Cornerback Darnay Holmes
Q. How old is the baby now?
A: Eight months. Beautiful times, beautiful times.
Q. How's camp been going for you?
A: Camp's going good. Each and every day, it's an uphill battle. Just looking for ways to improve and staying the course. Keeping your head on straight and winning the mental battle.
Q. What's it like day-to-day somedays you're with the first team, then the twos, then the threes. How do you handle that?
A: At the end of the day, I'm just happy to be on the field. It doesn't matter where I'm at in the rotation. I play this game because of the love and the passion and the competitor within me. I'm just happy I can line it up against some good guys on offense.
Q. You've been lining up against slot receivers here for years. Now, that position in particular has receivers like Jalin Hyatt, Cole Beasley and Parris Campbell. It's loaded up. Can you see the difference?
A: Most definitely. That's the thing that you want. Having different guys that have different abilities so each and every day you see where you're at. Also, it gets you prepared for the upcoming season, for real.
Q. Has cornerback Adoree' Jackson had to pick your brain at all going inside?
A: More scheme stuff – technique wise, he knows what to do but scheme stuff, he picks my brain.
Q. How big of a change is that for a corner?
A: I feel like it's a big change in the aspect of understanding that you've really got to guard the whole field. You've got to be able to play within the rules as well and understanding that at the top of the route you're a two-way player. It took time for me to get a grasp of it but now I feel like I'm very comfortable with it now.
Q. With Adoree' Jackson and (cornerback Cor'Dale) Flott playing in the slot more, where do you feel like you fit in on the defense right now?
A: I fit in exactly where I'm at now.
Q. Which is…battling?
A: Which is battling, which is contributing, which is being an asset on special teams. At the end of the day, I'm a team player and whatever comes with it, comes with it. I'm putting my best foot forward each and every day.
Q. When we spoke last in the offseason you said you were trying to be less handsy. How have you worked on that since you've been at camp?
A: Truthfully, just being more in tune with my feet, being more in tune with my positioning when it's time to break at the top of the route. I feel like as – practice nine or 10, I feel like as the practices progressed, I got better with the reps for sure.
Q. How much are you looking forward to facing another team this week instead of just your teammates?
A: It's an exciting thing to do. At the end of the day, like I said before, we're all competitive so going against a new face, a new team, it brings a different level of excitement. At the point we're at, we'll just see where we're at as a defense and as a team so we're ready to go up there and do a lot of team bonding and a lot of competing.
Q. When you look at this team, how much deeper is it than it was a year ago?
A: I'd say kudos to the organization. I've been here since year one and going on year four I've definitely seen a shift. A shift of perspective, a shift of culture and a shift of just way of life. I'm just excited for what lies ahead.
Q. How much better can this defense be going into year two under Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale?
A: I feel like in any realm of life when you're with somebody again, you've got a better feeling of it. I feel like where we're at now, we're grasping just the true integrity of the defense and now we're able to be more free flowing now.
Q. You're in the last year of your contract year. Are you an in the moment guy or do you look at the big picture?
A: Truthfully, I'll be a day-to-day guy. At the end of the day, that's the business but where I'm at now is really just fine tuning, learning from the things we had from last practice and staying the course. At the end of the day, there's only so much you can control and I'm just controlling my physical well-being and my mental state.
