June 10, 2021 On CB Jeff Okudah’s absence from practice yesterday: “It’s nothing big. He and (Damion) Ratley just kind of bumped noggins in walkthrough. It was just precautionary. We’re good. Both of them are good.” On if he has thought about having fans back for training camp practices: “Honestly, no, I haven’t. I know it’ll be good. It’ll be great to have the fans back out here and be a part of it because they’ll energize our team, too. Our team likes that. You’re out there in practice, you make it as fun as you can, it’s competitive, but there’s always going to be a grind to it that you’ve got to do. I do think the fans project a little bit of energy to the practice itself. That’ll be a good thing. As far as me, that’ll be great when the time comes, but right now I’m in the mode of vet minicamp and just trying to get those guys better every day.” On he and the coaching staff taking time off before training camp: “I think for the staff, it’s important. I want them to get a little break here. They’re going to need it. The season, it’s long and it’s long hours. You’re not going to see your family. It’s all ball for long periods of time in the day. They need to be able to recharge the battery. I know (Offensive Coordinator Anthony Lynn) A-Lynn and (Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG, they need to get a break, too. They’ll be doing some things over the break. My whole focus is, A, I’ve got to get my family up here. I’ve got to get everybody moved up here, so when we’re done next week that’s going to be my sole priority is getting them all moved, getting settled in where we’re at, then from there, once that takes place, I’m going to spend those next couple weeks just cleaning up all of the little stuff as it pertains to this team and some of the things offensively, defensively, special teams that I feel like, as a head coach, I can really hone in on and clean up and help the coordinators somewhat if you will and give them a little bit of direction. That’ll be my focus.” On how everything is progressing throughout minicamp: “I do like them. I feel good about it. Had I said that I thought it would look like this when I took the job 100 days out, no, because we thought we were going to get extra time being a new staff and we’d have an extra vet minicamp and we would be going full-team segments and all of that. It’s not what I expected from that regard, but I can tell you this, it’s been great to have these guys here. Because of this, we will be three to four weeks ahead of where we would’ve been had we started in training camp. I’m just bringing it up again, it’s a credit to our players that they wanted to be out here and put a good foot forward. They made a commitment. I’m excited about that. When you look at it from that perspective, we’re in a really good spot right now.” On getting players and coaches involved in competition drills: “We always have. I always want to have some type of competitive drill in there, or drills if you will. Sometimes that comes and it will be team segments. In training camp, it’ll be 7-on-7. But sometimes it is drills like those. That right there was 100 percent (Special Teams Coordinator) Dave Fipp. That was his drill, but it was a way for us to get something competitive into practice. Some of the coaches we’ve got, they are very creative, which we want them to be. They’ve got some drills that I think are really good that these guys enjoy doing and it gives them a chance. But in the same token, it’s not like we’re running all-out, 100 yards down the field. These are circle and cones. These are things that are under control. But, man, you’ve got to keep your feet under. You’ve got to learn to run the hoop. You’ve got to get to the back first. You’ve got to bend your knees. You’ve got to rise and hit. So, it’s not like we’re out there doing it, they’re learning things. These are things that pertain to how you play in special teams or offense or defense, proper body mechanics, leverage, all those things. You’re getting work out of it, but man, that makes it that much more fun.” On what he has planned for the team for the final OTAs next week: “I think we’ll be going very similar to what we’re doing now. I would love to trim back some of the early individual stuff, maybe some of the walkthrough stuff, and just get one more segment of competitive 7-on-7 or kind of release work, stacks, bunches, things like that. I think it’ll be very similar to now. The focus will be the young guys, our players and any players that will stick around. It’ll be some of our rookies, some of those one, two-year guys. There are some guys that I know that are staying are three-year vets, four-year vets. It’ll be good.” On how many players he expects for next week’s OTAs: “I think we’ll get about 50.” On how far he still feels he needs to go this offseason: “Look, there’s never enough time. It’ll never be where you just go, ‘Golly, this was perfect. We had all the time that we needed.’ So, that will always be something that we’re going to have to overcome, or that will be the challenge. But that’s what we’re dealt with. I just think – I wish I could really give you a great answer on that. I think for us, look, at least here we are. We’re at our last vet mini-camp, and here’s what we’ve gotten in; we’ve gotten in first and second down work, base and sub. We’ve gotten in third down work, and that’s third and short to third and long. We’ve gotten in red zone, that’s high red, that’s low red, that’s two-point and it’s fourth-down plays from the 12 (yardline) to the eight (yardline), which are the hardest places to score at. Today, it’ll be two minute. So, we’ll do some stacks, bunches. We’ve done things in the walk-through. We’ve got some heavy sets, 22-, 13-personnel, and now, we’re going to finish with two-minute. So really, we’ve kind of got the core in. The core of the offense and defense and special teams, we’ve at least kind of built somewhat of a foundation; they actually know what it looks like. Now, when you go into camp, they know what it looks like. Now we can start to really coach up the details because look, we’ve thrown a lot at these guys. For me, to be able to know that we’ve gotten that in, and now once we go in, like I said, in training camp, now we can really start to hone in on the details of it, that’s really my focus. All I can worry about it how do we get these guys to improve a little bit every day? Every day. No different than the season. We need to be a better team in Week 18 than in Week 1, a much better team. That is the focus more than anything else. It will always be about us before any other opponent.” On if the coaching staff will be fully vaccinated by training camp and why two coaches are still wearing masks at practice: “Everybody is vaccinated. The ones that have masks, they have gotten fully vaccinated, but it’s a 14-day period before they cannot wear the mask, essentially. But yes, they are. They’re all good.” On how’s prepared himself to be a first-time NFL head coach: “Well I think I’ve already taken the first step in that, and that’s with some of the gentlemen that I’ve hired. You’re only as good as the people around you and that’s why I hired Anthony Lynn, Duce Staley, Dave Fipp, Aaron Glenn, Dom Capers among others. Listen, you ask for help. You ask for guidance. ‘Hey, what did you do in this situation? What came up? Tell me something that caught you by surprise.’ You call Coach (Bill) Parcells, you talk to Sean Payton, one of my best resources. So, you ask. I mean, you ask. These things, these aren’t like – there’s things that have popped up that I haven’t asked about. I feel like there’s been so many things that man, you write down once you start thinking about this role, that I feel like have been answered somewhat to this point. When you’re fortunate enough to know enough resources like I do and be around some great coaches, these things do pop up, and they’ve been through them, so you think about asking them. Does that mean I’m going to hit something that I have not seen or may not be ready for? No. It’ll happen, you’re right. But I think you draw off the experiences (from) those around you and those men that you trust. That, to me, is step No. 1. Step No. 2 is you just continue to grow, man. Look, I’m not going to sit here and kid you; you think I’ve got all the answers? I don’t have all the answers. I’m not going to tell you that. But I know, and I’m very comfortable in my own ability and those around me, and I know what it takes to win. I do. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop growing and learning and working. I mean that’s what I said – I’m going to spend this summer, after I get my family moved here, man, I’m going to be honing in on game situations. I’m going to be honing in on the offense. How do I help A-Lynn be a better offensive coordinator? How do I help (Jared) Goff? How do I really set up the table for him or help A-Lynn do that for him? How do I help AG, Fipp? You’ve just got to continue to grow and put yourself in those situations.” On how he balances his confidence with his ability while also not having all the answers: “How do you balance them? Good question. I think you just be true to who you are, that’s what you do. I think the problem comes when, No. 1, you feel like you have a bigger ego than anybody around you or (if) you think you’re the reason that things happen, then you’ve got a problem. But I think you have to be comfortable enough in your own skin to ask for help, man. You have to be. I think if you’re worried about, ‘Man, I really would love to know this. I really want to ask these questions to my staff and everybody’s in here,’ but you’re so afraid that somebody will think of you as, ‘Oh, I can’t believe the head coach doesn’t know that or doesn’t think that way,’ well I think you have a problem there too. I’m comfortable enough to know that, look, I’m in charge and I think everybody knows I’m in charge. I think that’ll be very clear. So, I’m comfortable with that. And guess what, if I need help or I’m asking a question, there’s a reason why I’m doing it. I’m pretty black and white like that.” On if there’s an update in the team’s interest in free agent RB Todd Gurley with him visiting the Baltimore Ravens today: “Brad (Holmes) and I, like I said, I talk to Brad every day but the last time that we’ve really discussed Gurley is probably two days ago. So, I know he’s headed out there. There again, we’re not sweating it. Do we like the kid? Yes, we do. But we’re – hey, if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But it’ll be on our terms.” |
