Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict had a rough time this offseason. He was ranked pretty highly on draft boards across the league, before a reported failed drug test and a scouting combine performance that should rank on a fictional "all-time worst" list sent him right off of them and into undrafted territory. He signed with the Bengals (of course), and since then has made the switch to outside linebacker.
Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict is glad to know Marvin Lewis
Vontaze Burfict gives an interview in which he talks about Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis and Arizona State head coach Dennis Erickson.
Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire
He gave an interview to XTRA Sports Radio 910 in Phoenix and spoke on his feelings about head coach Marvin Lewis, and as usual, Sports Radio Interviews has it transcribed:
“It’s been a good journey, since I’ve been under Marvin Lewis’ wing. He took me in and he coaches me how I need to be coached. If I mess up twice on one play that he already told me about, he gets to me. He starts yelling at me. But that’s what I need. ... I love being under his wing because he talks to me like I’m a grown man and he understands you’re not supposed to always yell at a player. Sometimes I need to be yelled at.”
Burfict goes on to say that he wishes he could have had a coach like Lewis while in college, and that he’d be a “totally different player” if he did. Seeing as how it’s a Phoenix radio station, that says a lot about his feelings toward his previous coach, former Arizona State head coach Dennis Erickson. He was asked numerous times about what he thinks about Erickson, and he keeps it clean for the most part.
Since joining the NFL, he’s been talking less and less about his plummet down draft boards, and it’s no secret that he blames coaching for a lot of his issues. Still, it’s pretty clear he’s moved on and is viewing life in the NFL in a positive light, which is the best he could hope for after what happened at the scouting combine.
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