Head Coach Todd Monken (8.31.26)

 

Todd, when did Dillon (Gabriel) develop the back issue that landed him on IR?

“I don’t know exactly when it happened. He feels like it was the third down on the zone read that he pulled it, kind of got twisted awkwardly. I think he’s going to be fine, just a little uncomfortable throwing now.”

 

How do you feel about the 53-man roster right now?

“Feel good. Feel good. I don’t think we’re finished yet, the 53 where it stands, or the practice squad, but I feel good about where it’s at right now.”

 

Did you personally tell each player they were being waived?

“I did not. I did not meet with every player. I met with a good number of the players, but I did not have the opportunity to meet with all of them.”

 

Did you meet with Luke Floriea and what was that conversation like?

“I did and it was awesome. It was awesome. Well, as good as it can be. On the one hand, I was happy that he was a part of our team for the short time that we had him. All he did was work every single day, and then to have the opportunity to have a couple of touchdown catches in the stadium that he was fired up about. So that wasn’t an easy conversation, but it was awesome, just his outlook. He loves football, wants to coach. He gave everything he had in the time he was here with us.”

 

Months ago, we asked about the possibility of Taylen Green in short-yardage, wildcat-type packages. Now that he’s made the 53 and you’ve seen him in training camp and the preseason, do you think there’s a window for him to be active on game days in that role?

“I don’t know that. We’re not really there yet, but I did like what I saw in the game.”

 

Todd, can you talk about how, with such limited reps for the backup quarterbacks, you can get Taylen up to speed over these next four weeks while Dillon is on IR?

“There won’t be a ton of opportunity. He’s going to have to get a lot of his reps on the look squad. When we do have extra reps in a given practice, he’ll get those.”

 

Todd, when you start prepping for Jacksonville, will Taylen be the scout team quarterback, or will he and Shedeur (Sanders) split that?

“They’ll split that up.”

 

Speaking of getting ready for Jacksonville, how much of this week becomes preparation for Week 1 versus still putting certain things in place to get a sense of what you guys do?

“It’s a combination of both. Working on us early, and then as we get further into the week, working more and more into Jacksonville.”

 

Back to Taylen’s limited reps. What have you seen about his personal process, the way he studies at home, that has helped him translate even when he’s not getting all those physical reps in camp?

“He’s very diligent. He’s a diligent note taker, you look at his notes, so is Dillon. But Taylen, he stands back there even in the walks, and I can see him mentally going through the reps. So, I think that’s the biggest thing, looking at film, mentally going through the reps. Maybe not be getting the physical reps, but he gets the mental part of it, and then some of his athleticism that ends up taking over.”

 

You have 10 rookies who made the initial 53, and some will have bigger roles than others. How do you tell if a guy who’s never played in the league is ready for Week 1? Are you looking for specific things?

“Well, you can only go by what you’ve seen. You can go by initially in practice, how they performed, and then how they performed in the preseason games. That’s the closest you’re going to get. You don’t know for sure, but I feel pretty good about the situations we put them in, in practice and then in the preseason games, that they’ll be able to play at an extremely high level. But you don’t know until you go and play. All of those players have talent, so they’re only going to continue to get better. We’re going to continue to roll them out there and we’re going to continue to improve.”

 

With Michael Coats Jr. making the initial 53, what did you see from him and like about him throughout this training camp, being the only undrafted rookie to make the cut?

“There’s a lot to like, just how he goes about his daily preparation, and he made a bunch of plays. Let’s just say it like it is, every day you walked out there, he made a bunch of plays. So, it’s really easy. That’s what you should do. You should reward the players who make a bunch of plays in camp, and that’s what he did.”

 

The media voted (KC) Concepcion the most outstanding rookie in camp. Very prestigious award. Did he come along even faster than you expected?

“I don’t know if faster is the word, but we are pleased with his progress. I think we hoped and anticipated that he would bring the things we had seen on tape, from return value to just getting the ball in his hands and then his route running down the field. We had seen contested catches, and from a ball skills standpoint, he’s been great.”

 

In your coaching career, have you seen a player like Coats who didn’t play high school ball, walked on at junior college, and worked his way up to make an NFL roster?

“I’d have to look at that, but I’m sure there’s somewhere in there I’ve been around somebody that started off playing a different sport and then ended up making an NFL roster. I was never with him, but I was at Eastern Michigan with Antonio Gates. He showed up there for like a semester playing noon hoops with us and then he left, Michigan State, us, Kent, I think, and ended up somewhere in there, and obviously had a heck of a career. So, that’s the only one I can really think of where it translated, and now we’re talking about an elite player. I think Michael’s age helps that. It’s been fun to watch.”

 

Todd, was it always the plan to keep four quarterbacks, even before you found out you’d be putting Dillon on IR?

“I won’t get into that. We obviously liked all of our quarterbacks and we certainly didn’t want to lose any of them.”

 

Ten offensive linemen are a lot. Why did you feel the need to keep 10?

“Really, I thought Zak Zinter played his way onto the roster with the way he played the last two games. He got dinged up a little bit early in camp, and I thought he played his way on the roster.”

 

One more on KC. Even when he was drafted, he had a reputation for drops, and he’s talked about wanting to work on that. How has he improved on that, and what did he do to get better?

“The way we saw it coming out of college, we thought there were a little bit more concentration drops than a lack of the ball skill traits that we thought he had. He’s just done a better job of that. He’s worked hard on the jugs machine and with the coaches. He’s made a number of contested catches and catches outside of his framework. So again, it’s been impressive.”

 

What do you know about (Toriano) Pride Jr., who you just claimed off waivers from Buffalo? What are you looking at with him coming in and potentially helping out?

“Well, we practiced against him and really liked the way he played and covered and competed. We’re always trying to upgrade the roster, and he happened to fit that. After we got done practicing against him, his name came up, should he be a 53 casualty, would we have interest? And the answer was yes.”

 

I was talking to Spencer (Fano) last week about his footwork and how he developed it. Throughout the Draft process and since he’s been here, what has stood out to you about how he has developed and uses his feet for a guy that big?

“Well, he always had the athleticism piece of it, but I think where he’s really evolved is his upper body working with his lower body in terms of his movement and his punch and not getting overextended. Jared (Verse) going against him every day has helped with that. But I think just the coordination of it all, and I think it’s only going to continue to get better.”

 

Since you made (Denzel) Boston your X receiver and decided to move (Jerry) Jeudy around, what has Jeudy’s attitude been about that?

“It’s been great. In fact, I met with him today and he was great. We just feel like we want the ability to keep him on the move, whether it’s a Z or an F, and I think we can still play him at X. We want to move him around, and we wanted to see how Denzel would function as our X receiver.”

 

Wouldn’t an X receiver consider that a demotion?

“I don’t see it that way, and he didn’t see it that way as far as I understand. In his mind, I think he believes he’s better on the move, and he could see what we could do with him moving him around and keeping him in motion. When you’re at X, for the most part, you’re stationary. We don’t have the chance to motion and shift you and get your speed and your ability to separate.”

 

So, you don’t view the X receiver as the number one receiver, per se?

“I don’t. I don’t view it as that. I just view it as we’re trying to put the pieces where we can best allow us to function offensively. I really don’t care who plays X or who plays Z, other than what we’re going to ask them to do per se within a given game plan. Obviously, in any three-by-one set, your X is going to be isolated. We just thought Denzel’s skill set gave us some things there that Jerry’s didn’t, and Jerry’s skill set playing off the ball allowed us to really maximize his skill set.”

 

Will we see (Isaiah) Bond out there today, or is he still in the concussion protocol?

“I don’t know. I saw him today. As far as I know, he’s been cleared, but I think it’s still to be determined whether we’ll see him today.”

 

With Taylen, obviously it’s one thing to take a flyer on a sixth-round quarterback, but to keep him on the roster in a crowded quarterback room, what does that say about what you guys can see for his future down the road?

“That doesn’t happen if he isn’t diligent, if he isn’t unbelievable in terms of getting mental reps, because he didn’t get a ton of the physical reps. So, it says a lot about him. There’s still a small sample size to go by, but what you look at is what he did with the limited amount of reps he got. We certainly want to see more. It’s hard to get that, it just is. But we were impressed with his ability to handle information, operate on the field, and make the plays that he made.”

 

What do you see as his potential, obviously he has physical gifts, but with what he still needs to catch up on?

“It remains to be seen. We like the start. I think that’s the best way to put it, like with a lot of young players. We like the start that he’s had. Now, where we go from here, we don’t know what the future holds in terms of the health quarterback room and where we go, but we like the start he’s had.”

 

Was it always the plan to have a fullback?

“Yes.”

 

But you always figured he’d be on the 53?

“Yes.”

 

Just because you figure it’s that important.

“Yes. Whether it’s short yardage, whether it’s goal line, whether it’s coming out or four-minute. I think you’re going to want a fullback; you’re going to want the ability to play downhill. And Mike (Michael Burton) gives us that. All you had to see when he came back a week ago, and the reps he took, you could see a guy who had played fullback and really understands the position. There are guys who play fullback, and there are guys who have played fullback and play it at an elite level, and Mike’s the latter.”

 

Now that you’re at this point, if you look back, could you estimate how many major decisions were made as a result of the joint practices?

“That was probably as big as a part of that. I would probably say that. That the joint practices were as big as anything, I wouldn’t go so far as to put a percentage on it, but I do think it was big. I do think it was the one opportunity that we had, again, we only moved the ball one block and only have one two-minute, so we really weren’t stacking plays, but it was somewhat of our best on their best, and that gave you probably the best indication of what you could expect. All we can go by is what we’ve seen in the past. The greatest predictor of the future is the past, and that’s what we went by in making a number of the decisions.”

 

You talked about fullback and Michael Burton’s role. I know you also tried out Carsen Ryan there as well. How far along did he come in living up to what you’d envision a fullback doing?

“Well, Carsen really came a long way. It’s one thing for us to have a vision of it, and then what he has done in college and embracing that, which he did. He did a great job of embracing that. It’s not a sexy spot to go from a guy who catches a lot of passes and envisions scoring touchdowns to kicking out an end on power. It’s really not what he’s dreaming of, but I thought he embraced that part of it, and you could see his confidence growing in the physical part of it. I think that’s probably when you’re moving anybody, as far as an on-the-line player and route runner to the backfield, it takes time, and you don’t get that in the spring. We never have pads on. Until we actually put the pads on, you really don’t see certain elements of the tight ends, fullbacks, O-line, you just don’t. And you don’t see it with receivers and skill players who you can trust, little guys blocking little guys.”

 

You mentioned Taylen’s play in the end zone on the 30-yard run. It was preseason and it is not quite the same. But, with more quarterbacks coming in with exceptional mobility and skill sets, how have coaches evolved their thinking on getting rid of the ball versus letting them make plays?

“I don’t know if they changed their mindset, but it has definitely changed. I’ve said that. Twenty years ago, Shedeur (Sanders) would have been considered a dual threat, and it’s just changed over 20 years. The athleticism has grown, it starts at the high school level, who these teams have playing quarterback, because they’re going to put it in their hands and put the best athlete, the best player there and then develop their throwing skills. It’s easier that way than thinking you’re going to be a throwing team, almost at every level. So, I do think you’re seeing more and more athleticism at the position, and there’s a balance between the lost-yardage plays and the playmaking ability. Somewhere in there, as a player gets better and better, they learn the idea of when eliminate a catastrophic play and still use their athleticism. That was one of those in the end zone the other night, like, ‘oh, alright.’ Came out the other side feeling pretty good, but it wouldn’t have been if it was a safety there. But again, when you have players like that, they’re going to want to make a play, and you’re going to have to live with some of the other stuff.”

 

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