Commanders camp is ‘going great’ for Curtis Samuel, who is trying to ‘enjoy every bit of it, because you’re blessed for the opportunity.’ He’s also excited, as he told JP Finlay in an exclusive interview, to have fans back in force at Commanders Park, a self-explanatory benefit of the ownership change.
“It’s exciting to see the fans back out here with us; the stands helped out a lot, making them a lot more comfortable out here,” Samuel said. “We love the energy and the excitement. You could see the shift based on how the fans approach everything – the fact so many are out here, I feel that explains itself.”
What would it mean to him if – no, he says, WHEN – FedEx Field is just as packed Week 1?
“Everybody is excited or the season, we have a lot of great fans and our mindset is to put on a show and be the best we can be,” Samuel said.
The offense will hopefully be better than it has in his first couple seasons in DC, and so far so good for Samuel, who is ‘loving’ the new offense of Eric Bieniemy – and is also likely not one of those who complained to Ron Rivera about intensity.
“There’s a lot of moving parts, but we have to lock into the playbook and understand that coach is going to give us a lot of tools and opportunities to go out and be the best we can be. It’s exciting,” Samuel said. “He’s a tough coach, but nothing I’m not used to (playing for Urban Meyer at Ohio State); when you have a coach that has been hard on you, he wants the best out of you, he’s not doing it for his ego. And, I feel doing that brings the best out of players. You have to respond.”
Samuel also has a new quarterback in Sam Howell, who also is so far, so good for the receivers.
“He’s young, but he has a lot of good qualities. He studies the playbook and understands things out there, and he’s confident. We can see he puts in the work,” Samuel said. “But, it’s not about him, it’s about us as a team – if we make the game easy for him, he’s going to start clicking. Seeing him put in the work, we understand we have to do the same thing to make him feel comfortable throwing us the ball.”
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Samuel wouldn’t give out any hints about whether his usage as a hybrid receiver/runner will continue or even expand, only saying “I’m excited by the role I’m playing,” but there is one familiar in all the change: with Taylor Heinicke gone to Atlanta, and the new NFL rule allowing skill players to wear single-digit numbers, Samuel has gone back to the No. 4 he wore at Ohio State.
“I feel like I’m back where I’m supposed to be,” Samuel laughed. “I’ve been wearing No. 4 most of my life, so it feels amazing. I understood that (Heinicke) had it for a while and the fans loved it, so I just said, I’m gonna hang out until the opportunity presents itself, and it did.”
Take a listen to Samuel’s entire interview above, which includes some delicious candy talk as well!
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