During his years in Houston, running back Arian Foster had a more-cold-than-hot relationship with the local media. Now a Dolphin, Foster’s first meeting with the Miami media went as well as it could have, in light of Foster’s habit of sometimes being standoffish with the folks who cover the team.
All told, Foster’s words and demeanor from Sunday created a feel that he’s unfazed by the changes that have occurred to his football career.
“It was a pretty routine training camp day – run the ball, throw the ball, catch the ball,” Foster told reporters of his first practice with his new team, dark blue towel draped over the back of his head for most of the session.
He has no concerns about learning the offense. “I’m getting it down,” Foster said. “It’s going to take a little time getting reps, getting acclimated to the terminology and getting used to the cadences and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, football is football so I’ll pick it up.”
Foster seemed a little bit irritated by the question of whether he’s hoping to wear No. 23, the number he wore throughout his career in Houston. Shaking his head, he said, “It don’t matter to me.”
He perked up in response to a compliment regarding his ability to run pass routes, a skill coach Adam Gase expects in his running backs. “When I was growing up, my father was a wide receiver, so I wanted to be a wide receiver like him,” Foster said. “He always used to have us running a route tree ever since he was little. With repetition over time, you get good at it.”
A chunk of the back end of the interview that didn’t make its way to the team’s website included a question to Foster about how long it will take him to learn the offense
“Seven and a half days,” Foster said, laughing.
Asked how he arrived at that number, Foster said, “I don’t know -- it’s a weird question. You don’t know until you know. . . . Sarcasm.”
The exchange, video of which was posted by Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, prompted Kelly to say, “I heard Arian Foster has a weird sense of humor. Guess I need to learn it.”
In all, Foster seemed to be in a good mood. If it doesn’t stay that way, Kelly and his colleagues eventually will learn about more than Foster’s sense of humor.
