Highlight Reels: Wide Receiver Techniques

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I'm Julian Edelman, and we've got a brand new compilation, Highlight Reel starting now now.

Cooper Cup talks about wide receiver techniques, receivers and art form. No one, doesn't you do it different than this? Goes back to the same conversation. It's like, you know, there's there's Picasso and brother Tis, Michael Donald Tello, Raphaels, there is there is so like, uh, there's all these different ways to do it. Yeah, right, And so I'm like, I don't want to get stuck just knowing one way. I want to have some other stuff I can do and force me to kind of go and learn from people.

Yeah, who's that the receiver?

Yeah, from with team Bears.

Bears.

So I I want what year?

Yeah?

I think at the point I'm with Conway and where we show up on I show up on Friday, like we're easing to take me through some girls. I want to get, you know, perspective. I want to see someone else take me to through stuff. A lot of the times I go with someone and I might spend a few days working out with someone and be like, I grabbed one thing that I want to like take with me, right.

Sometimes there's nothing.

Sometimes like man, there's just a treasure trove of stuff that I want to use here. Yeah, there with Curse Conway and we ran a curl route for an hour straight, an hour shift a curl route three days before training camp. My toes were I pulled my cleats off toes bloodied, gone gone every year yeah gone, you know, so you go, yeah, but I want to go here for someone want to hear something something different?

And what was his technique? How was it different? You know he attacked the leverage guy or was he just goes straight up in the back.

We did attack.

We did more attack the leverage stuff in terms of like the stems and things like that. But I don't even remember if it was from him that I like pull this, But it was kind of the beginning of this idea of like, as a receiver, I never want to think of myself as as slowing down.

I want to decelerate, right.

I want to always be thinking I'm accelerating so even when I get to the top of a route, I want to accelerate down into the ground, right, Like, what's the what one of the best stoppers in the world javelin, right, Javelin comes down stops right. So I want to be like a javel where I'm running and I want that angle. I want to accelerate down at forty five and when I'm accelerating, put my foot down.

You know what Newton says energy potential.

Yes, he also says every force is an equal and opposite reaction, right, So if I accelerate down into the ground, right, the ground's gonna stop me, push back against me.

Starting go somewhere.

And now, as a dB you see me accelerating.

I'm accelerating down towards the ground, and you're backing up right, but I'm stopping.

Yeah, but you have to have your technique and right in your body all that.

Oh, there's so much I like they're running curls for an hour, get.

My feet bloodied.

Like yeah, I probably didn't grab a whole lot of stuff from it, but it was like the beginning of this thought, like, man, how do I want to stop now?

Poking akua on developing alongside Cooper Cup You're.

Running indie drills and like everybody's getting ready to line up, and I'm like, yo, I'm gonna make my way to the front right behind Coop. Yeah, I'm gonna make my way to the front to be number two, just so I can watch him.

Go watch his whole rep.

Watch how you like doing everything, whether it's routes on air, it was the cone drills, or he were going up in one on ones, like like yeah, and then when I got to go run the reps with him, I'm like, all right, Coop, like hey, we got this, or like we're lined up two by two and we're going to wear in a stack and it's me and Coop would be like, all right, what are you about to do

I'm gonna go.

I'm gonna find a way. And he's like, all right, No, it's gonna look like this. He's gonna roll down, he's gonna play outside leverage. I'm gonna get to his inside shower. I'm a one to him at the top and I'm gonna win. And then he would go one to him at the top and he would win and be like, damn cool.

Next up, Antonio Gates breaks down his record setting touchdown.

Catch you just in the moment, you know, I'm looking at the side of I'm reading my side of the field. I don't got time trying to read the whole scan the whole field. What's it was like a sticky pump, you know, And I'm looking at the back yardstick and go and go right, come around right. I knew it was. I felt like it was zone, you know. And I gotta, man, mind you, I gotta I gotta guess this. When after my first.

Two steps is this, Uh, who's this on?

Is this on a linebacker?

Yeah? This is on line back.

It felt like it felt like cover four if I can look at it. It felt like he was going to try to push. Yeah, but it was like two safeties. So it's hard to determine because we in the red zone, right, It's hard.

It's hard.

It's hard to determine. But me, I don't even That was the beauty of not playing either. I don't overthink nothing. I just go play, you know what I'm saying. Because when you got this football high iq, you come down, you can overthink it's still football, it's green grass, or it ain't.

Just play, you know what I'm saying. That was my philosophy.

Once I ran up on him, I realized he was He stayed inside, he didn't push right, so I'm thinking, like, well, the corner didn't look like he was squatting.

So that's why I kind of trying to figure out what.

Was cover six?

It was four, it was two, you know what, Let me just get back around here. I felt like it's some type of zone, right, which I felt like it was cover four because he drove it safety drove it.

So hard, you know what I'm saying.

So I ended up just trying to loop around and get around the linebacker with the idea of, if it's four, let me give him a little something because he's going to have to go.

He's trying to get unerneath me. Yeah, it's going to have to go if it's four. Yeah, and if it's true.

So basically my idea is that if it's two, I can still just come on and come around him flatter. I gotta come flatter. If it's four, I gotta still come flat. Now I'm the safeties guy. Once I get a straight lease, now I got to beat him.

Right.

So the backer is not really the concern. It was more so the safety. I've always used that formula anyway. I ain't got time to worry about the first dude. Whereas his help, right, So where you're gonna go? Yeah, So I just kind of gave him listen. I felt like he wasn't really moving. I said, there's no point of me why and what? He ain't coming right? So I just came, let's yeah two three for two, three for two, that's what it might have been. So, and

We get him in the slot formation as.

A backer, linebacker, safety, whatever, so we know it's three for to take. I go over here at the back of got me. I go vertical to the safety, got me. I always trying to figure out what the help was at. I never thought about the actual guy who's carvering me in my mind and to me, I was gonna beat him where it's his help that determines his levers, that's going to determine how he's shade, how he's moving. And I felt like he didn't really move with no point of me getting.

Wide and you had to get open on him for you to get the ball. Yeah, because you know that's what the quarterback seeing.

Yeah, now Danny A.

Mondola breaks down the double pass is.

Through the pass eat by beat.

Well.

We got to start by the full season.

Really, I think we never We practiced it a couple maybe three times, whether it be in a walkthrough.

We put it in like week two, we put it in me too.

We actually ran it against We had it called with an alert versus right, yeah, versus Kansas City on that Monday night game, and they gave us a man look, so we had to get a check out of it, run a slat backside with Jojo Lefello, who took it to the house actually, but because as they gave us a man look, we couldn't run it. So it got called off and then we didn't see it again until I think we ran in a walk through it and we missed it in the walk.

Through, and the walkthrough missed it the night before the game. Yeah, so the coaches are freaking out there, like scrap it.

These slappies can't complete a pass. And then and then they called it in the game and we got the right look and then ended up working out.

Man, remember this ball, let me see I remember, I remember the.

Way it feels. Oh yeah, that's nice.

It's a little wobbly though, was it a was it a complete spiral or no?

It was a just wanted to get out there. I thought I overthrew them.

Now like Doling, I get this, hey little jogger run he catches it, little high.

Step in the end zone, tracked it down. That was That was the loudest I've ever heard Foxborough. Well, we were down fourteen points twice in that game. That was the second time.

Yeah, I tied it up at twenty eight. I tied it up at twenty eight.

They went up fourteen zero, then we went to fourteen fourteen, then they went up twenty eight to fourteen.

Yeah, you remember the lead up to this, Josh, No, I don't.

Josh just came up to me in the drive before, he is I don't need to give you any lead time for for the dope pass, do I. I'm like, no, I'm good. Yeah, sitting there shitting my pants out there.

Yeah, thinking about the walk through the night before. Yeah, what were you thinking when you let that ball fly? I thought I overthrew you.

No, I was good. I was I was jogging too, Bud, I don't know right in the stride, didn't even have to turn the jets on.

Steve Smith Senior is up next, talking about becoming the X receiver, and we.

Had practiced the play is called X Clown.

We practiced that play so many times and me and Jay could not get on the same page.

I'll run it this way, he threw it that way, he threw it this way.

I wouldn't run it that way, and it just just seemed.

Like it was not gonna work. And then when they called it a game, it worked twice.

You guys hit it twice.

Now the X clown So what there's verbiage probably for the protection and there's something else or does that tell everyone what to do?

So this is where ball is.

This is the part where some people don't like that actually know ball. You know, they kind of think that I don't know ball. And people always talk about you know, especially with my stuff, they always talk about Steve just he just talks. And the offense we were running that year was Dan Henny yeah, w tree from that tree is from Charlie Weiss, which means we had maybe if these words sound familiar to you, Ola recircle, Max Delly.

XQ yeah, olay is that out with the flag?

Yes?

Two man concept X clown's backside telling the X what to do, but there was probably something in front telling the other guys what to do.

Yes, And then we had like toga they called it ten ten two ends, two ends.

We had to topper topper.

To two posts.

Yeah.

Yeah, so that that was that was the offense, and you know, I had to learn how to play receiver in a way that I just really didn't know how to play receiver at that time, you know, going to Utah.

I was.

I was actually in college, junior college. I was a Z originally.

Yeah.

Well, my wide receivers coach in college switched me to AX because I'm right handed, but I'm left hand dominant. So I would be at Z with the ball in my left hand and I was stiff on my right right. Well, they come and just poke it out. So they moved me to ACTS. And that's how I became an.

AXE because of how you handled the ball.

Because I I handled the ball bro It.

Was not only to carry the ball in my left arm, because I was a four back, everything left left. I was the same way because I was in Pop Warner. I was the four back and a wishbone offense, and I always ran left, and so you always kept it on the outside, and so I would always, even to this day that my most comfortable side was my left side holding the ball, which is very unorthodox for right handed guys.

Yeah, that's crazy.

So you turned into an X in college because your right hand, you're better with the ball in your left, so you give the stiffy, and in this point of your career you were still kind of feeling your feeling on how to learn how to play receiver in this offense, that Charlie Weiss style offense.

So is this clown route? Is it like a bow post?

Yes, it's so because you inside released and then you stemmed up and then you hit them with the outside with the couple because.

It was it was, it was. It was built off Q.

Yeah, you know you was just a bow.

Yes, So it was built off the Q because I ran it so well, yeah, stem inside, get vertical, get vertical, go to the corner. Yeah, so I'll stem inside and I just went. But I ran the one and I leaned.

But the reason I leaned to make him think it was going a shitty bow.

Yes, but it was also the lean was to put my foot in the ground to go, yes, sir.

Yeah.

People people don't realize you were primarily an X. Like people try to put you in like categories where you were No. Steve Smith was the most you're probably the most dominant X in my eyes of all time under six foot like you like and you, but you didn't play like you were. It was fucking amazing to me to watch you play. When you could run by people, you could run the routes that I ran and I specialized in, but you could win on a go route.

I say, hey, you only hold it in your left I think we got to put you at X.

It was it was a problem.

That's fucking gat up.

Next we've got Pooka Nakua. I'm becoming Matthew Stafford's go to receiver.

Chemistry between you and Matthew Stafford, when did you feel that chemistry actually ignite? And like you knew you were gonna have this ten catch game going into the week two where you're gonna have the performance you have.

So rookie mini camp, we come, we get drafted, we show up.

And then there's like two weeks after that the rookies got to stay.

After everybody else goes and everybody's leaving, but except me and my roommate Davis Allen. He was the I was one seventy seven. He was one seventy five, two picks

You can turn, tap and turn to get out of the side.

And you're running ont a crow break, it's on your inside path, so you can drop step and turn over your inside shoulder.

And that was like, holy colch.

Are you basically telling me that you guys had instant chemistry?

I mean low kielt I felt like first, Yeah, I was like.

Honestly, I'm not gonna I'm not even gonna second guess that because I went with him once to Golden West. Yeah, we threw together. I think we threw forty five balls. I think we went forty five for forty five We never even met each other. That's how elite his arm talent is. He like like Puka was saying, the ball come right out there, right out that break is right on your forehead, literally right up on your forehead, and he just over here slings it now.

Steve Smith Senior on the greatness of Davonte Adams and his own mentality as a route runner.

My favorite old guys too, Like so I still think Davonte Adams is still that guy. He's not gonna he's never been a four to three guy, but his releases are remarkable, just the way he does his hands, ball placement, catch radius, body control, tempo.

Sudden burst really good sudden burst, and then his.

Creativity to stack you even though he's not faster than you. So just him being able to use his leverage. So like, I look at that, But then there's other guys I think that that are promising, who have the ability.

Who's someone that you think that kind of reminds you of you, if there's anyone, see, So people ask that and hard to do that. So the reason why I did.

I'm not judging you.

The reason why I have a hard time answering that question is because I also remember that I was supposed to be a fit front draft pick. I was also told I was just a returner. So now that I'm domb playing, everybody's like, oh, he minds me, you But when I was playing, people didn't like me, and so you didn't like me. And then there's you know, we read our stuff on there and they're like, oh, you know, people like, oh, Steve was just a slot receiver.

And really it was I didn't know that.

I think the game has changed, but I also think there are players out there who don't remind me of myself, because I think they are significantly better. I played the way I played because I was obviously I did like I didn't have quick feet like Chad like I can do. I couldn't do great cone drills. I round in my routes. I never ran the right I never ran the same route the same way. So they were things that I

And so it was more like the feed into.

Like to intimidate and show bron be.

Here all day, your best didn't hurt me.

No.

Cooper Cup is up next, talking about the unconscious competence you need as a receiver.

Man, there's just so much you can do better, so many things, so many details that you can press yourself on, and like, you know, what kind of tools can at your tool belt as counters to what worked?

Like what worked? How are people going to stop it? How do I counter that? Yeah?

And you're in the point of your career where you could watch film and you can go practice off a specific look of how it may not have went your way, and you could put that and play that game in your mind. And you're probably at the point where you're running routes. Oh yeah, you're running yeah exactly. I mean you get better playing football, playing football.

Yep, exactly.

I think there's there's a few different steps that just like the visualization side of things of where you're like, you know, I'm I know, my wife knows, I'm laying in bed and suddenly I'll just be like, wow, flinch out. I look like what were you doing there? What was happening? Yeah, I got to take I was running this route. It's safety was driving down you know, like it's like it's real.

Already used to call that DejaVu.

You practice so much once you're doing the game, it's like deja voo. That's a great feeling too, It is, you know what, People don't realize the amount of reps you put into a play for it to work, because there's like twenty different looks you can have. And when you practice it and you rep it over over and over with an intent, like Cooper said, and you use those reps once you get to game day, it's in

Exactly when when your mind's on, your body's off all of the time, Right when you can get to the point where your mind's seeing it so much that that's now subconscious. Sean McVay calls it unconscious competence. Right when you unconscious. I bet you he's got some sayings. What other sayns does he have he's got?

Is you gotta let him come? Natch? I can't just start pulling him out of thing. Keep it in the back.

So we had this rep right here, Keep that in your subconscious. If something comes along in this next part of the interview, just pop a flag it.

Flag it.

Did you say that you like would wake up like dreaming about reps.

Oh yeah, no, this isn't just this is like a full on like like I'm awake, laying in bed and

It's a it's a problem.

So we've had to we've had to figure out how to like, you know, balance those things a little bit so.

That we're not hurting each other.

I'm gonna illgal hands. Thanks for listening.

Remember to tune in every Tuesday for a brand new episode and every Sunday for another games with names Highlight Year.

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