Transcript: Cornerback Nick McCloud

Cornerback Nick McCloud

Q: (Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach) Jerome (Henderson) was telling us earlier that you wake up every day with a chip on your shoulder and that's a big strength of yours. How does that come about? Why is that? How do you maintain it? Because it's hard to do every day…

NICK MCCLOUD: Really just going back to my roots. Three-star recruit out of high school. I really didn't get much love coming out of high school. Just going through the stuff I went through in college, staying five years. And then obviously being undrafted. It's not really hard for me to wake up with a chip on my shoulder. But I feel like I'm moving past that point of just trying to prove people wrong. Now I'm to the point to where the people who are in my corner, I'm just going to try to prove them right. So that's just how I feel about that.

Q: You never want to get playing time or get an opportunity at a teammate's injury. But the truth is, (cornerback Cor'Dale) Flott is injured right now. What kind of opportunity is this next week for you to win that job?

NICK MCCLOUD: Definitely a huge opportunity. I don't think I'm just trying to take this opportunity to go win a job, every time I step on the practice field, I'm trying to win a job. Whatever reps that I get, those are valuable reps. I went from last year, I didn't get any reps with the ones and the twos, really. Now I'm getting some reps. I just take every opportunity at practice, game, whatever it may be, just try to maximize that.

Q: What was your reaction when they told you that you weren't going to play in the first preseason game?

NICK MCCLOUD: At first, I was like, 'Me?' It was kind of one of those things. But I mean, again, not too much overreaction or underreaction about it. Just whatever they asked me to do, that's what I'm going to do.

Q: It seemed the first day of practice, you popped somebody really early in the... and I'm sitting there going, 'Is this guy making a statement?' Is that what your intention is every play?

NICK MCCLOUD: Yeah, definitely. Like I said, getting back to my roots again, I never was a guy that was one of those top guys. Whatever I can do to stand out with my coaches and my teammates, that's what I'm going to do.

Q: When you're lining up on the other side of (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers), what are you seeing in him?

NICK MCCLOUD: You can tell that he's different from everybody else when you line up against him. When you line up against him, you've definitely got to be locked in. He's explosive, he's a smart football player, and at the end of the day, he's a competitor. I think that's what makes him what he is. He's going to compete at the highest level.

Q: You're not a doctor, I'm not asking you what happened, but is your heart in your throat at all when you see him on the sideline getting checked out at the end of practice today?

NICK MCCLOUD: I mean, I didn't even know he was on the sideline getting checked out. Obviously, we want him to be okay. I'll probably find more about that when I go in.

Q: When you get to the point where you're doing a bunch of things for special teams and you're valuable in everything you do, is there ever any point where it works against you? Like, 'I just want to be a starter, put me on the outside, let me go prove myself.' But because of all the other things that you do, is it ever a hindrance that they look at you and say, 'Well, he's too valuable in these other spots that we can't put him here.'

NICK MCCLOUD: I mean, you've just got to look at it glass half full, glass half empty. There's perks and pros and cons to both. I just try to come out here every day and just compete at the highest level, wherever they put me.

Q: The question we just asked, we used to ask (safety) Julian Love every day for three years. I'm wondering if you see some of yourself in Julian, and if it's inspiring to see once he's settled into what he's become, he just got a $12 million a year contract…

NICK MCCLOUD: Yeah, definitely. I mean, you said it yourself, me and J-Love, we're really close. We're definitely the same type of player, smart football player, can do a lot of things. It worked out for him, so I'm just, I'm sitting on my knees, praying that it's going work out for me too.

Q: When you have a question, is there a specific teammate in the secondary, or not in the secondary that you go to now?

NICK MCCLOUD: Yeah, (Safety) Dane Belton, he's a pretty smart football player. (Safety) J-Pin (Jason Pinnock). We've got a lot of guys that are smart football players. Whatever kind of advice that they can give me, whatever they can help catch me up on moving from position to position, it definitely helps, because I definitely need it sometimes moving around like that.

Q: Have they given you any kind of cool nickname? They used to call Julian, 'Duct Tape.' Given you any kind of cool nickname?

NICK MCCLOUD: No, no, no, just Nick.

Q: How would you describe (inside linebacker) Bobby Okereke and what he means to this defense, what kind of team that he is?

NICK MCCLOUD: He's just one of the best leaders that I've been around. He holds himself to a high standard, so it's nothing for him to hold everybody else to a high standard, because he does it himself day in and day out. You can't really ask much more of him.

Q: Is there something about, your personality that the first day you're digging in the nickel, the idea of fighting tooth and nail with a teammate, going back to that chip on your shoulder, that you enjoy being able to just man up on somebody?

NICK MCCLOUD: It goes back to the chip. I wake up every day feeling like I've got to prove myself, no matter where I'm at on the depth chart, no matter what the circumstance may be. I wake up every day wanting to be in the toughest situations.

Q: You didn't necessarily go to that small school somewhere out in – you did kind of make it somewhere…

NICK MCCLOUD: There's a lot of background behind that too, though.