The group added rookies Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen in the draft this spring, about whom Wonnum says “the sky’s the limit for those guys,” as well as returning Derrick Brown to the defensive front. Since Wonnum’s leg injury kept him sidelined for the first nine games of the 2024 season, and Brown was injured in Week 1, the two have never played a game together. But Wonnum is already anticipating the change.
“I didn’t get to play with him, but I watched a lot of film on him before,” he said. “He could set the edge from the 3, from wherever he’s at for real. So just having him putting a dent in those runs, making the runs bounce to me, makes my job a lot easier.”
One of the biggest differences, though, for Wonnum this year, something he believes will help set that new standard, is being reunited with Patrick Jones II. The duo was at the Minnesota Vikings together, playing opposite ends of the defensive line, sitting through hours of meetings together, and spending time off the field as well, typically fishing on the lakes (and getting stranded in one situation).
It’s created an unspoken language between the two that cuts through the noise on the field.
“So, Minnesota, we hung out a lot on the field and off the field. We talk football literally all the time. Every time we’re together, we talk football,” Wonnum shared.
“So, just because he plays inside as well, just him telling me or kind of knowing hand gestures, different signals that he might give me like, oh yeah, I’m going high, I’m going to wrap under you or just, I don’t know, just being around each other, we kind of know just off his body language and how he look, what he’s going to do.”