That's where the extra conversations come in. Adams considers himself a good listener, and McCray's perspective is worth listening to as a young player who has all but locked down the starting job at right guard.

For McCray, the value of the impromptu chats on the practice field cuts both ways, so he's happy to oblige Adams, even if they were just in each other's faces battling away.

"It's like an 'across the hall' meeting," McCray said, referring to the times in the offseason the offensive and defensive players would share perspectives in the video rooms. "It's like watching film and getting into another player's mind."

Adams' approach is making an impression, and the enjoyment of his first training camp since college is showing through as well.

"He's hungry, and that's whatTACOMA, Washington -- The U.S. soldier who murdered 16 Afghan villagers in 2012 says he had lost compassion for Iraqis and Afghans over the course of his four combat deployments.

The News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain an eight-page letter former Staff Sgt. Robert Bales wrote to the senior Army officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord requesting that his life sentence be reduced.

"My mind was consumed by war," Bales wrote late last year.

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"I planted war and hate for the better part of 10 years and harvested violence," he added. "After being in prison two years, I understand that what I thought was normal was the farthest thing from being normal."

In March, Lt. Gen. Stephen Lanza rejected the