| August 17, 2020 Opening statement: “Hope everyone is well – good seeing everybody today. Ready to get this thing rolling, so it was good to have a practice. We’re off and running. It actually feels like training camp, which is nice. I’m just going to kind of open it up. I know you guys are all working hard. Again, I appreciate everybody being flexible with the schedule. I think if everybody’s OK with it – we’re just trying to figure out the best time for everybody. I know you guys are working hard and just trying to figure out our schedule here too. Things are a little bit different because of the meeting room space and where we are in the different parts of the building and stuff like that. So I just appreciate everybody being a little bit patient with that, and hopefully we’ll get it worked out to what works best for everyone.” On what a guy like OL Jonah Jackson has to show him in the classroom to earn first-team reps in practice: “It’s a really good question. We’ve actually been able to have some walkthroughs, I would say, previous to being on the field here today per Phase 2 and through Phase 1, some different things that we’ve been able to do. Some of those other guys have actually been in there. It’s just kind of how the rotation was going and maybe some of the different looks that we had that Jonah was out there today from that standpoint. Just in general with Jonah, I would say, he is a guy that is very mature, he studies extremely hard, nothing really kind of fazes him. I think even just the move from Rutgers to Ohio State is something where he’s handled transition before. So for him this is just another transition into a new team and trying to learn everybody really quick. So I think he’s done a really good job with that stuff. Certainly there’s a lot to work on from the practice here today: fundamentals and techniques and speed and size of some of the guys that were out there. Some of that was moving pretty quick for them. Really, Oday (Aboushi) and Kenny (Wiggins) and those guys have been working through there previous to getting out there today, so it’s kind of just a rotational thing that wound up being the first day of pads.” On if WR Kenny Golladay is the kind of player and person he wants to keep around: “Yeah, Kenny – he’s an unbelievable guy. He’s great, obviously super talented and does amazing things for us on the football field; he works really hard. I just absolutely loved his growth over the last couple years of just handling more responsibility, more notoriety from a standpoint of defenses knowing – he’s not going to sneak up on anybody that’s for sure – and just seeing the different coverages and his development there has been really awesome. So from that standpoint, Kenny and I have a great relationship. I love working with him every day, and we’ll take it day-by-day as it goes. Hopefully everything goes the way we want it to, but he’s certainly a great guy, great part of this team that we really enjoy him here.” On why he is taking it slow with CB Jeff Okudah and what he has seen from him thus far: “Great question. I think honestly a lot of the rookies, and that’s why the Jonah (Jackson) question is a little but interesting, a lot of the rookies we’re trying to take it slow with. There’s a lot of information that they have to learn and certainly from a standpoint of being on the field for the first time in an NFL practice with pads on, there’s definitely just a lot coming at those guys from different directions. Always, you know how I am with the whole ‘starters’ thing, like I don’t know who our starters are. We had Day 1 of pads. I’m pretty sure Matthew Stafford – I’m good there. The rest of that stuff we’ll have to figure it out. I think just to give – really, honestly, Amani (Oruwariye) has been out there working really hard too, and Justin Coleman and obviously (Desmond) Trufant. Actually, we have a lot of great guys, talented players out there that are going to go compete, and we’ll see what shakes out. But certainly from that standpoint, Jeff is working really hard and he’s trying to do everything that we want him to. He’s learning our system, which is great, and competing. We’ll probably rotate that as we go through too and some different looks, different packages and certainly, really today was the first shot of our early-down stuff. We’ve done some red-area stuff previously but took a look at that, and we’ll get the third down here towards the end of the week. So we’ll see how those packages shake out.” On how good it felt to see the guys practice with pads on for the first time: “You hit it right on the head. I think I said that to the team after practice. I was like, ‘Man, like, how good was that?’ I mean, just to be able to go out there in equipment and play the game that we love so much and to hear the game. I mean, that was probably one of my favorite things about it. Certainly as you work up in the different levels of football and coaching and playing, but getting into the NFL, I distinctly remember the noise, the difference of the noise between the NFL and the college game and what it sounded like – from the pads to the communication, the players, all of it. We just missed it. That was the biggest thing for all of us. We said, ‘Thank goodness we’re out here,’ because I think everyone just really missed being in equipment, being in pads, playing the game you love. The sound was great today. I mean, that was awesome.” On what he likes about TE T.J. Hockenson entering his second season: “Really good question and obviously, T.J., great guy, does everything we want him to do. I’m glad you guys got a chance to talk to him today and hopefully you felt you know, maybe a little bit of that, kind of just excited to be out on the football field again from him. He loves the game of football. He’s a simple guy, just wants to go out and play ball and block and catch and you know, be a tight end. Those guys are a little bit different anyways. I think you can hopefully feel that from him, his excitement from that today. I think knowing T.J., last year and kind of where he was in the Draft and all that, there’s a lot of pressure. It’s a lot of pressure for a first-year guy, and certainly – you know, come out the gates with a great game and then just a little bit, up and down, the injuries and all the rest of it. I think for him he just feels like, ‘OK, you know what, I’m settled in. It’s the second year. Let me see if I can just try to get better. Let me see if I can improve and let’s just go have some fun. So, it’s good to see that. You can really tell on his face. Certainly, you know, his hair looks good. So, he’s ready to roll.” On what areas the team needs to show improvement finishing this year and Hockenson’ s reference to “dagger time”: “I think it’s obviously just in regards to finishing and things like that, we can take a look at last year – you know, you like to dive into the stats, you don’t like to live in them. But certainly, I think they do say a lot for us and where we need to improve. I think we had quite a few games last year where we were winning and had a chance to win and we didn’t, and quite a few games where we were actually leading in the fourth quarter. We need to close those outs. I think that’s a common theme in the game of football, but something for us that we can certainly look at last year and say, ‘If we can make these improvements, and maybe do a couple things better here in those situations, you know, we can close those out better,’ I think that would really help everything overall.” On how CB Amani Oruwariye has improved from what he has seen thus far: “I mean, honestly, Amani’s done a great job of coming in and just picking up where I think he left off. Physically, he’s got some amazing tools. He’s quick. He’s long. He can play physical. Certainly, I think he was trying to learn. It was a little bit of a different coverage scheme, I would say from what he had in college to what we were trying to do, and get out and be a little bit more aggressive at the line of scrimmage. So, as he progressed through that last year, I think at the end of the year when he had those opportunities, he made some really good plays. And I think you can see kind of his quickness in transition when he would come back to the ball, he had a nice interception there and a couple pass breakups. For me right now, I just feel like being out on the field, you know obviously the first day of pads it was a little bit different, but his movement skills are really good, and I think he’s starting to maybe open up the game a little bit in his vision. I think when you come in as a corner, as a young corner, it’s very narrow. You’re very concerned with your alignment, your matchup, your guy, your player, your coverage. And then as the corners go because they are kind of so on an island out there, the more comfortable they get, they actually start to look at the rest of the field. It’s just a whole different position. It’s how you see the field. You see it outside in. Most of the players on the field see it inside out. And I think he’s starting to be able to do that a little bit more and have a little bit more of awareness of what’s around him, which hopefully will make him play faster and put him in a position to make more plays.” On if he would consider rotating players on the interior offensive line in-game similar to 2019: “I guess, it really just depends on your comfort level. I think there’s most other teams that feel that, you know, you just want to have your five starting offensive linemen out there and you want them to work and rep and see things through the same set of eyes, which I always say. You know, probably for last year for all of us and myself included, working with Jeff Davidson and Hank (Fraley, offensive line coach), we talk about rotating and our position was a little bit unusual, but honestly, not new. Not new to me either. That’s something that I have experienced before in the game of football. I think it’s something that we did earlier, I think it’s something that we liked and really kind of in the long run helped us with our situation that we had because of some injuries and gave some guys some good reps going forward. I would say it’s not really a set-in stone plan that, ‘Hey, we’re going to do it this way, or that way.’ We just want to really get some competition right now and see what it looks like from that standpoint.” On why G Beau Benzschawel, TE Matt Sokol and DT Kevin Strong did not practice: “I mean they just weren’t at practice. I’m not going to dive into injuries or anything like that or any of those details. I expect those guys to be back out there as soon as they can.” On what LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin can bring to the defense and what he’s seen out of him: “He’s made tremendous strides for us, I would say, let’s just go back to the end of last season. I think one of the things he really was able to do toward the end of the season was kind of go and take command of the defense, be able to get the calls out, the communication, turn around and recognize the offense, make sure we get the tight end call, look at the backfield set, get in run stunts then get into the coverage and identify all that. There’s a lot that goes on for a linebacker, and I thought that at the beginning of the year to the end of the year, he made huge strides with that from the mental standpoint of the game. Really, going into camp right now, and it’s obviously on a limited basis, but just starting with special teams, we have obviously the changeover in some things special teams-wise and really from some fundamental technique stuff that we’re doing that he has handled tremendously. It’s been really awesome to watch him get some of the footwork that we’re doing down and really be able to use that and teach off of it. He just continues to grow as a player and I would say one of the things that’s great, and this transfers into defense – the game seems to just be slowing down for him a little bit. It doesn’t seem that there’s too many people moving and then the game is going by too fast. I see that he just kind of recognizes a lot more and he plays with a lot more patience right now. He made a really nice play today on defense, too. It was a run play, (he) recognized it, and stacked it, came back into it. Really kind of pushed the ball where he wanted to go with it and that was a very encouraging thing where he actually saw the big picture of all of it, and then was able to fit in it, not just understand what his job was in that scheme. He really kind of felt all of it. That’s great. The more guys we can have out there and do those and find roles for, that certainly helps us.” On if LB Jamie Collins Sr.’s experience in this scheme allows the team to give reps to different players: “I would say that the offseason is a little bit different and we’re trying to get everybody out there and get those reps, and certainly, veteran players like Jamie, they want those reps. They want their looks. From that standpoint, guys get out there and they’re like, ‘Hey, I need these reps. Let me get my reps so I know that I’m good,’ even though they may know the scheme, or they may know the system or they may be comfortable. They’re still professional and they still want as much as they can get to. I would say that Jamie being kind of in the foundation of some of the stuff that we did a bunch of years ago, there’s a lot of different conversations that he and I have. We’re like, ‘Hey, do you remember this, what do you think about that? Do you think this will work here? Hey, watch these young guys do this, coach them up here, what do you think this looks like from that standpoint?” So, it’s really helpful for me to have that back and forth conversation with someone that’s been in this scheme for a long time. Like I said, it’s so early and because of the offseason being different, I think everyone, they want to maximize as many reps as they can.” On if he was pleased with today’s first padded practice: “Yeah, I really thought it was a really competitive day, which was very pleasing for me. We talked yesterday about the fact that we’re four weeks out – from yesterday – before we get to the first game. I do feel a little bit of that, ‘Oh man, we’ve got to go. We’ve got to get all this stuff in, and we’ve got to get rolling.’ And then we wake up this morning and we’re going to go out for a 90-minute practice because that’s all we’re allowed to do. You’re just trying to scheme it and put it together, so it moves as fast as possible and I thought the team really answered that bell. I told them this morning, ‘Look, it’s 90 (minutes). That’s all it is, it’s 90 minutes. We’ve got to get on and off the field, and we’ve got to do everything at a high level. We don’t have a lot of time to redo anything.’ And I thought they just totally responded to that. So, that was good to see on my end. I thought the guys were trying to transition and huddle from drill to drill, and then really try to be competitive in those drills. We’ve got a lot of great tape that we’ve got to get corrected and certainly, fundamentals, we’ve got a long way to go. I could probably still be out there for another six hours just working on fundamentals, pad-level and hand placement and footwork. I’m just excited to see guys trying to do it right. Now, the key will be tomorrow to go be able to go out and improve what we did today and make it better. That will be important.” |
