Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (7.29.24)
Mike Hall and Dawand Jones, not present today. Was there an injury?
“No, they’ll be back out shortly. All good.”
So can you just address a little bit of the soggy first day in pads, but were you able to get everything done that you wanted to?
“Yeah, I’m really pleased that we’re able to adjust, you know, credit to our logistics team, security, equipment, you name it, to get that operation going, changing the schedule, getting everything down there. I thought they did a great job. I thought the players did a nice job as well adjusting. That’s the name of the game. We’ll continue to do that as necessary, but got our work in and adjusted a few different things just being down there, but made sure that we got our work in.”
Kevin, you guys placed Brian Allen on IR today? I was curious if that was a season ending injury?
“We’ll see how the roster shakes out. Disappointed for him, obviously, with an injury, but we’ll see how it shakes out.”
Kevin, we know you like getting David Njoku the ball. Do you walk away wishing you could get him the ball more sometimes?
“Yeah, I mean, you go into every game thinking specifically about your guys and Dave’s top of the list, you know, with who we’re trying to get the ball to. And then you really, as an offense, you design plays where he’s primary or you feel really good that you’re going to get a certain look, and then it’s the quarterback’s job to distribute the ball accordingly. So, we’ve gone into games where we didn’t think it’d be a big game for a tight end, and all of a sudden you walk away and they’ve got a ton of catches. So, it’s really based on how the defense deploys, is where that ball goes. But no secret that we’re trying to get David the ball.”
Are you satisfied where that position is as a whole, with what you have with behind David, or is that something that down the road…?
“Yeah, I mean, I think, as you know, Andrew (Berry) and the staff are looking at every position constantly. I like the guys that we have. I think they’re working really hard. I like the versatility we have at that position. But I know Andrew and that crew look at every position every day, just like the rest of the league does.”
David had mentioned that after his accident last season, he just felt like his perspective completely changed on life, but also on the football field. Did you notice a shift in him after that?
“Yeah, that was traumatic. And for what he went through and then how he grew from that was evident, I think, from all of his teammates. So certainly when you go through something as scary as that, you learn about yourself. You certainly put things in perspective. But he’s continued to evolve as a team leader. We’ve talked about him over the years and his evolution of what he means to this football team, but that was a scary incident, obviously and I think he definitely learned from it.”
Kevin, looking back at that and him playing 36 hours later, was that just crazy?
“I can’t remember if I told you guys this, but I remember the next day I saw Dave and I was like, ‘Dave, that was crazy.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, it was lit.’ I don’t know if I’d use that word, but yeah, he’s…that was crazy. I was so disappointed in how that game went because I would have loved nothing more than to hand him a game ball for how he performed on the field.”
Off the field, we’ve talked about his development. But, like, where do you think he’s going most at that position?
“Yeah, I wasn’t here for the beginning part of his career. You know, when I came in, there were definitely some ups and downs with Dave and he’s talked about, I’ve talked about it, but he’s a team player. His evolution as a team leader has been the most impressive to me. He’s a guy that his teammates rely on. I rely on when it comes to the team and understanding what we’re doing and those type of things and where we are and messaging. He’s on top of that from a teammate standpoint.”
You seem to be using more of 11 personnel this season. But how will that impact Dave’s role?
“I don’t know that there’s a huge impact personnel-wise, Mary Kay (Cabot), for Dave. Obviously, if you go 10 personnel, he’s off the field, but I think anytime you’re thinking about how we’re going to play, it’s really a combination of what we feel are our best lineups, what the defense is maybe susceptible to, and our game plan is somewhere in the middle. But obviously, having a tight end on the field is a part of who we are.”
I don’t know if anyone asked you because I missed the beginning, but do you expect tomorrow to be the most competitive practice day yet, now that you got this day out of the way?
“I wouldn’t characterize it that way, Tony (Grossi). I think it was pretty competitive a few days ago when went team and 7-on-7 there, I thought, really good work. I think one of our core things we believe in is competing in everything we do. So as you know, training camp, as you get going and the dog days kick in and it gets maybe more chippy and those type of things, that’s natural in training camp. But we hope to compete.”
You’re back in pads tomorrow?
“We’re back in shells tomorrow. I think pads Thursday.”
When you have a day where you have to move stuff around and arrange, do you use that as kind of a coaching message, take that opportunity to drive some points home?
“Did you hear what I said out there? Good earshot there, Scott (Petrak). Yeah, I mean, of course – we adjust. That’s part of this game of football. It’s part of sports, team sports in particular. You have to adjust. You adjust the schedule, you adjust where you’re practicing, and you have to keep going. You gotta focus on what’s in front of you. So certainly that’s the message. Now, again, kudos to the real people that had to adjust today, which was our equipment staff, our video staff, our logistics, security. That was a real impressive part that I saw today.”
Ced (Cedric Tillman) was getting praised up and down in the spring by everyone for how he’s performing. What’s like the next steps of what you want to see from him during training camp?
“I think nothing specific, Ashley (Bastock), other than showing up, continuing to do his work and whatever role he’s asked to do. Ced, he’s a pro now, not a rookie. So asking him to do a few different things in our offense, and he’s really taking the bit.”
Now that Jerome Ford is back and we don’t have him today, are you able to share what his good news was?
“He’s got a little bundle of joy is the good news, but I’ll let him share the details.”
Lining David out wide, what advantage does that create, do you feel like, especially with his specific skill set?
“You know over the years, there’s tight ends that you can line up out wide in the backfield, in line. Dave’s done a little bit of everything for us over the years. Not every tight end can do that. But anytime you put a tight end outside, typically, it’s the physicality. The corners are not used to going against guys at 250 pounds, maybe 225 pounds max with wide receivers. So just the physicality of how those guys can bump the ball and get in and out of their routes and use their body are some of the things you can see with big tight ends.”
And how important, like when we talk about creating mismatches to have a tight end like that. So you’re in 12 personnel, but it looks like 11, right? He’s essentially a receiver. So how important is he in that room?
“Absolutely. And that goes back to versatility. When you are in 12 personnel, and you can make it look like 11 or make it look like 12 or even line up on the tight end of the backfield as 21 all of a sudden. So, versatility is an important part of that. You have to have the guys in order to do that. You see across the league, there are different move tight ends that you can find in all those spots that I mentioned. But having the physical ability and then also having the mental ability to do that is rare.”
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