Monday, August 19, 2019
(On if they intend on playing starters on the defensive side of the ball against Miami) “Yeah. I think that we look forward to seeing how they’ve progressed. They’ve gotten a lot of reps in practice, but it’s going to be a different speed, a different tempo. Obviously, we’ve game planned a little bit, so we get to go see how well they’re retaining the information and making the adjustments during the game. So, it’ll be nice to see them out on the grass. How much they’re going to be out there obviously I don’t know, but it will be nice to have them on the grass again.”
(On if he notices Breon Borders making strides on defense) “Yeah. During OTAs and minicamp, you guys were here, and at times he had some ups and downs, but I think he’s really developed some consistency in his game and he’s making a lot of plays. So, as long as you don’t notice a corner, good things are happening, and we’re not really noticing BB [Breon Borders], so I think he’s really stepped up his play as of late.”
(On if players have a predetermined amount of reps they will receive in a game) “For us, we have certain things we want certain guys to do within the game plan, and certain guys are on pitch counts. So, when they’re in there, there’s going to be calls maybe not made normally in that situation, but we want to make a call with them and stuff like that. So, some things are going to be game planned just while the starters are in there and some times only when certain guys are in there. And then as we go through the game, we’ll calm it down and that kind of stuff. But some guys are on pitch counts and some of the starters are not.”
(On if the defense playing well will factor into how long the starters play) “I think if we go out and we play well obviously they don’t need as many snaps as if things don’t go well, but we have a set number that we have for everybody right now and we’ll see how it goes during the game. But yeah, if you’re playing well, then obviously we feel good about it, let’s go over and drink some Gatorade and make sure everybody’s healthy.”
(On what he’s seen from Taven Bryan) “I think it’s helped moving Taven just to one spot. He does move outside in our heavy package versus big people, but he’s staying at one spot. I think you can start to see his skill development at that position being developed and it’s going to be a big game, this one and the next one, for Taven so we can continue to see him develop. But he’s making strides and I think it’s helped having him at the one position.”
(On if Calais Campbell has made comments about the smart approach to training camp this year) “Calais hasn’t been practicing a lot. We get him in on the situations that he needs, that we feel he needs to be in on. But he hasn’t said, ‘Hey, this has been an easy camp,’ and that kind of stuff. I know the last couple of weeks it has not been easy for him, especially our starting unit, how we’re working the heck out of them in practice to make sure that their conditioning level is where it needs to be for the opener. But he hasn’t mentioned that this has been an easy camp for him.”
(On if there’s a balance between keeping players conditioned and resting veteran players) “Yeah, we have to get in to these games healthy. That’s the most important thing, and I think that goes for every team in the NFL. But it’s important that they continue to work on their conditioning level, and like we said, they take long series in practice and we gauge how well that they’re doing at the end of the series. Because we’re going to have some eight-, 10-, 12- play drives during the season and our starters have to be able to play that many in a row, so we practice that and then we’ve judged where they’re at conditioning level wise and it’s going to continue to get better all the way up to the opener.”
(On if Jalen Ramsey ever asks for more opportunities to blitz) “Yes. I think Jalen wants an opportunity around the football at all times. There are some things that we could possibly do within our package, but he knows that we are going to do what’s best for our unit, the whole unit and for our team to be successful.”
(On if there is a position group that is going to be difficult to make a final decision on in terms of cutting down to 53 players) “I think we have some really good depth at defensive line and in our secondary, but it’s been built that way for years, especially up front. I think [General Manager] Dave [Caldwell] and Tom [Coughlin] have done a really nice job of making sure we have the guys up front to run our package. Once you get into the secondary, we have had some younger players really step up. For me personally, it was a little bit of a concern where our depth was in the back end coming into training camp and we’ve had some young guys really step up that we are very pleased with. Even some of the guys that were not here a year ago have played well. There are going to be some tough decisions. Thank goodness that is above my pay scale. We are going to have some tough positions in those two spots.”
(On if there are some battles that have been fun to watch) “We’ve got some great depth up front, so I think watching those battles and some of those veterans that we brought in, seeing how they’ve matured. Our younger guys have matured. Up front, I think there are going to be some real tough decisions because there are some good football players there.”
(On if he liked that Jarrod Wilson wanted to play in Week 2 of the preseason) “For me personally, if they want to play and how much they want to play … I think a lot of them are chomping at the bit right now defensively. They want to get out there. They are tired of standing on the sidelines. For him, he wanted to get out there. He hasn’t had a lot of starting experience in the past, so he got out there. He got his feet wet and played well. We just wanted to make sure we got him out of the game when he was ready to go.”
(On what he likes about Najee Goode) “Obviously his veteran presence. He has been through the wars before out there on Sunday. He adjusts well in our schemes. He’s athletic enough to run our scheme. I think at linebacker you have to be able to run and Najee can run and he’s picked it up quick mentally. That’s the good part about bringing in a vet that has played for years. He’s been in different systems. Maybe early on, the verbiage kind of not confused him, but slowed him down where now he’s transferred his old system into our system verbiage wise and you can really see him start to take off. He has the ability to play two different positions, which at the linebacker spot, that’s huge to have as many multi-position players as you possibly can.”
(On if the team has enough at SAM linebacker) “There are guys at the linebacker spot that we have been cross-training throughout OTAs and training camp and stuff like that. We feel like we have what we need at that position and there is flexibility with other guys on our football team.”
