Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (8.2.24)
Opening Statement:
“Okay, good practice out there to finish off our stay here. Extremely appreciative of the people here at The Greenbrier, the people in West Virginia that take such good care of us. It’s a first-class operation. And I know our coaches, our staff, our players are extremely grateful to that group. But good practice, and then we’ll get on the airplane here shortly. And with that, I’ll take questions.”
Kevin, how’s D’Onta (Foreman)?
“Better, yes. You know, obviously very, very scary. And credit to our medical staff, you’re always being cautious there, and they followed protocols and made sure that he got great treatment right there. Saw him yesterday when he got back, was tired, so he’s getting plenty of rest, but scary. And thank God he’s okay.”
Is he out indefinitely or do you have any idea?
“I don’t have, yeah I don’t have a clue.”.
Would you acquire another (running) back in camp?
“We’ll work through that. I’m not sure yet.”
Do you have him in concussion protocol or anything like that?
“Working through all of that right now.”
Elijah Moore left the field, anything on that?
“Being evaluated for a concussion.”
JOK (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) the last two days hasn’t practiced. What’s behind that?
“Normal nicks and bruises of camp. It’s kind of what happens as you get a few days into it. So, all things that we’ll work through.”
Was this always the plan? No throw day for Deshaun (Watson)?
“Yes.”
He’ll be back Sunday throwing?
“Correct.”
So how would you assess what you accomplished with him?
“With Deshaun? Yeah, absolutely. He’s done a nice job throughout the days that he’s throwing. I thought he was doing really well. He’s focused, locked in. Even today, proud of him for being in the huddle, giving coaching points. I think that’s such a huge part of this as the starting quarterback, is even on a day like this where he gets an off day throwing, it’s not an off day from a leadership perspective, and he did a nice job.”
What’d you see from Jameis (Winston) today? And how much did you like the way he handled that two minute offense at the end of practice?
“You know, like we talked about yesterday, you’re always introducing situations every day. Really going back to the first day we were here. There’s different things that you’re working on. Different things that you cover in the meeting room, then you take out here to the grass. So had a short two-minute drive there with two groups. And I thought Jameis in particular, obviously scored a touchdown there, got his team in the end zone and operated really well.”
So Sunday marks kind of the next phase of camp, being at home. Do you expect guys like Myles (Garrett) and (Jerry) Jeudy to join in at that point?
“Yeah, we’ll get to Sunday and we’ll obviously address that. But they’re all very close, I would expect it soon.”
And players on the list, could they be getting on the field at all?
“Potentially.”
How pleased were you that Deshaun was able to throw for those first six days of camp without any setbacks?
“Exactly right, Mary Kay. Just following the protocol. He’s being diligent about what we’re asking him to do. Gave him a day off today. He probably would have thrown if we let him, but just staying true to what we have a plan here with the medical team.”
Are you going to need to bring in another safety, at least temporarily? Because with Ronnie (Hickman) and D’Anthony Bell.
“Good question, Chris. We’ll work through all those things. Again with some of these injuries, we want to see how they respond over 24 hours and then make decisions like that.”
But nothing on Ronnie?
“Good guess, but he has an injury.”
Kevin, from where we sit, it looks like Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) plays with a lot of confidence. Do you agree?
“I do, yeah. And that kind of goes back to Dorian last year. We’ve talked a lot about the growth he had in year one, and you expect similar growth in year two. And he’s really doing a nice job.”
When you left here last year, there was that receiver (Austin) Watkins, who had kind of opened some eyes and got a lot of playing time in the preseason. Is there anyone from the depths of the roster?
“You tell me, Tony, who’s Mister Greenbrier?”
I don’t know. It looks like number 25 is a little more active in the second year with your team, (Kahlef) Hailassie.
“I think what happens a lot in practices and definitely when you get to the games, I think you see guys make plays. It’s a playmaking league, and I know throughout those three games there’s gonna be some guys that really flash. And sometimes that flash leads them to a spot on our roster, sometimes it leads to a spot on another roster. So those games are when really the entire team, excuse me, the entire NFL, the entire league, tunes in to see how everybody’s doing. But I’m really excited about a bunch of young guys, really.”
Two questions real quick. We haven’t seen Shelby Harris here outside at all for the last couple of days. Why is that?
“Yeah, we’re working through some things, but he’ll be back.”
And will you be back here (Greenbrier) next year?
“Good question. We really enjoy our time down here. Those are discussions we’ll have internally. But again, year two down here, different in that our players, our coaches, our staff knew what to expect. But really, it’s a first-class operation. They take great care of us and bottom line is we got our work in. Sometimes we had to adjust on the fly with the weather, but we got our work in.”
Is there anything as you leave here today that you wish you had gotten done or had an opportunity to do?
“No, we really followed what we planned on doing when we came down here, Daryl (Ruiter). Really pleased with the effort from the guys. I thought they did a nice job with everything we really asked them to do.”
So, I know you touched on it a little bit, but with Jerry, how did you see him respond in his individual work yesterday?
“I thought he looked good. He moved around well, caught it well. Again, a guy that is really locked in on the mental side of this and hasn’t missed a day from that perspective and then jumped right in there and I felt looked good.”
Kevin, what have you thought of David Bell the start of camp?
“Has done a nice job, including that last play there. That’s a really, really impressive catch to end that drill. He’s a guy that has proven to be very, very dependable for our football team.”
We’ve seen (Nick) Chubb, after he’s done some of his work on the side, come and coach and help some of the other guys. How have you seen Nick stay involved as a leader as well when he’s not practicing?
“Nick’s very involved. Like you mentioned, when he’s not practicing, he has a script in front of him, he’s reading the plays off to the young guys, keeping them engaged. I think keeping himself engaged as well. There’s so much that you can cover from a mental standpoint, even when you’re not getting those reps. And I think Nick is making sure to make everyday count.”
As you guys work through the kickoff coverages and everything, I know obviously you did work in OTAs and minicamp, but how has this week progressed that learning curve?
“Sure, it continues to progress with that play and see how it feels for our guys. I know we all tuned in last night to see what it looked like live in the game, so it’ll be an evolution. Like I know has been mentioned, I know around the league you may not see everything that people are going to do. You’ll see the play in its purest form, I guess, but people are going to certainly hide some things and not show things until the season gets going. But for us, it’s definitely an evolution where we’ll get some good work with that versus the (Minnesota) Vikings and the practices there and then certainly in the three preseason games.”
What have you thought of Deshaun’s arm strength? Is he hitting the long ball as far as he needs to, and it looks good? It’s coming out right?”
“Yeah, no limitations in that regard.”
Is there any veteran player who you or the coaches after a week looked at and said, ‘Wow, he’s gonna have his best year if we could keep him healthy?’ I’m thinking (David) Njoku.
“That’s a good question. Sure, I mean, Dave looks healthy, like you mentioned. He’s making a lot of plays for us in the pass game. Right now, a dependable player we’re asking to do some things that he hasn’t done before. I think he’s taking the bit in terms of learning some different techniques, if you will, different concepts. He’s done a nice job.”
Mike Vrabel seems to be spending a lot of time with him [Njoku] specifically. Just how important was that for you as far as the assigning that to Mike and just what was the thinking behind that? What were you looking for Mike to get out of Dave?
“So, the idea with having coach Vrabes on the offensive side of the ball, he’s been a defensive coordinator, obviously been a great player in this league. So he can give our offensive staff perspective from the other side of the ball. And then working with that position, as an outside linebacker he had a lot of battles with tight ends and can talk to them about blocking techniques and how to release versus a outside linebacker versus six technique, whatever it may be. So, I just think Vrabes has a very natural way with helping the tight ends because he literally went against those guys for years.”
Do you feel like Deshaun and Jerry Jeudy will have plenty of time to get up to speed and get their timing?
“I do. I think we have miles to go until that first game. And again, just going back to what I said earlier, we’ll just make every day count.”
And Watson had a successful week being able to play and all that. Does it affect your playtime decision, contribute to it or is that unchanged?
“I think everything affects those decisions. Honestly, Tony (Grossi). I’ll sit down with the coaches tomorrow and really hash out a plan. We’ve had a few discussions on what we may do and it’s really, as you can imagine, it’s by player. It’s not really just a blanket – here’s what we’re going to do, make a decision based on every player what we feel like they need to get ready for the season.”
I know you talked about a little earlier in the week about some of the things you like about Tyler Huntley that just been watching him for these past few days. It just seems like he’s so valuable, can do so many things. Is there a chance he could make the team as something other than a quarterback?
“He’s done a really nice job, excited about Snoop (Tyler Huntley). All of our guys are fighting to make this roster. That’s the beauty of how this is set up, how training camp goes, how the NFL is set up. It’s a great, great opportunity for our guys to show what they can do here on the practice fields, on the games, when we get there, those three games. So, all of it is their resume. And he’s done a nice job, kind of showing what he’s about.”
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