HC Kevin Stefanski (8.23.23)
Kevin, y’all outside or inside today?
“Outside.”
Kevin, Deshaun talked about taking ownership of the offense. How have you seen him do that?
“A bunch of ways, I’d say, Scott (Petrak). That starts back in April, and as we install the offense and there’s so much nuance to what we do offensively, what everybody does in this NFL. So, I think just understanding all the different elements of our run past game protections, really just diving into it, I think is the biggest thing.”
He said part of that’s building trust with you and AVP (Alex Van Pelt), is that something that continues to grow?
“It should. I mean, that’s any good relationship – builds trust as time goes on. But, yeah, he knows that he has the ultimate trust from us when he’s standing there behind the center. We always talk about (how) that’s the best view in the house. So what he sees, we trust what he sees.”
Kevin, how would you assess the way the backup running back situation is right now?
“Yeah, I think it’s great competition, obviously unfortunate with Jerome’s (Ford) injury. Unfortunate for Jerome, but great opportunity for those other guys to get good reps out here at practice, getting great reps in the game. So, I think it’s a great competition in that entire room.”
I know we’ve asked you about Jerome many times, but give us an update, please, on his situation?
“I mean, no real update, Jeff (Schudel), other than to say he’s progressing with his injury. He spends a lot of time in the meeting rooms and these walkthroughs getting good reps, but he’s progressing.”
Kevin, MJ (Martin Emerson Jr.) had such a fantastic rookie season. Just as he goes into year two here, where’s the biggest area of growth? And how much does that man-to-man philosophy that Jim Schwartz has brought to the defense, how much can that make him an even better player?
“Yeah, had a good rookie campaign and needs to get better like all those second-year players. So, we’re excited about his growth. He takes this game very seriously. He works at his craft. Just watch him and Coach (Brandon) Lynch and Denzel (Ward) and Greg (Newsome II), I mean, they’re constantly working. So, he’ll keep coming along. As to the amount of man you play, that’s really for the season, and we’ll see how that all shakes out. But MJ’s, I think, adept at playing man, zone, off, press, all of them.”
Do you guys want to see Jakeem (Grant Sr.) on offense in a game before you make your roster decision?
“No.”
Kevin, will you take Deshaun out of there after a series? If Andy Reid takes his starters out of there after a series?
“No, we’ll kind of stick to our plan, Mary Kay (Cabot). I texted Coach Reid. I kind of know what they’re doing. I’ll let him share that whenever he’s sharing it. But we’ll just do what we do. Or what we’re planning.”
Last week, you guys held the ball for 39 minutes, 400 yards of the total offense, but only 18 points. As a play caller, what are you trying to do this week? What have you been emphasizing practice here for Kansas City?
“Yeah, I mean, the big thing, obviously, there is you got to finish. You have to finish drives in the red zone. You want to score points every time you touch the rock, and whether it takes one play or ten plays, we don’t really care, but we got to find a way to finish those drives.”
Is (Anthony) Walker and (Sione) Takitaki ready to see some action?
“I want to get through these practices in pads today, see how they’re doing, but they’re both very close.”
Are you pretty confident that Jack (Conklin) will be able to start the opener? Do you feel really good about what you have behind him at tackle?
“I do feel confident, Mary Kay, and yeah, I like the guys that we’re working in. As you know, you’re always working through injuries, and you’re getting new guys in there, getting guys with reps at different positions, but we’re confident with the guys we have.”
When you say you don’t really need to see Jakeem on offense to make any determination, Where is he at right now as far as his return goes? And how much does the minimization with the rule change that the NFL is trying to you know, not take away, but limit the premium that’s placed on the return game?
“I think well, to your first part of the question, Jakeem will get return kicks and punts in this game, so we’ll get some live reps of him doing that. But you know, we value the return game. I don’t know that anybody understands how the new rule is going to affect the number of returns. I think it’s way too early to say. I think we all kind of have our guesses on how that might go, but we definitely value the return game.”
Yesterday. Bubba (Ventrone) was kind of videoing Cade York on the side. A little unusual. Is there a mechanical problem you discovered?
“Bubba was videoing, you’re saying?”
Yeah?
“That’s not unusual. We’re always looking at things technically. We use a lot of different videos with the kicking game and really with all of our guys, we videotape some of these walkthroughs, too.”
Has there been a mechanical issue discovered?
“I think, with all of our players. Tony, when you say mechanical issues, just technique, I mean, it’s fundamentals and techniques. That’s what we’ll continue to work on.”
Kevin, when you evaluate a young receiver like Austin Watkins, how much does the ability to play special teams on game day factor in?
“Yeah, it’s huge. I think those are the type of things not just for us, but for all of our players, Mary Kay, as you start to talk about 53 and then game day rosters, the more you can do, and specifically the more you can do on special teams really does have a huge impact on that for all of our players.”
With the cut down being so close, I mean, these practices and this last preseason game, how important are they for you guys to see some of the guys that are on the fringe who are looking at roster spots to make a decision?
“Yeah. Cam, I think it’s like we’ve talked about, the evaluation is global. It takes everything into account, and certainly, today’s practice is a big part of that. The games are always a big part of it. But this evaluation goes all the way back to April as well, from the second we got our guys in the building to all the things we’ve been doing throughout the spring and summer.”
Does Jaelon Darden bring an element of speed that you would really like to try to see before you have to make some of these decisions?
“Yeah, I think it’s been unfortunate, again, that we’ve had an injury there. Yeah, it’s been unfortunate that Jaelon’s had that injury, which has limited him. But we do know his play style, obviously. We saw it all last year.”
You talked about Myles (Garrett) being in the backfield all the time. So how do you judge how Jed’s (Wills) doing when Myles is having that kind of success?
“Yeah, again, that’s nothing new going against Myles for Jed. I think it’s great, great work for him. We judge all the work that we get. It’s not just the work that he gets versus Myles, but he’s going up against an All-Pro caliber player every day, which will only make him better.”
Kevin, when you go into this last preseason game, especially because there are four this year for you guys, are there a lot of unknowns on your 53-man roster, or do you go in with a pretty good idea of what it’s going to look like?
“It’s a little bit of both, Dan. I think it’s a great problem to have when you’re talking about guys at the end of that roster where, hey, we got four spots for these five guys, or these six means that’s the really tough decisions that’ll have to be made. Andrew (Berry) and I spent a lot of time talking about those decisions. I trust him with all those decisions. I think we’ll be well informed, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”
Dalvin (Tomlinson) kind of talked about playing alongside Myles (Garrett) and sometimes with Ogbo (Okoronkwo) in there, too. It feels like one-on-one matchups are going to be easier. It just seems like that’s been a big focus, like how you guys have kind of seen that come along when you throw those different combinations out there on the D line?
“Yeah, I mean, that’s part of what makes a good pass rush, is having multiple guys that you can throw at a team and line them up in all different areas. I can think back to a bunch of teams over the years that just line five guys up and they try to get your offense align into a 5-O call and you’re hoping that somebody’s going to win or you’re going to run a stunt and get a winner from it. So the more guys that can win one on ones, it obviously opens up your playbook.”
Kevin, follow up still outside?
“It sounds like we’re going inside. They’re making an announcement right now.”
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