Cornerback Dru Phillips
July 29, 2024
Q: How did it feel getting out there with the pads?
DRU PHILLIPS: Oh, I love it. Anytime you can play football and put the pads on, it just clicks something different inside most people, like me. It just amplifies it a lot more. I had so much fun out there today.
Q: What do you think it says that you got so much run as the top slot during today’s practice?
DRU PHILLIPS: So much run?
Q: Playing time…
DRU PHILLIPS: It’s just another day of going out there and competing. I don’t think of it as where I’m at, it’s more the reps I do get, make them count the most. I don’t really care what I run with, whatever makes this team better.
Q: Do you agree that you’ve made some plays early in camp?
DRU PHILLIPS: Yeah, I’ve made some plays. It shows the hard work I’ve put in and what I’m trying to get done. I’ve been making plays, but I feel like there’s so much more I can still do.
Q: Even though you haven’t played a game yet, do you feel like this game here is faster? Has is slowed down yet for you since you last played football?
DRU PHILLIPS: Definitely. It's been so fast, especially with the talent of guys, you're in a new level, and the efficiency and the attention to detail is so much higher. There's so much going on, especially with the nickel, at one time, it's like, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, but in like two seconds. You've got to think, make a play, move on, and try also to be in the right spot to make a play. Yeah, it's faster, but it's going to slow down eventually. I'm just taking my time and learning everything.
Q: Who have you been leaning on?
DRU PHILLIPS: There are a lot of guys, in different aspects. But, from my position, you have guys like (cornerback) Nick McCloud and (safety/inside linebacker) Isaiah Simmons. Those two guys, they’re older. They’ve been doing it, especially Nick. He teaches me so much. Anytime I have a question, I go ask him. He’s been nothing but a great leader and role model for me.
Q: Have you ever seen a nickel as big as Isaiah Simmons?
DRU PHILLIPS: No (laughs). In the spring, I was looking at him and thinking, ‘How is he going to do this?’ He’s just so big but you see him out there covering guys like (wide receiver) Wan’Dale Robinson and what not. It’s surprising. But he’s a freak of nature and he’s blessed for the talents that he’s got.
Q: How is it going against (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers)?
DRU PHILLIPS: That kid is a baller. I’ve been running some reps and just trying to emphasize the details. But you’re going to go see a guy like Malik (Nabers) every week of the season. So, going against him in a practice is – now I know what to expect. They got him at No. 6 for a reason and he’s proved that he’s a baller. You kind of expect that every week of the season with different guys so it’s great work every day.
Q: What are your impressions of (Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs) Coach Jerome Henderson?
DRU PHILLIPS: He’s a great coach. When I came in, I haven’t had a coach like him, I would say. He’s so straightforward and he’s so knowledgeable. Every day when I’m in there, I’ve just learned to shut up and listen to everything he says. There’s some times where you are like, ‘But…’, but there is no ‘buts’ here. He knows what he’s talking about so rely on him and listen to him. He’s been a great coach.
Q: Do you find it hard to shut up?
DRU PHILLIPS: I’m one of those kids that likes to ask questions and I’m antsy. So, there’s times where I’m like, ‘But if I did this, this would be…’ and it’s like, ‘No, our playbook is this and what we have.’ If you do this and be in the right position, and I trust him, a play is going to come to me if I’m in the right spot.
Q: What skills does it take to be a good run-defender in the NFL?
DRU PHILLIPS: I think the main thing is wanting to. I'm glad we got pads on today because now you can actually go put your body on somebody. I feel like coming in here that's one of the main reasons why they got me here is my physicality. Today something just sparked in me. If I go shoot, I'm going to hit somebody. My first rep in the backfield coach was like, ‘You didn't do enough.’ I thought it was a little thud-up, so then the second one I kind of went too hard. I think the main thing is just really just the will, you want to go do it. If you have that mentality, it's going to happen every time.
Q: You talked about how things speed up for the nickel and how much you have to process in such a quick time. Does your mentality help in that situation that you’re constantly thinking?
DRU PHILLIPS: Yeah, especially with the way I think. I want to be a perfectionist, but I'm always so fast, my mind is always moving every part of the day. When you get to something like that, it's the same thing that I do in my own time, which everything is just so fast and moving. You’ve got to be quick on everything. It kind of translates to how I am to the position I play. Then you’ve got guys in that back and that defense that, I’ve got to do better at some things, they make me be better. (Inside linebacker) Bobby (Okereke) and (safety) J-Pin (Jason Pinnock), every single play they are in my ear like, ‘We need to hear you, you got to say this, you got to say that.’ It’s things I need to learn where eventually, they don't have to tell me, but I'm getting there and I'm just happy that each day is getting better.
Q: How do you balance the two and pull them together? Where you are overthinking but it’s reactionary?
DRU PHILLIPS: I don’t know (laughs). It is one of those things where it just happens. Most times out there, for example, yesterday I made a play on a screen. We have the play call and you’re thinking so much about what could happen but at the end of the day, it’s trusting your gut and if you feel like you can make a play, go make the play. It’s things like that, that you just have to trust yourself where you may overthink, but just do it. If you’re going to mess up or do something, do it at 100%. That’s what I’ve been told so that’s the mentality I have.
