Trevor Penning discusses his approach to things in his second season and the bad luck associated with his foot injuries.
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00:00 Trevor, what do you feel like more, like now as opposed to this point, from camp last year?
00:07 From camp last year? I definitely feel way better. I feel more comfortable. It almost
00:17 feels like the game kind of slowed down a little bit. I mean, getting adapted kind of
00:22 to NFL speed. So, I mean, it's a lot better than last year, I feel like. So, that's exciting.
00:30 It feels like this is the second practice session where I noticed you kind of did the
00:34 one, stayed out there with the twos. Are they trying to catch you up on reps or just make
00:38 sure you get every rep you can? Yeah, I don't really know. I mean, I just kind of do what
00:44 they tell me to do. So, I mean, it's probably, it's a little bit of a ramp up period. I mean,
00:50 the first couple days, they wanted to use me back in because I didn't have OTAs. So,
00:55 they're going to take it easy, make sure it's all going good and then kind of just ramp
01:01 up my reps from there. So, it's going to be good though. That's got to be a good sign
01:05 though, right? Yeah, for sure. That they feel you're able to take on that workload? Yeah,
01:09 yeah. I mean, they're kind of playing it safe, kind of hearing it from, they're just listening
01:14 to me and kind of how it feels and it's been feeling great so far. So, I kind of just ramp
01:20 it up a little. What did you need, like, you know, coming out of the first practice? Was
01:25 there any like, I hope this feels normal or you knew it was going to feel normal and how
01:29 has it felt through eight practices? Yeah, I mean, probably the first couple practices,
01:34 I was always like, shoot, I hope this is going to feel good. I mean, I've heard like with
01:38 my injury, a lot of soreness comes with it usually, but I haven't really noticed any
01:43 of that and it's pretty much normal. I mean, there's nothing really, it's really, it doesn't
01:48 bother me really at all. So, that's a really good sign and yeah, but you know, going into
01:53 whatever practices, my practice eight, it's been feeling really good and it's great to
01:57 be back out there. Obviously, from afar, you know, we feel like that's daunting to have
02:02 two different foot injuries in the same year, but you know, I'm sure you've talked to doctors,
02:06 trainers. Is there anything that gives you confidence that that was more of a fluke than
02:11 something you're going to have to battle? Yeah, it's definitely, you know, it's a lot
02:16 of luck into that. It's not the greatest luck ever. There's also technique stuff that I
02:22 can fix so it doesn't happen again. You know, just changing up my, how I play a little bit,
02:28 how I plan on my feet a little bit. You know, having different, have different orthotics
02:33 in my feet or my shoes so, you know, I have the right weight on the right bones and not
02:39 putting too much pressure on one side of the foot or anything like that. So, you know,
02:45 training staff's doing a great job, you know, helping me stay out there on the field. So,
02:51 they've done a tremendous job. Was there any similarity between the two injuries? Like,
02:56 did they happen in a similar way even though they were different? Not really sure. I'm
03:01 not even sure of the second one. I mean, the film, you can't really see it because it was
03:04 like after the play and I don't really know how it happened. So, but the first one, it
03:11 was definitely my toe got caught in the turf. So. I mean, luck aside, do you think technique
03:17 could have prevented either one of those? This is an interesting thing to hear. I've
03:22 never really thought about it. Yeah, I don't, I don't really know. It's kind of just bad
03:28 luck I think. But, I mean, I'm doing, you know, trying to fix how I play a little bit
03:33 so it's, you know, my chances of getting hurt aren't as high. So. How long does it take
03:39 you to get that out of your head though? Like, okay, I need to change it to this but then
03:43 I need to not think about what I'm doing and how I'm playing my team. Yeah, I mean, I'm
03:48 not really thinking of it when I'm playing. More just individual stuff. Like I'm trying
03:54 to, like, perfect my craft basically and doing that and, yeah. So, I don't really think about
04:01 it when we're actually out there in team. Hey, last year, I can't remember, I mean,
04:06 you brought a certain intensity to training camp that I think people really liked for
04:10 the most part except Dennis Heffernan stopped practice one time. But, are you still the
04:15 same guy or have you evolved in any way? I mean. I'd say I'm kind of the same guy but
04:20 obviously got to, you know, keep my teammates safe and play smart. And I'm still going to
04:27 keep that aggressive side of me and that's kind of my trademark. That's how I play and
04:31 that's how I've always played and how I envision how the line of the ship works. James Hearst
04:38 talked about that the other day, the evolution of trying to walk that line of not being too
04:43 aggressive maybe and pass pro maybe and over setting. Yeah, that's something I've really
04:51 tried to work on especially in the past game. I mean, you can't play super aggressive like
04:56 I did in the past game. You got to kind of play relaxed and let the guy come to you and
05:01 try to throw my hands out there too early and stuff like that. So, you got to kind of
05:06 learn to kind of tone it back a little bit but still play in a controlled, aggressive
05:10 sense. And how's that going? Good. Even from first practice this year, I've definitely
05:18 noticed probably a little bit of rough coming back. But, you know, kind of just trying to
05:28 really use my technique to beat these guys. So, it's been good.
05:32 In the running game, obviously, you want to be ferocious for as long as possible during
05:36 the play, right? And then, do you ever think about, well, what am I going to do if some
05:42 guy just doesn't handle it well and it's only practice? You know?
05:49 Yeah, I don't know. I just kind of play my game and if they don't like it, then so be it.
05:55 I was talking to Doug Maroon. He said he's seen before where people miss time and then
06:00 it kind of feels like, oh, now we got to go back to... But he said he was really pleasantly
06:03 surprised that it didn't feel like that with you. Did you get the same sense that you were
06:08 happy that the growth you showed by the end of last season carried over?
06:12 Yeah, I mean, I really just tried to control what I can control. I tried to do the stuff
06:20 during the offseason I normally do without using my feet. So, I mean, you can still do
06:26 a ton of stuff football-wise. I mean, you can still work your upper body. You can still
06:31 hit the weight room. You can still work your punch and stuff like that. So, I just really
06:36 controlled what I can control. It's been good. I mean, I definitely feel like I've
06:42 taken a step from last year. So, I just want to keep continuing to climb and keep progressing.
06:48 When we very generically refer to players as raw or developmental or anything like that,
06:54 in your specific case, what did you really need to hone or refine to be ready to be playing
07:01 every down in the NFL?
07:03 My pass protection. Probably my hands and pass protection need to improve. I think they
07:08 have improved since even the first day this year. So, just continuing to work at that
07:15 and keep really perfecting my craft and pass throw and even run blocking. I think that's
07:20 going to help a ton.
07:22 And you were able to stay in the exact kind of shape you wanted to stay in even when you
07:27 were off your feet too?
07:28 Yeah. So, I mean, it's hard. It's hard when you can't really do too much running
07:35 or anything like that. But, I mean, you got to do what you can do. So, I mean, I was hitting
07:39 those echo bikes over there a lot whenever I could. Still working out a ton. I hired
07:47 a private chef to help me with my weight because I needed to lose a little weight. So, I got
07:52 a chef, nutritionist, did all that and trying to get down to a good playing weight.
07:58 Trevor, have you been doing any work at all at the rag tag park?
08:02 No, I just left.
08:03 What did they say? Did they ever talk to you about that at all?
08:06 No, they don't.
08:06 You just stay in one spot, get it down?
08:09 Yeah.
08:09 So, I mean, it's just, it's obviously a very compelling situation and people are
08:15 observing you because, you know, you missed a lot of your rookie year and you come in
08:19 as the blindside protector of the number one free agent acquisition for the team. I mean,
08:23 how do you process all that and how much has Derek helped you with it or, you know, all
08:30 that stuff?
08:31 Yeah, I mean, Derek's been great. He's been great so far. He's a great leader. I mean,
08:35 day one, him walking in, you could tell he's got that kind of leadership trait that you
08:40 want in a quarterback. So, he's been great and, yeah.
08:45 Hey Trevor, before you got that opportunity to start at the end of last season as you
08:49 were coming back, they kind of had you in that swing tackle role. How valuable were
08:52 those opportunities for you in terms of, you know, getting back out in the field?
08:56 Yeah, it was good. It was good to, you know, kind of get some reps under my feet of an
09:00 actual NFL game. You know, coming in as that extra blocker, you know, it was good. It was
09:07 good to get some reps of that and then that last game of season, I think that helped a
09:12 lot at the time. It was kind of what I needed to work on in the offseason. Obviously, I
09:18 couldn't do as much as I wanted, but even the stuff I could do, I still, you know, did.
09:24 Do you feel like, I know the injury is a part of the equation there in that last game, but
09:29 how do you feel about the performance overall in that first real big opportunity?
09:33 Good. For, you know, first start, I mean, I thought it went pretty well. There's definitely
09:38 stuff you can learn from it and there's some positives to it too. So, it was great to have
09:44 that kind of under my belt going into the offseason and then into this year.
09:48 Is that kind of where the pass pro, you know, talking about what you were just mentioning
09:51 about one of your first in the pass pro, did you get a little bit of that or a little bit
09:55 more context to that?
09:56 Yeah, yeah. I think it kind of helped just kind of how NFL pass rushes are in an actual
10:02 game versus like a practice. I mean, it's a little different when, you know, we don't
10:06 know it's a pass every time. So, you know, it was really good to kind of go out there
10:12 and play an actual NFL game.
10:13 You seem like a guy who enjoys when the pads go on. You're supposed to be non-static.
10:20 Yeah, that's real football. That's when, you know, when we first put pads on, that's
10:25 kind of the first day of real football.
10:26 Is there a part of you who wants to mix it up? I mean, we're all waiting, you know, in
10:31 the media for you to...
10:33 Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.
10:36 Just briefly getting back to my previous question about Derek, what would you say is the healthiest
10:43 mental approach for you to being in that spotlight? You know what I mean? Having that story lines
10:49 around you as the left tackle for the quarterback.
10:52 Yeah, that's obviously, that'd be a goal of mine to do and hopefully I can do that.
10:59 But, you know, I kind of don't really worry about that. I kind of just come in every day
11:04 and just kind of work as hard as I can and perfect my craft and then I'll let the coaches
11:11 decide who is that role. So, I'm just going to come in and do my job and do it the best
11:16 I can.
11:17 Where do you feel you're coming in this year, maybe most ahead or most improved from where
11:24 you were in your first year?
11:25 Probably in the pass protection. Playing more technique versus college is a little
11:32 bit different. Guys aren't nearly as good, so you've got to play with technique and really
11:37 just working that.
11:39 When you say technique, is that like hand placement or all of those other...
11:41 A lot of hands, yeah.
11:42 ...other detailed things?
11:44 Hands and kind of set like your sets and how you push off your feet and all that stuff.
11:49 Is that change based upon, I mean, I think probably it is, but based upon the effort
11:55 type that you know you're going up against?
11:56 Yeah, for sure. It definitely changes. I mean, depending on, you know, the guy's a power
12:03 rusher, the guy's a speed rusher and kind of just stuff like that. The guy, how he uses
12:09 his hands, how his get off is, all that different stuff. So, you've got to be able to switch
12:15 up your sets and that's really going to mess with the D-line and kind of mess with their
12:21 rush a little bit. So, it'll mess with their rush pattern.
12:23 That's awesome.
12:24 Okay.
12:25 Can you say that your physique or anything interesting physically has changed, you know,
12:29 just with the maybe the different kind of more advanced strength training, dietary stuff,
12:36 you know, whatever other training you get in the NFL?
12:38 I'd say maybe a little. My body definitely feels better than what it has in the past,
12:44 I think. Coming from college, I think my body definitely feels better. They kind of, I mean,
12:49 they know how to give your body rest. They know when you need to kind of chill out and
12:55 take some rest, take some time, let your muscles recover and all that. So, yeah, I think they
13:02 did a great job in there.
13:03 But you haven't necessarily broken any personal records in bench press or anything like that?
13:07 No.
13:07 Okay.