HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2023
(On status of DT DaVon Hamilton) “I just want to give a quick update on DaVon, which I know you’re
going to ask. He’s doing extremely well. Obviously, it’s a non-football-related injury. He’s doing
extremely well, and our doctor said that he could be back in our building as early as next week, so we’re
happy for that.”
(On if he trusts DT DaVon Hamilton enough to take his regular role when he’s clear) “As a veteran
player, you know what he can do. It’s been unfortunate with the issues he’s been dealing with, not
getting the reps, but I wouldn’t have any problem with that. It would be more about where he is
physically at the time.”
(On health status of OL Cooper Hodges) “Cooper’s going to be out this week, obviously. There’s going to
be some time missed. I don’t know how much time, but it just depends on the healing process.”
(On if OL Cooper Hodges needs surgery) “No surgery, no.”
(On if OL Cooper Hodges will be placed on IR) “That’s a real possibility heading into the regular season.
Possibly, yes.”
(On the timeline of OL Josh Wells) “I don’t like to get into timetables with players. Everybody heals
differently, but he’s another one that’s going to miss some time.”
(On if it he agrees with Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor in wanting to see clean operation from the
offense) “I agree with that. The clean operation—you want the starters to go in there, and you
remember what happened in the Dallas game. First series, and we turned the ball over. You don’t want
that. You want them to go in there and execute the offense. We still don’t gameplan these games. We
just want to execute our plays and get the starters working together for a number of snaps. Try to
eliminate mistakes; try to eliminate errors; things like that. Try to play a clean football game, at least for
the first half.”
(On what factors are taken into account when looking into final roster spots) “There are a few things you
look at. How well they attack the day as far as practice goes. Attentive in meetings. Can they play
through a little injury in practice and games? Do they take themselves out because of a little hiccup in
their body or something like that? It’s more than just the games, right? We can evaluate that; that’s the
easy part. Sometimes, it’s the off-the-field stuff that we look at. Can a player be trusted? At the end of
the day, you’re down to 53, 48 on gameday, and you go play. You’ve got to be able to count on those 48
guys, that they’re going to be there on Sunday.”
(On if his mind is made up for a lot of the roster at this point) “Trevor, [QB Trevor Lawrence], I’m pretty
good. Everybody else… No, you kind of have your starters penciled in, so you kind of know those guys.
It’s just evaluating some of the younger guys and the role guys. Special teams becomes an important
factor there. This is a big game because if Miami comes out and wants to play their starters, which I’m
anticipating them doing, I want to see some of our younger players go against starting-caliber players in
this league. That’s another way of evaluating the roster that you have.”
(On how he balances looking at rookie potential versus what he knows he will get from veterans) “That’s
the thing that you can appreciate with where we are, having a roster with the amount of people that
came back from last year on both sides of the ball. As an example, if it’s Tyson Campbell [CB Tyson
Campbell], for instance, we know who Tyson is, but I want to see Buster [CB Montaric Brown], and I
want to see him out there. I know who Tre [CB Tre Herndon] is, but I want to see more Greg Junior [CB
Greogry Junior]. Chad Muma [LB Chad Muma], for instance, I know who Chad is. We’ve seen him play.
Now, I want to see Ventrell [LB Ventrell Miller]. I want to see those other guys play. All those things that
you kind of have the luxury as a staff to make those decisions, especially in this last game.”
(On if CB Gregory Junior will get more reps during the Miami game versus CB Tre Herndon) “It’s kind of a
fine line with those two. Both those guys are good players. They’ve had good camps, and we want to see
them both in there. Not necessarily on a rotating basis, but maybe a couple of series and get the next
guy in, a couple of series and get the next guy in. So, we can make an evaluation there, but both guys
are having a really good camp, and we’re excited for where they are.”
(On where he sees progress with QB Trevor Lawrence and the offense) “I just think with these guys,
especially in the skill room, and with Evan [TE Evan Engram] missing the entire offseason program, I just
think that they really picked up where they left off a year ago. Going into year two, just the growth and
development of those guys. I’ve said this before, we’re not teaching plays we’re teaching fundamentals,
we’re working on their skillsets and helping them become better football players to take that next step
as a team. Those are the things that I think this training camp really has emerged on both sides of the
ball. We have all 11 guys on defense that are coming back, basically. The communication, the execution,
those are all things that have been more on point this year.”
(On if he sees the offense getting better at starting faster) “Obviously, you won’t really know that until
week one. But there is a sense of urgency to do that, to start games faster on both sides of the ball.
Defensively, you’ve seen what we’ve done the last couple of weeks. They’ve done a nice job of getting
off the field early in the game. Those are just things that have to carry over into the regular season. I
think we’ve done a nice job in the way we’ve started practices in training camp. I think that’s important
to how you start games.”
(On where OL Cooper Hodges stands on the injured reserve list) “Not really going to get into all of that.
He’s going to miss some time.”
(On who the swing tackle is on offense) “It’s a little bit, I don’t want to say it’s up in the air, but Hance [OL
Blake Hance] is probably that guy. We got to see where Bartch [OL Ben Bartch] and Shatley [OL Tyler
Shatley] pan out, see where Josh [OL Josh Wells] is at with his health. Right now, if this were Week 1, it
would be Blake.”
(On if S Antonio Johnson will be healthy to start the season) “Close, close. Those hamstrings are funny,
everybody heals a little bit differently.”
(On if enough has been seen from S Antonio Johnson to move forward with him) “I think so. I feel
comfortable with what he’s done defensively and on special teams. I think he’s done enough, you’d love
to see him out there but it’s just unfortunate.”
(On if any players come to mind through his coaching career of having a good preseason to make the
team) “We had, not here, I’m trying to think even in Philly when I was there. I know in Kansas City we
had a young receiver that made it on special teams. He actually ended up, Albert Wilson [Miami
Dolphins WR Albert Wilson] was his name, and he ended up making our roster. He was on special teams,
a little slot receiver, special teams guy, and made our team. Eventually, he went on to have a really good
NFL career. It just goes to show you that anything is possible with these guys if they continue to work
hard and focus on their job and get better and not worry about the length of the line they’re in and how
many guys are in front of them because he was one of those players that really made the most of his
opportunity.”
(On the type of training camp CB Tyson Campbell had) “Tyson’s been really good, really good. He had a
really good camp. Another one that’s a young player that picked up where he left off a year ago and just
continues to improve. I think, too, the addition of Calvin [WR Calvin Ridley] challenging him and Darious
[CB Darious Williams]. You see it in practice, they really enjoyed the competition. Calvin goes one
hundred miles an hour, you guys have seen that. It really pushes those two corners to be great and it’s
just improved their game. Tyson is in a good spot heading into the regular season.”
(On what this time of preseason was like when he was a player) “Early in my career, it was very stressful.
You knew you only had a few days left and back then of course we had four preseason games so, make
this the fourth game, you just didn’t know how much time you were going to get in that game to really
showcase yourself. For me, it was just a matter of making the most of the opportunity, not forcing the
issue or anything like that. Just going out and executing the offense, find the open receiver, make the
right checks, whatever it might be. I think the older I got in the league, the coaches kind of understand
what you can do and trust you as a player. I didn’t play much in those last couple of preseason games,
because we let the younger guys play. That’s kind of where we are right now, we understand the Tyson
Campbell’s [CB Tyson Campbell] and guys of that nature who we know are on the team. Now, we want to
see these younger guys play and make the most of their opportunity and see what they can do.”
(On if it’s a fine line for the remaining roster spots) “It gets real fine. It really boils down to special teams.
That’s the third element to our team. Again, my message has always been, you may not be the starter on
offense or defense, but you’re a starter on special teams. You need to embrace that role, especially if
you’re a new rookie whether you’re drafted or undrafted. A second-year player, whatever it might be,
that’s kind of your niche to make our roster. It gets a little finer, the more depth you have on your team.
It does get harder for those guys to break in.”
(On difficulty of trimming the roster due to offensive and defensive line injuries) “If these injuries were
going to happen, you’d love for them to be at the beginning of camp and now they’re getting healthy.
We’ve got some time this week and next week, then we do have to make decisions fairly early next
week. It’s just the nature of the business. We will sit down as a staff with Trent [General Manager Trent
Baalke] and his staff and go through and talk about everybody and come away with a final 53. As you
know, too, once you get into the regular season, it’s still changing. Your roster is changing, practice squad
is changing, all that. It might take a few weeks before you’re really settled in on your guys.”
(On his feelings towards cutting players as part of his job) “I never really appreciated this part of it. You
disrupt the lives of guys that have been busting their tail for six weeks plus the offseason. It’s a tough
time. I just tell the guys all the time, you’re competing for our roster, but there’s 31 other rosters that are
watching you, too. It may be the end of the line here, but it’s not the end of the line on another team so
put your best foot forward.”
(On anticipating more time on the waiver wire due to injury situations) “That’s a real possibility. Again, it
all depends on how our guys respond to treatments and healing and what we perceive as their
timetables. That all factors into this, so we’ll take a look at it and see if someone is available to help you
out whether it’s short term or long term.”
