Manny Lawson continues his popular column, "Manny's Law," with his second entry of the 2009 offseason. Enjoy catching up with the 49ers outside linebacker as he talks about his assessment of the 49ers offseason, his trips to some football camps of his teammates and his venture into the world of cooking.
We just finished our offseason minicamps and OTAs and I have to say ? we all got better because of the intensity of our workouts. Being around each other really brought the team together and I think it was good for us to get that quality work in.
I think overall for me, getting back into the pass rushing aspect of football was fun. I?m getting to rush the passer more like I was in college and this offseason allowed me to improve my pass rushing skills. I think I?ve come along tremendously as a pass rusher. The more and more I do it, the better I?ve become.
But, it was hard to slow down in practice when I was rushing the passer. It?s something you need to do during the offseason. Our coaches want us to play at a pace where we don?t hurt each other. But, nobody wants to get beat. We?re all competitors and there?s pride involved. We were told a few times to calm down and slow the tempo down. But the coaches are talking to athletes who got to the NFL because of our love of competition.
While we were practicing, our team facility was getting some construction work done and it was hard not to notice it as you jogged on and off the field. Architecture and industrial engineering are two things I?m very passionate about. I?m curious to see what it?s going to be like when it?s all said and done. All you can see right now is the support beams outside of our locker room. They?re expanding the locker room and putting in a bigger player?s lounge, which should be nice.
If I was in charge of re-designing our locker room/facility, I?d do something totally different.
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