Head Coach Todd Monken (7.30.26)
We saw you talking with Deion Sanders. Was that the first time you’ve met with him since being here?
“That was really cool. That was Deion Sanders, are you kidding me? Forget that it is Shedeur’s (Sanders) dad. First of all, he did an unbelievable job with Shedeur – great kid, obviously an elite football player, hell, baseball player. And then as a coach, I mean, wow, everything he’s achieved, that was awesome.”
Anything more you want to say about the meeting?
“It was fine. We just started telling stories, and we really didn’t get into almost any football. We got into NIL and Jackson State and Colorado, how we almost drafted him in Baltimore, that crazy scenario, and what a great job Shedeur has done since I’ve been here in terms of his development. So, it was good. It was part coach, part father, which is what it should be.”
Do you expect Shedeur and some of your other players to have a little extra spring in their step today with Prime Time watching practice?
“Well, I don’t know. You’ll have to ask those guys if they do.”
Is the idea of a team scrimmage on your agenda at all this summer — dividing your team and doing something simulated?
“No. Every day we have something simulated, and there’ll be days we simulate other parts of it, but we’re going to use the preseason and do a little situational stuff with the Bills. You’re always doing situational football — that answers your question. We won’t have anything particular where we would divide up teams and run a mock game. We won’t do that.”
When you’re talking to Deion, are you looking for any insight on Shedeur, like what gets the best out of him?
“He gave me a little bit of insight, but we were up against it, Andrew Berry was next. So, I had to give him up to Andrew. There was some back and forth as to being around Shedeur, in terms of how he processes things personality-wise, and competitive-wise — he got into at the end, it terms of what makes him tick, which was good. But we’ve seen that. Most of what he said, we’ve been able to see. We haven’t gotten to games yet — that’s a different animal. But at this point, what he talked about, I would have said, yeah, that’s how I’ve seen it.”
When you can talk to somebody from that perspective, not just as a father but as a coach, how much more does that unlock in the conversation?
“I do think it can give you some insight, I don’t care what player that is — it just happens to be his dad and a coach. But you’re always gaining insight from anybody you draft, from the school they were at previously, how they learn, how they compete, everything about their personality because you can see their skill set. Drilling down to anybody’s personality, I think is how they’re wired is a lot harder. Again, you can turn on the tape and see a skill set — can they run, can they not, can they jump, are they physically imposing — but finding out how they’re really wired, like any of us, when things are good and when things are bad, I think that’s the real magic in it.”
What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about his (Deion Sanders) playing days?
“The guy played baseball at a high level. Forget being an elite corner, forget that. It’s hard to be elite at one thing, right? I mean, wow. And then to be elite at multiple things, you’re hopeful that you can be elite at one thing and then be elite in your personal life, right, and the things that matter, being a great father, husband, having your life in order, religiously and what you believe in, that you hope you can be elite at. But to be all of that is impressive.”
Did you prioritize meeting with Deion in terms of Shedeur’s growth and getting the most out of him?
“Priortizie?”
Like meeting with him, seeing how Shedeur ticks…
“Sure, some of that is true. I’m open to whoever wants to come see me, within reason. He just decided he was going to come today. Shedeur reached out for him to come to practice, and so the timing worked out great.”
Todd we talked to Andrew (Berry) about this and a couple of players. When Jadeveon McClowney was with the Ravens, what do you recall about him?
“Well, first of all, let’s just talk about him as a player — he can still get to the quarterback, which is an important part of winning football games, disrupting the quarterback, as we all know. I love his personality. He’s got a contagious smile, he’s fun to be around, I’m a big fan. I was only around him in ’23, and I was on the opposite side of the ball, but I was on bus two with him, which is a small thing, but every away game we’re on the same bus. So I got a bit of a feel for his personality and how he was with his teammates, which is critically important. I’m a big fan.”
Watching the rookies, Spencer (Fano), and especially the receivers working a lot with the second team. Can you talk about the philosophy of making them earn it, and that fine line between easing them in versus throwing them into the fire?
“Sure. Well, first of all, let’s talk quarterback — they’re going to switch, Fano will switch today, and when we’re together collectively, they’re running with the ones, the wideouts will. But you have to make a decision when you two spot — someone’s got to go with the twos, however you do it, to get the same amount of reps. So, we basically divide up the groups. The reason we also like, if we’re going to rotate the quarterbacks and rotate the left tackle, it makes sense to me with the receivers to stay, so every other day they get work with the other quarterback. If we moved them together, in my mind, that doesn’t give us the ability to really see what we want to see in terms of development. So, there’s no exact right or wrong answer, we want them to get reps and continue to develop and build their confidence, also, at the same time. I think it’s important for multiple players to go against Jared Verse, I think it’s important for multiple linemen to go against multiple defensive linemen, or the young wideouts have to go against some of the best corners in the NFL and have days where they don’t go against those guys. I think that’s important for their development, to have days of confidence building.”
You’ve obviously locked in the cornerback situation with Denzel (Ward) and Tyson Campbell, but guys like Damarri Mathis, Nate Evans and Michael Coats have been making plays from the spring — what have you seen from some of those younger guys that are trying to do as much as they can early to make a name for themselves and carve out a spot on this team?
“We’re certainly looking for that third corner, and that’s why Damarri’s here — he had a pick yesterday. Those young guys did a great job of competing in the spring along with the other guys, and time will tell. That’s why we’re out there, that’s why we’ll get a chance to practice with the Bills and play the preseason games. Michael (Coats Jr.) made a nice pick yesterday playing the ball so both those guys did a nice job.”
This is your first training camp as a head coach — as you plan out how you want to build your team and handle practice, is that a vision you’ve had in your head all along of how you would do it if you were head coach, or is there different people along the way that you kind of pulled ideas from?
“It’s all the above. I’ve been around it since I was a kid — my dad was a coach, my uncles were coaches, my whole family’s in coaching. So, when you’re a kid, you see, and when you’ve played, you’ve seen it done different ways. You pull from everywhere. There’s things that we pull from we did at Grand Valley State years ago with Tom Beck, we’ll pull from when I first started coaching, so you’re pulling from everywhere and you pull from your staff , ‘Hey, how’d you guys do this? How was your call sheet? Show me your call sheet, show me your practice plan, the number of reps you get.’ And then you put it together and go. It’s not rocket science. You’ve got to get the reps, you build your systems. You’ve got to develop your players the best you can. As coaches, we’re in the development business — that’s what we’re paid to do, is develop our players and aspire to be the best coaches they’ve ever had. And if we’re not doing that, I don’t know who the hell we are. That was part of my message to the guys, I remember some of it. Basically we all to aspire to be the best coaches they’ve ever had, and they ought to understand that we’re going to treat them the right way, but we’re going to confront anything that gets in the way of winning football. That’s what we’re supposed to do, and that’s just the way it is.”
What were your thoughts on Deshaun (Watson) throwing back-to-back picks in that 11-on-11 drill?
“Thought it sucked, that’s no fun, for him or for us on offense. First of all, the naked, that was a great play by Denzel Ward. I was standing right behind it, and I thought it was an elite throw. Deshaun, moving to his left, he out-leveraged the ‘backer to get it there. We drifted a little on the over route, but Denzel, with his speed — I talked yesterday about how you can’t be late with throws because of his tracking speed. I was more down the field, but that showed up on that play. That was the first one. The second one, we ran a play-action, and really, there was some leakage up front, which can happen without pads on, so Deshaun had to slide, and we were just late on the end cut in the overlap corner. So really, neither one, in my mind, was really a bonehead decision, it really wasn’t. It was unfortunate, still a turnover, that’s the way it is. But I saw the one as a great play by Denzel, who’s a great player, and then I saw the other which was unfortunate, we slid, and a really good learning opportunity in my mind, because you’re going to learn a hell of a lot more when you fail. Right now, that’s the time. The time is now to be checking plays on the perimeter, to be quarterback control, and take opportunities down the field, and then bring that back as we move forward.”
We talked to Andrew about your coaching style — he described it as a good mix of old-school discipline, but new-school relationships, and referenced you to Billy Bob Thornton’s character in Landman. Has your coaching style evolved over time, or does it depend on the guy, some guys you get in their face more disciplined with, others not? How does that change throughout?
“You’re always going to change. At the end of the day, it’s never been hard for me to confront anything that gets in the way of winning. Where I’ve gotten better is being less confrontational. I think being around John Harbaugh helped me with that, because Kirby (Smart) confronts everything that gets in the way of winning football. I wouldn’t say there’s confrontation involved, which is fine sometimes you have to go to that level. I’ve just gotten so much better at that, and I think I’ve done a better job of communicating with the players and involving them to see a different side of you. But they have to understand, when we go out to that field put there, it’s on — it’s a job. It’s about winning. We get out there and have food trucks and joke around and have a hell of a time, but not there, not in the meetings, not when you come in here. That’s a job, that’s the way it is. I think Rick Pitino said it best — I’ve never had a problem with someone who works hard and loves football. I’ve never had a problem with someone like that, ever. I’m not saying I’m perfect, because I’m human, I fall short. But one thing I’ve always tried to do is own it and fight like hell to fix it, and I’ve lived by that for a long time. I am human, I’m not always going to say the right thing or go about it the right way, but I’m going to fight like hell to fix it.”
We talked about Denzel’s extension, and then Grant (Delpit) gets his yesterday. How important is it to have two guys who are a little older helping with such a young roster help you get where you’re trying to go?
“They’re homegrown guys. I was here before, when Denzel was here, and then with Grant. Really good players, very deserving of the extensions, and we’re in the business of having good football players, that’s just the way it is. Those guys are still really good players, playing at a high level, and like I said yesterday, the money isn’t for what they’ve done, it’s for what we anticipate. We still anticipate them playing at a very high level, or you don’t give them extensions. Older players you don’t believe in that get one-year contracts year after year. Guys you really believe that who are still playing at a high level, get multi-year deals and we anticipate they’ll continue to play at an elite level.”
One of the things that’s been said about Jared (Verse) since he got here is how quickly he was ready and willing to be a leader and speak up. How unique is that? Have you seen a player before who gets traded or joins a team and immediately interjects themselves into being a vocal guy on the roster?
“Guys that are wired like him. Guys that are wired like him it doesn’t take long for guys to listen, because they’re all about work. Here’s a guy who started off at Albany? Just look at his family background, how he’s wired, mom and dad, all about work, pretty damn serious. He has a fun side to him, but it’s usually pretty serious around me, at least what I’ve seen so far. But guys who come and work and are serious about their job, who developed themselves from Albany to Florida State to Defensive Rookie of the Year, then Pro Bowl — that’s impressive. He has skill, but he’s a self-made player, man. He’s a relentless guy. So, it’s pretty easy, the way he carries himself, for guys to listen.”
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