Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz (8.5.24)
Start with Mike Vrabel. I mean, I know a couple years back you were in kind of similar role as he’s been as a consultant. What’s it been like, kind of interacting with him and having him in the building?
“Well, I have a background with Vrabes (Mike Vrabel) from number one, before, but also two years in Tennessee. So, I was sort of a second set of eyes for him and a sounding board for him and a ‘fill gaps where needed’ guy, and, you know, Vrabes can do all those things. You know, anytime you’re adding good coaches to your staff, he’s spending most of his time on offense and special teams right now, but it’s just a good resource for us. He’ll make a major contribution to our team.”
Jim, yesterday Za’Darius (Smith) used the phrase ‘unfinished business’ several times. Is that kind of a theme heading into this year for you guys?
“I don’t know. I mean, like maybe a little bit in the offseason, but once we get into training camp, our theme every day is just embrace that practice and improve and try to keep our eyes on what’s most important now. We can’t make up for anything last year right now unless we attack each day and we work out inconsistencies, we’ve improved our technique, we improve our teamwork, all those different things. So, you know, further on down the line, we’ll have places for themes and things like that. But right now, it’s just a go to work every day and try to improve.”
Jim, a number of guys have come into this season talking about double digit sacks. I know you guys’ kind of balance sacks, pressures, things like that. Were you happy with the sack production across that defensive line last year?
“I don’t know. There’s always things we can improve, but again, I’ll sort of refer to the same thing; like, the only thing we can really work on right now is working our craft, and our technique, and our knowledge of the scheme and, you know, all those things. And if we do a good job of those things, then maybe we can be talking about sack totals or anything else at the end of the season. I sort of try to keep my eyes on what’s right in front of us right now.”
Za’Darius was saying, Jim, that he was like one step away on several plays from finishing the play. So, what is, how does he get that next step this year?
“Yeah, you know, finishing is a big thing. And I sort of think back, it was a home game. I can’t remember, man, he woke up with just a stiff back and the trainers like, ‘he’s not going to play today.’ He played, he missed, I think, like two or three sacks in that game, and that was more physical in that way. But I think this has gone a lot as analytics have gone and we saw with Myles (Garrett) last year, a lot of times you can win pass rushes and you can force an incompletion, but you really don’t get credit for it in a stat book when it comes to sacks and things like that. And we’re just trying to have the defense operate efficiently, get off the field. You know, you guys will put me on a soapbox, but I still don’t understand how if you force a quarterback into an intentional grounding, that’s not a sack. It should count as a sack because he avoided the sack and it’s a spot foul. But anyway, we put a big emphasis on finishing and obviously there’s things at the end, but I was happy, and I’ve continued to be happy with the pressure that our whole defensive line, not just Za’Darius, puts on the quarterback.”
Who is benefiting with more reps, with (Dalvin) Tomlinson out?
“Well, it’s not just d-line. I mean, we have a lot of guys that are benefiting from a lot of reps and some guys that need to take a little better advantage of some of the opportunities. But we’ve been practicing most of the last week, obviously without Dalvin, but also without Shelby (Harris). So, two of our major contributors last year. It just opens up a lot more, guys like Michael Hall, guys like Jowon Briggs, guys like Sam Kamara. Sam Kamara has had a really good camp. He’s playing pretty much fulltime inside after being a swing guy and mainly concentrating on end last year, but he’s been very impressive so far and really taking advantage of a lot of those plays. And, you guys know the way we rotate our defensive linemen, we’re going to need everybody up there and over the course of the year. So important for all those guys, it doesn’t matter who it is. Siaki (Ika), Jowon, Mike Hall, Sam, you know, all those guys have benefited from the extra reps.”
Jim, at the end of last year you talked about JOK (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah), ‘it’s time for him to be on the field 100% of the time,’ or something like that. Do you feel that he’s ready for that this year and do you plan to have him out there pretty much all the time?
“Yeah, he’s taking strides that way. I would say this like, trying to, and, you know, you don’t want to say ‘load management’, but I don’t know if there’s another word for it. But, stuff like that is on our minds, whether it comes to all our position players. We were able to rotate some corners through last year, able to rotate the defensive linemen, we were rotating linebackers, mainly because of an injury situation with A-Walk (Anthony Walker Jr.) and Sione (Takitaki) last year, but it was able to benefit a lot of guys as we went further. He got a little taste of it last year, being on the field for dime and for some of the packages we’ve extended. He’s at a completely different spot right now, injury notwithstanding, he’s at a completely different spot now compared to 2023. His knowledge of the scheme, he’s put a really good year under his belt and I think he’s primed for a really good season.”
With the mobile quarterbacks you guys are going to be facing this year, do you feel like there will be more of an emphasis on pressures; maybe people aren’t going to necessarily have the sack numbers that they did in the past just because guys are getting away from those?
“Yeah, I mean, that can work both ways because you can get a mobile quarterback to scramble and he can start his scramble, get out of the pocket, and you tackle him for a gain of zero or minus one and it’s a sack. Was it really a sack? I don’t know. So, you know, so the numbers sort of probably bear out, but, we’re used to dealing with mobile quarterbacks. You know, we’ve added a couple in our division with Pittsburgh, with Russell (Wilson) and with (Justin) Fields. Baltimore’s always, you know, had that guy (Lamar Jackson) and when (Joe) Burrow has been at his best, he’s had really good mobility. I know he’s had some injuries over the last couple years, maybe that changes their philosophy a little bit. But, it’s something that’s on our radar every week and again, like a quarterback scramble and gaining a first down, you know, what’s the difference in that as opposed to completing the ball? It’s all the same. It just spreads you a little bit thinner defensively, puts more of an emphasis on your speed and your discipline and your pass rush.”
Juan Thornhill has talked about feeling frustrated with the calf injury last year and playing through it and just having to deal with that. What are the expectations for him? I know he’s put on some muscle and things like that but feeling like he’s finally healthy in this defense.
“Yeah, I mean, maybe we’re starting to trend toward too many people talking about last year, but, Juan has really attacked the offseason. He’s got a lot of pride. He wasn’t happy with his performance last year, mainly because of an injury standpoint, right? His performance was good when he was on the field. He just wasn’t on the field long enough. So, a prideful guy like that, a veteran guy like that has really attacked the offseason. He’s tried to put himself in better position to be able to last 17-plus games for us and that’s important.”
It looks like number 25, (Kahlef) Hailassie, is a lot more active in this camp than he was all of last season. Where is he at in the second year with the team?
“Well, you know, he was a waiver claim at the end, right? So, we really didn’t get a chance to see this kind of stuff with him, and then once you get into the season, it’s not always competitive, right? You got a layoff for the offense, when you’re in a scout team, period. Your job is to give a look. It’s not necessarily to make the play, and, you know, you’re trying to avoid collisions and things like that. So, there were times that we saw some good things. I thought he put some good snaps, particularly late in the year when we played a lot of guys in the Cincy game at the end. But he’s made a lot of strides missing all of training camp and coming to a completely different style takes a little while to catch up. But I like his mindset. I like his physical tools and I think he’s an exciting young player.”
Jim, you mentioned the opportunities on the defensive line, Specifically Mike Hall. Just what have you noticed about him kind of taking advantage of those opportunities and adjusting to the NFL now that he’s in camp a little bit more?
“I mean, all rookies are going to have highs and lows, and Mike’s no different. I mean, Jowon’s the same way on the d-line. They all do. The thing I’m probably most with Mike is his effort. Like, that’s a guy that goes hard all the time. And I tell you what, he’s got a great, great vet leading the way for him that way in Quinton Jefferson. If you guys want to have some fun and practice, watch Quinton Jefferson run to the ball. You know, the guy’s been in the league for a long time, has done a lot of things, and he really sets the tempo for the whole group, but also for the young guys. And it’s great being able to see that and Mike’s learning something new every single day. A lot of times, rookies, they’ll experience some rough spots and like their mind will slow their body down. That hasn’t happened to Mike, and I’ve been proud of them that way.”
You mentioned Quinton, and just what does he add to that interior pass rush and how important is that interior pass rush for opening up for guys like Myles and Z (Za’Darius Smith) on the outside?
“Yeah, there’s a lot of things you can do to try to take outside pass rush away. There’s a lot of different chips and things like that, but you’ve only got one center and you can slide one way or the other. And our ability to win a one on one against a guard is really, really important to our pass rush and Quinton’s a guy that can do that. He’s got really good speed, he’s got really good hands, he’s a veteran player, and he’s played in some similar schemes, not 100% the same. So, there are some things he’s sort of still time on task and trying to learn, but, you really appreciate a veteran player like that. If you ever watch, come to practice, he’s out to practice 20 minutes early, he’s out at practice like a half hour later. A lot of times I’m already showered, called my wife, and in my office and I look out and Quinton is still working on the field. And a lot of times he has a young guy with him when he’s doing that. That’s extremely important to us, and I’m proud of him for that.”
Jim, we got a look at the new facilities to workout. How have you liked that and taken to it, and how have your guy’s kind of appreciated the new facilities?
“Yeah, I think it’s given us a big boost. It’s obviously a big commitment from the Haslams. There’s a couple things. First, it makes us be able to use our indoor (practice field) better, right? When the weight room was taking up a third of it or a quarter of it, it just put us so tight, it made it hard to really work in there. This opens that up, so that’s job number one. But number two, I think it just gives the players a boost. In 1999, I was with the Titans, and we had lived in trailers for three years. The team had moved from Houston. I mean, literally double wide trailers, that was our facility. Locker rooms, meeting rooms, everything else. The week before the regular season, we moved into a brand-new facility and I can’t tell you the emotional lift it gave the players. They felt first class. It was really a big boost for us going that year as we made a Super Bowl run. And I think this can do the same thing. You know, when it’s all said and done, 100 pounds is 100 pounds. But Shaun Huls did a great job, the designers, all those guys did a great job with making it player friendly, making it where, I don’t know, it sort of forces camaraderie. The walkthrough rooms are amazing. I think it can give us a big boost in a lot of different ways. We’re trying to be as efficient teachers as we can. We’re trying to make the best use of our time. We don’t want to waste players’ time. We don’t want to be inefficient. Those walkthrough rooms, that weight room just dials that up a little bit. So, we owe a great thanks to Jimmy and Dee (Haslam) for making that commitment because that was a major commitment. It’s going to make a big impact in the season.”
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