With the team's second week of OTAs complete, here's a list of the best quotes of the week from Redskins Park, as compiled by Redskins.com*
10. Safety Will Blackmon: [On his position change] "It's been pretty good. Frustrating at first because you want to be able to make plays right off the bat and make something happen, but it's a process. I think for me it was more so really just having to slow down. My gift and my curse is that I can see everything that's going on but I think I saw too much. I saw trees, I saw the water boy, and I saw tents. Even at nickel I could see everything, but I knew what I was supposed to do. Here I have to see everything, I have to communicate to the defensive backs, I have to communicate to the safety and I have to make sure I'm on my landmark so there's a lot of mental stuff that I think process-wise I'm getting much better, so I'm actually happy where I am." **
- Defensive end Stephen Paea**: "I mean, we are playing a physical game, you can hurt in practice or any game. Of course I was frustrated [about last season], I wanted to help the team. They brought me here from Chicago because they believed in me and I don't want to let any of them down, coaches or teammates. But I have one year under my belt with the playbook. When you have all that down you play fast. That's all I can do, go out there and compete."
8. Cornerback Greg Toler:"Oh man, great guys [the secondary]. Once again our whole room is a bunch of great group of guys. You got D-Hall, Will Blackmon, Bree, and Josh and we just feed off of one another. We always say one person makes a play, we all make a play, and we're just trying to build one another and use each other. Iron sharpens Iron. Man sharpens man."
7. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry.: "When the first team goes out, only 11 guys can go out. We preach and we're firm believers – it comes from Jay [Gruden] all the way down – it's all about competition. So, yes, [DeAngelo] Hall and David Bruton are going with the first group, but we're rolling guys in there. Our depth chart is in pencil, it's not in Sharpie. Obviously, we do have a first team, we have a second team, we have a third team at every position, but we're in constant competition. Last time I checked, we don't have to make a full [determination] who our starters are until our opener."
6. Tight end Logan Paulsen: "I've never been in a room where so many guys have played significant snaps, and you have a guy who's a two-time Pro Bowler in Vernon Davis, a guy who's played a lot of football, caught a ton of balls, scored a lot of touchdowns, and then having [Jordan Reed] coming off of the year he had last year, Niles [Paul] coming off the year he had two years ago, and I played a good amount of ball, and you know even the two guys we have, Mike [Cooper], the rookie, is doing a great job. Marcel [Jensen], he's been around the league for a long time, so [the room is] very unusual, kind of cool and very challenging, and very competitive." 5. Linebacker Martrell Spaight: "I feel like it's a make or break year for me. I'm coming out here just getting better day by day and learning and trying to be a great linebacker by learning from the old veterans and see what they do well and what they do wrong and try to implement it to my game so I can be a more complete linebacker. I'm really just learning how to be the quarterback of the defense so every day I come out here and every rep I take I got to be precise."
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- Head coach Jay Gruden**:[On the rookies] "They're anxious to get in there and they are anxious to do right and show what they have. They are all very good college players obviously, but this is a whole new tempo and a whole new system for all of them. We just have to be patient with them and help them develop and I think that's why we have a great coaching staff here. We're going to help them develop and hopefully get them ready for training camp where they have a chance to compete and in the preseason games they will be ready to fly around and that is the whole goal."
3. Cornerback Josh Norman: "I found a place out here, I'm getting accustomed to it, and just growing with the teammates I have here and getting to know guys. They befriend me and I befriend them and come out here and play on this football field, and build that team camaraderie, there's nothing like it I think. But for me, yeah it's taking some time because you have those ties, it's just like anything. I'm human, just like you are. If you've been somewhere for a period of time you still have those ties to you, but at the same time I'm here, and I love this area, it reminds me of when I was back at home in Greenwood, got a little country, rural area, and I'm enjoying it, I really am, it's peaceful. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and faces and being a part of a great tradition here in Washington."
2. Running back Rob Kelley:"No I am not sleeping with [the football]. I go to sleep with it on my mind and wake up with it on my mind. I am out here thinking about that ball each and every day, like I cherish the ball, something I love."
1. Stephen Bowen:"Ten years is a long time. I've been playing football since I was seven years old. That's 25 years straight of playing football, man, and my body is getting sore. You know, I feel like there is other joys to life. I get to really enjoy my kids now… I feel like I really didn't get to be the dad that I wanted to be or the husband and I'm able to do that."
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I've never been in a room where so many guys have played significant snaps, and you have a guy who's a two-time Pro Bowler in Vernon Davis, a guy who's played a lot of football, caught a ton of balls, scored a lot of touchdowns, and then having (Jordan Reed) coming off of the year he had last year, Niles coming off the year he had two years ago, and I played a good amount of ball, and you know even the two guys we have, Mike, the rookie, is doing a great job. Marcel, he's been around the league for a long time, so to have a room with just (inaudible?) is very unusual, kind of cool and very challenging, and very competitive."
