JAGUARS DC MIKE CALDWELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022
(On what he is seeing from the guys in the first day of pads) “It’s training camp. It’s a progression. We’re out there getting some good work in with the offense. We’re pleased so far.”
(On Foley’s leadership and what he brings to the defensive line) “He helps them out really by making calls early. Getting them lined up, allowing them to anticipate. He’ll help them out as far as back location and things like that and just does a great job of getting information to them.”
(On Tyson Campbell’s progress) “That’s what you look for. Anytime you’ve got a young player, when he comes in, hopefully they get their bumps and bruises early. Now he can get that confidence, trust his instincts. He’s been doing a great job for us, and we just hope he continues to grow.”
(On when Devin Lloyd will be ready to fully play again) “There’s really no timetable on Devin. He’s still out there getting the mental reps and progressing on the sidelines just like we talked about. The other two—really other four—guys have gotten opportunities to get out there to play and show what they can do with the first unit, second unit, with whoever they’re playing with, just an opportunity to get out there and show their abilities and see what they can do and just keep putting that good foot forward.”
(On Shaq Quarterman) “You said it. He’s a football player. You say he’s not the fastest, not the biggest, but he’s a guy who’s made a bunch of plays in his career, and we’re looking for that to continue.”
(On Darious Williams’ status) “Same thing with him, really no timetable, but he’s itching to go, and he’s out there moving around, doing certain drills, and he looks good. We’re just going to keep progressing him and see how it happens. He really just talked to Deshea (Townsend) on the sideline then kind of got in my ear, and I ran it by Coach Pederson, and he got in for one play and did a great job on that one, so let’s get him out of there.”
(On what he has seen from DaVon Hamilton and Malcom Brown on the inside of the defensive line so far) “The big thing about those guys is that their job really just goes unnoticed, and when you look at it, you don’t see the push down the field by the offensive line, and those guys are stout in the middle. They continue to make our run defense solid inside. It’s big. It starts with the run game. You have to control the middle to be able to affect the offense the way we want to affect it, and we do a great job of pushing the pocket and keeping it firm in the middle for us on defense.”
(On the linemen’s response to not getting much attention) “That’s the thing about D-linemen. Unless you’re getting a sack, you really don’t get noticed. They’re out there and doing what we want them to do as far as stopping the run then getting to the quarterback. That’s the thing that we see. They’re doing their job, and they’re just as important as anybody else on the field.”
(On the historical lack of sacks and turnovers for the defense) “We just talk about it. We put it on their minds. We just want guys out there running to the ball, hustling to the ball. Turnovers come in bunches, and they’ll take care of themselves once we’re out on the field. I think we, as coaches, we just try to make it a focus point of ours and let the players understand that. That’s what we want them to try to accomplish and let them go out there and teach them the techniques to be able to go out there and play fast, play physical. And then that’s where turnovers come.”
(On Shaq Griffin’s interception earlier in the week) “Oh, it is [a confidence boost] anytime you get an interception or a turnover, or you call the turn, you punch one out, it’s always a good sign. And that’s one of the focuses and we’re going to keep working on it.”
(On his takeaways from the first red zone period of camp) “It was good work. It was good work, we’re out here with the offense, and offense is giving us different looks, and we’re giving them different looks. All it does is, the competition makes us better as a team. And that’s what we’re here to do, here to get better as a team. So we’re out here, we’ll ask for a certain look from offense or they’ll ask for a certain coverage or a certain look from us, and we’ll give it to them. We’re just trying to make each other better.
(On the rookies who are battling for roster spots) “Right now it’s early, and everybody’s doing the job of learning what they’re going to do. Tomorrow, we get full pads on, and that’s where the real evaluation goes. Right now, everybody’s just learning and continuing to progress to being consistent.”
(On seeing Travon Walker with pads on) “That’s the thing. You talk about him—he’s unique in his size and his speed—but his physicality is really what stands out. Tomorrow, we get the full pads on and that’s where we’re looking to see the true Travon show up.”
(On Arden Key’s versatility and experience) “That’s what you say, versatility. It’s huge that he can play multiple spots on the line and the leadership part of it. He’s such a smart player. He does it a different way than other people do it. And he’s able to show other guys how to get something accomplished the way he would do it. It’s big for us to have a veteran like that in the room. And he’s doing a phenomenal job.”
(On balancing the expectations on Travon Walker and not throwing too much at him too quickly) “The balance really is on him. He’s going to go out there, and he’s going to play a game he’s been playing his whole life, and nothing really changes for him. Expectations from the media or us, we might have this expectation, but he has a standard and he’s the type of player he wants to be, and he goes out there and we try to push him every day to be that player. When you’re working and doing your best every day, there’s really no expectations. You go out there and do what you’ve been doing all your life.”
(On Foye being a calm, unobtrusive guy that other teammates are drawn to) “Again, we talked about leadership and guys that have made plays in the past. You kind of see that guy and you just kind of have a trust. He had the trust of the team because what he’s done in the past, and we’re standing in front of the huddle, what he’s doing here and as he continue to make plays, that trust continues to build.”
(On Foye leading the NFL in tackles last year but not being a flashy player) “That’s the thing when you look at it. Tackles are important but everybody talks about the splash plays, interceptions, this and that, but if you have running back running for a touchdown, and you don’t make the tackle, then the offense make splash plays, but he’s a guy that gets guys on the ground. And he had interceptions and sacks, things like that will come, but he’s a tackling machine and we’re happy to have him.”
(On Josh Allen saying he wanted to be the best defensive player in the league) “When we first met, he asked me what I want out of him. I said you need to be the best in the league. That’s the thing, that he has talent, that should be his expectation, nothing less. And he’s been working. He’s committed to it, and we’re just going to continue to push him and let him be the best he can be.”
JAGUARS QB TREVOR LAWRENCE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022
(On how training camp is going) “It’s going well. We obviously now got the pads on working our way up and guys look great. For the most part, we’re pretty healthy right now. So that’s big early in camp obviously. I feel like we’re making a lot of progress getting a lot of work done, we’re seeing a lot of different looks from our defense and vice versa. I really just think we’re getting a lot better.”
(On if he has been pleased with the team knowing their assignments) “Yes. I think that’s one of the big things, obviously, when you get a new staff is the new players, new system, all those things. That’s one thing you try to limit – mistakes. Obviously you are going to have some early on, but really, we’ve been pretty clean today had a couple you know, pre-snap things, both sides of the ball that we are going to work out. That’s part of camp and just getting back to pads full speed, this game around just being smart. [We will] clean some of that up. And I think as far as just knowing your assignment, offensively, the guys have done a really, really great job. And now it’s just ironing out all the little details so we are all on the same page and really clean.”
(On if he wonders if his work in the spring will translate to training camp) “You have to have confidence in the work you’ve put in and how you prepared yourself. I think that’s what gives you confidence is knowing that you are prepared. I know that I’m prepared mentally, physically, all those things, had a really great offseason, had a great spring with these guys. Then it is just building every day. Like I said, it’s not really even about how you look on day one, obviously, you want to look great, but it’s about how you get better every day. When September comes and we’re playing in Washington, how we look on that day is most important. So just building into that point. I feel like we’re in a great spot. I’m happy with where we’re at. But like I said before, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
(On what he is most excited about) “A lot of things, honestly. I’d say just the amount of playmakers we have everywhere. And we have a lot of speed, a lot of talent, really two deep at pretty much every position. You see that we got we got a few more young guys to this year that we can bring along and we brought in some older guys just help boost his offense. We look good, we’re really explosive, we are making plays. And like we talked about guys are just knowing their assignments, knowing their adjustments, I feel like it’s been really clean for the first week of camp. You are having a lot more things to teach off of. And we still have plenty, but I’d say just the little things, feeling the zones on certain routes, all those things, the guys are doing a great job. We are trying to just keep adding to that.” (On how OL Luke Fortner has been) “Luke has been great. It’s interesting, I think, I think Luke’s two years older than me and he’s a rookie this year. It’s funny seeing some of these guys come in that are older than me. He’s been awesome, really smart guy, really athletic, moves well. I think just the jump that he’s made from the spring to camp has been huge. In the spring, he was still trying to figure it all out and working on you know, getting some of the calls, learning the system, all those things. Then when he’s here for camp now he looks great, really sharp directing the guys up front. It helps having Shatley who’s done it for shoot whatever, eight or nine years now by his side to help them through that and [Brandon]
Scherff on the other side. He’s got guys to help him. But really to see him take ownership of that and really leading up front has been cool to see. I think we got a ton of potential there to build off of and really excited to just keep working.”
(On knowing the entire offense) “Like every offense, there’s little things that you just learn and deeper and deeper every time you go through something like little nuances based on certain coverages certain checks, so it gets to where you install it one way. And these are all your options versus all the different coverages. This is where we see the ball going, obviously, it’s not 100%, it could go somewhere else versus that coverage. But then you get to the point where it all opens up. And it’s like, okay, this is also something you could check to, if you don’t like this look, and you see you have a matchup here, and then it goes off of that. It’s always evolving. Really, you have to figure out what you like what your guys do well, and kind of meet in the middle on that. That’s what is cool about camp, working through all those things. When you see it come together, you have a play and you check it and it works just like you you’re both thinking, that is the cool part.”
(On if learning the offense is something that continues to evolve) “Oh, yeah, for sure. Every week I mean, every week, there’s things that are added, you know, you present something one way that looks like something you did the week before two weeks before then you change one thing about it. It’s just always evolving.”
(On RB Travis Etienne Jr. and if their chemistry is there because they played together collegiately) “I think we’re in sync. You know, we were able to throw a little bit this offseason when he was in town and we’re able to get together. We have always had a good little relationship between us two. That is something that we didn’t lose. So we still have that and honestly just glad to have him back. He’s a big playmaker and just seeing him you know, working himself back you can see him starting to flash more and more every day. I’m just excited. I think you know, when September comes he’s going to be hitting his stride.”
(On how RB Travis Etienne Jr. looks compared to the past) “Honestly, I think he looks like he’s in better shape than I thought he was of our last year at Clemson. I mean, obviously he was great, played great, all that. He was fine. But I think right now like he looks, his body looks great. I think he’s running really well. He’s picking up the offense, done a great job, and protections, all the all those things that we’re asking him to do. He’s done a great job.”
(On RB Travis Etienne Jr. using his towel) “Every time we are in the huddle, he comes up and is drying his hands off on my towel even though he has one. That’s why he said that. He has done that for four years now.”
(On if it is annoying RB Travis Etienne Jr. uses his towel) “It does not bother me. I just have to switch out my towel more often than normal.”
(On the benefit of having conversations with players during camp on plays) “It’s big. I mean, there’s so many, like I said, there’s so many different things you can do each play, each route, versus every different coverage. You just need to talk about it when it’s fresh on your brain. He did this, a lot of people throw the ball here, maybe we completed it, but I was thinking something different. Or he wanted to come out of the route differently. Just being able to talk about it right when it happens, then, you know, we got our iPads out here. We can even look at it now directly on the field. So that was nice having today. Just keeping that dialogue going. Same thing in meetings, grabbing those guys and talking to them about the routes and kind of what we’re expecting is at the end of the day, we’re the ones you know, playing on the field. You got to know what to expect from each other.”
(On how great the Jaguars defense looks) “Yeah, I mean, I’ll start off our defense looks great. I think it’s awesome how many looks they give us. In one practice, you’ll see 12 or 15 different coverages and they change everything and they bring all these different pressures. So just having that those reps in practice
to where every play protection only you’re going to be challenged and you’re going to have to try to figure it out on the on the fly. I think that’s a great for our offense, especially having a rookie center up front to see all that now and then to just our demons as a bunch of playmakers. You look at the guys on the edge – the guys inside. Our backers are super athletic and we don’t even have Devin going full speed again. Yeah, he’ll be back soon. So you look at all that and then on the back end, Tyson and Shaq and Rayshawn and Cisco and all these guys. On offense, we are like two deep everywhere and just to look at the depth that we’ve built compared to last year is really cool to see and I just think guys are playing well flying around. You can see it’s starting to click more and more both sides of the ball and it’s getting really competitive, which is fun.”
