Head Coach Todd Monken (4.21.26)
Todd, what did you think about the first time seeing your guys on the field?
“Oh, it’s awesome. I mean, getting on the grass, really cool. You get the extra week. Hard on the players, but they handled it great. I mean you go really from phase one to a phase three practice without really the three weeks in between to really do a lot of the installs. The walk (thru) helped earlier. But to get out here and function like we did, not perfect. Guys taking care of each other – I like the juice, love the connection of the team. It’s great.”
Todd, I’ve seen a lot of volume of team reps. Obviously you planned it, but why so many team reps the first day?
“Because we’re allowed.”
Todd, I mean, when you kind of look at this, when you get done with these three days, what would you consider a successful, considering the circumstances and everything, what would you consider to be a successful three-day mini camp this week?
“Well, it started today, earlier this morning. Our guys, their diligence, note taking, being collaborative in the meeting rooms, okay. Embracing the learning process, taking it from the classroom to the walk to the field, practicing with each other, the juice, all of that. That’s really the core that we can control. There’s nothing about this we’re going to see in terms of physicality; we’re going to see in terms of communication. I thought the quarterbacks functioned unbelievable today in terms of checking plays, getting us out of cans. I thought that was a highlight – I liked that at least offensively. Defensively, it was the three turnovers. We certainly can’t do that offensively, but obviously turning the ball over three times today, throwing it. But man, it was awesome. Awesome day today.”
I was going to ask you just maybe a little bit more specific about what have you liked about what you’ve seen from the quarterbacks today?
“Well, I thought they were in command. I never felt at one time like they were lost. I thought all the work they put in, the last couple of weeks leading up today, Coach (Mike) Bajakian did a great job with them, prepping them. Coach (Matt) Baker, Ian (Kolste), those guys with quarterbacks to prep them, everything from the meeting rooms again to the walks thru here today. To me, that’s the start of it. The start of it is how we function, how they lead. Is there a belief system? Who has the ball in their hands every play.”
Todd, you mentioned the turnover. On the flip side of that, what did you like about your defense? What do you think went well with your defense in these drills today?
“Well, it was awesome. I mean, flying around, did a great job of attacking, yet staying on their feet. I thought they’ve handled the volume and some of the things that we’ve done defensively, and that was great to see.”
So the first team rep, Shedeur (Sanders) was first man up.
“He was first man up. I knew it was coming. Didn’t know who was going to ask it, but I knew it was coming.”
Of your five team periods, I think you had five team periods. (Deshaun) Watson was first up on three of them. So what’s the method to that?
“I don’t know really, to be honest. I’ll have to ask Coach Bajakian. We were just rotating who was first reps. Shedeur to start. There were some other reps. The way it was going to turn out, Shedeur was going to get more reps. Some of it in pass skill, some of it in team. Couple of the team periods were slowed down, ACT, more run than they were throw. So it was set up in a way for us to get a look at all of them. The plan was to have Shedeur have a few more reps, but to let Deshaun and Shedeur both have reps with the ones.”
Does that change tomorrow and the next day?
“It’ll change each day. Each day we’re going to change that to get a look at our guys. We got three days to get a great look at those guys, and it’s awesome to be able to get these extra three days.”
So, Mike was the one that kind of decided who was going to get reps?
“Mike decided, brought it to me, and I was like, ‘Yeah, that looks good to me.’”
Todd, speaking of the quarterbacks, they had the GoPros on the helmet today. Just how valuable of a tool is that for you guys as you’re evaluating that position and trying to sort of figure out who’s going to start?
“Well, it’s a valuable tool, unless you want to be standing in the huddle to hear their communication, right. What’s actually being relayed from myself, to them, to the players. And then it allows you to pre-snap and then post-snap get an idea where their eyes are. Are they in the right place?”
Tytus Howard. I didn’t see him out there with units. Was he recovering from an injury?
“I thought he was out there.”
I didn’t see him on the line. Not in the drills though?
“Yeah, not in the drills.”
That’s what I mean. Was there a reason he was not in the drills?
“Not that I know of, no.”
I wanted to ask about the O-line and I mean, Coach (George) Warhop out there working with those guys. What did you think from them? And I know, you know, some guys aren’t able to be out there like Elgton (Jenkins) and Luke (Wypler), but what can you glean for linemen in these three days?
“Well, I feel really good about the linemen that we’ve signed. Obviously Elgton’s coming back from an injury, so that’s a part of it. But getting Tytus, also getting Zion (Johnson) and then we’ll see what happens in the Draft. I like the guys that we had coming back. There are some young guys that you like, some depth there. So again, it’s the first day. Probably the hardest to gauge is the line, without the shoulder pads on and some of your skill guys, physicality. But again, I’m excited about what we have and what we’re going to add to the room.”
Quinshon (Judkins), just sort of easing him into the whole process or do you feel like that by May he should be able to get out there and go?
“We anticipate with each week he’s going to get closer and closer. When that is, his body will tell him. But we do anticipate somewhere before the end of spring/summer, we’ll have him out there.”
Could you clarify whether you’ve had the opportunity to talk to (Myles) Garrett and has the defensive coordinator talked to him?
“I can’t speak for Rudy (Mike Rutenberg). Myles and I have communicated by text, but I have not spoken to him in person. I can’t speak for Rudy.”
Hey, Todd, when you spend the last two weeks with the quarterbacks and then it switches to the field today, did you have a good idea that they had the handle that they needed that they showed you today. Or is it a question just because you’re moving from the classroom to the field?
“It felt like it. But until you get out here, right, and actually get on the grass. And obviously the walk helped. I mean, you all weren’t here for the walk, but to get a lot of the plays early, get some of the kinks out, repeat it, right. A lot of the same things we did on the field, which is why you do the walk, so we can get out here and execute, at least try to execute at a high level. But I’ve seen a lot of positives from them being able to take from the meeting rooms. Now, we’ll see tomorrow, because tomorrow’s a new install so building from today to tomorrow right. We’ll see.”
I can’t recall officials being here this early in a season. Was it your call or is it league trying to train?
“No, it was my call on these officials. As we get further into OTAs, there will be officials, as far as I know from the NFL, right, that’ll be a part of practice. These were guys that we wanted brought in. Yes, local guys that we wanted here. Now, again, it’s a little bit earlier just because we normally wouldn’t get these three days.”
Can you share how your text message have gone with Myles Garrett? Sort of, what is the nature of your…
“It hasn’t been a lot. It’s fine. This is voluntary. We’re making a big deal out of this. We really are. It’s voluntary. We have other guys besides Myles that aren’t here. I wish they were here. They’ll be ready. We expect them to be ready. And we’ll be fired up when they’re here.”
Guys like (Denzel) Ward and (Jerry) Jeudy, were you informed are not going to be there?
“Yes, we were informed. And really all of the players have informed us. They’ve been unbelievable with their communication. So is Myles. I mean, they’ve communicated, okay. Doesn’t mean I like the communication, but it’s voluntary. Like I wish they were all here right. I mean, I’ve said that plenty of times. But every one of them is a Brown and we’re excited that they are.”
And the guys who are invited here, are they just to fill out your spaces or these legit tryouts for a roster spot?
“Well, they were guys that we wanted to take a look at. Let’s start with that. They’re guys that we had on our radar. Some of the coaches that had been with them before – on Andrew’s (Berry) radar. And then there is a part of that allows us that if we do bring in some tryout guys, it allows us to function with a couple of groups, right. So ,it’s a little bit of both. But the idea was we certainly had them on our radar as well.”
Todd, we saw you being very demonstrative when it came to effort today. How important is it for you to kind of administer that during these minicamp days to kind of create that culture?
“Well, it’s one of the easiest things to control, right, without the pads on, is our effort and our energy and our body language. And what we get to do as coaches and players is so unique. It’s so cool. I mean, it’s 99.9 of this world’s dream is to get to do we do. How we could ever come out here and not be just jacked to get to coach and play in the NFL, I have no idea. I tried to tell the players, your body language screams what you enjoy doing, right? Why would you not love this? Forget the money, forget all of that, you get to play football for a living. So cool.”
Could you say if Elgton Jenkins had been on the field, where he would have been?
“Well, we got to mix and match, guys. We would have probably started him at center, probably would have put him at center. But again, it’s trying to match who we have because with (Luke Wypler) Wyp out and then Elgton and without the Draft and getting that point, you’re kind of trying to mix match. There are some guys that had to line up at tackle that we may see down the road as guard. So it’s really just getting the best five out there and then the next five for the second group.”
Do you think it’ll mix and match the rest of these two days out here?
“For the O-line? (Yeah.) That’s difficult. That’s a little bit more difficult than the wide outs. For the O-line, I think for the three days, we’ve got to keep them in one spot. I don’t see us being able to do that if we want to execute at eye level every day.”
The point of the Draft – you mentioned how exciting it is to have this week here, get a look at your team. How much more beneficial is it that it happens right before the beginning of the Draft so you get that first look at this team on the field before you add some more talent?
“Well, first of all, it’s awesome no matter when the Draft is, I think pretty much… I would guess that’d be a question for Andrew. I would guess irrespective of what happens here, because we’re really in shorts, that we’re already set in terms of what we’re thinking for the Draft. Maybe not complete, but ought to be damn close, you know, at this point. So, the bottom line is this just happens to get us a little bit of a preview on what we have and really get the system and the foundation set.”
So, Coach, I know this has been characterized for all intents and purposes as sort of a two man race between Shedeur and Deshaun, but I’m just wondering, what have you seen from Dillon that you’ve liked so far and how much in the mix is he also?
“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a two-man race. I would just say that at every position, there’s competition, irrespective of the reps that they get, which I’ve said before, I mean everybody ought to be competing. But what I have liked with Dillon, is the way he goes about his business. Very professional, highly intelligent, understands football, has a certain charisma about him and a confidence that’s hard to create. He has it innate. You saw it throughout his career. You don’t go to three different programs and have the success he had if he doesn’t have a belief in himself.”
Todd, the quarterbacks have had your playbook now for about three weeks. Have they absorbed it at the same rate or some ahead of the others?
“I think very similarly. This was actually, I mean at a really high level. We would have… I don’t remember back in ’19 – It’s good that I don’t remember 19 [joking]. Okay so. But I don’t remember that extra week. But getting that extra week is, it really forces them to speed up the learning curve. They have to, right? We’re not in phase two or we get 45 minutes out here like you’re getting a full practice. So I thought the guys handled it great – been awesome.”
How much do players have to unlearn from the playbook that they’ve had the last few years?
“Well, whenever you change systems there is some of that. There is some of where you’re trying to explain to them. ‘We’re calling this X. You guys called it Y.’ It’s that simple. It’s that style of play. Hell, we’ve changed some of the terminology I got to remember. I mean we changed some of the run game names, we changed some of the things we did in the pass game that didn’t make sense. The cool thing about changing jobs is you have a chance to start over and look at it. You don’t have that chance when you just go year to year to change it, everybody already knows the system. You have a chance. That doesn’t make sense. That doesn’t make sense. How, how do we make it better for the players? The thing that adds to that is when you add other staff members as you’re going through the playbook, they’re going ‘Well, that doesn’t make sense to me.’ Well, they’re just like a player. They’re learning it for the first time. We’re like, well how do we make it better? All you’re trying to do it. All you’re trying to do is build a system that’s simple and allows them to play fast and let their talent shine. That’s our job.”
So, Todd, obviously, Deshaun has been through a shoulder stage surgery and two of achilles surgeries in the past couple of years. When you’re watching him, how’s the ball coming out? How does the agility look? And would you know that he’s had these surgeries unless somebody told you?
“No. Ball’s coming out great. Looks great. I haven’t seen that. I can’t get into his body to know how his body felt today, but he moved around great. And the ball came out great.”
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