Good this time of year, coming in for the early days of the off season program. What does it mean to you what you try to accomplish.
Yeah, it means a lot to me. You know, I'm just not only getting dialed in with the playbook, making sure, you know, I got everything down, but you know, just getting together with the guys in the locker room, throwing a little bit working out. Uh, just kind of a reacclamation period. Last year when you came in, it.
Was basically learning the offense game plan, the game plan.
Yep.
Now if you just kind of you start over.
Again, Yeah, definitely. I just start from square one as if it's my first day and I don't know anything, and you know, just trying to learn as much as possible. But yes, it's nice to be able to start from square one and getting right with Coach Turner and making sure it's not just learning the plays but learning every single detail of the positions.
Change how you approach this season.
My approach will be the same, you know, still just try to get as big, strong fast as I can mentally, just you know, like I said, caught up with every position.
Is this your normal Adam, where you spend the whole off season program with a team or is it different this year because of you know, the mid season trade.
Yeah, I've always shown up. I like breaking it up and coming here and being where I'm gonna play and really honing in on football for a little bit, and then I'll do more strength and conditioning stuff in my own individual time. Is that what you did in Carolina as well? You would come yep. Yeah, in Carolina, you know, we always had similar learned in a new offense, but we always had different coaches come in. So I think I had five coordinators in five years, so I was always learning the plays.
What's the first thing you told Sam Darnold about this offense.
When he was looking at I told him it's fun. You know, I got a lot of weapons and unbelievable mind calling plays. He already knew all that stuff though. You know he had he had watched all the tape and you know he was a fan from Afar, so he was fired up to get here the quarterback of the Niners. Getting Sam. Sam's great. He can do every anything. You can make any throw. He's smart, He's able to, you know, pick up things quickly and do his job.
Doesn't play beyond you know anything and and just does exactly what he's told all the time and then adds a lot of flair to it too. You know, I got the privilege to play with Sam, not enough, unfortunately I had some injuries. But he's another guy too who's who's just a gamer and he's tough as hell. He's played through a lot and never made excuses. So happy he's here.
You get a Sam, I saw you court side at the Warriors game, sitting there with them the other day. What's your investment.
Level like right now with the playoffs and how much it's been fun to watch? Been really fun to watch? Yeah, I mean it was. It was a lot of fun. You know, being able to see those guys up up and close is impressive. You know, I think you forget how how big, strong and fast these dudes are and how athletic they are. So it was a lot of fun. And you know, watching guys like Steph Curry do his thing live in person, it's definitely a different feeling than
watching it on TV. And the average person doesn't know about Sam Donald that you can share. I don't know what people don't or do know about him, but I'd say like his toughness, to me is something that I don't think gets a lot of credit for, but just knowing kind of the stuff that he went through in New York and then in Carolina and to be able to just keep his head down and continue to work as hard as he did showed a lot of perseverance, determination, toughness all that.
The second time in three years you've been with the team and Sam Arrives, what did he do in Carolina? They just kind of get acclimated and make himself part of that team.
Just did his job and he was himself. You know, he did everything the coaches asked him to do, and he was himself and that's all you know, really can ask for teams propensity to take a big swing when they need to.
They did it with Trent, they did it with you, they did it when they traded up for Trey, And I don't think a lot of people had him getting hard Grave. What did you think when the pard Rave edition came an offseason?
Definitely happy, But don't have to play against them. You know, he's a stud and he's a guy who you know, obviously has had a lot of success in his career and just adding another piece to the defense obviously helps the team.
The team is willing to do to take those big swings. Is that.
Inner change the team you think for sure? Yeah, I mean, I think everybody knows where our head is at, and you know, from from the top down, we know we know what we want to accomplish and and where we want to go.
It's obviously part of the deal.
But you've lost a lot of free agents, a lot of key guys this offseason.
Have you felt that in the locker room hasn't been a little bit different kind of reacclimating without some of those guys.
It's always the tough part of this game is seeing guys go. But uh no, I mean we're we're all still so tight. You know, our core guys are still amazing, and you know, it's part of the process. It's it's part of the off season is reacclimating and getting everybody in line for for one common goal.
Really experienced coaches working with the running backs here with with coach Land and coach Turner, is that different than anything that you previously your career And how does that kind of communication pattern work in the room. How much have you gotten for both of them? Uh?
Yeah, I've gotten a lot. This has been, you know, the most fun I've had in a meeting room in my career. You know, these guys are so detailed on every single thing. You know, you could I could sit there and listen to Coach turn it for hours on end, because you know he he coaches the x's and o's and beyond the x's and o's, and you know, it's it's a it's honestly an honor to be in that meeting room. And I think all of us, all of us running backs feel that way, you know. And Coach Lann,
who is head coach experience, knows the whole offense. So you're constantly getting you know, pointers from not just the H but the X, you know, all these different positions and understanding the full dynamic of the play, not just you know, our job and moving on. And so it's been a lot of fun to learn. I've approached it as if I'm a rookie again and just learned from square one. On your engagement, I was curious how that all win feels like the most nervous you've ever been
in your life. I appreciate it. Definitely nervous, you know, it's a different kind of nervous, but yeah, I was definitely nervous. And yeah, she said, yeah, I tricked her in the saying yeah, so that was that was good and now I'm fired up about it, thank you.
Yeah, that's follow What was your interaction like with Steve Willis and what are the partners getting there?
Yeah, Coach Wilkes is awesome. I think you know, I could talk about Coach Wilkes a lot and just the type of man he is. But you know, it says a lot to see how all the Panthers players reacted to him and them vouching for him to get the head job. That's a testament to who he is and and and that explains a lot about not just the coach he is, but the guy he is. So happy he's on our side. Said that Brock was it has been really positive and just working at every day.
Have you seen that from him as well?
Definitely? Yeah, I mean Brock, like I said, I think everybody talked about it last year and who Brock is, But yeah, it's no surprise now that that he's a guy who he's going to show up to work every day with a positive attitude and do do his job at the best of his ability and he's done just that, so it's been good seeing him and seeing how hard he's working. Thanks guys.