Left tackle Ronnie Stanley was interviewed recently by The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec. Here are some excerpts from the conversation:

Watching you on the field for organized team activities and minicamp, it seems like this is the most fun you’ve ever had being out there for practice. Is that a good read on it?

“I would just say I’ve been feeling more like myself than I have in previous years. For the most part, just to be able to feel like myself physically has made me a lot happier. I guess being in that state when I was younger, it wasn’t as savory as a moment or savory as a time, just knowing that, ‘OK, your career could have been over after one play,’ and not knowing if I was ever going to feel like that again physically or athletically. To truly feel like that and be out there and just notice myself getting better every day and feeling more like my old self every day, it definitely makes me happy.”

How hard has it been to have to deal with the scrutiny from the media and fans about missing so many games (36 over the past four seasons)?

“It’s been very tough, especially since — and I don’t expect this from anybody — but nobody really knows the full story of everything. For people to just kind of base their thoughts off assumptions or whatever the case might be, it’s definitely been hard. I just remind myself that people only know as much as they’re told.”

You’ve said that you didn’t play up to your standard last season. How tough was that to accept?

“I didn’t feel that sense of growth where I knew I was taking steps forward every day or I could pinpoint something and focus on that and know this is the problem, this is where the issue lies. It was a guessing game almost. I couldn’t really hone in on what I really wanted it to feel like, and that was frustrating.”

You missed four games last season, but you never felt like yourself the entire year?

“Definitely not, especially coming off that knee injury from Week 1. I was pushing myself to play earlier than what the injury was healing at. I just felt bad for missing so much time in general. I didn’t want to miss any more time. It wasn’t something that was necessarily smart, but I felt like it was something I wanted to push through. It definitely caused more challenges.”

There was a lot made about the pay alteration that you took this offseason. Why were you open to that?

“I just wouldn’t have personally felt good about leaving Baltimore on that note. I want to play here my whole career, but even if I’m saying I’ll play one more year for a lot less, it’s because, if this is my last year, I want to go out on a high note. I want to play at the level that I know I can play at. The time that I missed, it would be something that I would have regretted. It would be something that I would think about when I’m older.”