Fletcher Cox is extremely candid about his need to get better in “the little things” it takes to become a better defensive end in a 3-4 alignment:
“I’m still kind of new to this two-gap thing, the 3-4. I’ve been a one-gap player all of my life.”
Cox gave a nice interview to Chris McPherson of PE.com in which he says two things he’s focused on improving are his footwork and hand placement – especially on early downs.
Cox says the main reason he’s getting better every season so far is “being coachable. Soaking in all of the little things to make myself a better player. Be coachable, don’t be stubborn.”
Center Jason Kelce feels the biggest room for improvement for him as well as the rest of his offensive line mates is in the mental part of the position:
“For the offensive line position, it’s not always about measurables and a lot of it comes down to the mentality of the game. It’s the same reason why it’s hard to predict what quarterbacks are going to be successful in the league. Whenever you’re trying to assess mental ability to adapt to the game, to adapt to the offense, to adapt to the speed, all that stuff, it becomes harder to evaluate talent. The two most mental positions on the field, in my opinion, are the quarterback and the offensive line.”
I never thought about it quite like that, but Kelce said it and he believes it.
Right now in OTA’s just about all the meaningful practice for offensive linemen is strictly mental.
Kelce: “Obviously the rookies, it’s too hard to tell right now, they’re still young, they’re still learning and we don’t have pads on. Nothing we do out here right now is really going to tell that much on what it’s going to be like on game day, especially in the trenches…”
Then there’s Nolan Carroll, a defensive back who knows he has to show improvement this summer just to make the team:
“For me, honestly, it’s just work. I’ve come in with the mindset that I’ve got to work harder than everyone else.”
New defensive backs coach Cory Undlin is going to provide plenty of motivation for Carroll to keep working hard as he gives Carroll a shot to compete for a starting outside corner job.
“Cory is asking more from us. He is asking us to compete against ourselves every day, to be better every day. It’s not about competing against the other guys at our position. It’s about competing to be better as a player every day. He’s harping on that. He’s demanding that we give more than we gave the day before. He’s teaching us every single day. He isn’t taking a day off from teaching and from helping us improve so he expects effort from us, too. We have a growth mindset. We don’t have a fixed mindset. We never feel like, ‘Oh, I’ve got it. I don’t have to worry about it.’ We’re pushing every day.”
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Injury note: Players still limited for practice are Sam Bradford (knee), Earl Wolff (knee), and Marcus Smith (lower leg).
