Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (6.11.25)
Another day for Joe (Flacco) to rest or sort of part of the plan with them?
“Yeah, all part of the plan. He got reps today and a couple drills, but every day, like I told you, we’re going to be real intentional about how we divvy them up.”
Kevin, this question is more appropriate now than it was in OTAs. Why hasn’t Shedeur (Sanders) faced the number one defense?
“Yeah, again, like I’ve told you guys, let’s not look too much into who’s out there when. We’re in installation phase, we’re in teaching phase, so not much to look into.”
But a quick follow up on that as we progress into training camp and get closer to these preseason games. Just close to the season, is it reasonable to expect that someone who is practicing with the first team is under serious consideration to be starting quarterback?
“Yeah, we’re so far away from that type of thought process, Daniel (Oyefusi). Honestly, it’s a – we’re in our installation phase. It’s the off season, it’s OTAs, so we’re going to keep the focus there. Once you get into training camp, of course you’re getting ready to play games and ultimately getting ready for playing the season. But right now that’s not our focus.”
So, do you think that changes like day one of training camp, Kevin? Like, you get back in the rotation means more, you have a depth chart in your head?
“Yeah, I think we’re using this off season. We have one more practice to go. So, we’ll use all these practices like we have for every position to learn about our players and learn what guys do best and those type of things. I mean, obviously, like for a wide receiver, want to find out what routes he’s comfortable with. For the quarterbacks, find out what concepts they’re comfortable with. So that’s really what this offseason has been about. Of course, your mentality changes a little bit as you get into training camp, but that’s really not our focus right now.”
Dillon (Gabriel) was talking yesterday about trying to fight the Amazon lifestyle. I think he said earlier we all just expect everything to happen immediately and be where your feet are. Given the way like coverage has changed with the league since you’ve been…how can you empathize with these guys who are trying to just have more to battle on that front as they go through a competition than maybe guys used to?
“Yeah, I think probably the biggest difference nowadays is social media, I would expect. Listen, the news cycle is 365 days a year and there’s a lot of content and there’s a lot of hours to fill, as you guys all well know. So, and also we understand how popular our sport is, how interested our fans are in our sport. So, we embrace that. We like that part. Having said that, once we get inside the building, we really do focus on where our feet are. We focus that we’re here. We focus on what we have in front of us. And I think all of our players have done a great job of understanding that.”
How do you try personally to try to block that stuff out?
“I’m not on social media, probably number one. But listen, I’ve been in this sport long enough. The NFL, we know how popular this is, how much interest level there is. It’s why our sport is so healthy. And we understand the important role our fans play in our sport. When we get to training camp, we get our fans out here to be a part of this with us, which we’re excited about. I’m excited to be in front of our fans at Huntington Bank Field and that’ll be, you know, that’s the fun part of this business for us, is the competitive spirit with a fan base behind you. For right now, though, this is OTAs and this is the focus really is on the work and we’re not going to let much else get in the way.”
Kevin, how much will you take into account the opinions and feedback of veterans, longtime veterans like Joel (Bitonio), Myles (Garrett), Jerry (Jeudy) and David (Njoku) and those guys when you are making your quarterback decisions?
“Yeah, I’m not there, Mary Kay (Cabot), yet in terms of talking to other players about those type of decisions. I’ve leaned on players before for a variety of different things, but I’m not really there yet.”
Kevin, no place kicking, is that unusual for your minicamp?
“They have been kicking, just not necessarily out here, Tony (Grossi). It’s just part of their routine of when Dustin’s (Hopkins) getting ready to kick. He doesn’t kick every day.”
Kevin, have any of these undrafted guys jumped on at you now that you’ve had some OTAs?
“They have. You know, I don’t want to single any guys out, but I’ve been very impressed. I’ve been impressed with this rookie class, in total. The guys are outstanding workers. Like I’ve said, to you guys, there are no issues. Guys are in early, they’re working hard. But I include the drafted and undrafted guys when I say that it’s a really impressive class.”
Not too much into this, but Diontae Johnson was 10th in line yesterday. Today he was fourth. Is that just natural evolution of the drills?
“Exactly. I mean, he’s just again getting up to speed on some of the terminology and that type of thing. So, yes, definitely don’t read into that.”
Did you feel a need to have a conversation with him about what happened last year here, or was it just Andrew (Berry) who did that?
“Yeah, I’ve talked to Diontae. When we signed him, I had a good talk with Diontae.”
You’re okay, you’re okay with this thing?
“Yeah.”
Kevin, I know it’s hard at this point when you’re not truly blocking out there, but just what are your early impressions of the cutting ability of Quinshon (Judkins)?
“Yeah, it’s, it’s hard. Like you mentioned, Daryl (Ruiter), it’s hard to evaluate without pads on. Running back’s a hard position to evaluate in these settings. I will tell you, with Quinshon, with Dylan (Sampson), the young guys, and you know, I could talk about the room in general, but speaking about those two young guys, they’ve done a great job of learning the system, understanding their roles and what we’re asking them to do. We’ve put a lot on their plates. Yeah, of course, Q, you see in college tape, you see his cutting ability at that size is rare, harder to see out here, although it does happen at times. But it’s different when the defense isn’t bringing you to the ground.”
What are you hoping Diontae can add, given the success that he’s had in this league?
“Yeah. Another veteran player that has had success in this league. We’ve gone against him, so I know what type of player he is, having been in the division with him, so know his skill set. But another veteran player.”
I wouldn’t ask you to talk about your conversation with him, but did you come away convinced, Kevin, that last year was just an aberration for him?
“Listen, I think for all of us, I focus on the here and now. I understand the past. I understand there are things that happened in the past, but I’m really focused on today and the future for Diontae.”
Will tomorrow be a normal practice?
“It’ll be normal. A little bit shorter, a little bit earlier, but normal.”
Kevin, yesterday you were talking about the discussions in the QB version between Joe (Flacco) and the younger guys and Kenny (Pickett) too. How have those types of conversations and like camaraderie in the QB room changed over the years you’ve been the NFL when you have an older guy and then some younger guys. Or does it just depend on the personalities in the room?
“Yeah, I think it’s so dependent on the personalities. I think back to Brett Favre and Tavaris Jackson, Sage Rosenfels, Joe Webb. That was a fun room. It’s just so dependent on who the guys are and I’ve been very lucky, very fortunate to be in some great rooms with professionals, guys that work hard at their craft. But also we try to have fun while we’re in there as well.”
The hurry up period. Was that the first time? Did you did that in OTAs?
“We started to introduce some two-minute into the offense and defense last week and then started to work a little bit today.”
What do you look for in the quarterbacks in the red zone because it seems like you did a lot of that today.
“Yeah, we’ve done a lot of red zone period for a bunch of different reasons. Number one, it’s so important. Obviously, it’s a scoring portion of our field but number two, it’s a nice way to take care of legs. So, if you do a tight, a red zone drill that you’re not running 50 yards if you will, so you try to incorporate some red zone into what we do. But the game does change down there. The field becomes wider than it is long. A lot of those windows become extremely tight. Obviously, we’re not working the run game right now, but in the run game those running backs have to sometimes bring their own blocker. We’re going to have a safety that we can’t block. So the game really does change down there.”
Kevin, in terms of the installs, how much of the offense do you think that you’ve gotten so far?
“We’ve gotten through the whole system which for us essentially amounts to about seven installs.”
So that’s about normal?
“That’s about normal.”
Kevin, how has Jamari’s (Thrash) camp been so far? You know, had a couple throws today and yesterday.
“He’s had a really strong spring. He is here all the time working on his body. Very intelligent player, can line up in multiple positions which I think is valuable. And then he showed up, he’s caught the ball well and you know the quarterbacks like how he gets open. He finds a way to get open versus zone, versus man.”
Mike Hall and David Bell haven’t practiced all offseason. Do you expect them to be ready to go when we get to training camp?
“I’ll have a better update as we get closer to training camp.”
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