On replacing T Laremy Tunsil:
"I'm just incredibly bummed for him, first and foremost. He's been everything that we've asked over the last, really, year and a half. When you lose a player like that, man, it's hard. But, DQ [HC Dan Quinn], ourselves as offense, we believe in the next man up and we're gonna just keep plugging away. And so there will be things that have to change, but we have all the trust in the world in [G] Brandon [Coleman]. He's played really well at left tackle over the last few years and we're excited to feature some of the things he does well too. Excited about the opportunity for him while also hurting for Laramy."
On Coleman's growth and what they have planned for him now:
"When you watch the tape, oftentimes there's somebody jumping out from the offensive line, chasing a football, running, and his speed, athleticism, just flashes every time you turn our film on. And then I think, you've seen a young man grow here, right? From having to play all those starts his rookie year to different experiences last year, and us sharing with him that he was gonna be the left tackle and him lighting up, eager for the opportunity to go after this thing. I think he has demonstrated everything that we're looking for to protect that side for us."
On his process of installing offense as a first-year offensive coordinator:
"Man, that is a great question because I have a lot of ideas and things that I would love to do, but this time is really finding out who we are. This is about finding out what we do well, what [QB] Jayden [Daniels] does well, what the skill guys do, what we can and can't do upfront. There's times where you're like, 'Man, I wanna have a bunch of things in, but we gotta pull back and work on the fundamentals and find out who this Commanders offense is.' So, that has been a process. We've done a lot of call-up periods, so there's times where you walk out of a practice, you're thinking you're gonna get through everything on the sheet, and you don't. You go back to it, or do you keep pushing ahead? Those are the things that I've navigated over the last 10, 11 practices. So, a lot of lessons, but it's been really good."
On Daniels adjusting to the changes:
"He hasn't missed a beat. We track everything. We've tracked every throw he's made over the last three years. We have metrics to measure all of those statistics. He's as accurate as he's ever been. He's as completed as many passes as he ever has. It's just a testament to asking him to do something different and him wanting to grow and evolve. That's what this is all about for our whole group. The version you see here won't be the same version of this offense you see next year and everywhere you go. And we will continue to evolve. I'm proud of him, the work he's put into it up until this point, and he hasn't missed a beat."
On Brandon Coleman and OL Andrew Wylie moving up the chart a bit:
"My view from the sideline is different than getting to stand behind with all the color periods. We'll go in and evaluate it, but he protections, the completions, ball getting out, it felt clean today. We'll go and evaluate the tape on all that."
On the defense helping him cater to the offense:
"They've made it as hard as possible. And every day is a new challenge. That's what I love so much is that everybody on our offense is being forced to understand what [DC] Daronte [Jones] is trying to get accomplished. That's the power of attacking aggressive style defenses. They have certainly pushed the envelope for us on communication and growth."
On what WR Stefon Diggs will do for the offense:
"I think Stefon adds an element of experience. Savvy, understanding timing, leverage. He's played a lot of meaningful football, a lot of yards. I think through having him for three practices, you feel his leadership too. You feel him bringing the guys together, challenging everybody to keep pushing forward. In just a couple days, you guys have seen, four catches the other day. He had at least two or three today. The ball finds him, because he finds space."
On how Croskey-Merritt's pass catching and blocking game has evolved:
"Yeah, I mean we're gonna take advantage of all five eligibles. And a lot of times, coverage dictates where the football goes. And those guys, trends in this league have been soft and soft and soft. And so, those underneath players catching the football and running and breaking tackles and getting it to our best players in space. So, he's no different than that. And then you see, he's demonstrated the ability to catch the ball away from his body and we're pleased with his development in that area."
On the importance of spending time with the quarterbacks before practice:
"Sure, and I think, first of all, it's probably where I'm most comfortable after being there the last two years, really my whole life. And, but it's important that the trigger man, the trigger, the group that's pulling the trigger sees everything on our call sheet the same way as me. And so, even if it's just one quick tweak or something that we can hit before we go out and execute, we'll go over things like that. And then I like spending time with those guys too. Some of the guys I've grown close to over the last few years."
On what it means to have a player like Diggs on third down:
"I think you drilled it. Like he's a go-to guy. He moves the chains. He has his whole career. We'll certainly set it up for him to be a priority in that instance. And when opportunities come to him or Terry or [TE] Chig [Okonkwo] or any of the other group, in those wide receiver rooms, we mentioned Bill, we expect them to be able to, to, you know, be ready for those moments. So, he will certainly move the chains a lot for us this year. But all those guys will be ready to execute when we dial it up for them."
On if preseason game snaps are more important for starters when learning a new system:
"Potentially, but we'll have all those conversations kinda as the preseason goes and yes, but we've also got a lot of really good work out here too, with our defense giving us a ton of looks. So that competition has been really good for our entire group."
On how his first training camp in his new role has been:
"Yeah, sure. I think every time you prepare for something, whether it's crafting a call sheet for practice with the collets, whether it's getting in front of our group, you get more comfortable. And so, I know we haven't had any live bullets yet with regard to a game or the regular season. I certainly feel more comfortable now than the first time we took the field in May, you know? So, I'm looking forward to that to continue growing and I'm learning myself every single day."
On if anything about this new role has surprised him:
"I think that the time allocation is something that I've had to deal with, right? Like we try to create processes to be as efficient as possible and sometimes you get better at that. Sometimes you realize something needs a tweak. And whether it's delegating and trusting the coaches we've hired or having an expectation communicated and having to go back through that with the players or coaches. I'm really doing it for the first time, you don't really know all that it entails. And so, keeping a log of all that and what I would change, what I wouldn't has been really good."
