HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024
(On what he needs to see from the team through OTAs) “Stay healthy. This next phase, it’s good to be
able to have a little competition and compete against each other but within the rules we’ve got to make
sure we protect each other. Just don’t want any injuries. We’re still teaching, learning and developing so I
don’t really go into it with a lot of depth charts in mind. We’re trying to get everybody an opportunity to
put them on film and see what we do have.”
(On if there are any joint practices planned) “Tampa Bay, Week 2.”
(On if there are any changes to OTAs because of the new coaching staff) “No, same schedule. You’re
within a six-hour window. So we try to cram a lot into those six hours.”
(On how WR Christian Kirk has looked) “He looks healthy, he looks strong. No setbacks with him so, he’s
right on track doing everything. He looks really good.”
(On how important WR Christian Kirk is to the wide receiver room) “It’s huge. You know, veteran
leadership in every room is key, especially in that one because we do have some young players in there.”
(On if he wants to have a reduced workload from RB Travis Etienne Jr. this year) “Yeah, it’s hard to put
necessarily a rep count on it but you do want to keep him as healthy as you can throughout the season.
That’s why, we’ve talked about this too as a staff and myself, making sure Tank [RB Tank Bigsby] gets
opportunities to get out there and take some of the pounding off of Travis. Again, just taking another
step, year three with us in the offense and just seeing his growth. I think there’s more out there that he
can get yard wise. It’ll definitely be an emphasis utilizing him more so in the run game and making sure
that those yards that are there that we’re doing the right things, we’re hitting the right holes, we’re
anticipating defenders and blocking schemes and all that kind of stuff. Then being able to take the wear
and tear off him with Tank.”
(On what he has learned about the professionalism of OL Mitch Morse) “Again, just a veteran leader,
someone who brings a lot of experience in that position and to that group. Been really good with Luke
[OL Luke Fortner]. Those two have been working extremely close obviously and Mitch has been a great
resource for Luke and it’s been good. That’s what you want to see out of veteran players, same with [OL]
Brandon Scherff. He’s another one with some of the young offensive lineman that we do have.”
(On if the Bye Week is further out than he would’ve liked) “Well, maybe by a week or two, but it’s in a
good position. Other than the one Monday night game, all Sunday games. You get into a rhythm and a
flow that way, but somewhere in there you do like the Thursday, even though we don’t have one. You
like that Thursday is kind of a mini-Bye. But look, it’s a great schedule for us, looking forward to
competing and seeing what happens.”
(On if OL Cooper Hodges accomplished what he needed to for recovery this past season) “His health is
good, he’s got to continue to get stronger as we know but he’s doing some great things out there. This
next phase will be critical. It’s not so much the physicality of phase three but just the mental part of
phase three and understanding our offense again and getting back in it. He’s in a good spot but we’ve got
to continue to see the growth with him.”
(On how he would evaluate the last 12 months for DT DaVon Hamilton) “Much different, more like 22
than like 23 with him. The old DaVon is back and he’s got great energy through phase one and two. He’s
excited to be back on the field, I think he’s excited for his health as well. We all know that was a scary
deal that he went through. But he’s really worked hard to put himself in this position and just looking
forward to great things and for him to get back to his old self he was a couple of years ago.”
(On what it’s like seeing him back to 2022 DT DaVon Hamilton) “It’s great. For me, it’s great to just see
him out there and smiling and being around his teammates. He’s one of those great leaders in that
room, but I think more so on the team as well. He’s a guy that doesn’t say a whole lot but he does it
more through example and how he works. That’s what’s good to see right now with him back on the
field.”
(On when he will get an idea that guys from the 2023 draft class are ready to take that next step in their
careers) “Well they’re going to get an opportunity now, through phase three, and again through training
camp. But some of those guys did some good things this past year for us and we’ve got to continue with
the growth and development. Each year is like starting over. The competition starts over and everything
else. That really starts here in these next three and half weeks or so.”
(On if he feels like it’s a big deal that QB Trever Lawrence figures out his contract situation before the
start of the year) “I think it’s part of the business but obviously the sooner you get it done, it’s behind
everybody and now we focus on football. So, that’s not lingering and that’s not out there. I know Trent
[GM Trent Baalke] and his agent they’ve continued to talk and will talk. They’re working hard and
tirelessly. I’ve just got to coach Trevor, coach football, and hopefully it gets done and it will.”
(On if it matters which game is home or away in London) “I mean it’s London right? We’re away. So, it’s
obviously taking a game away from Jacksonville, but we do have a great fan base there. So, it does feel
like a home game when you’re at Wembley but as far as when we play it doesn’t matter.”
(On if the team gets to stay at the same place for both weeks in London this year) “I think we are this
year. I think we are, yeah. That’s makes a difference, we don’t have to move.”
(On his expectation for QB Trevor Lawrence this time of year) “Well this time of year obviously the
leadership, veteran guy, guys are going to look up to him. How well he incorporates some of the young
players that we do have, that we’re working with and developing. Brian [WR Brian Thomas Jr.] being one
of them now. Working with Mitch [OL Mitch Morse], working with Luke [OL Luke Fortner], all these guys.
Getting time with Gabe [WR Gabe Davis] and just getting comfortable there but I think just the
leadership part of leading this football team and really embracing that this time of year. That carries over
to camp.”
(On how WR Brian Thomas Jr. looked last week) “He looked good. Really a smart guy, the things that
we’ve introduced to him well he’s picked up well, he’s been able to retain it, recall it and it looks smooth
on the field. We’re going to continue to work and there’s some things we’ve got to work with that he
didn’t see in college defensively, that he’s going to see here in the NFL so well continue to work with him
on that. Again, just the amount of time he and Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] have throwing. I think Gabe
[WR Gabe Davis] is in that same boat. They’ve all got to get on the same page.”
(On if WR Gabe Davis is still limited) “Yes. Gabe had a child over the weekend so he’ll be out today and
tomorrow. He’s still dealing with that.”
(On how many guys he’s going to hold back at practice) “Obviously we had the guys that had the surgery
at the end of the season. [S] Andre Cisco had the shoulder, Anton [OL Anton Harrison], [QB] C.J.
Beathard, but he’ll be fine, we don’t hit the quarterbacks. He’ll be fine to do everything. Lorenzo [RB
Lorenzo Lingard] the new running back. He’s another one that’s limited with a shoulder coming out of
college. Gabe’s [WR Gabe Davis] another one that’s going to be limited. You’ll see them today, they’ll be
in an orange or red jersey. We’ve just got to limit the contact. We just don’t want any setbacks this time
of year.”
(On his impressions of defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen) “Yeah, gosh he’s an outstanding guy with the
staff. Defensively, just getting those guys prepared and introducing his scheme and his philosophy to the
defense and then preparing the players. What I’ve seen during phase two, there’s a lot of teaching and
coaching going on that these guys need. I think just the way that he approaches each day as just a
learning opportunity and a teaching moment. I’ll tell you this, now he loves mixing it up with the players.
He’ll get in there and demonstrate an individual drill or fall on a loose ball fumble, whatever it might be
he doesn’t mind getting dirty so that’s pretty cool.”
(On how LB Devin Lloyd’s offseason has been and what the next step for him) “I think Devin’s had a
really good offseason. Obviously, year three, new system so how fast can he learn it. But I think too,
seeing himself on film, just continuing to get better and improving. You’re seeing that out of him. The
challenge for all those guys really on defense is just the terminology. Just picking up the new scheme
and Devin has done a nice job in phase two. What I’ve seen just watching him out there and talking to
Matt House [inside linebackers coach] and listening to him talk. Devin’s in a good place.”
(On how OLB Josh Allen is getting ready for the season) “More of what he’s done, trains out in Arizona.
He was here for the first couple of weeks, which was great to have him around, have him around his
teammates. The one thing that I don’t worry about is Josh knows Josh. He knows how to get himself
prepared and ready and he always comes back in shape and ready to go. So, he’s done it and it’s a time
for him to really get healthy and fresh and be ready to go.”
(On where OL Walker Little will line up this year) “I think he’s got a great opportunity to compete and
see where we’re at. We’re blessed to have three tackles like we do and of course [OL] Blake Hance can
play and the guys that filled in for us last year did a great job. But I think for Walker’s case it’s a great
opportunity to really compete, challenge and push. That’s the kind of the message to the guys is, you
can’t get comfortable. If you feel like you’re a starter you can’t get comfortable because there’s another
guy that’s pushing you. Again, depth charts don’t matter this time of year, as much as continuing to
improve.”
(On if he expects OL Javon Foster to play tackle this year or guard) “For right now with the numbers we
have, keep him in one position. Let him learn that and then progress slowly as we go.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR RYAN NIELSEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024
(On his early impressions of CB Tyson Campbell) “Good. We’re excited about him. Heck of an athlete.
There’s nothing he can’t do, athletically. Really a smart player, and picked our stuff up. Our guys have
done a great job of teaching him, fundamentals, technique, and then how he can operate within the
scheme. Obviously, we haven’t played any plays yet, today’s day one. So, we’ll go out and evaluate him
again but we’re excited about him.”
(On how quickly you can tell if the classroom work is carrying out to the field) “We’ll find out today. We’ll
evaluate where we’re at with it. We’ve kept it base installations in things that we’ve done so far. Give the
guys an opportunity to line, assign, get their eyes right, and then respond once the ball is snapped. So,
they’re some things that we’re focused on today. Obviously, they’re no pads so it’s hard to evaluate in
terms of making plays and things like that but we want guys pre-snap, down in stances, communication,
things like that. Important things that we can really practice. Then we’re not getting around the
quarterback, we’re not making tackles and things like that. So, we want to be in a good football position,
we want to make it look like football, be in the right spots, and evaluate from there. Then, have really a
good opportunity to grow every day. That’s really what we’re looking for, growing in all of those areas.”
(On his opinion of LB Ventrell Miller and if he’s seen enough to evaluate what kind of contribution he can
make) “So, yes. But I think that it’s universal. It’s the whole defense, it’s every player. That’s kind of
where we’re at right now. We told the guys this morning, ‘there’s no depth chart.’ You’re going to get
your reps out there. So, for Ventrell, it’s what he does with his opportunity and that’s going to be what’s
important. So, what are we looking for? Just like we talked about, the pre-snap, the stance, the
communication, the adjustments. But again, we don’t have pads on so we’ll evaluate as much as we
possibly can. No one’s making the team today, that’s not why we’re out there. We want to just get better
as a unit individually, position groups, things like that. Then get everybody as good as we possibly can
going into camp, when the pads get put on, preseason games, and this is a long process. But so far so
good.”
(On if he likes what he’s hearing and seeing in his meetings with LB Ventrell Miller) “Yes, yeah
absolutely.”
(On his impressions of LB Devin Lloyd so far) “Yeah, all good. Excited about our linebacker group. They’re
doing a really good job of communicating. We’ve got some really good leadership in that position.
What’s really important is, we haven’t aligned just a couple of times against the offense. So, we’ve done
a lot of self-work together in just their communication part, how they’re handling it, and him as well,
break the huddle, get guys in line, making the proper calls; it’s been good. Today will be another good
test because we’re actually going to be able to respond post-snap. So, we’ll take that evaluation but
excited about the player, he’s doing a really good job. Here’s a guy who loves football, he’s around all the
time. He can’t get enough of it. So as a coach, you’re like, ‘This is awesome’. So, we’ll take today and then
we’ll work on it tomorrow.”
(On what position LB Devin Lloyd and OLB Yasir Abdullah play in his scheme) “Again, they’re linebackers
and where we play them, we put them this part of the year and a couple of weeks into camp, we have an
idea. We have a really good idea but we’re still in the process of moving guys around. The more you can
do. I think you can play a lot of years in this league if you can do more jobs. So we don’t want to just
pigeon-hole guys right now. Now there are certain guys on our defense that are going to play a certain
position. [DT] DaVon Hamilton, he’s going to play defensive tackle, we know that right? But there are
some of these guys that can play two or three positions. We’re going to put them at these different
positions in OTAs because it’s a great opportunity to see what guys can do. Then as we see their job and
if they can do certain jobs then we’ll start to fine-tune a package more for their skillset. But look, we’re
going to be on the ball and off the ball at the linebacker position. So, if you’re out there today, they’ll be
moving around. Mike, Will, Sam, all over the place. I’m excited, I really am excited about it and I think our
staff is really excited about that position group because we’ve got a lot of good players in our defense.
But guys can do a lot of different jobs.”
(On if he is still putting pieces together in the secondary) “Yes. Here’s kind of where we’re at with it is the
depth chart. There is none right now. So, you’re going to see a bunch of different combinations when
you’re out there because we want to see guys lineup safety, corner, and nickel. We want to see them line
up at all of these different positions and give everybody an opportunity as we go through the OTA
practices. It’s really important to see the growth, what they can handle, playing different alignments,
techniques, and positions. Pressure blitzing, covering, fitting the run game, things like that. In the
secondary we’ve got really good depth, we’ll see how it goes out there. But really, play one today and
play eight’s going to be a totally different group of guys out there. We want to see what the guys can do.
That’s what this part of the year is. See how much they can handle, alignments, assignments, and the
techniques that they’re using. We’re excited. It’s awesome, it’s day one. It goes by fast, but guys have
done a really good job up until this point.”
(On how important his ties to coach Ed Orgeron and coach Pete Jenkins were when evaluating DL
Maason Smith and DL Jordan Jefferson) “There were some phone calls being made to those guys for
sure. Look, everything that they said was exactly who these guys are in terms of character, the type of
people that they are, they love football, really good guys and practice hard. They’re out there going as
hard as they possibly can. We’re excited about him, so the future is bright for those guys.”
(On if he sees S Darnell Savage as a versatile weapon lining up at both nickel and a safety) “Just like you
said, he’s aligning at nickel, at safety. In a pinch, he can run so we can put him in some man coverage
situations. So, he’s a great guy to have. Really happy that our front office, Trent [General Manager Trent
Baalke], and those guys, brought him in. The guy has been fantastic in terms of just being around,
learning the system, where does he fit in? So today he’ll be all over the place, which is fun. Really looking
forward to getting out there with him and see where he’s at and go from there.”
(On how much S Darnell Savage moved around in Green Bay) “Yeah, we looked at the athlete, the type of
player that he was and then the positions that he was playing. But, a little bit different system but felt
that he can really fit what we’re doing here and have success.”
(On OLB Josh Allen mentioning that it’s important for the best player to line up on the inside or outside
and if he can explain that) “Yeah, it’s just matchups. Like it’s a matchup game right? So we want to have
the best matchups for our guys to have success. So, we’ll manipulate the front, covers, and things that
we’re doing to put our guys in the best matchups for them and then ultimately play our best defense and
win games. So, it’ll always be designed around winning. Football, a lot of it is a one-on-one game.
Another thing to that is we don’t want him [OLB Josh Allen] just to be on the right side and they know
he’s right here all the time and they can chip or put a tight end to his side and take what he does away.
Then we got to beat two guys to get to the quarterback. So if we move him, it makes him a little bit
harder for an offense to find out and identify where he’s at every snap.”
(On how intriguing it is to coach a guy like DE Myles Cole) “Yeah when you grind the tape on him, he’s
made some plays now. You’ve just got to grind through it a little bit and find out but we’re excited about
him, the measurables and things like that. But what he was doing on his tape is very similar to the
defensive end position that we like. So, when you take those measurables and some of the things on the
tape, ‘yep’. He’s a young guy that’s got to learn, just like all the rookies but we’re excited about his
growth. He’s been really good in terms of putting the extra time in right now. He’s done a good job of
being in the right spots on the field. So, today’s his first day against NFL offensive lineman so we’ll see.”
(On what you call his position) “Just defensive end. We can move guys all around. Sometimes you’re
going to see three ends, they’re so many multiple things that you can do with guys like that. You can
never have enough good players right? So, take all those guys, like we were talking about, the matchups.
Whose got the best matchups in terms of the offensive line, third down, things like that.”
(On General Manager Trent Baalke saying Coach Nielsen banged the table for DL Myles Cole) “Really
Mario Jeberaeel [assistant outside linebackers coach] and Bill Shuey [outside linebackers coach], had him
in their set and those guys actually came and said, ‘hey, let’s take a look at this guy’. So, the credit goes
to them. Those are the guys that really get the credit. We started watching the tape and were like, ‘This
guys got a chance now’. He’s measurable, we like that type of player, and he can run. He’s a really good
athlete for a guy that big. But yeah, Bill and Mario, they’re the ones that did it and I’m like, ‘yeah I see it’.
So you’re fired up and we had a conversation about it but yeah they did a good job finding him.”
(On OLB Trevis Gipson competing for reps behind OLB Josh Allen and OLB Travon Walker) “Experience.
He has history with coach Shuey [outside linebackers coach Bill Shuey]. Coach Shuey was really big on
bringing him, ‘Hey take a look at this guy. I have some history with him’. Within what we do, he fits the
mold. Haven’t played a play yet but excited about what we’ve seen on the tape. He’s a tireless worker,
intelligent player, I think he’s got a bright future.”
