Read the full transcript from WR Malik Washington's media availability on June 9, 2026.
So the Malik-to-Malik connection seems to be going pretty well. How is it from your standpoint?
Malik Washington: Yeah, I think for us it's about growth, like kind of getting that chemistry together kind of getting better each and every day. Him getting a feel for how the routes go, who gets out there break, how they get out their break and just continuing to learn the install together. Kind of doing everything together, taking pride in all of that stuff.
Are you guys spending a lot of time off the field together?
Malik Washington: Yeah, we're trying to. Any time we have the opportunity to, we were just at his house just watching the game and stuff like that. So he's doing a good job leading us and getting us together. All it takes is us to just put our part in and meet him where he's at.
What's the nickname that you guys – that connection has to have a nickname. What have you all worked on?
Malik Washington: I think there's like MW2, Malik squared. We'll go with anything – as long as we make it plays together, I'm happy, so it's good.
How would you evaluate Coach Hafley so far in this off season? And what's his communication style like?
Malik Washington: I'm going to listen regardless. I think it takes us to follow his lead, and that's what makes kind of a good leader is how he gets the followers to follow him. I think everybody's doing a good job of listening, honing in on the details, doing what he's asking us to do. He comes in the team meeting every day and talks about things he wants us to improve, talks about things he wants to see, whether it's effort, chasing the ball, whatever the case may be. And we're improving upon that every single day.
With that being said, just talk about the culture change, how you're embracing that as well? Obviously a brand-new coaching staff for you as well.
Malik Washington: Yeah, I think it's open-mind, open-ears and just being focused on learning. Not thinking like, oh, well, we did it like this last year or having that feeling of any entitlement. It's a fresh start, it's a brand-new opportunity. Taking advantage of that, listening and doing whatever I need to do to be a part of what he wants going on.
There's a lot of young guys on this team, even Coach Hafley mentioned how many guys on one-year deals on this team. Does that change the dynamic of the competition level where it seems like everyone's hungry, no one's as established, I guess you could say, where everyone's really fighting for positions for starting jobs?
Malik Washington: I think if you let outside circumstances change your level of competition and how you approach work each and every day, it'll never be good enough. I think everybody should have the mindset of I was going to compete anyway. I don't care who was here, who stayed and who came in, I was going to give all I had each and every practice each and every day. And I'm going to try to excel at what I do, regardless of who comes in and who comes out.
I know you wanted a bigger role, you were chomping at the bit for it. How does it feel to know you're going to get that opportunity?
Malik Washington: I mean, an opportunity only works if you meet it with your preparation and how you go about each and every day. For me, it's like I would love to have that big opportunity. I would love to get a chance to go showcase my skills, but I just got to be prepared for that moment and seize it.
You're looking for more than passes behind the line of scrimmage?
Malik Washington: I do not want any more of those. (laughter) Yeah, I would love to do some more, get more active in all phases of the game, so trying to get better this year.
What has it done for you as a player to know you're expected to have a bigger role? What does that do for you as a leader, as a player?
Malik Washington: Like you just hit on, I want to be a leader in that room. I want to be a leader on this team. I want to make guys want to go harder. I want to make guys want to work and put in everything they got each and every day. That starts with the receiver room and just getting those guys to approach the day like they're going to be the best. We all want to be WR1s, we all want to take the load, so approach it like that.
I was going to ask something along the lines of how important is it for you to add that depth of target into your game and what are the keys that go into excelling in that area?
Malik Washington: I think for box score watchers, that would be really nice for me to add some depth to target and stuff, and I think it'll be really nice for my personal statistics and I think it'll help the team as well. Me getting down the field more, catching some more targets down the field, making some more plays down the field will just help us all together.
As far as the position groups, what do you feel has emerged as one of the better groups, the wide receivers, the d-line? What have you seen that's impressed you the most of all the groups?
Malik Washington: I try to let Coach Hafley worry about all that stuff. I'm just approaching my game and making sure us as receivers are getting our stuff right.
It seems like when Malik Willis is in there, if the play is not always on time, he can kind of still be late in there. Is that a fair assessment and does that recalibrate the way you do things at all as a receiver?
Malik Washington: I think it's a little bit more focused on just you can't give up on a play, you can't stop. He has the ability to make plays after the play is already gone and being ready, because he'll launch it down the field. He can move and put it on a rope. So it's just being ready, following him, staying with him throughout the play and not giving up on that play.
Coach Hafley said two of the most important things he's done since he's been here are culture change and setting a standard. What have you seen along those lines that tells you change is here?
Malik Washington: I think it starts with we're going to work hard, and each and every day, we're going to put in the work. We're going to lift; we're going to lift hard. We're going to meet hard, and we're going to practice hard. I think that's been very apparent with since he's come in, how we are approaching each day, whether it's just conditioning and we're running, whether it's lifting weights or whether it's practicing, like I said, we're running to the ball, we're doing everything after the catch. It's a focus on every little detail right now.
You work with the first two quarterbacks. What have you noticed from Malik Willis? What have you noticed from Quinn Ewers?
Malik Washington: I think those guys are doing a good job just learning, like getting better throughout camp, and that's what you want to see. You want to see like the first day, man, it might not be right. We might miss a couple throws; don't get frustrated with that, because now as we move through OTAs and we move through minicamp, it's just a sense of getting better, getting better, getting better. Last week, I felt like we had a great connection going as a quarterback-receiver duo, and I think this week we're just getting better at it.
How much carryover is there in terms of what you learned the last two years and what you're executing now?
Malik Washington: I was obviously privileged enough to be behind two guys that played a lot of football and had a lot of success, so I feel like for me it's kind of learning maybe pace of routes, maybe how they attack the game, how they prepare and stuff like that. I think being able to see it and play behind it, kind of gives me a feel of like 'I've been there before. I've seen it happen. I know what works,' and using that to my advantage.
