LB Tony Fields II (5.1.21)
On describing himself as a player:
“I fly to the ball. I am one of those guys who is an ambassador of hard work when I get on the football field. I get out there and put my all into it, no matter what I am doing. If I am going to the ball, I am trying to get an interception or if I am forcing a puller, I am going to give you my all. That is how I play the game.”
On how transferring to West Virginia helped him improve cover skills with the style of play in the Big 12 and if that factored into his decision:
“That and it was a climate change. I am in Cleveland now. I am from Las Vegas, where it is always hot. I dealt with the cold for a whole season in West Virginia. I met a lot of guys from Cleveland. Just moving to West Virginia was a good thing all in all because I have met a lot of new people and I got used to a different climate and a different type of football than the PAC-12.”
On how much he prides himself on versatility:
“100 percent. I feel like I can play any position on the defense. If you needed me to gain 70 more pounds, I will gain it and play D line. I am a football head. I can lose 30 pounds to play corner. Whatever you need me to do, I will do it. That is what I am going to tell Coach as soon as I step foot in the building.”
On if he sees similarities between LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah’s and his game and style:
“For sure, we are both athletic linebackers, but that is what the game is changing to. It was a great two picks from our staff and coaches. I feel it helps a lot with having two linebackers that can run with those receivers and running backs on the defense.”
On the advantage defenses have when being versatile and combatting the evolution of NFL offenses:
“Like I said before, I feel like it is just that we are very well-rounded and that we are full three-down linebackers. Myself, I feel like I am a three-down linebacker because I can play on third down and I can go and widen out in coverage and jam a slot or cover a slot if I have to. I can also play in the box. That is what I have done in college. I am all ready to go.”
On how grateful he is that the Browns are ‘valuing the modern-day linebacker’:
“It is great. I am blessed. Everybody called me undersized or whatever you want to say about it, but I do not think of myself like that, and I for sure do not play like that. I never will play like I am undersized. I love the fact that coaches are buying in. The whole league is eventually going to have to buy into these passing-coverage linebackers because the league is getting faster and it is becoming more and more of a passing game.”
On if he has already imagined going against Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, WR Tyreek Hill, TE Travis Kelce and other top NFL talent this season:
“I have done that all year. These whole last two days were the hardest two days of my life, and all I am thinking about is who I am playing against, what quarterback I am going to play with and what guy I am going to have to tackle. I am ready to go, though.”
On why he transferred to West Virginia:
“I graduated from Arizona. The PAC-12 might not have played football. When I decided to transfer, I took it upon myself to go somewhere and think about going somewhere it would be a change of environment and a change of everything for me. I did not have family out there. I have always been close to home. I am in Arizona so I am five hours away from family. This was my first time I was actually far, far away. I had to do everything by myself, and it developed me as a person.”
On potentially being close to home if the Cardinals drafted him:
“It is close to home, but hey, I do love Cleveland, I am telling you that.”
On if he is in West Virginia or Las Vegas:
“I am in Las Vegas. I am training here.”
On what it is like growing up in Las Vegas and if he likes going back there:
“Definitely. Me being from Vegas, I do not really get into what the tourists and people who are not from here get into when they come out here because it is regular to me. I treat it like home. I work out every day. Occasionally, you go to the casino. I feel like we have the best food spots on Earth out here. I love my city.”
On how his leadership will transfer to the NFL:
“I have always been able to adapt to change. The leadership characteristics and everything I have learned on how to be a leader, I feel like I can also come in and help. I know like you said veterans who have been there are leaders already, but in my opinion, you can learn from anybody. I learn things from people younger than me all of the time so I am going to go in and be a learning sponge. When I can speak up or there comes a time when I have to speak up or be a leader, I am going to do so.”
On if thought the Browns could be a landing spot and how much he interacted with the team during the draft process:
“Believe it or not, yes. I did. My coaches called me about it from college and my agent told me a lot about it. It was a surprise. just the call was the biggest moment of my life.”
On who called him from the Browns:
“It was a couple of coaches – I think actually the whole staff.”
On if he admired other positions than LB when he was a kid:
“Definitely, I was more into the skill players to be honest growing up, until I turned into a straight linebacker. Then I started watching linebackers. I was more into the guys who moved faster like the receivers, the slots or the corners. My dad and all of my family were defensive backs so I always watched the skill players, rather than the mid-skill like the tight ends and linebackers.”
On being a part of the new wave of college and NFL LBs:
“It is not even a new thing. There are a lot of linebackers – you have (Buccaneers LB) Devin White, who has already been doing it. There are a lot of guys who have been in there doing this new breed of linebackers, the hybrid linebacker thing. It is not necessarily a new wave in my opinion. It is just everybody is now doing the same thing. People are catching on.”
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