Last week, Kevin Stefanski said that rookie Perrion Winfrey was being held out for disciplinary reasons.
#Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski says DT Perrion Winfrey was disciplined by the team, hence his absence from practice. Will not play Sunday. Would not disclose details as to why.
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 16, 2022
Myles Garrett commented on it a little bit, saying that his actions were “very apparent.” And now, we finally have some words from Perrion Winfrey himself.
“Yeah, I’m back with the team. I would say every rookie coming into the organization learns things that they need to do and learns things that they shouldn’t do. I feel like people of my age or people that are older than me or in my same age bracket, we’re all going through the same struggles of learning where you need to be and how you need to be there. I would say that becoming a pro is something every rookie learns how to do.”
Even though he learned his lesson, Winfrey still says that this won’t change anything about his routine.
“I’m still approaching practice and everything balls to the wall, still being the player that I was meant out to be. This doesn’t change anything, doesn’t change my focus, doesn’t change how I feel about the organization, the team or any of that.”
Winfrey isn’t proud of the fact that he was disciplined, but he knows that this can be taken away at any time. So, that just makes him more motivated.
“I would say it’s tough, but it just let me know that this game could be taken away from you at any point in time. So just take it seriously 24/7 and just count your blessings, just be able to realize that you’re in a blessed position and take it seriously. Definitely hungrier to prove everything I said was true and still remains true. I wouldn’t say it changed my hunger, though, because I’ve always been a hungry football player, so this wouldn’t make me over-the-top want it more. I still want it the same way I wanted it before.”
But, if Winfrey had to boil it down to just one thing, he said that all he needed was to mature.
“I just feel like it was something that I needed to mature. I feel like I wouldn’t be the player that I’m going to be now if it had not happened, so I’m glad that it happened. Everything happens for a reason in my eyes.”
As Winfrey said, he is back with the team. Hopefully, this becomes a thing of the past and he learns from it.
