OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2024
(On if padded practices are when it gets real) “It amps it up a little bit. I wouldn’t say real. I
mean, real is full go, tackle to the ground, everything’s in play, and that’s not necessarily
something we’re going to do. Even when we have our live periods, it’s still Jags on Jags. We
tell our guys it’s competitive, but it’s not combative. We’re not going to take blow-up shots
on our guys. They’re not going to do it to our guys. There’s still an element that is not what’s
going to happen come September, Week 1, when it all starts up. But there’s certainly
another intensity, and that’s what you want to see from both sides as it gets going with pads
on.”
(On how much he finds out about the offensive line during padded practices) “I think yeah. I
think you gain more information. I mean, you’re starting to establish an identity, at least of
what you want to be and what you hope to see. And really, all we hope throughout camp is
that every day, we’re improving on the things we try to put our intentions towards. There’s a
goal every single day, whether it’s the type of period we had, the situations we script in it,
the plays we’re trying to run, the looks we’re trying to see from the defense, anything like
that. We just want to continue to grow in that. Then you want to see your individual period
carry over to the half-pod groups to the team reps and see if that grows every day.”
(On how the process of QB Trevor Lawrence taking over the offense has gone and if the
playbook has adjusted accordingly) “No, I mean, I think it ebbs and flows every single year
to where we’d like to do this and then we either never get the looks for it, we just don’t
invest the time, there’s some reason that keeps us from it, or we just weren’t as good as we
thought would be at something or a certain player, maybe not. So, there are things that are
always kind of changing every single year. Our offense is not the same as it was two years
ago. It’s not the same as it was last year. It won’t be the same come Week 12 as we get
rolling. There’s a constant evolution, I think, with your skill set, what you’re really good at,
the looks presented to you. But as far as Trevor’s ownership, it’s more just mastering the
little details of things. Why do we like a certain look? And it may be he checked to a play
that threw the ball to the flat because that’s going to get us a quick completion to a ball
carrier in an advantageous situation. Or maybe it was a bad situation for us. We had a bad
play on, we had a bad look and the best thing for us right there with the time permitted was
to spit the ball to the flat and get somebody going. There’s little things like that. Then as we
continue to build and grow and evolve and everybody gets on the same page, it may be we
have a run call, they line up in a look that we just know is not right and he gets us to
something completely different. Sometimes that’s the best call for us. Sometimes it’s
getting out of a bad call. Those are the things you want to see from your quarterbacks.”
(On when he expects a quarterback to master their system) “I think everybody’s kind of on
their own journey and where they are. I think you see a lot of quarterbacks now in this
league from late 20s, early 30s, really start to master their position and really get really,
really good in their system and what they do. There are certain guys where it’s kind of—
[former NFL QB] Peyton Manning, wherever he went, Indy, Denver, it was Peyton Manning’s
offense. Then, [New York Jets QB] Aaron Rodgers, you kind of see that with these great
ones, the offense kind of goes with them. This is what they know really well. Now, that
doesn’t mean you’re not going to introduce new things, have new ideas and concepts,
things like that. But I mean, there’s guys like that, that this is kind of the offense they run,
how they do it, how they operate and you let them go when they’re really rolling like that.”
(On the competition and depth in the wide receiver room) “Those guys are all doing a great
job and it’s good to see. Devin [WR Devin Duvernay], we feel like Devin’s going to have a role
on this team as a returner. So, getting him mixed in and whether it’s inside out, all the
different ways you can use a guy like that because odds are he’s going to have a jersey on
game day. So, how do we use all the people that are available to us? Getting him mixed in
there, and then seeing Parker [WR Parker Washington], Elijah [WR Elijah Cooks], Tim [WR
Tim Jones], [WR] Seth Williams, Cephus [WR Joshua Cephus], all these guys competing for
this spot. Scates [WR Joseph Scates] has made a couple of plays in the last couple of days.
All these guys just competing. That’s all you want to see. We’re very intentional with what
we’re trying to do, with what we envision a role being for these people in the red zone or
third down or in the run game. Then special teams periods are critical for those guys. So,
it’s hard for those guys at times because you’re going from seven-on-seven, where you’re
competing your butt off to special teams. All of a sudden, you’re in team reps and you’ve
got to block defensive ends and toss crack schemes. But that’s what comes with the job.
That’s how you earn jobs around here. You want to develop that trust in them, that they
know what they’re doing and they can do it, and then really see that skill set flourish. As you
look at the back end, a lot of it is special teams value and then trust. Can we trust you to go
in and play the slot, the outside, whatever, based on what happens in a game? Because
that’s typically how game day goes for us.”
(On if WR Brian Thomas Jr. has practiced well the last couple of days) “Yeah, I think we’ve
seen from the day he got here, he’s gotten better every single day. And that’s all we’re
looking forward to. I mean, we don’t need him ready to play Week 1 today. We need him
ready to play Week 1 in Week 1. So, we just want to continue to see little bits of growth
every single day with him with his understanding, with the way he plays, the physicality he’s
seeing from our DB groups. He’s getting challenged. He’s getting challenged physically.
He’s getting challenged mentally. So far, every day he’s gotten a little bit better. And that’s
what we just want to continue to focus on with him and all our guys as well.”
(On what he’s seen from WR Gabe Davis so far) “Yeah, I think you can see him do a lot of
different things. He’s been involved in the run game in terms of blocking first level, second
level. You’ve seen him over the middle a couple of times in the last couple of days. That’s
where you like to see that big body presence rolling through the middle of the field there
whether it was a third down or just a backside reset concept. I think he’s going to have a
role as an outside receiver in contested catch situations, obviously, down-the-field
situations as those things start to permit themselves. Sometimes it’s hard to get those
situations. Our defense plays certain coverages that we want to install certain concepts to
get them installed in the offense, get everybody comfortable with it. But it takes time to
research them, to get into it against the looks we want in practice when we’re in
competitive situations. Sometimes we’re installing a lot of stuff in a walkthrough that we
may not get the rep for a few days out here.”
(On if he sees QB Mac Jones as a little brother) “I think that’s a good way to describe it.
What I love about Mac is that Mac loves football. He loves playing football, he loves talking
football, which I think I’m very similar in that way. We have a good rapport in that sense.
Mac’s always having a good time, always talking. We talked about that before, so I’ve got no
problem talking. We like to chirp back and forth every once in a while. So, it’s fun. It’s fun
being in his headset, being able to talk to him and kind of rev him a little bit that you may
not see or hear, and he gives it right back. I think we just have a good time competing and
talking football.”
(On how much more production the team can get from RB Travis Etienne Jr.) “Yeah. He’s
been very productive in the two years he’s played for us. I think too, a guy like Travis—I
would never put a ceiling on what he’s capable of. He’s got a skill set as a receiving running
back. I think there’s going to be growth in his understanding of the run game and what we’re
trying to accomplish. I think we can put him in a lot of good situations to be able to
maximize his value to our offense.”
(On RB Tank Bigsby’s readiness to take on a heavier load this season) “I think so. I mean,
just his understanding of the offense, the way things flow, what the expectations are when
he comes in the game. So yeah, certainly. I think Tank had a lot of unlucky situations last
year. The first game of the year, he had a play that I’m sure was a teach-tape across the
league of picking up a ball that he thought was a dead ball and it getting punched out. I
mean, there are just some things that I guarantee you anybody that was in the room the
next day will never have that situation happen to them again in our offense or our team
because it was a coaching situation. But we trust Tank and we talked about this at the end
of last year that Tank is just going to continue to get better like we talked about Brian or our
other young guys every single day. Obviously, it’s going to come down to producing on the
field to really, really develop that trust across the unit, but we like where Tank is heading.”
(On low-profile players on offense that are standing out to him) “I mean, I don’t know what
you guys deem ‘notoriety’ or not, but [TE] Shawn Bowman is a guy that the day he got here,
we didn’t know a whole lot about Shawn, honestly. But the day Shawn’s got here, he does
things right. He does it the right way. He tries to be physical. He’s where he’s supposed to
be. But he’s a guy that—I don’t know that there were a lot of expectations on Shawn
Bowman. I don’t know where this is going to go for him as it moves forward, but he’s a guy
that just continued—when you ask that question, he’s the first name that popped in mind
of a guy that probably didn’t have a lot of notoriety but just does things the right way. It’s fun
to coach when a guy does that.”
(On how TE Josiah Deguara has performed in camp) “He’s another guy that just does the
right thing. He’s in the right spot, doing it the right way, and he was a good acquisition for
the room. I mean, he’s got experience playing in this league. He’s been in some similar
systems in some way, shape or form, but just finds a way to get things done and be
productive out there in his opportunities.”
(On having conversations with Head Coach Doug Pederson and offensive players during
practice) “Well, as an entire staff, I think we’re always involved in communicating with our
players, getting feedback from them. We talked about that the other day of asking them
why they did certain things. What are they seeing out there? What do they like? How do they
like to do certain things? So that’s always part of it. I think we need to be in constant
communication. And then, as far as Doug and I, there’s a lot you probably don’t see
because it’s not always out on the field. But in here every single day, we’re all working side-
by-side. But yeah, I think communication is the most critical thing, especially as an
offense. We always tell our guys we just want 11 people running the exact same play,
seeing it the exact same way. IDing who the frontside point is, how we’re blocking a certain
look. As long as we do that, whether it’s right or wrong if we have 11 guys on the same page,
we’ve got a very good chance to be successful.”
(On if this is the hardest roster for an undrafted free agent to crack since he’s been here) “I
think it’s certainly a very talented roster. I would agree with that. I don’t know, I think every
situation is different. Every guy, whatever their opportunities may be, you never want
injuries to happen, but injuries happen. That presents opportunities for other people. I
think, at least on the coaching side of it, you want it to be a meritocracy where if you play
the best, you get the most opportunities and you get a chance to contribute to this roster. I
think we’ve done a good job of giving guys that opportunity where you get a chance to
compete and if you earn more reps, you’ll get more reps. That’s just kind of the way it goes
and it gives everybody an opportunity to build the best team possible.”
RB TRAVIS ETIENNE JR.
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2024
(On Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor revamping the run game) “I feel like just a whole
revamp, just the way that they’ve kind of been installing. The way he’s kind of emphasizing
more of the run game, making it our identity, really putting a lot more focus on coming off the
ball and just being disciplined, and being a physical football team.”
(On his reaction to his Madden ‘25 rating) “I feel great, man, because I remember my first time,
when I first got here, I was a 78. I was kind of just anxious to get that up, and then I got injured.
The next year, I was a 78 again, so it’s been a long way from that 78. I just had that 90 as a
starting point. It was a great feeling as a competitor, as a running back, and just wanting to
continue to get better, continue to just do what I can do, be the best player for myself and for
the team. It’s going to work out well for me.”
(On if he thinks anyone is ever satisfied with their Madden ‘25 rating) “I mean, if you were a 99.
That’s the only way you’re truly happy with your Madden rating.”
(On practicing with pads on and the physicality level) “I feel like it’s a lot better because I feel
like the defense is always physical. They’re over-physical whenever you don’t have pads. When
you do have pads, it’s able to just define a lot more for you. I maybe like to deliver a little blow,
and it not even just a tag on me and say I’m down. They really have got to kind of wrap up and
really just try to bring me to the ground.”
(On RB Tank Bigsby having more edge this year) “I wouldn’t say edge. I would say he’s a lot more
smooth. He’s a lot more confident. He’s not as antsy as he was last year. I feel like you could just
kind of tell he’s getting his swagger behind his pads. I feel like I love that for him, because he’s
going to be a vital part for us to be able to just be a great team.”
(On his assessment of the younger running backs) “I feel like the ability to learn, the ability to
pick up. I feel like they all are physical. I feel like they all want to run behind their pads. But I feel
like they’ve just got to learn the NFL and learn that you can’t just bounce everything. Everyone’s
got speed. Everyone’s fast. You have to just kind of just get vertical. Get what the defense gives
you and let’s get the next down.”
(On empathizing with Bigsby as he transitions from his rookie season) “Yeah, most definitely
because I feel like you had to understand whenever you’re coming from college to the NFL,
you’re used to being the guy—the big guy on campus. Then when you get to NFL, it’s kind of like
being that freshman all over again. No one really cares who you are. No one really knows who
you are. You’ve got to kind of just rebrand yourself. I feel like last year was a kind of learning
curve because he was always the guy at Auburn since he came in. He never really had a guy like
me in the running back room with him. For him to just understand that, he has to just lock in
and do his part. I feel like he really learned and I could just tell just the way that he’s been just
approaching the game. I feel like Coach Mack [Running Backs Coach Jerry Mack] has been
helping him a lot, just getting his IQ so much more further along. You can see in his play, he’s
making a lot of plays out there on the field for us. Just the way he’s been reading, just the way
he’s been hitting the hole. Just him catching the ball, looking the ball in. I feel like it’s night-and-
day for him, what he was last year.”
(On distributing the workload between him and Bigsby) “Most definitely. I mean, anytime you
can have two guys out there just being who they are as players, that’s really great for the team. I
just think about [Detroit Lions RB] Jahmyr Gibbs, [Lions RB] David Montgomery. Both guys in the
same system going over 1,000 yards and I feel like, why can’t that be us? I feel like it’s only going
to help the team be so much better. When I come out of the game, Tank still brings a threat. I
feel like it’s going to continue to just help prepare us further. Whenever we’re so much further
down the line, week 17, I don’t really have all that beat up on my body. Tank’s really been
helping me. I feel like it’ll just help us be fresher for a long time. It really extends the longevity
of my career.”
(On if QB Trevor Lawrence is the same guy he was when the two were at Clemson) “Yeah, most
definitely. That’s what I love about Trev. I feel like nothing much really changed. I feel like he’s
still the same humble guy that he’s been being. I feel like all that he has, everything he can have
worldly, I feel like it never changed who he was in his heart. I feel like that’s why guys out here
are just able to go out there and just play for him because I feel like he’s a great guy, a great
person. I feel like he’s going to be a great father, so I feel like I just love to just be with him. I feel
like that’s why we’re able to go out there and just get behind him through the ups and downs
and be able to keep pushing forward.”
(On the impact of Lawrence’s contract extension in the locker room) “I feel like that was great. I
feel like it just kind of those are shows that here, that the higher-ups wanted us to be here. I feel
like they kind of see the improvements that we’ve made around here. They kind of just kind of
wanted to just give back and keep the core together. I feel like, just keep doing what we’re
doing, we have a real chance to win a Super Bowl.”
(On his expectations for himself and the team this year) “I’m expecting to have an unbelievable
year. I feel like I want to go out there and just be the best player that I can be for the team. I feel
like week-in and week-out, just being healthy. I feel like for me, health is wealth. I’m able to go
out there and just present a mismatch. I just really want to see coach just kind of exploit those
and mismatches more this year. I feel like that’s going to help us be much better. I feel like they
kind of get me more involved here in the passing game. That’s going to take my game to
another level because I feel like I’ve always been electric with the ball in my hand just handing it
off. Just giving me the ball and the space, it’s going to be so much more crucial because I feel
like the first guy is never going to tackle me. Not just being out there, one-on-one in the backer,
I’m going to make a miss every time. That’s going to just help our receivers get up so much
more, just help the defense so much more. Just help the run game. Just going to just turn the
offense to a whole new level.”
(On acquiring Georgia Football gear) “I do have an Etienne [Georgia RB Trevor Etienne] jersey: a
black one. I got the black one with the little red. My mom asked me what I was going to wear to
the game, so I was kind of thinking just put my brother’s jersey on with a Clemson hat. I’m still
conflicted about that so we’re going to see.”
(On Travon Walker and Tyson Campell’s excitement to see him in Georgia gear) “They’re already
excited. Tyson asked me if I wanted to make a bet. I’m like, man, heck no. I’ve got to ride with
my little brother. So he tried to get a free one on me.”
(On the suggestion that he should wear his own Clemson jersey to the game) “I should. I will,
but they didn’t even retire my jersey yet, so it isn’t even my jersey no more. They moved on
from me.”
(On being a leader and what leadership looks like to him) “Just being there for the guys. Just
being a shoulder that they could lean on. Me just kind of just being the old-head of the room
now, you know, year four. I’ve got a lot of experience under my belt. Just being there for them
whenever they have questions, whenever they need something. Just reaching out and seeing
how they’re feeling outside of football, and just checking on them. Just make sure they’re
mentally right because this is a very physical sport, and I feel like if you don’t have your mental
together, it don’t matter. You won’t be who you are as a person. You won’t be who you are as a
player. I feel like just checking on them from a mental standpoint is really going to just help
them move much forward and just understand that it’s OK to be vulnerable. We all hurt. We’ve
all got weaknesses and we all need to get better. Just kind of making those guys feel
comfortable in the room that way they don’t have to try to hide, try to not be who they are. Just
let them feel vulnerable, make it a safe space for them to come out here and be open, talk to
us. We know what going on with everybody in the room.”
