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00:00Philip, this is training camp number 16 for you.
00:02How do you feel being out there, being back at it?
00:05What does the season look like?
00:07Good.
00:07Feels good to be back.
00:09Shoot, it's nice to have that break after OTA's minicamp.
00:12But it's good to be back out here and get going.
00:14And as we know, it's still one of those,
00:17you've got a ways away from the opener.
00:20But it'll be here before you know it at the same time.
00:22So it's just little by little, day by day,
00:25we've got to recreate the camaraderie,
00:29recreate the whole deal that we had last year,
00:33and then be even better.
00:34And that just doesn't happen.
00:36We have to do that, and got that whole thing started today.
00:39You've been one of the few guys that
00:41has yet to do that, to recreate off a successful season.
00:45Is that, I mean, we, by example, are you ashamed of that?
00:49Yeah, I mean, shoot, we have a lot of veteran players
00:52mixed in different groups.
00:55We have a young team, for the most part.
00:56We do have enough veterans sprinkled
00:58into each position group that I think
01:00it's been well expressed, just how hard it is to get there.
01:05I think, and Coach Lynn's done a heck of a job, how hard it is
01:07to, because I think you look up and you go,
01:10oh yeah, we'll just go out and go win 12 games again.
01:13That doesn't happen.
01:14That doesn't just happen.
01:16We also know how hard it was to win those 12.
01:18There's a handful that could have gone either way,
01:21that we found a way to do that.
01:22So I think our guys know.
01:24I think we have the right attitude.
01:25Guys are hungry.
01:27We also know how we felt leaving that locker room in New England
01:31coming up short.
01:32So that also kind of adds some fuel to the whole deal, too.
01:36So I think we're in a good frame of mind.
01:40What did Anthony say to you guys about the Melvin Gordon
01:43situation, and how are you guys handling it?
01:45He didn't say anything.
01:46And I think a lot of guys are close with Melvin,
01:50and we hope to see him soon.
01:55You talk about recreating camaraderie.
01:57Without him here, is it more challenging?
02:00No.
02:01I mean, shoot, there's 89 or 90 others.
02:04So it's a little by little deal.
02:12Training camp, you build it.
02:13Meeting rooms, you build it.
02:14Locker room, you build it.
02:15You build it.
02:16And starting in the preseason games,
02:17going against the Rams in practice,
02:18going against the Saints in practice,
02:20all those things, you build it as the year goes.
02:22I think that trust and love and togetherness
02:26is something that goes.
02:27It doesn't just stop.
02:29How did you get it filled up in training camp?
02:31And good luck to you.
02:32I mean, I think that kind of carries,
02:34as we saw, all through the season.
02:36It's just a matter of going and doing it.
02:37How do you feel Justin Jackson and Eckler
02:39have done with Melvin not being here?
02:41And obviously, there's going to be more of an onus on those guys
02:44getting work.
02:44Yeah, they're going to get a lot more work.
02:46You know, obviously, Eckler, obviously, a handful,
02:51been here a little bit longer than Justin.
02:53But you saw what he did last year in games.
02:55He obviously had a heck of an off season.
02:57He made some huge plays for us last year in games.
03:00Deetrez Newsom stepped in there and made some big plays for us
03:02and filled in last year in some games.
03:05So it certainly is a deep position for us.
03:08And those guys all love to play and work hard.
03:11So like I said, I mean, we love Melvin.
03:16But we're going to go with what we got.
03:19And it's a pretty dang good group.
03:22So how much of a scary situation was it
03:24with Russell down the ball season
03:26when he got this kind of descent?
03:29Yeah, I mean, I know Russell put out something.
03:31So I really like to let Russell speak on it in specifics.
03:35But it was.
03:36I mean, I think just once realizing how serious it was.
03:39I think all injuries are serious.
03:41But we're used to the, sorry, we're
03:43used to the ankles and knees and all those things
03:46that are tough to deal with.
03:47And some guys are out of year.
03:49Some guys miss seasons.
03:50And those things are tough.
03:51But this is even, it's one of those silent and deadly deals.
03:56So thankfully, again, as I think he said,
04:00he's getting the treatment.
04:01He caught it soon enough.
04:02And he seems to be in great spirit.
04:04He seems, he's here in meetings and all out there with us
04:07today.
04:07Jersey on right there behind the action.
04:09So when he's healthy, which is most important,
04:11we'll get him back out there.
04:13Phil, I saw you connecting Hunter today.
04:15Just to have him back as a road blocker,
04:17I'm just curious if there's a big piece of this offer
04:20that's having to change things.
04:21Yeah, it's great.
04:22It's great to have Hunter back.
04:23It's a little bit of a weird deal.
04:25Because I think for most everyone on the outside,
04:27it's like, wow, they're getting Hunter back.
04:29For us, although he didn't necessarily
04:33play a ton in that New England game,
04:35we felt like we've had him back for some time now.
04:37Getting him back that week of practice
04:39and then really having him all offseason.
04:40It feels like he's been healthy for a long time.
04:45But certainly having him back and in the fold,
04:47down in and down out, in there with Virgil.
04:51I mean, he's just such a playmaker.
04:52He's just kind of that complete tight end, as you've all seen.
04:55But well, having not seen it for a year,
04:59it makes him that much more exciting.
05:04Yeah, it just so happened.
05:06It wasn't anything really orchestrated.
05:07It just so happened he was having
05:09a family vacation about 15 minutes from where
05:12I kind of spend the summer.
05:14So he and I threw a couple of days and ran.
05:16And his brothers came along.
05:19He's got two brothers that are at Arkansas.
05:21So that was fun to spontaneously hook up with him
05:24and throw a little bit.
05:25I don't throw much during that break.
05:27But when you got your tight end, it's that close.
05:31You make an exception and throw a little bit.
05:33So it was good to get out and get a little work in.
05:36Anything you'd like to do on that point of emphasis
05:40for your game personally or fitness or?
05:43I mean, I think it's just, again,
05:44I think it's just that those tiny margins,
05:48these small ways you can improve that are the difference
05:52in getting to a second and three instead of a second and five
05:56because you throw what is accurate as it needed to be.
05:59I mean, all those little tiny minuscule things
06:02that are the difference, as we know.
06:03And I think for me, it's just that knowing
06:07it's that every single day, be there for everybody
06:14throughout the whole training camp
06:15and every little attention to detail.
06:17And again, those reminders without making it a big speech,
06:20it's those little reminders of not letting
06:22the little things slide and relax about anything
06:25just because we had some success.
06:27Because again, we got to find a way to recreate it.
06:30We got a long way to go.