July 9, 2009

Workouts are going great. I’m out there grinding twice a day, getting ready for training camp. It’s hot here in Fort Lauderdale, which is good because it simulates the weather in Spartanburg.

I feel like my old self again after the surgery. I feel motivated and hungry, like I’m about to enter the NFL again as a rookie. Here I am a veteran and I feel like I’m starting all over again with new coaches, new schemes and new terminology.

I’ve come to the realization that everybody likes to talk about what you did or how great you are, the season you had and the Pro Bowl, but to me the NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” league because none of that stuff matters if you don’t make the next play.

This year I want to have a short memory. Do what is expected of me and then move on to the next play. Try to make a great play, then move on to the next play.

If I do that, individually I’ll get what I want but also the team will respect it and respond. The guys can almost taste that and it becomes part of their makeup. If we can do that every play, we can win this whole thing.

Our tight end Dante Rosario is down here working out with me. After coming down here and training, I think you can expect big things from him this year. I hope we use him more on offense because I think he’s a special talent.

July is my time. I stay at a hotel, everything is right here for me, I don’t have a kitchen or anything. I wake up, work out, come back to the hotel, have my food prepared for me, lay down for a rest, come back and work out again in the afternoon. During my time I don’t want anybody to bother me, I want to feel tired and feel like I made a deposit today.

That’s my new thing. You have to make a deposit every day. You make deposits, watch your deposits grow and hopefully in February I can make one big withdrawal.

Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com. Follow him on Twitter as jonbeason.