COURTESY OF NEW ORLEANS SAINTS MEDIA RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
What were some of your goals this offseason, some personal things that you wanted to work on heading into your second training camp? "Really I just wanted to become the best football player that I can become. Keep progressing, getting better, really learn the playbook and the entirety of it from the X spot to the Z spot to everywhere knowing how to line up everywhere on the field. That was really my main goal coming into the offseason is just keep preparing, and continue to grow as a player and mature as a person."
To follow that up, do you feel more confident this year? "Definitely, I feel like I have a way better understanding of the playbook. I'm still learning, still have a lot more areas that I'd like to grow in, but I feel like I took a very big step, especially in learning and being able to understand everything that's going on."
What's the biggest thing or most significant thing you learned from last year? "I feel like the most significant thing that I learned is just the way that you have to prepare to be able to be successful at this level. Just everything that goes into game week, everything that goes into the offseason, everything that goes into studying and being on your A-game really. Just the preparation that it takes to be the best ultimately and to be the best team, to be the best player that I can be. I feel like that is really where I learned a lot, just learning about how much it takes to reach the goals that I want to reach."
I'm sure you would have preferred being on the 53 all last year, but being on the practice squad and just being around and participating, how big was that for you last year? "I feel like it was a blessing, honestly. It was a great opportunity. I got to learn from a receiver like Mike Thomas, the best in the league. I was able to be around Drew Brees the entire season. I got to be around my coaches who are in my opinion, this is the only team that I've been around, but from what I've heard are two of the best coaches in the league at the wide receiver position. So I felt like it's ultimately not where I wanted it to be, but as I said last year, I'm a believer that everything that happens for a reason. I feel like God places you in positions so that you can grow. And I feel like last year was just another opportunity for me to be able to really learn more and grow as a man and a football player."
You said a couple times, you just want to be the best player you can be. So what specifically does that mean for you? What do you want to improve at and be better at? "Really just my route running and then just being as consistent as I can. I feel like it's pretty easy to go out there and make a play or two, but I feel like what separates guys like Drew Brees, what separates guys like Michael Thomas from the rest of their position group is the fact they can go out there and be consistent with it every day. I feel like that's my idea of being the best that I can be. Going out there and being the best version of myself consistently on a day to day basis."
You mentioned Michael Thomas, but the addition of Emmanuel Sanders, have you been able to latch on to Sanders as well and learn anything from him also for this offense? "Definitely. He's a savvy vet, very smart, very detailed, great route runner (and) very fast. So I've been able to pick up on a lot of different stuff, just his techniques, the way he manipulates DBs and the way he gets open. That is really what I have been monitoring the most about Emmanuel Sanders, he is a great football player, but also a great guy. A good guy to be around and a very helpful person."
Did he at least hook you up with the with anything for 17? "No, he did not give me anything (laughter). I shot it to him, man. I did not really want anything. He came here, he's a vet, I feel like he's earned it. So me being in the position that I was, I felt like I wasn't really in the position to make him give me nothing or ask for nothing or none of that. And then again, I don't really want nothing anyway, man. I was fine with just giving it up and taking it taking the one eight."
What have your conversations been like with Coach Curry this camp? Is it different from what it was like last year? "I wouldn't say it's necessarily different, but I feel like definitely the expectations for myself have grown a lot just as far as the things that I'm supposed to know, the things that I'm supposed to be doing. I feel like he expects a lot of me this year which is rightfully so being my second year here."