Head Coach Todd Monken (4.25.26)
Hello Todd, if you don’t mind starting off with what did you think of the acquisition of Taylen Green, and what can he do for you guys? What does he add to your quarterback room?
“I just think at that point in the draft, and again I think Andrew (Berry) can speak to this more than I can, but you’re looking for players that have traits, elite traits which he has. Something you think you can work with and give yourself a chance to develop. You hear some great things from not only when he was at Boise, Arkansas, in terms of how he’s wired, and so we’re just looking forward to get to work with him.”
Todd, I know you previously said that like holding like a four-way quarterback competition isn’t ideal, and Andrew kind of indicated that he needs some polish for this game. But do you feel comfortable with like the plan going forward to not only hold this quarterback competition but to get all the quarterbacks the reps that they need, the young ones to develop?
“Well, let’s just talk about what competition means at every position. Every player that’s going to be a part of our roster is going to be competing, right? Whoever we bring in, starting with rookie minicamp and then OTAs, mandatory minicamp, and then training camp. But as we’ve spoken before, at any position that doesn’t mean equal reps. There has to be some form of a depth chart per say. Everybody has a chance to compete. They just, they’re not always going to get equal reps, if that makes sense. You know, it’s what is a competition. Every guy that’s in training camp, every guy that’s part of the roster, the amount of reps they get that’s to be determined.”
Todd, how playing the last couple years for Taylen under Bob (Petrino), in Bobby’s system, how has that sort of gotten him prepared for this level in terms of what he does schematically, what he asks his quarterbacks to do within that system?
“Well, first off, Coach did a great job of adapting, which really good coordinators do, they adapt. You know, if you look at quarterbacks that Coach Petrino’s had in the past compared to this young man, different. They did a great job of adapting to his strengths and you can see that. But I’m sure there were still core principles of the expectations that he has for their quarterbacks, and you could see the development over the few years you know, from when he was at Boise, really developed as a passer, you could see that. Always has been able to run, and you can see that in statistics. You can see when he was at Boise, how few times they threw it compared to where they were in Arkansas, how they felt more comfortable with his ability to throw the football down the field.”
Todd, with Taylen, Andrew made it clear that you guys view him as a quarterback first, but as the offensive mind that you are, do you sort of envision, or what are some of the other ways that you feel like maybe you can get him involved and get the ball in his hands given the skill set that you highlight?
“Well, that remains to be determined. I will say this, that it is very difficult to be elite at one position in the NFL, let alone two, and teams are starting to find that out.”
Todd, with obviously your long-time reputation as a really good quarterback tutor guru, how eager are you to get your hands on a quarterback like this with such raw physical ability and just almost kind of mold him into whatever he can kind of be?
“Well, I mean we’re excited about any player that we get. I wouldn’t just single out him per se, other than we’re excited with a skill set and Coach (Mike) Bajakian’s excited to add someone with his traits that we’re hopeful to be able to get on the field and see what we got.”
When you look at your offense now, the players you have now, compared to when the draft started, do you see how your playbook could open up more, especially with the two receivers you got?
“Not yet, haven’t seen them yet. Will have a better idea once they get here. Am I excited? Yes. I’m excited about the work that Andrew has done thus far. We have another pick left in this draft. I think it’s been a great draft, but what matters is now, once they get here and then how we develop them and how we put them in the right places to let their talent shine.”
Todd, with your approach specifically to the player development across the board, this strap feels like so many of these guys have a lot of versatility. How does that play into your approach when you’re looking to develop a young player, when they have played multiple positions, when they have that versatility as one of their skill sets that they’re praised about?
“Well, I think a huge strength of a player is versatility and it’s going to happen that way in the draft. Andrew and I were talking about that in the draft room of why certain linemen go higher in the draft than others. Is it a center only? Is it a guard only? Is it a tackle, we don’t see their body type as a guard. Obviously tackles are going to go sooner. Versatility wise is a wide tight end that can block and also attack you vertically and separate. So all of that comes into play. But until we get those players here, we get a chance to work with them, I don’t know that yet. But we are excited about what we’ve seen on film and the anticipation that we can move them and have some flexibility in the spots that they play.”
Going back to Taylen, you talked about the rare traits and so did Andrew. How extra rare maybe to see it from a guy that size, I think he’s close to 6’6”?
“Well, you’re exactly right because those guys are playing basketball. I mean you’re seeing them on the basketball court here. You’re not seeing them play football or at least not at that position. You’ll see some taller wideouts that you’ll get. But at quarterback you don’t see that very often for sure.”
Todd, you guys have three obviously very young quarterbacks now that you’re going to be working on developing. And last year these guys had to do two-spotting in practice and some different things. Do you think that will make it, kind of easier on you guys as a staff knowing that they had to kind of do that last year and will you do some of that? Will you try some two-spotting and whatnot to get these guys up to speed?
“Oh yeah, two-spotting isn’t new and it’s not just for the quarterbacks, it’s for all of your players. Toughest part is you have to divide up the staff. Your staff has to be willing to understand that you’re not gonna – when you’re territorial as a coach, like you’re gonna have to allow the strength of our staff to split up and allow our guys to get reps. So ultimately, we’ll end up two-spotting. And having a number of quarterbacks helps that. But I’m excited for all the players on the roster to be able two-spot and evaluate every single one of them.”
When you look at Parker (Brailsford), Andrew (Berry) mentioned how he thinks he’s a perfect fit with your scheme. What is it about his skill set that matches what you want from that center position?
“Well, you prefer a center with elite athleticism, enough size and power to not get overwhelmed inside. Now that’s in a perfect world, obviously, who doesn’t want big, fast, smart, tough at every position, obviously. When you watch him on tape, you would not see the size deficiency. You’d see an athletic, powerful, uses his hands well against the best competition that you can find in college football. So, we were ecstatic when he was there and were able to pick and we had him here for our 30 visit and I know Coach (George) Warhop is excited about not only him, but all three of the guys that we’ve got that’ll be here in a week. No, two weeks, we go two weeks later.”
On night one, I know we talked to you after the first pick. We didn’t talk to you after the KC (Concepcion) was taken. How much of coming from Baltimore of Zay Flowers do you kind of see in the terms of what you might have in his offense?
“Well, first of all, I love Zay Flowers. He is an elite, elite player and an unbelievable person and works awfully hard at it. And from the moment he got there, he popped, the way he played, his personality, his charisma, you know, he brings some to the table. I don’t know yet what KC’s skill set is. I think there are some traits that are similar to that. But I love when people spoke about KC, it reminded me of Zay in that, in terms of how he practiced, what he brings in every day. And if you’re looking for that comparison, that I can compare, I believe he’s going to bring that like Zay did.”
Could you see Taylen getting like a – I know we’re putting the cart before the horse, maybe a little bit, but with somebody that has that kind of he’s rushed for 35 touchdowns, whatnot. Could you put a package in at some point during the season and try to utilize some of that raw athletic ability that he has for converting a fourth down or doing whatever?
“There’s some of that and that remains to be seen. Certainly, when you have a player with those kinds of traits, when can you utilize those? Obvious reasons – short yardage, goal line, four-minute, critical times when you’ve got to be able to run the ball and the defense is going to have an extra element in the box, having an athletic quarterback can be critical to having success. So, if he’s able to do that, then we’ll certainly put him in a position if we think that can help us win a game for sure. Because it certainly adds some value with his ability to throw it, compared when you get in those situations as opposed to having to go Wildcat. It’s not that Q (Quinshon Judkins) can’t throw it, but I would doubt he can throw it as well, as the young man we just took. He probably can’t run it like Q can, but having the ability to still throw it. And that’s part of the intrigue when you take a player with those kinds of traits when they start off as what can they do very athletically and then how can you develop the other parts of their game?”
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