fan of his when I used to watch wrestling too. I always thought he was a bad guy but pretty cool to have a guy like him. He's a legend in the WWE world so it's cool to be able to meet him, hear him talk and hear him say my name. I've watched him on TV growing up for a long time so that's kind of surreal to meet people like him and come out here and let him talk to us at the practice. Derek, how do you judge what is a good practice for you or what is a bad practice for you? If I feel like I didn't do my job good enough so I feel like I didn't do well then that's not a good practice but you know I'm always looking to improve. Whenever it's a good day you try to find the things that you could have done better and just focus on that and try to get better every day while we are here. So far through the two days do you feel like you've done that and had good practices as opposed to bad practices? I mean I'm not aiming to have a bad practice but I'm just aiming to come here and get better. If I have a bad play try to do better than the next play and just try to get better every day whether it's good or bad. The main goal is always to improve each and every day while you're in training camp. Do you have anything extra with him being a rookie and having you as a guy that you look up to? I mean we work together so whenever we are in meetings or on the field I guess he's watching me while working. Anytime he asks a question he asks. He's a confident kid, a confident player. He played very well in college so I don't think it's too hard for him to adjust him. But anytime he asks a question anytime I want to give him some tips or anything like that I'm always willing to do that but he's been doing well. Is that Eddie asking for a little pub today? Eddie George asking for a little pub? Oh no not actually but where I work out as a kid that I work out with that sells like Vintage T-shirts has a little business and he told me he found this one so I was like yo I definitely take it. How cool was that for you to have a moment like that and kind of share it with the football world? It was something that she can look at whenever she gets older. Having these moments is always precious especially with your kids because being in football and training camp takes up a lot of time. But anytime you get moments like that you always cherish those moments and something that we can look back at and laugh at and have some joy from. She's always running so y'all caught her full of strides. The approach doesn't change nothing changes training camp to training camp but do you overall feel stronger or just more experienced despite coming off? The goal is always to elevate my game and get better year after year and that's always been my focus and I always train the same way but the goal is always to be better each and every year. Practice when you hit the hole let's say between left yard or whatever do you notice any nuances or differences in the way the hole opens or anything like that? No, not at all. Coach Keith does a great job with those guys and we have great leaders in that room Ben Taylor and Nate. They know the standard, they know how we supposed to play so those guys fall in right in place and everything's been good. What's the mental aspect of being like Robert? Kind of learning to trust the leg when you're cutting or sprinting or jumping. How is that process going for you? Good, just go. Like I kind of said, kind of with the brace is more so just go and push it. It's strong enough, it's prepared, it's healed. It's more so about just actually doing it so that's my mentality when I go out here and practice is push it and go and you almost want to like push it to the limits and see what you can do and that's what I'm trying to do. I know it's still early in training camp but you guys have had a little bit more time since the last time we talked to you. Yeah, just trying to get everything down. Really had a few reps with them. I'm in the live action but more so just trying to, what we say is still reps when sometimes there's special teams I'm able to get some extra reps with them. I'm off to the side trying to get an extra rep. Some work, some routes that could be critical for us down the season. Some of our bread and butter plays. I just try to get those extra reps, pick his brain. We talk about flattening some routes and just trying to just be being rhythm as early as we can. The first padded practice so that you can just get that first full contact and hit out of the way and know that the knee's ready? I don't really think about my knee, whether it's pads or no pads. It's football. I'm just trying to go. I don't think about getting hit. I feel like that's a part of the game. I'm not out here thinking about getting hit or giving hits. I'm more so just thinking about making plays and attacking. I feel like, like I said, it's strong enough, it's durable. More so what I'm thinking about pads is more about getting pads clacking and blocking and having that football mentality here in the sound, making our running backs spring free, making guys miss. I'm not even thinking about my knee at this point. Actually, I was trying to train the same. Once I kind of left here, I got the freedom to train how I train, so I was being able to get a lot of track work in, trying to work my explosion. I did a lot of single leg landing, single leg jumps. Just really trying to work on that explosion. Bounds being able to just be strong in multiple different positions, especially in a split position, which I'm mostly in as a receiver. A luxury having a veteran, but then also in practice. What's your side of that? Just how having Caleb there to be someone else who's going through the same thing? Yeah, for me, Caleb is a resource for me as well. I know he's a young player, but he's young, talented, strong, fast, quick. And I think for me, being able to train with him and rehab with him, being able to do some of these shuttle presses, run hills with them, work releases with them. So that's someone, even just conditioned with him. That's somebody who I could work with, who we could work with each other and feed off of each other. Being able to run hills, having somebody next to me compete, and then come out here and work releases, and being able to work through releases and talk about my experience and what he likes and how he plays. And really just, like I said, it still enraps any kind of way that we can, but just really having somebody who's young, being able to keep me young and being able to just work and run and really just feel useful like that. Yeah, I like Caleb. I'm expecting big things from Caleb, hoping that he plays really well for us. He came out strong, had two interceptions on one of the days, but really just, he's big, he's strong, he's physical, he's fast, really just needed to make plays for us, and he's done so this far. So was it a coach or trainer's idea for you and Caleb to work that closely together to do so much together, or does it just kind of evolve? Even just evolved, I think our timeline of injury was kind of around the same point of when I came in and rehab, so we were kind of always doing the same drills. And then even just challenging each other in the weight room. I remember Todd asking me, like, what was one of the things I would like to do when I saw the hill in the parking lot? I was like, can we run that hill? And then me and Caleb are running that hill once a week. And I think that was really just us pushing each other, challenging each other. He also had a track background, so we know how important it is to be able to run and be able to drive off the ball and start on the hill, start on these conditioning, and just kind of just pushing each other, showing what helps my knee, what hurts his knee, what hurts my knee, and vice versa, being able to find ways to strengthen it in different ways. From our vantage point, it seems like Traylin has shown some encouraging signs. Just from where you stand, how have you kind of seen him progress since the end of the offseason program? Being able to be out here, I know it kind of started from what I saw you guys were saying, asthma, and not being able to practice and stuff. And him first being able to be out here and practice and showcase his ability, being on the field was a big, big aspect for him. And for us and for everybody, really just him being able to showcase his talents, being able to make plays on day one, showcase his speed, his size. And he's going to be a big player for us and really just needing to be available. I know you weren't going first in some drills during the offseason and even yesterday. You were today. Do you like to go first? Is that important to you? Was that a matter of injury recovery? Yeah, I personally like to go first. I'm still learning the drills that Rob has us doing. And I know some of the guys have experienced that and what he expects and what the standard is. So I just want to see it done and then trying to get my reps in. Today I was able to go first because of some drills that we're familiar with. And really I like to just set the tone for the group. We start fast. We catch the ball and get a good burst. And once you kind of see the first guy do it, it kind of trickles down to everybody. It's really just like setting the standard and setting the tone for how we're practicing and how we're getting that rep done. Do you feel like you need to get any work in the pre-season? And if not, what do you need to do between now and how the season starts to make sure you're peaking and ready to go? Yeah, my biggest objective is being ready for week one. I'm holding in on everything we're doing in every practice. Trying to get some extra reps with Ryan, like I said. If Coach asks me to go out there, I'll be ready to go. But really it's just being ready for week one, getting our timing down, getting all these reps that we can. And just being ready when my name is my number is called. For the veteran team like this, what do you make of the professionalism that you've walked into here? Yeah, I kind of knew what I was coming into this trade being able to kind of pick. I was coming to a team who had a solid foundation who was able to have a great running game, a great passing game, a great defense who was solid all around. Like you said, an experienced group, a veteran group who knows how to practice. It's not a rebuild. It's not a restart. They already have their culture built. And it's really just coming in here and bringing my game to this culture and trying to add another attitude. But it's really just picking up where this team left off. This is a great team, a great coaching staff. We won a lot of football games last year. We got to do the same thing. Coach said last year it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. But a lot of these guys are back and a lot of these guys are hungry to win games. What has been the key for you just because throughout your career, your drop rate is really low. It's among the best in the league. The percentage wise, like how few you drop, make sure that's clear. What has been the key for that despite so many targets? And do you feel like that's something to kind of set the foundation for the trust that Ryan Tannehill will have? Yeah, I hope so. I mean, the ball is in the air. It's coming from me. You got to catch it. I remember my dad used to always say, touches and touchdowns. Like you don't get many touches. Every time you touch it, you got to go for a touchdown. And it's the same thing since Pop Warner. The ball got to get spread around through everybody. A lot of players who want the ball. So when you get your opportunity, you got to capitalize on it. You got to be reliable. You got to be trustworthy. When the quarterback throws you the ball, he's trying to get a completion to move those chains. And I love to come to get the ball in a third down situations, key situations where we got to have it. I don't know. It's just something about getting the ball. You don't get many opportunities. So when you do, you got to capitalize. Yeah, I mean, every play, every opportunity, you do that. But you do that by being open, being open target, being consistent at practice. So when you do say those things, the quarterback knows and trusts that you are going to be there. It starts at practice. You can't just show up on game day and demand the ball. You're coming from an offense that was pretty receiver heavy a lot of the time in L.A. And now with Austin and Chig seemingly getting really involved in the Titan scheme, how does that affect your job or what you're trying to do out there? Does it make it easier at all for you now having an established tight end option there for Ryan as well? Yeah, I would say so. I mean, as a receiver, especially playing in L.A., we had Tyler Higby, Gerald Ever, we always had tight ends. And I know how important it is to have somebody like that. I used to call our tight ends our hogs because they're big receivers. They're hard to tackle. They're physical. They're fast, especially Chig. He's going to be a huge player for us. His speed is rare in his size. So I'm definitely in his ear always like, we're going to need you to make plays. Hooper always veteran knows how to get separation. But it's definitely going to be really huge to be able to spread the ball around. You want to have mismatches all around the field. And I think we have that in our passing game and especially on the ground with Derrick. Mike, with the ramp-up period, how important are days like this to, you know, is it focused on fundamentals? Yeah, well, so what we're trying to do is have an extended individual period, kind of break it up throughout practice, focus on technique fundamentals and conditioning through those extended team or individual periods. And then, you know, try to focus on the details when we get to the team stuff, you know, allowing us to go to spot and kind of pull back on the tempo a little bit. And, you know, hopefully that's going to benefit us well throughout camp. Talk guys through the purpose of them. Could you go a little bit more into it and talk about the adjustment some guys have? I don't think that there's been much of an adjustment. I really think after the first day, you don't really even notice them. And I haven't heard, you know, any complaints or, you know, I think that they, you know, have acclimated them to them well. And, you know, we added, you know, a little stripe. Just make sure that, you know, as we're watching tape that guys, you know, eyes and so much of this game is where your eyes are. And so some of those guys, offensively, the linemen, you know, we put a stripe on there just so that they, you know, we can coach them up and watching the tape of where their eyes are. How did that process come about as far as you guys wearing them so much? Well, I think part of the competition committee that I think part of the role is to try to make the game as great and safe as they possibly can. We hear from Biocore, the engineers and the doctors and the NFL Players Association, Dr. Meyer, Dr. Sills, Dr. Miller at the league. And, you know, they present the information. They present all the injuries. And then, you know, we try to go about ways to figure out ways to prevent them, to make our players as healthy as possible. And this was part of it. They said that the technology has changed. They presented it. And, you know, collectively we all said that that was the right thing to do to make it, you know, mandatory throughout the 32 teams and those players that are around the line of scrimmage. That was Rashad Weaver maybe during the course of the off-season. Did he benefit from last year even though he got hurt early? Well, I think what he benefited from was being around here in the off-season to get a lot of reps to get in shape, to get healthy, to study. And the one thing that I always respected about Rashad, when he was, you know, with us last year healthy, was how hard he played. You know, there were things that weren't perfect and there were mistakes, but he played with great effort. And that's always a great place to start. And I think what he's done this year now is come back healthy and camp and, you know, started to try to look to define a role for himself working hard on special teams. I think that something probably that improved in the off-season was his ability to help us on special teams or understand that. And for some guys coming out of college, that's new, especially those, you know, defensive end types that, you know, transition to edge players in our league. They have to be able to play special teams. Technique that they're showing, even though they're not wearing pads right now? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of things, you know, we talk about pads being for protection and being able to do your job or make plays with your hands, whether that's a defensive lineman or an offensive lineman at any position. So their ability to punch, to replace, to get their backside hand, you know, in the sternum, wherever it needs to be on certain blocks, I think that it's been good, it's improved, but we're just getting started. So I think some of that stuff will continue to show and we can evaluate it, you know, next week, especially as we get pads on. But, you know, they're able to practice all the techniques that they're going to need, just maybe not some of the contact and some of the shoulder contact that comes in on some blocks, you know, not all blocks. Well, he's explosive, he's quick, he's tougher than, you know, $2 stake and, you know, he understands the angles and trying to get the guys and understands pad level, you know, technique and those are a lot of things that he can do that somebody that's bigger can't, you know, just the way that he moves. So I just like the way he competes. I like the way that he shows up to work every day and is willing to compete. So, you know, do you think he's going to play technique-wise or tweak anything because he is a much different-looking player size-wise than Roger was at that position? No, I mean, I think maybe there may be some game-plan things that we would do based on if there was a, you know, you know, if you're playing an elite player, we would do that with whoever was there. But, no, I mean, he's executing all the same things and I think he's worked hard and when he did have an opportunity to play for us, he's played pretty well for us. It wasn't good. I mean, he's helped us win games. And what have you seen from Jamarco Jones so far? I know he's been playing some guard. How have you seen him kind of happening to you guys? Well, again, new system. I think there's a little bit of things that have to continue to get, you know, ironed out and that work teaching him, that he's been working on through the off-season. He's got good quickness, good size. And again, he's played in his opportunities that he had to play in this league. He did a nice job. So other than just some minor details that are different, maybe a way we're asking him to do certain things or, you know, take a landmark that's a little different. You know, I think that he's going to be in a position to compete and try to help us. Traylin has been returning months. So what if he still said, you feel good about his ability to compete there and how do you feel like he's coming along in terms of the competition of the few guys you have back there taking reps? Well, the most important is that you catch it. You know, that you can secure the ball. I think that's where we're at right now. I think that, you know, one thing that he showed in college was that he was tough to tackle, you know, with the ball in his hand, that he was, you know, he could run after the catch. And so hopefully, just trying to find as many places to get guys that can help us. And if he can catch and secure and make the first guy miss, you know, then he has a chance to help us. But most importantly, he's got to be able to take care of the football. And I would say that there hasn't been an evaluation for the punt return job. Catching it from the jugs, maybe a few from the punter, you know, from Stoney or Brett. But without gunners coming at you or live action, that's been hard to, you know, evaluate. I think that he's getting more comfortable catching them. And, you know, hopefully we can see him out there in preseason. Did you like the efficiency of today's practice the same way you liked the efficiency of yesterday? I mean, I think there were times, and again, that's hard when, you know, introducing something that's new during training camp, you know, but just looking at the data, you know, trying to make sure that we're smart on the third day. And I guess to me this was the third day having the conditioning test and then practicing. So, but I don't think it was a throwaway day. I thought try to evaluate what everybody was doing and how they were, you know, working and trying to see if that was happening in the, you know, the individual drills and the group drills. I know we threw a lot of routes in the group drill. So I don't think that there was a lack of speed or timing there. I thought that was good. And the jog-throughs are never going to be perfect. There's 22 guys going at 22 different speeds. So we talk about that there's not a winner and a loser of the jog-through. You can only lose it by not knowing what to do or, you know, falling on the ground, I guess, or not being in the right place. Why don't you invite Rich Player here? How much do you think the players enjoyed it? Well, I know they enjoyed it. I know everybody enjoyed it. I knew that, you know, he was coming in for the weekend. You know, he'll be celebrating his final match on Sunday of an amazing, long, successful, sustained career. And so just invited him over. Was able to visit with him before practice. And, you know, I thought he would love to talk to the players, which he was. He was excited to come over here. He brings an energy and excitement and passion. And I know that they appreciated it. And, you know, I did, I certainly enjoyed seeing him getting to talk to him. My plan is to try to go on Sunday. What was the theme of what he told the guys? Was it relatable? Sure. Yeah, he talked about, you know, he talked about the family and all these distractions that we encounter on a daily basis and sticking together and coming back each and every day, you know, to try to, you know, keep stacking days together. You know, you're blinking and, you know, a long career is over. So just trying to stay, you know, consistent, you know, each and every day showing up and knowing that you have to show up and perform with that type of pressure. He's been a fan of yours since your playing days. It sounds like you've kind of been a fan of his too. How much? You know, I don't know how you couldn't be just watching, you know, growing up Saturday mornings, watching professional wrestling, you know, with my dad and, you know, that was something that we always did and just, you know, just listening to him give interviews and talk and I think that, you know, those are certainly, I mean, just the entertainer that he is and will, you know, always be. When it comes to the efficiency of practice, not intensity of practice, but the efficiency of doing what you want them to do, how much does that matter to you when it comes to actually winning when it comes to the process of which the team goes through? Well, it's hopefully that we can understand where we're at in each and every practice and what's being asked of them and making sure that there's a clear objective. I think that's a part of my job is making sure that they understand what's asked of them, what's the objective of the drill, how is it going to translate to my job and then where's the finish. And so, going from different tempos sometimes isn't always easy. So, the efficiency has to be, well, when you're in a jog through that you're playing at full speed to the ball snap that you're lining up, you know what your splits are, you know what the call is, you know what the checks are. You know, sometimes that can be even harder when you're not going full speed because you tend to relax a little bit. So, we'll take a look at it again. We'll be able to coach from it and then we'll move on to tomorrow. I was asking Caleb just about what the most rewarding part of his journey back is as he cleared different hurdles and he said really just actually being back on the field, he said learning to walk again is a real kind of reality check. I'm curious from your guys standpoint as coaches, how much mental coaching is involved with him as he goes through that process? You know, I mean, there's going to be, you know, I think now we're, you know, we're probably past some of that. I think the most important conversations were in December and January, staying focused, staying committed, not getting frustrated. You know, those were all things and, you know, if there was, you know, there were some bad days that he came in and I think that there were far many more good days and great days than there were, you know, days that he, you know, maybe was struggling. But now I think that there's the excitement of playing football, feeling better and we'll just handle those as they come like we would any other player. Thanks guys.