Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (7.22.23)
Opening statement:
“Good to see everybody. You know, it’s great to be down here. I’m very appreciative of Dee and Jimmy (Haslam) for having us down here and being so supportive of our football operation. So I’m just very appreciative. It’s very easy for me to say, ‘Hey, let’s go to the Greenbrier,’ and then our equipment staff, our security, our video, our medical, nutrition, you name it – to be able to move our entire operation down here is no small feat. The planning that goes into it, the amount of work that goes into it, I’m very appreciative of all of our men and women here with the Cleveland Browns that did this for us. So, it’s great to start off. It’s such a beautiful place. The Greenbrier and the staff here have been outstanding. We’re really excited to be down here and start our camp. That’s the fun part of this, as everybody knows, is the start of this season – and for us, having everybody down here under one roof get some really, really good work done in a different setting while we’re down here for eight nights. Then we’ll head back up and see our fans on August 1. I know that we’re excited to get back up there in Berea, but really ready for this to get going. I’m ready as well with the coaching staff, I think we’re all kind of chomping at the bit. So, with that, I’ll take any questions.”
Kevin, how do you judge success with team building?
“Yeah, I don’t know that you do team building and team bonding, those types of things, that’s organic. I really think just being on a bus together, you’re building your team, being on the airplane, being around each other. I think what this allows us to do, obviously, is we’re landlocked here. We’re in the middle of nowhere by design, so it forces you just to be around your teammates.”
Kevin, blood clots have ended some careers. What can you tell us about (Marquise) Goodwin? He’s here. Can he come back?
“Yeah, I think he can. I mean, it’s an unknown. First of all, it’s very scary. So right away you worry about Marquise and just his health, period. I think all of it remains to be seen from a health standpoint and when he’s ready to go. In the meantime, we’re just supporting him and he’s listening to doctors, but he wants to be here – he wants to be around his teammates. But where this goes, I don’t think that we know yet. I think we’re just going to make sure that we support him and give him everything he needs medically.”
What have you learned about starting training camp that you work through now, maybe doing something different or more things to accent? What you’ve picked up in the four years as a head coach?
“Yeah, I think a lot. We talk so much as a staff about things that we like, things that we don’t like, things that – from a meeting standpoint, what works, what doesn’t. We have over the years evolved different parts of our operation. And as you evolve just talking to Coach (Bill) Callahan just now, I think this is the first time Joel (Bitonio) has been in the same offense four years in a row, and that’s great, but you’re also evolving in those four years. I think trying to stay ahead of the game and constantly evolve in all the right ways is something that we’re always thinking about. And as you get started with training camp, you’re really doing the same thing when it comes to an operation. There are certain things that we’re doing now, maybe that we hadn’t done previously.”
How much of an advantage do you really think it is? Four years of the same offense, even though you have a different quarterback?
“I think there’s always an advantage to communicating with each other, as a staff especially. But as you know, change happens and you are always evolving. I don’t know if there’s an offense or a defense that year to year stays the exact same. It just doesn’t happen in our league because the coaches on the opposing side are too good and they’ll figure out a way to take something away. So you better be ready to evolve.”
Kevin, how do you pace this out? You’ve got 50 days before you play, over about seven weeks in total. How do you have balance? I know the CBA mandates you can only do so much early, but how do you balance not doing too much too fast, trying to make sure that everyone gets to September healthy?
“Well, I think, first of all, that’s why we’re so fortunate to play in the Hall of Fame game. We get to go down to Canton and play in a game versus the (New York) Jets. We get to obviously celebrate Joe’s (Thomas) career. What that does for us is it lengthens our runway. And like you said, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to start right away and add ten more practices. It’s really that we’re going to add to how we ramp things and make sure that everything we do, we do for a purpose. Whether it’s this walkthrough that we just did, or whether it’s what we’re doing in the weight room or the meeting room – really utilizing all this extra time.”
How great is it to have (Sione) Takitaki and (Anthony) Walker out here from the get-go, not being on a list?
“Yeah, it’s great. I mean, those guys in particular have worked so hard this offseason. They’ve lived in the building. They want to get back as quickly as possible. So to have them out here and working right away – they’ll still rehab and be smart with how they’re coming along, but it’s a testament to how hard they’ve worked.”
Is that the same with Jakeem (Grant Sr.)? He’s going to be limited at the beginning?
“Exactly. With all of these guys, everybody’s at a different part of their rehab and as they get back onto the grass, it’ll vary for each one of the guys. I think all of them are trending in the right direction.”
With Anthony Schwartz, is it the same? It was a hamstring what was bugging him in minicamp?
“ Yes.”
Do you know, is this long-term?
“I don’t know that it’s long term, but with those things, you got to wait and see.”
In your four years, you’ve had zero preseason games, three and now four. So, what kind of methodology do you use to handle playtime?
“The way I look at it, Tony, is that first preseason game versus the Jets, it is, in some ways preseason game number zero. Preseason game one for us is the Commanders game. So that preseason game versus the Jets is an awesome opportunity for our young players. So, we’ll really get a ton of reps for our young players in that game. Then really looking at Philly being the second game, if you will, because we’re practicing versus them, we won’t play our starters very much in that game, if at all. That’s where the structure remains the same. What we do in that Washington game with that Kansas City game, we’re working through that plan, but that’s really as we go. We’ll come up with where we are in camp and how we want to handle those.”
Kevin, how disappointing was it for you that you weren’t able to bring Perion (Winfrey) down and try to stick with him a little bit longer and make a go of it?
“I think disappointing Mary Kay, I’m not going to get into all the specifics. I wish the kid – I wish him well.”
Do you feel you need another tackle on the team?
“I think those are all types of things that Andrew (Berry) talks about, and we monitor. You’re watching practice and you see how guys are handling it. I think really every position, we’re monitoring it. But right now, I don’t think there’s a plan to bring somebody in, right this minute.”
Dawand Jones was out there doing his gassers, has he come since rookie camp where he struggled with that pace?
“He came back at a good weight like he was supposed to. I think he’s ready to work.”
Marquise (Goodwin) has special speed, which is one of the reasons you got him. So until he is back and with the uncertainty of it, how do you go about replacing that?
“What’s today’s date? July 22 – I’d say that’s where between July 22 and September 10, that’s why we practice and that’s why we play these games. We work through all those things and see how the guys come along, see how Marquise comes along over that time. But I think those are all types of things that will work themselves out.”
Looks like Amari (Cooper) is doing more obviously than he was doing during minicamp. Is it nice to be able to really get him involved here?
“Yeah, he looks great, Mary Kay. Physically, he looks great. He’s in a really good spot. Just mentally, he’s got such a great grasp of what we do, but he’s a pro. He worked really hard in this break just now to make sure he was ready to roll.”
Kevin, you got the rookies a couple of days earlier. How much retention is coming over?
“Yeah, I thought quite a bit. It’s a really smart rookie class. I think bringing them in early with the quarterbacks is always good just to knock the mental and physical rust off a little bit. We gave them a few things. We challenged them there up in Berea, and I thought they handled it really well.”
You’ve had three previous camps, training camps, they were all special circumstances, unusual. Do you feel this is now normalcy?
“I don’t know that the NFL gives you normal, and I think that’s what’s so fun about our league is you can’t predict it. You don’t know how it’s going to shake out year in and year out, week in and week out. So for us, we kind of embrace that and know that something’s always coming around the corner and you got to be ready to pivot when necessary. So, for us, normal doesn’t really come into play. It’s more about what’s coming the next day.”
Kevin, how much of a difference for just Deshaun (Watson) right now?
“You know, we’ve talked about that with you guys and with Deshaun. It’s definitely different knowing that he’s our starter in week one and we have him for the season. It helps as we practice, it helps him get the maximum number of reps that he needs to get ready. He’s in a really good place. I’m thrilled with where he is grasping this system and the kid just works constantly. What he did in this break and getting everybody together really speaks to his leadership, which I think is really apparent to you when you see him interact with his teammates.”
Do you look forward to seeing what some of these guys were able to put together on their own off the field and come to camp with it?
“Without a doubt. We measure it, we get these body scans, and you can really measure the muscle mass that guys put on. It’s pretty impressive. Some of these guys, with what they’re able to do over that 40-day break, just getting your mind right and you got to go recharge, but to get their bodies right has been really impressive. I think our guys did a very good job of coming back in shape.”
Are there certain things you look for to make sure the trip away from home is having the benefits that you desire?
“You’re saying when we explored where to go? Yeah.”
In the next eight days, are you going to see things that you say, okay, that’s one of the things I wanted to see, by taking the team away?
“I don’t know. I’m not sure. I think for us, with camp being extended, getting to play in the Hall of Fame game, it just made sense to try to get away. This is a place that has housed teams before. I think maybe if they hadn’t housed teams before, we probably wouldn’t be the first team. But knowing that they’ve been here, having coaches on our staff that have been here and really could speak to this place and how first class it is, I think that was really helpful in us in determining this was a spot that we wanted to come.”
Is this something that you hope to maybe do again next year?
“I think we’ll see. I think let’s get through this camp and make sure that everything that we feel like it’s going to be for us. We’re very open-minded, I think, but we’ll see.”
What are they doing Wednesday? Anything special?
“Well, it’s their day off, so I can’t really direct them to do anything. There are many activities here, I’ve been told. We have that list of things that they can do, but we can’t do anything as a team on Wednesday.”
Was it a motivating factor for them to do their conditioning test in front of all of us?
“So that wasn’t a test, that was just conditioning. That was just getting the airplane ride out of you. I think there’s a lot of rules now around the conditioning test, so we just made sure that was just conditioning.”
Was that to come or will it come in Berea?
“We’re not doing a conditioning test. We haven’t done a conditioning test.”
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