Jason Campbell has spent most of his offseason huddled with coaches at Redskins Park. With the start of OTAs, Campbell was out on the practice fields working with teammates again. He spoke with Redskins.com and media following practice:
Q: In terms of your development, what's different about this offseason than in years past?
A: "I just feel a year older--a year older in the system. I understand the plays a lot better and I'm able to go through more of the progressions better because of the time and effort put into studying the plays. Coach [Al] Saunders and Coach [Bill] Lazor have done a great job in helping me learn all the plays and making sure we put ourselves in position to win games."
Q: In general, how have you approached this offseason?
A: "Every day you want to come out and get better in some aspect or some area. Each day we are running different plays and a different style of offense, so each practice you try to conquer the offense and master what coach wants you to master for that day. It's a one-day process and you take everything in, then you go again the next day. You try to build a whole offense together."
Q: Everyone says they see improvement in your play. Do you see improvement in yourself?
A: "During the offseason, you try to put in a lot of work to help put yourself into position to be successful. We have all the ability and all the talent around us that we need to win games. So right now we are trying to come together. Usually, it's the second year when players really buy into the whole offense. They're not guessing what to do--they know what to do because we've all had a year of experience in it."
Q: Clinton Portis called you the perfect weapon for this offense. What do you make of that?
A: "I'm just going to continue to keep working, continue to keep playing. You can tell everyone has learned the offense a lot better this season because we've been in it. There has been great progress."
Q: Do teammates treat you as the starter now?
A: "They treat me with a lot of respect. We have a very respectful team. We try and treat everyone right. Coach [Joe] Gibbs does a great job of bringing us together. He's told us what we need to do to win this year and what we have to do to improve in each area: offense, defense and special teams. We all have to understand it, and then just come out here and grind."
Q: Are you starting to become more of a vocal leader?
A: "You try to be yourself. That's all you can be. Whether it's being vocal sometimes or just leading by example, whatever [leadership style] you feel comfortable with is what you should do."
Q: You come back in 2007 with most of the same wide receivers as last year. How do they look to you?
A: "They're doing a great job running routes. They have the ability to make plays after the catch. I want to do everything I can to get the ball into their hands so that they have the ability to make plays."
Q: Do you feel you have more chemistry with your receivers now than at this time last year?
A: "We played together last season, so yes. Game experience is something you can't teach or learn from practice. You have to get it by playing the games. In playing those last seven games [last season], the more I continued to play, the more comfortable I got with the [receivers] around me--and I had game-speed experience, which was invaluable."
Q: What are your expectations for the Redskins' offense this year?
A: "One thing we want to do this year is move the ball downfield and stay consistent. Last year we had a lot of spurts where we'd go up and down the field 80 yards, get into the red zone and then we'd stall. We just have to finish our drives and manage the game."
