Royce Freeman: Staying Prepared | Dallas Cowboys 2024

Royce how's the first training camp with the Cowboys going it's been solid I mean just everybody coming out here getting better every day pushing each other the competitiveness uh as soon as we threw the pads on you know you see and can feel that it's been amped up so I think we're getting better every day yeah Stephen Jones said that they were almost surprised to see you still in free agency when you were still there how did free agency go for you and what did you make of this opportunity when it came uh I mean it took took a while a little bit last year for me to get on the team um but I was always prepared you know staying prepared and working and uh when my time is called and when you know it was time for me to go to whichever team you know uh decided to go ahead and give me a chance I'd be ready so uh the offseason just staying with work and I'm appreciative and and grateful for the chance that I got to work with the team during OTAs what do you think your role will be um I don't know whatever they ask of me I mean that's kind of how it's been for me uh as a recent in my career I mean I can do a lot of things I think that's why I'm a an asset to to a team and to an offense special teams as well so whatever they ask me honestly so on the special team side yeah is that something that youve always played a lot of you take a lot of pride in why do you think that stood out to people that have seen you play yeah I mean uh early on in my career especially you know I started for a little while and then not being the starter you have to find a role and then being available and being a body on special teams is definitely important I think that uh it was preached to me early on in my career something I take pride in and seen other people extend their their lifespan in NFL by doing such one thing Zeke was talking about the other day was just having an appreciation for being in the league I guess as your veter I mean as your career's kind of gone in and kind of becoming a veteran you kind of have that same appreciate yeah most definitely I mean uh everybody's route and everybody's career is different as the ways it goes about the NFL um but I I do Echo what Zeke says just being appreciative right appreciative of the guys the camaraderie the opportunity to put um the pads on and get out there with the team so and making the most of it and just kind of letting that trickle down to the guys who are younger and you know giving tidbits of how you know you got to be x amount of years in the league uh Zeke is a locker room guy people talk about what a good lock is you describe him I would describe him as such I think he's he's there for for the guys I think he's there especially with all experience he has to be vocal to go ahead and you know uh give us Insight of what he's seen throughout his career uh good and bad highs and lows and uh most importantly work ethic and how to get the job done and win at the end of the day how big of a change was it for you to do to be more of a special teams guy knowing knowing what that could create for your longevity in the league did you do much of that at all before the NFL before then fell not much um I think it came into more of the pass protection role accompanied with special teams so essentially like a third down back um just using different ways on on different teams but it it didn't really take much accustom uh much to get accustomed to it uh honestly just filled in kind of naturally I mean I've always been able to do different things on special teams so I think that that helped me out as well and then just being able to pick up the pass protections and and go about it that way uh helped me get on the field a little bit more surpris you how we've kind of look at the running back position now it's kind of almost devalued in a sense or we need three backs to get Point carriage in the game no I think that uh there's a lot of talented backs in the NFL personally I think that like everybody's competing at a high level I think everybody uh wants to be a playmaker obviously everybody wants the ball But ultimately it's so you know figuring out where you fit in and how you fit in so it's a multitude of things that goes into that and you know at the end of the day we're all competing you ever been part of a running back fight committee before go back to the school yeah I think I think uh essentially everybody is running back by Committee in the sense you know you need everybody uh it's a long season guys get banged up guys you know some people go down or some guys you come in and give you some fresh leg some juice however whatever the case may be I think that uh all backs are needed in the room like I said everybody's feeling as if they're capable to do the job and you know that's always best just that flip side of that running back by committee is actually creates more jobs for running backs yeah going back to the EMT days here in Dallas I mean they would basically have three they would have Tommy Ag and darl Johnson two fullbacks as the running back that was it I mean yeah I mean it depends on how you look at it right I mean and different backs probably offer different things but you know like I said the good thing about us running backs we all feel capable to do everything I mean those are the type of guys you want in the room thank you appreciate y'all