SOW| Nile Paul On RG3 Etc. Audio Link and Transcript

[rd421]

Hey Guys. We were pretty stoked to have Niles spend some time with us on the show last night. It is one thin to see the excitement of fans but to hear Niles say "I don't think people realize just how excited the players are for this season" is a different ball game completely.

Niles is in for the 2nd segment about 20 minutes into the show.

Listen Here

Or of you prefer iTunes Listen/Download Here

If you would prefer to read here is a chunk of the transcript

Ray Smith: Niles, thanks so much for joining us tonight.

Niles Paul: Pleasure to be on the show man, pleasure to be on the show.

RS: How is your summer break going for you?

NP: It’s going pretty good. You know, at first since I was fairly new to it all, when it came to, like, the offseason, I didn’t know what to do. I was like ‘I need to go train somewhere, I need to stay in shape’, so I was in a frenzy just trying to get home and train. But I stayed out in DC and trained with a bunch of the fellas on the team, you know, we’re getting some good work in every day.

RS: Well I gotta tell you man, as someone who has been a huge fan of this team for a long time, and I know that Kyle can confirm this, I don’t remember an offseason where we’ve had quite this much excitement, and I know that every offseason, people are talking about the exciting things that are happening in DC, you know, ‘Are these pieces going to work, is that going to work’, but what I’m really interested in seeing is, what kind of team chemistry are you guys putting together. Not just from what we saw during the OTAs and stuff like that, but with so much change that’s happened, even in this offseason time, and you’re trying to get down and away from football and working out, but is there still this connection? Is that where this team chemistry is coming together?

NP: Yeah. I mean, I didn’t even know what it was like last year because of the lockout and everything. And I was just kind of thrown into the fire with the guys, but we had a place where the young who guys came in, the rookies, where we were extremely comfortable with the team. There’s going to be a lot of competition going into camp, and I’m excited for it.

RS: So obviously, you’re in your 2nd year now, and you hit on the fact that this is a little bit of a different offseason, because there actually is an offseason for you guys this year. We talked to Leonard Hankerson last year, one of your rookie classmates from last year’s draft, who said that missing OTAs, and all of the junk that happened because of the lockout, he really felt like it was devastating to him. Because to him, a guy that had been in college ball, you always have spring ball to kind of get yourself together and prepare for what’s coming up. But as a rookie to go from jumping from the draft to right in to it, it’s got to be pretty crazy. You didn’t experience that, but now you’re seeing it with the young guys. Talk a little about the difference you’ve seen in some of this year’s rookies, the things that’s they’ve had to face, and the burnout that they might see that you didn’t necessarily see last year.

NP: I think it’s beneficial for them because they’re learning the playbook and even thought I’m a tight end now, I still watch the wide receivers, and I watch how they pick up on the offense, and the young guys being able to, in OTAs, they got more comfortable in the system, running the plays, not having to look back and ask coach what to do. Whereas last year, me and Hank and Al were, like in the fire, out there with very limited reps, trying to figure out what we had to do, and tried to make the most of out the reps we had. Because at the end of the day, we still didn’t really know what we were doing out there. And it took us a couple of game into the season just to get that down.

RS: Hankerson talked to us a lot about that and said, just the ability to have to think about things, versus the ability to just go out and perform, or for it to be second nature is a huge difference. One thing that Redskins fans have begged for, for years and years and years, is consistency. To be able to have a core group of guys on the offensive side of the ball that can work year in and year out on the same things and build cohesion – is that something that fans have dreamed up as a pipe dream? Or is that something that is important for you guys so you can feel like you can count on the guys who are there, the same guys year in and year out, and everyone is coming in on the same page together as a team?

NP: It’s unrealistic to think that you are going to have the same guys back every year. You just hope that when new guys come in, everybody can come in on the same page and have the same mentality that we are a team, and we all come from different places, and we all are striving for that one goal, and that’s to win a Super Bowl. The offseason shows that you can get a whole different group of guys together, and everyone is just out there, from veterans, to the London Fletchers to the rookies, they’re out there, just working, trying to get better, just competing every day. You’ve clearly seen that in OTAs. I experienced it in OTAs, and throughout the summer offseason program.

RS: In watching the OTAs this year–and for us it’s the first year that we’ve actually been credentialed to be out there and keep a close eye on what you guys are doing–but to see that work that you guys have been putting together, it’s been interesting to see some things that we’ve not gotten to see before. One of the things that stood out to me is, at least as far as you running the routes and getting the receiving part of tight end down, it seems like its been a pretty easy transition for you. Is that correct to say, or are you just making it look easier than it really is?

NP: It’s been a pretty easy transition for me thus far, and that’s just, we haven’t actually put on pads yet and I haven’t had to go against Ryan or Rak in full pads in practice yet. So in the sense of the passing game, it all comes easy because in my mind, I’m still a receiver, I’m just out there in a tighter position. As a tight end in this offense, you’re basically a wide receiver when it comes to running routes, you know [what] the concepts are called, and you just have to know what you have to do. I think as a tight end, you have to know the whole concept, because any little thing can change. I felt like last year, I built a confidence up as the year went on, with just learning and knowing the play book. I came in comfortable enough to pick up on the passing game a lot easier. Mean and Sean was just talking, me and coach was just talking about this, about how the firs day I was looking at this stuff and saying ‘You want me to block THESE dudes?’ And everybody kind of laughed in the room, Chris Cooley and Fred Davis were in there, and Logan Paulson were just kind of reassuring me that ‘You can do this, this isn’t as hard as it looks’. In our offense there’s a lot of zone stuff. You’ve got to get to your zone, you’ve got to hold your zone, and you’ve got to protect the running backs. You’ve got to protect the QB. They said it’s not all about being stronger than somebody; it’s about being smarter, trying to out-technique somebody.

RS: One of the biggest things that people who have questioned your move to tight end, has been the blocking. To hear you say that, in the zone blocking scheme, there are different ways to get around it, but after watching some of those special teams hits that you laid on people last year, I had zero concerns with your hitting ability, with your blocking ability, or really, with your lack of fear to go up against these big guys. One of the things that’s been a huge story to me about this whole transition from you is not just that fact that you’ve got the versatility to convert from WR to TE, but what’s it like for you to have a coach like Mike Shanahan, who looks at an offense, who really has a lot of WRs, after of the moves with some of the guys that you added this year–not only with the draft but with guys like Pierre coming in on Free Agency, Josh Morgan coming in, and then even a guy like Aldrick Robinson who came in with you guys last year and is kind of worked his way up from the practice squad–what does it mean to have a coach who looks at a position and says, “I see the ability for this player to not just be a WR, but I believe we can use him at TE. We can get him playing time, and he can make an impact on a team”. What does that say to a guy like you to know that you’ve got a coach that’s willing to get you on the field no matter what it takes?

NP: Honestly, it let’s me know the respect that coach Shanahan has for me, and I appreciate him and what he’s doing for me here. He’s basically just trying to find me a home, you know? He told me at the end of the day that I can still play at WR, so in time, if it didn’t work out, I could play WR. But that hasn’t been a problem at all. It’s just me picking up the whole concept of running and blocking. I can’t stress enough about how I appreciate this opportunity I’ve been given.

Kiel Maddox: You’re playing TE now obviously, which is how they run it up in New England, similar at least in my opinion. But have you ever been discussed as a returner? Because I remember last season, against Tampa Bay in the preseason, Brandon Banks has a run back for a touchdown, and you come from about 40 yards back and are at least side-by-side next to him as he’s crossing the goal line.

NP: I mess with Banks about that play all the time, because he tried to act like he didn’t see me. But I was a return man at Nebraska, and even Coach Shanahan talked to me about that. He said I’ll be a TE, but I can return, whatever, so just granted given the opportunity, I still maintain my role as the off-returner as of this year, because that’s what I’ve been doing. [but if] he wants me, if I get the opportunity to return kicks, I’ll gladly take it.

Continue Reading Here

[rd421]

Bump to update with Transcript

[E-Dog Night]

I really liked that he is not buying into the Shannon Sharpe hype. Instead of being ****y, he kept it real and said "I’m flattered by the comparison but it’s a little unfair, because this is Shannon Sharpe, and I haven’t even played my first down yet at TE"

That is the right answer, sir.

[skinny21]

Well done on the interview, and a big thanks for the transcription. I love longer interviews from players because they're able to go beyond the things you hear all the time. Glad you guys got credentialled BTW, you deserve it.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

Hahaha, I like the part where if you work hard you don't get hazed as a rookie.

Although I do remember that video of when Colt Brennan had to stand on a chair in the lunch room and sing a song to everybody. Good natured hazing can be hilarious.