Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (8.4.25)
Opening Statement:
“Last day of open practice, so, you know, we’re gonna miss our fans, but they’ve been terrific all camp. Our guys get a tremendous amount of juice from our fans, these young kids that are out here it’s been really a special few days out here, so I want to acknowledge our fans first and foremost. Injury front, Myles (Garrett) will be back out here today. He’s feeling good. Dillon Gabriel’s dealing with a little bit of tightness in his hamstring, so he’ll be limited a bit. And then Shedeur (Sanders), he’s good, you know, was sore in his arm, his throwing shoulder, but getting treatment and he should be fine. Also, you’re going to see we have a celebrity guest out here today coaching, a guy named Joe Thomas will be helping out with the offensive line. So anytime Joe’s (Thomas) around and we can mine him for everything he’s worth, we’re going to do that. So, he’s back in the O-line meeting rooms getting his football fixed, and we’re happy to have him. But with that, I’ll take any questions.”
So, no team drills for Dillon (Gabriel) today?
“He will. He’ll be limited. He’ll be in some drills.”
And how about Kenny Pickett?
“Not yet.”
Kevin, have you made any final decision and ready to announce what, like kind of what the rotation may be for joint practices and the Carolina game?
“Yeah, I’d say we’re working through it. We’ll hold some guys out of the game, but we’re looking forward to the game. That’s the fun part for our players to get down there and compete against the Panthers on Wednesday, compete against them Friday night, but we will hold some guys out.”
Could you give some details on the format for Wednesday?
“It’ll be very similar to joint practices that you’ve seen before, Tony (Grossi). We’ll do a couple different special teams periods to make sure we hit all four phases. We’ll have a seven on seven, a couple seven on sevens, we’ll have team [periods]. So, again, first time that we’ve done it in week one. So, we won’t do a two minute per se, which we’ll do the following week in Philadelphia.”
Would there be one on ones?
“We’re working through those type of things.”
Hey, Kevin, what do you guys look forward to in the joint practice and the first preseason game? What are you looking to accomplish?
“Well, I think the fun part for us as competitors is you get to go against somebody else. And we have a ton of respect for (Carolina Panthers Head Coach) Coach (Dave) Canales and the Panthers, so we’re looking forward to getting a really good day’s work with them on Wednesday. And then the game is really fun for our organization. It’s fun for our guys. They finally get to be out there, and they’re keeping score, and we get to put guys in different positions when it comes to situational ball and those type of things. So that first preseason game is a lot of jitters, as there always is for the young men. But we’ll talk to them about that. But great opportunity just to compete.”
Besides health is all quarterbacks expected to get some playing time in the first preseason game?
“We’ll work through that in the next couple days.”
How far do you go back, just as far as scripting the practice. How’s that been so far?
“It’s been great. What you do typically is obviously Dave (Canales) and I talked way back when about this and he’s been a gracious host in getting this thing organized for us. And we have had our coordinators on the horn with their coordinators just to get organized in terms of what both sides need to see.”
Was there any kind of relief that Shedeur’s (Sanders) arm was nothing serious, and the fact that he self-reported when he’s in the middle of a heated competition? What do you think of that for a rookie?
“Yeah, well, I think he was just sore, honestly, Mary Kay (Cabot). And I think obviously he’ll look at his process, making sure that his arm’s ready to go, but it’s nothing more than that. He’s getting treatment. He’ll be good to go.”
Quick follow up on your quarterbacks, Kenny (Pickett) with the hamstring, now Dillon (Gabriel) a little bit of a hamstring, Shedeur (Sanders) with the arm. I mean did you necessarily have that on your bingo card.
“No, I didn’t. Hey, every day, you learn something new. So, all those guys, listen, they’re all working hard, but it’s all part of it.”
So, is it fair to say we’ll see Shedeur (Sanders) with the first team today?
“Again, you guys will see how we plan practice. And all these guys, which I’m appreciative of are pushing to do the best that they can in whatever it is. And I say that because we just had a really good walk through in there with the guys putting some two minute in. So, they handled that really well, so I expect them to handle this as well.”
We keep asking about Carson Schwesinger, but what other young linebackers are popping out to you?
“Yeah, it’s interesting, Jeff (Schudel), because there’s young guys, but then there’s some guys, there’s veterans with some good experience that I think are also equipping themselves really nicely. So, it’s a really good group. (Linebackers) Coach (Jason) Tarver, as you know, does an awesome job with those guys. They’re the nerve center of our defense and getting us lined up, making calls and that type of thing. So, I’ve been really pleased with that entire group.”
So, who are some of those veterans?
“You start naming them, I’ll say yes. Sorry, I don’t have the depth chart.”
Shedeur mentioned maybe it was a stop and start nature of practice, that the arm led to the soreness. Can you guys do anything for that or is that just up to him to kind of stay loose at all times?
“Yeah, we’ve talked about it. He’ll do a great job. He’ll stay loose. That’s part of that gig. You know, part of it for all quarterbacks is just keeping your arm loose and he’ll do a good job.”
Is that part of adjusting from college to pros is it something that maybe that the timetable and everything for a rookie to have?
“I think there’s so many adjustments that these guys are tackling every single day. And yeah, of course, getting your body ready, knowing what your body needs. You know, we have a lot of these practices in a row, so you have to be smart about making sure you’re ready to roll.”
Kevin, Dillon and the hamstring, was it something where he hurt it on a specific player or just came in today and reported it?
“No, he reported it, this was on Saturday, so it happened on Saturday and he’s getting treatment on it. And you’ll see, he’ll be out here just a little bit of tightness, I guess.”
Kevin, when it comes to evaluation and these joint practices, first preseason games, do you put more value in the joint practices and what happens in those?
“You know, it’s a good question, Dan (Labbe). I feel like there’s value in everything in what we’re seeing from the guys. We value how they do in the meeting room. We value how they are in the walk through like I mentioned earlier, we value all these practice reps. Of course, when you’re going up against another team and it’s a setting where maybe you don’t know exactly what the defense is going to do or the offense is going to do, I think there’s certainly value created in that. And then in the preseason games, like I mentioned before, they’re keeping score, so the competitive part of our sport kicks in and you want to obviously do well in those venues as well.”
Kevin, when you and the staff have talked a lot about the processes and being really happy with what you’re seeing in that regard. So like at what point during camp, is it these joint practices? Is it when the preseason is winding down? When do you focus on results over the processes?
“Well, I mean, ultimately this is a results business. This game is about results. We know that. But I think you’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re not hyper focused on your process as a player, as a coach. Whether you have success in a given play or not, are you learning from that play? I mean, that all speaks to the process that allows you to play well on Sundays. I mean, that’s the ultimate goal. But we’re pretty process driven. And another way of saying that is we take practice very seriously. We take the work we do in the building very seriously. And that all adds up to putting yourself in position to play good football.”
Kevin, I know injuries part of it, and I know that another quarterback could suffer a minor tweak here and there, but how much does that hurt? Maybe your processing of developing a plan, if at all. Is it frustrating?
“No. Injuries are a part of this game. They’re frustrating from the standpoint of when you lose a guy for a good amount of time you feel, that’s tough on the players. But the dealing with injuries, adjusting because injuries, that’s just part of the game.”
So why did you schedule first week joint practice this year as opposed to any other preseason game?
“Yeah, I think every year, Tony (Grossi), just looking at our, steal that word again, process, what we can do better, what other teams are doing. Is there an opportunity to do something so I can…I’ll talk when I’m down there, but my relationship with Coach (Dave) Canales, you know, our relationship among the staff, like the scheme that they run on both sides of the ball, will be good for our team. So there’s a lot of positives to going down there.”
Are the joint workouts more beneficial to the veterans, where the games are more beneficial for the rookies and what they can do on the fly and everything?
“I’d say in some ways, yes, the preseason games are great because they’re opportunities in a controlled environment for your players. Now there are some teams that don’t play their starters at all in the preseason and that’s what they think is best for their team. In that given moment, and think about, you know, quarterbacks that play in the preseason. You’re obviously not wearing a red jersey, so you’re free game in those situations, whereas you’re not in practice and/or a joint practice with another team. So those are all things that we weigh as coaches, trying to figure out what our team needs for a given season, for a given week.”
So when you say you will hold out some guys for the game, that means some guys will play, meaning regulars?
“Yes.”
Coach (Mike) Bloomgren was talking about (Joel) Bitonio last week, saying he checks a lot of boxes for future Hall of Fame candidacy. What would you say about what makes Joel (Bitonio) that kind of player?
“Yeah, I think Joel’s (Bitonio) a Hall of Famer. I’ve been blessed to be around Hall of Famers, and he fits the mold. He’s done it at an extremely high level for a really long time. I think if you talk to players, I think players are great judges of talent. I think you talk to players around this league and they know what Joel’s (Bitonio) about. Now, that’s the player, the person off the field is a Hall of Fame person. And I rely heavily on Joel (Bitonio) really, almost every day for his input and his thoughts on where we are as a team, what we need to be doing, just getting a feel for him and his teammates. He’s a incredible ambassador for his team, if you will. But yeah, I can’t say enough good things about it.”
Having Joe Thomas out here, is it something he wanted to do or something you guys wanted to do?
“Yeah, I think Joe (Thomas) knows we’ll take him as much as we can get him. And I think he was going to be in town working this week, so he traded in whatever he’s doing to grab the whistle for the week and see if he can. Any little help, anything that Joe can do in the meeting rooms helps. I think anything Joe (Thomas) does out here on the practice field helps when you’re talking about a Hall of Famer.”
Will Greg (Newsome II) be back today?
“He’s still working through it, but getting better.”
And Dillon talked about the ups and downs that are natural to any training camp, but probably especially for a rookie, how have you seen him kind of handle those ebbs and flows?
“Yeah, I think all these rookies like you mentioned, Scott (Petrak), and certainly quarterbacks, there’s plays that are set up for you and you let it rip and it’s there. There’s times that things aren’t there. And I think the big thing is learning from every single one of those reps. Like I can think of certain reps where you got to move in the pocket and you got to run out of the pocket. You got to go scramble and get as much as we can get and get down and protect yourself. That’s real football. So we’re trying as hard as we can to mimic that in these settings and know that you’re going to have some plays that you want back, but the bottom line is you have to learn from those plays, I think he’s doing that.”
With tweaks to some of the other guys. Do you think you might have to play Joe Flacco in the game?
“I’ll wait to discuss those type of things later, Mary Kay (Cabot). But yeah, Joe’s (Flacco) ready to go if we need him.”
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