Opening Statement:
"Well, I wanna start you off with a couple player updates as we begin. So, our first one [C] Nick Allegretti, strained [his] calf. We're still going through the evaluation process. Not something that we're overly concerned about in terms of a long deal, but I think I'll know a little bit more through the weekend and [WR] Trey Burks reported a little bit of soreness in his foot. We'll hold him out this morning and re-assess him headed into the weekend. But again, something that we're not looking at as a long-term one. Some things I liked from yesterday as we got going onto the first day. The red zone work right off the bat. I liked how that felt right off the space to get into a competition. We did a two-point play competition. Came back, hit some more end of the game or end of the half moments. I thought the conditioning was key for these guys coming in to say, when we left, to say we're not playing our way into shape. It has to be already there to keep working your skills hard. So, today's a big redzone day. At practice, you're gonna see almost the entirety of the day there. Decision making happens quicker, decisiveness to go, the throws are quicker, the matches are quicker. And so, I'll look forward to doing that, and that'll be the big emphasis yesterday and today. And then as we get into next week, there'll be days that we'll be down in the red zone, other days not. So glad to get it rocking with you guys today."
On how he plans to measure success on both sides of the ball:
"Yeah, it's definitely like some KPIs [key performance indicators] for practice that we're trying to find, every day. And so, some of it might just be as small as like ball security to speeds that we're trying to work, to the execution of plays. Sometimes, it might even go down to against zone, what's completion versus man, and how are things going into that space, knowing that, like, in zone defense, there's gonna be more completions in front, but offensively those should generally be higher on those kind of days. So, it goes back and forth for sure for about, I don't know, a good 10 days or so where this can be an emphasis, that could be an emphasis. But timing over and over, that's what we're going through. And so, new set of plays, new installs. But it definitely goes back and forth. That's why I like kinda having the competition's good, where you can keep score, see where you're at."
*On why they started using GoPros: *"Just honestly, it came through the spring to say, 'Is there an advantage we can find doing it?' And so, we knew some other clubs had tried it, and so we thought this would be something to explore and see where it goes. And we liked it. So, at first, the team, the individual work, it was not quite enough. And way back in the offseason, we tried even, like some meta glasses to see what that would look like, to turn them on and off. I think if you wanna just dig in and try and say, 'What part of practice is it good? Why wouldn't we use it?' And then one of the hidden benefits we found was the communication piece with it. And that was, like one of those things, an unintended good consequence came from that. And so, I wouldn't say it's not like, as the top of the list in terms of where we do the film, but we try to edit those into the same practice cuts. So, this view, the second view, the third view, and then just for the QBs, they can add that part."
On if QB Jayden Daniels watches film from each play and evaluates it post-practice:
"Yeah, and that's true for the entire group. Yeah. And so, you wanna ask what was the intent of the play? Did we make the right check? Did we go to the right location? And so, that could be at any of the number of spots. So yeah, you wanna evaluate what specific things you wanna nail for tomorrow. I loved yesterday, our quarterbacks being outside the pocket remaining passers, knowing that that's one of our emphasis to have explosive plays down the field. So, we were intentional about that when we're getting outside, just the scramble drills and down the field throws. So, that would've been, like one small example of from the quarterback room of something we were trying to emphasize and, like, saw it come to life day one."
On what he gets out of being between the offensive and defensive sides on the sideline:
"Sometimes I wanna see the eyes of the defense of its zone to see where they're looking. So, if they have vision of the quarterback, I wanna make sure I am seeing where their eyes are from another standpoint. Sometimes I wanna see it from the offensive perspective to say where I'm the center, I'm the quarterback, I'm seeing spacing, I'm seeing timing. And that's really where I can also see the accuracy, you know, like balls thrown on the right side in a zone to extend plays. So, just small cues that I'm trying to find that I may have not seen from a sideline perspective."
On his initial thoughts of TE Chig Okonkwo:
"I loved the urgency and the competitiveness. That's what jumped out on tape. So, he's not the biggest guy, but beating him to the punch and having the quickness to go. I thought that was one of the things that I really liked about his game. If we add those type of players, you know, what generally happens, that [laugh] manifests itself into like absolutely battling for it. And so, to see him in a system as a tight end from play actions and down the field throws, we thought that would be a good mesh for him. It was also what he was looking for, too. So, when we showed clips from there and showed the clips of what we're going to do, we intercut them together to paint a clear picture. I think anytime a person's a free agent coming here, you want to say, 'This is how we plan on featuring you here', so they have a clear vision to say, 'You know what? This is a good spot for me.' Like relative to the dollars and cents to say, 'Okay, this is why I should choose, you know, this place.'"
On what he told Okonkwo he would need from him coming here:
"The long play action passing, you know, over routes, pylon routes, things that were down the field, and even some crossing routes that are catch and run to use some of his speed. So, we just wanted to highlight, 'Hey, this is what we think you can do.'"
On if he was pleased with yesterday's practice:
"I thought first part of practice, what I wanted to see was, you know, just not waiting and easing into it. And so, the reason we do sometimes competition so quickly is just to jumpstart it and get it to go. I liked the attitude of where we were at the first day. On the first day of campus, sometimes waiting to see, but they did not. And so, I was pleased to see that on day one and go through the corrections. We did some more walkthroughs and such last night. And so, we'll get after it again today."
*On if C Matt Gulbin and C/G Julian Good-Jones having to step up in Allegretti's absence changes any preparation: *"Nope, we just keep it going, and those are the ones you move it around some, but even within a practice, there's gonna be times where you'll see a guy maybe go up to the first group to go. It's just to see what are you gonna do. And so, every player deserves his chance to go perform. And so, as coaches we say, 'Hey, I wanna see this third player with the first group. What's he gonna do? How's he gonna react?' Alright, I'm in the huddle now with Jayden, and here I am. I wanted to find that out. But because we're putting it all in together, no change in that. Just, we have about four guys that can snap and go through that, and so we rotate that through."
On if he saw the red zone execution he was looking for yesterday:
"On some plays, we did. I wouldn't say overall, blanket-wise, not. But that's kinda part of why we practice. I want us to be right on the edge, but also, like not quite nail it every time. And what's the coaching point? How do we get better? But I want us to be right on that edge, you know, really push it. And you have to run and play it at full speed. And when you're putting in a play, 'Okay, this is the pace, this is the jog through.' But man, now you go get it. Defensively, I liked the spacing of where they were at, forcing the QBs to get outside the pocket. So, each day kinda goes back and forth a little bit, but different than a bust, you know, like ran the wrong route, ran the wrong route. Coverage, that part was fine. Now it's the details of finding how we level it up."
On what he saw from the defensive line yesterday:
"I think just a lot of versatility. So, in the early, not early, but throughout practice, [Defensive Coordinator] Daronte [Jones] used a different mix of packages. And so that'll be an ongoing experiment. How do we feature him? Where's [DE Charles] Omenihu? He's inside, outside to paint over here, [DE Jer'Zhan] Newton over here, away off, [LB K'Lavon] KC [Chaisson] on, how do we manipulate the defense to have multiple roles? It doesn't mean that's what they're gonna do but this is the time to try and say, while we're here at practice and say, 'Okay, let's add him to that, let's not, let's split this person, see where it's at.' And that'll be a good bit of the next three to four weeks, so that process is ongoing, for sure."
On what he's seen from the pass rush and safety group:
"It'll take a while to find the right balance of people and where we're gonna go. Some will be one-on-ones or five-on-four or group sessions to go. We're starting into our two-minute today, so it's so much of it is the coordination to go. Every good defense that plays zone, you better have a pass rush in order to do that because there's not the leverage, so the quarterback has to feel like he's getting affected. And so, I'm looking forward to seeing the different groups, the different combinations of people that can do that. And it's a good offensive line to work against. And so, if you really wanna get right, how do you match up against [T Laremy] LT [Tunsil] and [T] Josh [Conerly Jr.] out on the edges and certainly inside? So, it's like I said, it's a fun battle. And then I wanted this one, you won the next one, and it just kinda keeps ongoing. Yeah, and safeties, we're working through a number of different groups, sometimes three safeties, sometimes two, who's down in the box, who plays back high. So, on the first day, I'm pleased with what I saw."
On his expectations for players when they come back from the break:
"Out on the field, first things you want from the defensive standpoint, you wanna hear communication. Sometimes that's before the snap, sometimes that's after the snap, but that's when you can relay the information back and forth to one another. Offensively, am I at the right target? Am I at the right depth in a route? So those are the things that you wanna see. And so, to see that come to life early on, that's a good step. It gets progressively harder as you go. Practices get a little more, more plays into it. So, for the first day, I thought just about everybody hit the marks that we were wanting to hit, and then leveled up, leveled up. And so over the next three weeks, it just keeps getting progressively harder. We challenge them more and we try to put them into as many stressful scenarios as we can out at the practice field. So, we create it to make it really hard on them. They know it's coming, but not all the way at everything on the first day."
*On P Tress Way's Non-Football Injury move: *"So, Tress's injury, in a short-term space, but it happened prior to training camp. And so, that's the designation between NFIs and PUPs to go. But he's doing well, and we're expecting him to make great progress over the next days ahead."
On what changes are being made in the new scheme to make more turnovers:
"It's everything for us. And so, it's the way that we do it. You might have seen it even at the beginning of practice of every skill player onto the jugs, the intentionality of it. And so, it's a big part of it. It's honestly, like, it's our philosophy. The way we take care of it on offense, great decisions, and that's one of Jayden's superpowers. His accuracy of putting the ball in the right location, in the zone, in demand to go. And so, defensively, it's the mindset to go after it. So, we do things like how many times are we taking shots at the ball, having opportunities, and converting on those chances. So, it's something that's an everyday discussion for us."
On RB Kaytron Allen's development:
"The thing that you're wanting to see, he's got good running instincts, for sure. And that was demonstrated from his time through college tape. In the spring, you're getting to see not as much in the running game. It's heavier geared toward the passing game. So, over the next three weeks, and especially onto the days that's padded we'll get a sense of that. As a running back, you're not seeing things like yards after contact and breaking tackles in a practice that has no contact. And so, getting the skills down for that, getting the system knowledge that okay, done a good job of that, of knowing it. So, we're excited to see what that development will look like ahead. He's worked hard through the off season to get himself ready. So, we got high hopes for him."
On Allen's potential in the red zone:
"I hope he shines [laugh]. So, I won't let, put it on a limit, but I do think there's a certain skill set that he has and having the ability to be somebody that can convert whether it be short yardage, down on the goal line, he definitely has those traits to it. But like I said, over the five weeks, we're gonna try and put him as many scenarios as we can. But he's got patience, he's got good vision as a ball carrier. That certainly factors in as you get closer and it gets harder down in the red zone."
