DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR RYAN NIELSEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2024
(On what is most important in his defensive unit) “Good question. First of all, kind of the overview of
everything, is we want to be attacking and aggressive in everything that we do. How we fit the run, how
we atack blocks, how we play in coverage, we want to be a forward, leaning, forward running, going
forward defense. You’re going to say, ‘Well, what about the secondary and back peddling?’ But, when we
make our break, we’re coming out of that break to go hit you. That’s kind of the two things everyday that
the players come in, we want to stress. There’s some fundamental things, tackling, takeaways, ball
disruption and pursuit. That’s what we’re going to be about: tackling, takeaways, ball disruption. You
have to be a good tackling defense to be a good defense. Takeaways are the number one way to limit
points. Ball disruption is making the offense play not on time. We’re taking away a running lane or
making a ball bounce or disrupting the quarterback. Then, pursuit, keeping the ball inside, proper angles,
running and hitting. That’s what we’re going to be about, that’s what we’re going to stress. That’ll be the
first thing we talk about with the guys before we even start talking scheme or stance or anything like
that. We’ll start it, that’ll be our foundation and we’ll go from there.”
(On what made Jacksonville an attractive landing spot for him) “A lot of things. Really, when you start
looking at an opportunity, you look at the people in the building. You look at the head coach. Coach
Pederson [Head Coach Doug Pederson], I did not know him personally before this, but you do your
research. You talk to people that have worked with him and know him. I was fortunate to be on a staff
that had a coach that had worked for Coach Pederson before. He said some unbelievable things about
him. Then, you start calling around, just a couple of guys. You want to check and it’s so important that
you work with good people and we’re so close in this thing. We spend so many hours a day away from
our families with these men in here. You want to be around good people. That was the first thing. Then,
Trent [General Manager Trent Baalke], you hear the same things. You start working your way down, Mr.
[Shad] Khan, the owner, what’s the organization about? How is the owner? I didn’t know that they built
the facility. Then, you start doing the roster research and you know a litle bit. But then, as you start
digging into this thing, you’re like, ‘you know what? This is a great place. This is a place we want to bring
our family to and be a part of. This is a place we want to help take the next step.’ When we looked at the
whole package and everything that was going on, there was no doubt this is where we wanted to be.”
(On being at Disney World with his family when he was messaged by the team) “Yeah, so the first time
the slip came in, it was denied. That’s a whole other story, but that’s a good story. We decided that we
had a little time off and they were going through their process and interviewing and things like that, so
we took the family down to Disney World. We were on the Small World. Eventually, got granted
permission for the slip. So, we’re sitting on this ride, I got my kids and my wife is on the other end. We
just sat down on the boat and I got the text from Coach Pederson [Head Coach Doug Pederson], saying,
‘Hey Ryan, it’s Coach and we’d like to talk to you.’ That type of deal. I looked at my wife and I was like,
‘How long is this going to be? I got to make a call!’ You don’t realize how long, I can’t remember the last
time I was on Small World, but it seemed about a half an hour that ride. Eventually, we got off and it
worked out. But yes, that’s how it all [happened]. We were down there and it was really easy, came up
for the interview and went from there. It was pretty interesting how it all worked out.”
(On who some of his mentors are) “Played and worked for Ed Orgeron, he was a huge influence. Pete
Jenkins, defensive line coach for a long time. I have to give some credit to Pete Carroll, my senior year at
USC, he was the head coach. There’s been coaches and players over the years, there’s so many people
that you’d want to mention one way or another but have been very blessed in that I’ve been around
Monte Kiffin and Norm Chow, Alex Gibbs. All these guys over the years, when I was a younger coach, I
really didn’t understand at the time, I was so young, all the knowledge that when we were at Ole Miss
and these guys were coming in. Orgeron was the head coach and it was just a football education. Until
years later, you went back in your notes and you’re like, ‘Man, you’re very fortunate to be in a place at
that time.’ I wish we could’ve won a few more games, but just for the football wise and for the football
IQ. But really, even with Arthur Smith last year, Sean Payton in New Orleans, you pick and bring things
that you like from everybody. I learned a lot from those guys, Sean was huge in the first opportunity in
coaching in the NFL. I would be remiss to not to mention him. I could go on and on, that could be an
hour conversation, but that’s kind of where the foundation is.”
(On first impressions of the defensive roster) “I think they were talented. We’ve got a talented group.
We’ve got some really good players and that’s what was exciting and attracted us to the job here. Talent
only gets you so far, so we’re really excited to get to work with these guys. They seem very eager, you try
to reach out with introductions, just hello and how are you doing, introduce yourself and things like that
and the staff. The guys seem very eager and to get going. Obviously, the season just ended and we need
a break. We’re just getting going here staff wise, so this is a good time. It is a really good time to start
building relationships, which is really huge in what we do. It’s about relationships and people. This is a
great time that a couple of these guys are coming up, hey coach, introduce them and put a face with a
name and things like that. It’s been very positive.”
(On if he has any thoughts on how he wants to use OLB Travon Walker) “Here’s our philosophy with the
players, we’re going to put the player in a position that he can have success first, over the scheme. We’re
going to evaluate everything that he does well, then if he can rush inside, we’ll put him inside. If he’s a
better outside rusher, we’ll keep him outside. Yes, we’ve evaluated those things, but 10 snaps is not
enough to say that yes, he can do that, or he can’t do that. We’ll identify that once we get to OTAs, the
process is never-ending. We’ll put our guys in the best positions for them to have success and ultimately,
we will have success on defense and as a team.”
(On difference in molding himself to the team after coming from New Orleans and Atlanta) “That was a
great process. That was a really good process, first the collaboration with the coaches we had brought in
Atlanta and we got in there and it was one of my favorite times coaching in that we threw up a template
and said, ‘Hey, this is what’s been done before, let’s make it us.’ That’s the process we’re going through
right now. All the coaches are having input on what we’re doing, so it’s all of our defense. That’s a really
cool process, and we’ve studied the roster in that we have a pretty good idea of where we’ll start with
our players and some of the techniques we’d like to teach them. Then, we’ll start moving them around to
see what else they can do well. That process we just did, we’re kind of doing it again. Some similarities
and some differences, but the ultimate is that this is going to be Jacksonville’s defense. This is going to be
our defense in Jacksonville. Our players, our coaches, our staff. That type of deal. It’s not any place that
anybody has been, it’s a collaborative effort of all of ours together and that’s what you’ll see on
Sundays.”
(On what the defensive scheme is with man-to-man coverage) “We like to, as one of our coaches would
like to say, ‘Nothing cheap and nothing deep.’ When you’re press, you take away the quick game and we
like to play shell which when you look at us, we take away the deep throws. It may look man or man-ish
at times, but sometimes there’s press bail and somet nuances in the coverage of that’s actually a zone
with tighter coverage on the outside. It’s actually good that you see it like that because if we’re viewed
like that, then we drop into zone and it could be advantageous for us on defense. We’re going to be
mixing and matching, we’re going to be playing different coverages and mix and match our coverages.
Again, that’s what we did then and it may be different now. That’s what the process of what we’re going
through with the players. We definitely have everything in there, we know what we’re starting with,
what’s it going to look like in the end. The new coaches and the new players together, we want to do
what’s best for everybody.”
(On what the team still needs) “Like we talked about in the very beginning, we want to be an attacking
and aggressive style of defense that runs to the ball, that goes and hunts the ball, just put the pressure
on the offense. That’s what we feel like we could bring, that’s just a style that we want to play. We feel
that when we talk to Coach Pederson [Head Coach Doug Pederson] and complements what we’re doing
on offense and it would be very complementary to the other side of the ball and get them the ball as
much as possible. Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence], they’ve got a lot of talent over there and they’re very
good. We just want to do our job and get the ball back to them as many times as possible. When we do
that, we’ll win a lot of games. Really, just keep giving the ball back to the offense in good field positions
and it will be good in the end.”
(On how far along he is with putting together his defensive staff) “We have the pieces in place. It will be
announced here soon. I will say this, I’m excited about the guys, I’ve worked with some of them, haven’t
worked with others. Coached a few, so it’s a great group of guys that I’ve been very close to. I know that
first and foremost, good men. Secondly, really good teachers of the game. When you put those two
things together, they’re eager and excited. We see a lot of similarities.”
(On if he sensed the players are eager to get back) “Yeah, I think so. They need a break, so that’s kind of
the process now. When you talk to them, they seem very eager, asking good questions, what are we
going to be about, things like that. You’re kind of gearing the conversation more towards the relationship
part and really breaking the ice and getting to know them than x’s and o’s stuff, which we’ll have plenty
of time to get to once OTAs and the guys come back around and things like that. I don’t want to start
with that, we have plenty of time for that later. It’s more about their families and things like that, we’re
they’re from and talking to them, really getting to know each other.”
(On what he learned about the team offensively when facing them last season) “We’ll start with the
quarterback [QB Trevor Lawrence]. The guy is a really good football player; big, athletic, he can make all
the throws. He runs well, physical offensive line, skilled in the receiver position, tight end runs well, heck
of a couple of backs. When you put it all together, as we were looking, that’s one of the pieces and why
we wanted to come down here and be a part of this, they’ve got some talent over there and really good
players. Like we were talking about earlier, let’s just give them the ball back as many times as we can.”
(On importance of being a good teacher for the players) “It’s very important. First of all, it’s
fundamentals and technique, then scheme. Putting it together and we wanted men that are very
talented in both aspects and bringing that together. Also, part of that is the relationship part. Players got
to trust in what we’re saying and teaching and coaching. A lot of these guys have background of that, so
when our players come in, they’ll be like, ‘This guy has done it and this is the system in how we go about
teaching things.’ I think they’re really going to like that with all of the coaches in the room. I personally
am very excited about the group of men we’re working with and getting our players and starting this
thing. The best time is on the grass with the players and so you can only be so excited. I’d go out there
right now if I could. But really excited about that process and can’t wait for that to get going.”
(On core principles he believes in getting off the field on third down) “Rush and coverage. We have to be
multiple, the first thing we have to do is affect the quarterback in that we can’t allow the ball to come
out of his hand quickly, then the rush doesn’t get there. If the coverage has holes in it or give an easy
throw, it doesn’t matter who we’ve got coming off the edge. We’ve got a couple of good edge guys here.
We have to get the quarterback to hold it, disguise as big, we’ve got multiple packages on third downs so
we change week to week or maybe we don’t, so keep them guessing. Really big early in the game, we try
to go out there and they’re trying to identify what we’re doing on third down, then go from there. Not,
‘Hey, we’re going to be in this look and every single time we’re going to be able to make this throw.’
We’ve got to be multiple and keep changing. They’re just too good on offense, the quarterbacks are too
good, offensive coordinators, there’s so many guys over there that can identify. That’s what we’ve got to
keep it multiple and keep changing up the looks.”
(On what he knows about OLB Josh Allen) “A lot of production, very important. When you’ve got a guy
like that, you want him back and think that’s going to work out. I’d be really excited if that works out.
Really excited to work with him, heard nothing but great things. I talked to Josh and he’s been fantastic.
That’ll get worked out, get him back and get him going, hopefully get him to improve. That’s the ultimate
goal, if we can just get that much better next year, what does that look like? That’s pretty exciting. That’s
what we want to work towards.”
