From Raiders Training Camp: OT Thayer Munford
The 2023 NFL Training Camp for the Las Vegas Raiders is progressing, and today OT Thayer Munford spoke, and we have his entire comments for you.
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00:00 (air whooshing)
00:02 - You get a lot of reps with the first team
00:07 out there in the last few days.
00:09 Do you feel like, you know,
00:09 you're making a move to potentially be a starter?
00:13 - Yeah, I think I am, but also at the same time though,
00:15 it's like, it also comes down to the competition
00:18 that we got in the room, you know?
00:19 Like I can be my best, Jermaine, Brandon Parker.
00:23 We can be at our best, but also at the same time though,
00:25 like we all here to compete, you know?
00:27 Like we all want to get the starting job,
00:29 but at the same time though, like we know what's ahead.
00:32 Like we all need to compete and stay focused.
00:34 - Did you prepare this off season?
00:36 Like you wanted to, you know,
00:37 emerge as the starting ranked tackle?
00:39 - Yeah, of course.
00:40 Like nobody's going to come in here
00:42 thinking that they better have the position, you know,
00:43 off rep, but at the same time though,
00:45 like we have talented tackles in the room
00:48 and we know what's going on
00:51 and we know how the business side goes.
00:52 So we're going to compete.
00:53 We're going to compete every day.
00:55 - There in college, you know the depth chart,
00:57 you know where your spot is,
00:58 but when you're going against Brandon and Jermaine
01:00 every day, how much does it,
01:02 do you have to keep top of mind every rep is a tryout?
01:05 - You know, like every day is a tryout, you know,
01:08 I go, we go against Max every day and you know,
01:11 that itself is already like already,
01:13 it's like, it's already a game.
01:14 And, you know, with us, we just, you know,
01:17 keep our head down, you know,
01:18 but also keep up the same time.
01:19 Like, all right, like it's time to go.
01:21 Like can't really worry about the past.
01:23 We can't worry about last year.
01:24 We can't worry about in the future of this year.
01:26 Like we got to focus on now.
01:28 That's all it is.
01:29 - A lot of times people say the biggest jump for a pro
01:31 is between year one and two.
01:32 Like how much better do you think you are now
01:34 than you were when last season ended?
01:36 - I feel like I'm pretty well, like conditioned for it,
01:39 but you know, it's always room to improve, you know,
01:41 cause Max got me a couple of times today and you know,
01:45 I appreciate that,
01:46 but it's also something I need to work on too.
01:48 You know, everybody needs to work on something.
01:50 Jermaine, us, like us as a whole off the line,
01:53 we all need to work on something.
01:54 It's not just like from my first season to this season,
01:58 we all just need to work on stuff.
02:00 - It looks like from our vantage point,
02:01 it'd kind of be hell lining up
02:03 against Max Crosby every day.
02:04 It's got to get kind of frustrating.
02:06 How do you keep your head or is it, or is it just,
02:09 what's it like?
02:10 - It can be frustrating of course,
02:11 but all the same time, like we know like who Max is.
02:14 Like we know who we're about to go against every day.
02:17 Like it's nothing new.
02:18 Yeah, like everybody sees that he's, you know,
02:21 top 20 in the league right now,
02:23 but at the same time,
02:24 like we all want to respect each other.
02:26 Like that's all it is.
02:28 - What's been the biggest difference
02:30 between practice this year as opposed to last year?
02:33 It seems like there's a little bit of an uptick
02:34 and a little bit more uptempo.
02:35 - I think everybody's a lot more confident.
02:37 You know, we a lot more confident as a whole group,
02:40 as a whole team.
02:41 And we know what we got to do.
02:45 You know, we can't just focus on last year.
02:46 You know, that's, that's one thing we need to work on
02:49 is don't focus on last year, focus on the present,
02:51 focus on what we need to do right here, right now.
02:54 - You know, when we talked to you last year,
02:55 you had mentioned that, you know,
02:56 in this game of football,
02:58 at the level that you play it at,
02:59 there's mental challenges and confidence
03:02 that you have to kind of battle within yourself.
03:05 How do you feel like you've grown in that particular area?
03:07 - I feel like I've grown a lot
03:08 because last year as a rookie,
03:10 I just, my eyes was like buck wide open
03:13 and I'm just sitting here going against Max.
03:15 I was like, I've been hearing him since I was a sophomore
03:18 and now going against him every day,
03:21 trying to get better, doing the right things,
03:24 getting my body right, of course.
03:26 Like me mentally, for as my second year,
03:29 I'm a lot more on top of my body than anything.
03:31 - Yeah, I could notice that.
03:34 You look different compared to last year.
03:36 What'd you do?
03:38 - Just really focused on myself and focused on my mental.
03:41 You know, I take the mental thing a lot,
03:44 like a lot serious than others,
03:46 'cause last year I was in a dark place,
03:48 like by like week six, 'cause it was just a lot for me.
03:53 So me taking the time, giving everything to God,
03:57 taking my time to God,
03:59 and to actually like help me push through the day,
04:02 it helps a lot.
04:02 It helps out a lot.
04:04 - Without, I'm not trying to get too personal,
04:05 but was it because you weren't playing
04:07 as much as you wanted to,
04:08 or things weren't working?
04:10 Just other stuff in life?
04:11 - It was just other stuff in life that I wasn't used to.
04:13 You know, in college,
04:14 you always got sheltered a lot more
04:16 because you still a young man trying to grow up.
04:19 And right now as a man,
04:20 you supposed to know everything what's going on
04:22 and how to manage that with work and with family life.
04:27 - Last year, you told me that, you know,
04:28 the speed, power, conversion,
04:29 transitioning from college to the NFL was what you expected.
04:33 One thing that was unexpected going into your rookie year
04:36 was working on your core strength.
04:38 What types of things did you do this year
04:39 to kind of get you prepared for the upcoming season?
04:41 - Really just work out as hard as I can.
04:44 You know, I pushed myself a lot harder, you know,
04:46 and that's all it was.
04:48 Just push myself mentally and physically.
04:50 That's all it is.
04:52 - How have you evolved as a player in the film room
04:55 and just learning to maybe take the nuances
04:58 behind the scenes?
05:00 How have you evolved?
05:02 - Basically just looking on like personnel wise,
05:04 like who I'm going against,
05:05 like for the next couple of weeks, I'm going against Max.
05:08 Like what does he like to do?
05:10 And what does he like to speed rush a lot
05:12 or speed the bull, you know,
05:14 something along the lines like that.
05:15 And just understand how the offense is
05:18 and how the defense works around our offense.
05:21 It makes things a lot more easier to understand.
05:24 - Was there a moment last season when I guess,
05:26 to use your example, your eyes got smaller
05:28 when you kind of settled down a little bit
05:29 or did that not happen until the off season?
05:31 - To be honest, it didn't happen until I got put in
05:35 the Denver, the second Denver game last year at Denver
05:38 and everything just like started like slow down a lot.
05:40 I was like, okay, I can play here.
05:42 It's something that I got to get used to, of course.
05:44 Nothing's going to be easy.
05:45 Like we got great opponents that we're going against
05:48 in the next couple of weeks, but you know,
05:51 just stay on my course and stay on our course as a team.
05:54 - You've got Jermaine competing for the right tackle spot.
05:58 How's that dynamic?
05:59 Are you guys helping each other out?
06:01 Is there a trash talking?
06:02 How do you guys get along the last couple of years?
06:04 - Man, me and him, like he's kind of like my big brother.
06:07 He kind of like took me under his wing
06:09 when I was struggling with certain stuff personally.
06:11 And you know, this year we going,
06:14 we competing for the same spot and nothing has changed.
06:17 You know, we like, sometimes we get down in the dunks,
06:20 but we there to pick each other up.
06:22 It's nothing like we're not trash talking.
06:24 We're here to help out each other,
06:25 to become a better person and better player
06:27 on the football field.
06:28 - That's good.
06:31 Awesome.
06:32 - Thank you.
06:33 - Thanks a lot, Derrick.