Cornerbacks Coach Brandon Lynch (7.28.25)
I guess let’s start with Denzel (Ward). We talked to him last week. He said he felt like last year personally was his best year. How have you seen him kind of come back and attack this season after last?
“He’s really attacked our cultural standards. You know, we asked all of our guys to, like, attack the ball, attack the day. Like, really put violence, effort, swag on passion on tape. And he’s been a guy, like he’s been doing it in the meeting rooms. He’s been doing it obviously in the weight room. You know, now we’re getting a chance to see it on the grass.”
How important is it that he sets that example? I mean, he was here all spring, and he was just being that guy that does it. Guys kind of line up behind him.
“You know, without a doubt, he’s one of our, like, trusted leaders on the field. So, the biggest thing for him is it’s not the exception, it’s really the expectation. You know, when we talked about hardened toughness, like, and really that callous that we want to really evolve in while we’re here at camp. He’s really putting it on there, and we got to keep motivating.”
Brandon, you spent a lot of time one-on-one with Denzel, a lot of it is hand skills. So, you toss the ball to him, walk along the sideline. You’re with him when he’s at the jugs machine. Did he come to you, or did you come to him to set this program to improve his interceptions?
“Sure. You know, it’s a cultural standard, you know, that teachers, teach and students, they want to be taught. So, he’s a young guy, he really wants the information. He’s an extremely hard worker, come in early, stay late guy. So, it’s really been a cohesive conversation between us both on what our team ideals are, where we’re trying to get to as an offense, defense and special teams. And really we’re getting a chance to just cohesively do it on the field together.”
He’s talked about wanting interceptions. You know, dropped six of them last year. Is this a concerted effort on his part or a team’s part too?
“Without a doubt, we know that the most important thing is we keep the team first and us being able to get the ball back for our offense and our special teams, that’s going to help us win games, that’s going to help our team. So really that conversation is the team first, you know, and us being 100% accountable to it.”
Brandon, how much, if at all, do you believe in the concept of a sophomore-something coming in the league, maybe you’re good as a rookie, and then the league gets more film on you, and second year is kind of designed for you to take a step back?
“You know what, it’s all standards as far as technique and fundamentals, right? Like, the more reps that you have on task, the better that you’re going to get. And we really expect our guys to keep improving daily. You know, we bring in the right guys, we talk about bringing in start players. So, bringing in the correct guys in the mix that have the attitude of they want to get better every single day, it really helps that.”
And then with Martin (Emerson Jr.), great first year. Last year, a little bit more up and down, I guess. What do you think? What do you think was the reasoning behind that?
“Sure. You know what, Martin (Emerson Jr.) is a hard worker man, you know what I’m saying? Like, extremely hard worker. And he’s a guy that, you know, when you talk about just reps on task. He’s a young guy seeing more plays. He’s being more involved with our, you know, our special teams. He’s more involved with our weight room staff, our nutrition staff. So, he’s really trending on the rise.”
Brandon, with Greg (Newsome II) last year, he went to all the training camp with that hamstring injury, and you said he feels healthy. What difference do you see in him this year? And did you ever even see him fully healthy at all last season?
“You know, I see him really attacking the day. He’s always been like a very assertive, like, learner, a very assertive young man, but you really see him attacking the moment, attacking the day. He’s one of our team leaders, you know, and we talk about, like, be a trusted teammate, right? He’s somebody that they go to for communication. We talk about counterterrorism, see something, say something. So, you feel his presence on the field.”
Does he talk to you about the importance to him of not being just considered a nickel corner and a slot guy, that he has that ability to play on the outside?
“All of our guys, they value versatility, like, just like our defense and our offense, right? But he’s a guy that values the versatility himself. Like, these are guys that they want to be in the slot, they want to be outside, they want to blitz. They want to be in zone coverage and man coverage just to show that all their traits, so that we can be 100% accountable to the team. So, it’s really cool to see just how unselfish he is to put the team first in that category.”
You mentioned plans on coverage. I was curious, we saw some coverage bust last year, particularly in the zone coverage. What’s the key to making sure that doesn’t happen again?
“Communication first, you know, that’s one of the very first things we talk about, communication first, then execution. We try to like, really simplify it for our guys. Stance, alignment, key first step. But before we can execute the call, we got to communicate and then execute it at a high level.”
Brandon, I’ve heard over the years guys talk a lot about, I don’t want to force the interception. I’m not going to always go for the ball. I’m going to stick to my technique, try to make the play. But with you guys putting such a point of emphasis on getting more picks this year, do they have to force it a little bit? Attack the ball a little bit more? How do you walk that line?
“Yes, ma’am. You know what, it’s really. It’s not the…what would you say? It’s not the tour to the curve, right? It’s the expectation. Like, it really is. Like, this is what we must do to help our team. So really, we’re not going to fret plays, like it’s one of those things that is part of the process. We want to keep getting time on tasks, trusting that process, knowing that those things come in bunches. And as long as we can get tight and stay tight. Now we force the quarterback off his first read and then we get our engine on.”
Looking back to MJ (Martin Emerson Jr.), he had such a good two days against Justin Jefferson a year ago here in joint practice, and then probably wasn’t the season overall that he wanted. Why do you think it developed into that kind of season?
“You know what? Things happen. When I say things happen, like he’s a young player who puts the team first, who is extremely invested in what we do, and it’s important to him. So, whenever you got like a young player like that, seeing more reps on task, having more exposure, guys like that really trend upward fast.”
It seems like depth has been the name of the game for the secondary, but for the corners in particular, how important is this time of year for the young guys, for the up and comers to be ready for if their number is called at any point in the regular season, when it gets here?
“We got to have a hardened toughness in every single thing that we do. And without a doubt, you know, we just can’t depend on our star players. We talk about we hold our best players the most accountable. So, it’s very important for our best players to make sure that our depth players are ready to go as far as with our urgency, our violence, and our swag once we get out there. So now we’re very clear on what our cultural standards are, and we can reflect it.”
You mentioned that swag, it seems like no matter what happened last year, the guys in your group in particular were kind of leading the way, keeping the spirits high. How have you seen that reflected in training camp this year of the guys bringing that swag out here?
“Yes, ma’am. And let’s be clear, that is the expectation. Like, that is the expectation for us to really attack the ball, for us to really set the pace. And we talk about setting the pace for our offense, our defense, and our special team. We talk about we set the pace at the tip of the spear for our whole organization. So, starting fast, making sure that our whole group can really function at a high level is important.”
What’s an underappreciated part of Denzel Ward’s game?
“I think his leadership. You know, I think that we all see, you know, this flashes of speed. We see aggressive play, things like that, but he is a very, very, very, very smart player. You know, he’s a guy that really leads us. We talk about the tip of the spear. He’s the first one in battle, he’s the first one that when we need to uptick as far as with our urgency, with our attitude. He’s somebody that not just our secondary leads on, but our nerve center and our engine lead on it as well.”
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