Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (9.2.24)
Do you have any hope that Jed’s (Wills Jr.) out on the practice field this week?
“He’s getting close. So, we’ll see, but get closer.”
Did he have any setback of any kind? Because it felt like even in minicamp, he was close.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t call it a setback. I’d say with any injury that you’re rehabbing; you have to just treat it how it’s responding and those type of things. So, no, I wouldn’t say a specific setback, but you know, he wants to be out here last month. I mean, he wants to be out here two months ago, but just going to continue to treat him and make sure that we’re doing what is right medically.”
Are you ready to say Jack (Conklin) will play at left tackle?
“Yeah, I don’t think we’re going to say anything really depth chart wise.”
Conklin is a two-time All-Pro tackle. If he were to play left tackle, how much of an upgrade is that over Wills?
“I wouldn’t obviously go there, Tony (Grossi). I would just tell you we have options there and we’re going to work through our options.”
I didn’t see Shelby (Harris) or Dustin (Hopkins).
“Both will be fine.”
We talked a lot about the offense and what it might look like given that, you know, the new coaches and the tweaks to it. What’s the process like of if you throw everything in at the beginning of the offseason until now, to week one. What’s going to make it to week one? What makes it to the season?
“Yeah, I think what you have to be careful of is you can’t run everything in game one, or game two or game three. There’s a lot of things that over the course of time, you will get to. There’s only so many plays. There’s only so many plays you can install and practice and those type of things. So it’s been a process, and I give Coach (Ken) Dorsey a ton of credit. Just, it’s been a great process of streamlining what we do throughout the spring and into the summer, finding out what fits our guys best. And then when you figure that out, then you go into week one, you say, ‘okay, what are some things that potentially could be good versus our opponent?’ So that’s really the conversation you’re having right now.”
We’ve asked you a lot about Andy Dickinson in these few months. How is he different than Bill Callahan?
“Well, I think we talked about this way back when. I don’t want any coach to be anybody that they’re not. I want the best versions of our players, I want the best versions of our coaches. Andy’s very authentic to himself, you know, has a really good way about him and how he teaches, how he pushes the guys. Very, very smart in the meeting room. Really a very good collaborator. So, he works well with everybody and putting plans together.”
Back to the tackles for a second, how comforting is it that one of your options is Jack Conklin and do we make too much of the slide? Is that something that he can easily do?
“Yeah, good question. Again, we’re excited to have options at really a bunch of positions. That’s certainly one that we’ll have work through potentially. But in terms of that transition, I think it’s better off asking the players because I think it varies by player.”
Are you fortunate to have Joel (Bitonio) over on that side because whoever’s over there having to make any kind of a transition gets to be with an All-Pro like Joel?
“Yeah, I think that certainly factors into all of this, Mary Kay (Cabot), is an offensive line really works as a unit. It’s not an individual type thing, and you have to have great communication on down the line.”
What do you expect the Cowboys’ defense to look like under Mike Zimmer?
“Yeah, again, we’ll see. Preseason obviously is not a great indication for any team in terms of the scheme. Coach Zim, obviously, I know really well, is an outstanding football coach, so we know that we’ll have our work cut out for us and personnel wise, they have a bunch of really good players from the d-line back to the secondary. We’ll spend some more time on them this afternoon with our players and then we’ll really dive into them as we get started with our work week on Wednesday.”
This is the most lead time you have to scout an opponent all year long, all offseason. So, what particularly do you do up until the game plan?
“Yeah, well, I think you do have all that time, but you also have new coordinators at times. You have new players at times. So, there is a bit of a guessing game on both sides. There are certain seasons where you’re going in and there’s a coordinator that’s been there for a bunch of years, but they may have new players at different positions. So week one, there’s definitely the unknown really on all sides.”
Back to the offensive line, how have you seen the vets help some of the other guys along through some of the changes; new coach, new players switching around due to injuries. How have you seen the vets kind of tackle that from you?
“We’re very fortunate to have a veteran group in there, and it’s Joel, it’s Wyatt (Teller), it’s Jack, it’s Ethan (Pocic). It’s a bunch of really smart football players that push each other, but they also do a great job with young guys. They bring them along because that’s what somebody did for them.”
We’re catching up with Wyatt today. Just how sort of consistent and solid has he been for you, just in terms of physically, leadership and all that?
“Well, I think the consistent piece is a big piece, especially being available. I think he’s worked very hard to keep his body in position to stay on the field, and as you know, we’ve had a lot of success with Wyatt in the run game, in the pass game, and we’re certainly counting on him, but he’s been very consistent.”
Two years ago, the Browns entered the season as the youngest team in the league. This year, they’re closer to the oldest, based on whatever website you look at, average age and all that. So how did it get to be that, and why is that an advantage? Is there a benefit to that?
“It’s a good question. It’s not something I spend a lot of time thinking about, Tony (Grossi). We look at it, or at least I look at it with what players we have available to us. Certain years you have more young guys than old guys, but I think it’s a good match.”