Q. We asked Terrance Mitchell -- he said tight, and I asked him what that meant, and he said, it means you're raw. I said, what does that mean? He said, it means you're tight.
JUSTIN REID: Hey, just take him at his word, man. Tight, raw, all with that, just a guy that's happy to be here. Just a guy that's trying to be the best leader I can be for the guys around me and help us get this thing setback on the right course.
Q. What do you think about Terrance Mitchell?
JUSTIN REID: Terrance Mitchell, great player. So far he's my favorite guy to play Cover 2, he's a physical corner, he's very smart, competitive. He'll compete on every play, man coverage, zone coverage. Very enthusiastic and positive. Doesn't bring any negativity to the team. Great guy.
Q. Last year --
JUSTIN REID: The best thing, one of the only positives about my season ending early last year is I got to really focus on my recovery getting back healthy. Now it's honestly the best thing that I could have done going into this season because physically I feel great. I'm bigger, I'm faster, I'm stronger.
I feel very fluid and just loose on the field and I just feel like I'm free out there. I just get to play ball and go make plays.
Q. What does it mean when defensive backs like Ryan Clark talk about how good you are and your potential?
JUSTIN REID: Ryan Clark is a goat, he's one of my favorite guys. I train with him every year, a whole crop of guys go work out with him in Baton Rouge and in Arizona. It means a lot to me to hear that from him because he's played with some of the best, he's played with Sean Taylor and he's played with Polamalu. He has a 13-year career and he's played with some of the greats. He's a Super Bowl Champion, so to hear that from him it means a lot for me.
Q. What's it like having pads on?
JUSTIN REID: It's like the first day of school. It's exciting. We all know that what we have been doing the last couple of days has been a whole lot of fun but real football gets played when the pads get put on. So we get to see what everybody got starting tomorrow.
Q. How does the new defense benefit you? -
JUSTIN REID: Coach Lovie Smith's system, it's so much more aggressive. He let's us play free on the back end. He's very intent about us wanting to make plays and going and making plays, playing with instincts, playing with security; at the same time but when we see to make a play and go strip the ball out he harps on us going to do that. He's in my ear literally every day. First thing he said to me in practice was, "Yesterday was yesterday. Now do it again today," you know what I mean.
So he preaches consistency, he preaches getting takeaways, getting turnovers and that's just the type of defense that we want to run.
Q. How has your role in this football team with so many new faces you're one of the guys people are particular with, how do you embrace that role?
JUSTIN REID: I just try to be the best guy. I want to be a resource for all the guys around me. I want to lead by example. If any guy has any question I want to be there as far as getting to know the city, people to talk to, the system, I talk ball all day.
So I just want to be a guy that not only is putting my best ball on the field, but helps everybody around me put their best ball on the field, too.
Q. How do you approach --
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, you've got to focus on the task at hand. That's my mentality my whole career and learned that in college under Shannon Turley. He says hand-over-hand that translates to focusing on what's right in front of you right now. What's in front of you right now is pads tomorrow, and next after that will be the pregame games and then Jacksonville and then just take it one week at a time and the rest will work itself out.
Q. What you did earlier in your career -- the this defense?
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, last year wasn't a great year. It just wasn't. But heading into this year from a health standpoint, yeah, do I. I feel really, really healthy. I feel strong. I feel confident in every part of my body and man I'm having a lot of fun on the field again man, it's a blast.
Q. In the box less often than last season?
JUSTIN REID: We have a system that we have a bunch of coverages so I play back more, I play deep more, I played in the box a couple of times. It's really just whatever cops.
Q. Is that easier said than done?
JUSTIN REID: Honestly, no. For me it's always been very clear. Like I'm focused on this right now. I'm going to compartmentalize everything else and I kind of tackle things as they come. When it comes to football and want to put my best ball on the field, that's always been kind of No. 1 in my head.
Like everyone around me, I have a great support team around me and they understand how I operate and how important this is to me. They know when I'm locked into this mode I'm locked in and once I step off the field then I have time to go do everything else.
Q. Does it add motivation considering the year that you had last year and that this is a contract year?
JUSTIN REID: Absolutely.
Q. Came out here, showing up?
JUSTIN REID: Absolutely. The better I play is better for everybody. If I play better it's for the defense, it's better for me individually and it's better for the team, too, and we're going to win more games if I play better.
Q. You talk about discipline and what you focus on, is that from the military upbringing?
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, my uncle was in the military. My mom was actually in it, too. She was in the reserves. Yeah, my parents were very, very strict on the discipline aspect as far as handling my responsibilities ever since I was growing up as a kid. It's always handle your business first, have fun and do whatever afterwards but that's only after you get your business done first. There's kind of part of my foundation of who I am as a person. Handle my vials and after that, I can go do whatever next.
Q. Your brother?
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, my whole family.
Q. Can you talk about the room as far as the defensive backs.
JUSTIN REID: Oh, man, I'm excited. I feel like we have the most continuity on the team so far with Eric Murray coming back, AJ, Keion, Robey, Vern, we have the most guys in the room as far as in one unit coming back to the same team. So that chemistry plays a role. Me and E-Murray and Lonnie, too, as well, we all know how to operate as well and we know each other's strengths and weaknesses we put each other in great positions to play.
Q. How do the pads assist you in seeing what the defense looks like?
JUSTIN REID: That's when real football is played, you know what I mean. This is all very pretty and it's nice to play without pads and we got a lot of valuable reps in and lot of valuable work in to start learning the defense and the system. But the real football is played when th pads get put on. So that's when we're going to see what we really got. We're actually going to be able to play the run and we're actually going to be able to fit and see who can play ball and who can't.
Q. You have a knack for making clean, legal big hits. How did you figure that out when so many guys struggle with that?
JUSTIN REID: I just didn't want to get fined.
Q. But you were doing it in college, too.
JUSTIN REID: Yeah, I don't know, man, I think I was just lucky that I just -- it just came naturally to me, you know what I mean, just natural. I'm never out there to hurt anybody. I'm not a dirty player. But I am a guy that you're going to pay the toll if you come across me, you know what I mean, that's always been my mentality, to play legal, play clean but also play physical and deliver a blow and make guys pay for it if they come my direction.
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