Dan Hines caught up with Washington Redskins’ center Cory Raymer on Saturday at the mini-camp, and had a chance to have a question and answer period with him. We’d like to thank Cory for taking time out of his busy schedule to make time to talk with us one-on-one.
THN: Cory how are you doing, I want to wish you a Happy Father’s Day, do you have any plans for tomorrow?
Raymer: No my wife and kids are out of town, I’m going to fly out on Monday and we’ll celebrate then.
THN: Cory the obvious first question is how did you get through the off-season without hockey?
Raymer: Man it sucked! I’d go the bed with it every night when they were playing. The equipment manager here is a big hockey fan so we would watch the games and talk hockey. It really hurt. I still put the skates on, on Sunday nights. That helped a little.
THN: Last year you took what some of us at the site thought was unjustified criticism for the offensive line play, do you feel that some of the other linemen may have over compensated for the loss of Jansen causing people to see it that way?
Raymer: Nah, it’s the guy in the middle. They at times look for someone to blame it on, so why not blame it on the big fat slow white guy (laughter)
THN: I know the team goal is to win the Superbowl , what are your goals for this year?
Raymer: It’s the same as always, make the team and play hard.
THN: They brought in Casey in the off season, have you had a chance to take him hunting yet?
Raymer: No, not yet. We go back and fourth. He’s a ‘Wisconny’ boy, we go way back. He’s a good kid. We’ll get out in the fall. If we’re here.
THN: You’ll be here! THN is rooting for you. Yesterday at the press conference for Jon Jansen, I couldn’t help but notice you heckled Jon all through it. I can see you guys love to joke with each other, what’s the funniest joke you’ve played on Jon?
Raymer: Oh WOW! They’re all pretty damn funny. We do them all the time. Actually, when I came back from San Diego, I signed here in the off-season so these guys weren’t here yet. So him and Ethan, their lockers are right next to each other, and they’re both sticklers for their shoes. So I
took all their shoes and tied the most hellacious knots I could.When they opened their lockers, they had to take out the shoes and cut all the laces and lace them all back up. And I never, ever told them who did it.
THN: So there was no retaliation?
Raymer: No, we don’t do them so much to each other, now we just pray on others. Even the Quarterbacks… those guys are big targets. You’re going to get those guys every time. But it is all part of the fun, that’s how you get through it.
THN: Is this a time of year you enjoy with the OTA’s and mini-camp, or do you look forward to getting through them so you can get on to training camp?
Raymer: No it comes in waves, the off-season goes quick, you show up and do the running and lifting, and the practicing. You get those things in, it’s nice to get a month off (July), but this is one of the most critical months to stay in shape with training camp coming up. It’s close enough now that every time you wake up, you think about it. It’s a part of every conversation you have. It’s definitely fun when you get the whole team back together, on the field and in the locker room. That’s what it’s all about.
THN: You mentioned the locker room, how’s the atmosphere around the locker room this year with the addition of guys like Patten, Moss and Casey?
Raymer: Well it’s good and we had to do something. You don’t want to lay blame but we certainly blame ourselves (the offense), the defense did their job and we let them down. We know how that feels and it stinks. This year we’re out to prove number one, that we can score some points and number two to help our defense out because they were battling game after game last year to keep us in the games. Everybody says we’re changing this and changing that, I just think we’re tweaking it here and tweaking there and I think with the talent we have, that it’s going to lead to bigger and better things this year.
THN: Yea, the buzz yesterday was about all the speed you have on offense now?
Raymer: The O-Line…yeah we’re pretty quick. (laughter)
THN: Having Jon Jansen back has got to be a big lift for you guys…
Raymer: Ray (Brown) did fine. We missed Jon at first but you kind of get used to it. We didn’t win or lose any games because he was or wasn’t in there. Jon is great for the team, he’s great in the locker room and he’s great in the huddle, it’s just nice to have him back. Ray stepped in and did everything anybody asked him to though, and we had fun with him too. We were glad to see him come back.
THN: Do you think you’ll be playing at 41?
Raymer: Uh NO! I’ll be playing… but it ain’t going to be football. (laughter) It’s pretty phenomenal what Ray can do.
THN: Cory thanks so much for taking time out for THN we also want to thank you for the kindness you’ve showed us in the past. Again, I want to wish you a happy Fathers Day. Enjoy your time off.
Raymer: Oh it’s my pleasure, anytime, thanks to you and THN and Happy Fathers Day to you!
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Dan Hines