Head Coach Todd Monken (8.4.26)

How did you see the guys respond after the first day in pads? Physically, did they come out of it the way you hoped?

“Yeah, I think we came out of it physically. Guys did a great job of staying off the ground — that’s the biggest thing, staying off the ground, avoiding situations where we got tangled up and put ourselves at risk. So the guys handled it really well.”

 

How’s KC (Concepcion) doing, and is he going to practice today?

“He’s doing fine. I don’t know that yet, we’ll see when we get out there. He’s still sore. We’ll see.”

 

Ronnie (Hickman) was talking earlier about Rudy’s (Mike Rutenburg) ability to mix coverages and throw disguises on offenses. What’s the right mix for you guys, trying to confuse opposing offenses and also leaning into the strengths of guys like Denzel (Ward) and Tyson (Campbell) who can strap up in man [coverage]?

“I’ll start with this with us having the corners that we have, it does allow you to be able to mix coverages, and to be able to play a ton of man. Right now, we’re still in the install stages, so we’ll still see where we end up in terms of how much we’re able to mix coverages. And obviously that’s some of Rudy’s background, and obviously what we’ve done here in the past.”

 

At the end of practice yesterday, we saw the full gamut of the Shedeur (Sanders) experience. There was the one play where he couldn’t get rid of the ball and didn’t release it, and then the pass at the end. How do you eliminate the negative plays?

“Just keep practicing. You just keep playing — that’s really what you do. He’s still a young player, and we’d like it to happen now, we all would. But I’ve been highly impressed over the last four months that I’ve been around him with how far he’s come as a player, and he’s only going to continue to get better. There’s a lot to take in when you’re installing. We got through the spring, then we were gone for six weeks, and then you start back up again in a new system. I think you’ll continue to see his operation and mechanics improve, and I think that’s the biggest part right now is in and out of the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage, eliminating that anxiety, his anxiety and my anxiety.”

 

You had Tylan (Wallace) in Baltimore. What did you see from him with your time with him there that made you want him to be part of this team, and what have you noticed from him in camp so far? What did his role look like there? It didn’t seem like he carved out much there but what can he maybe do for you?

“Well, I say this all the time about Tylan (Wallace) is that whatever you ask him to do, he’s going to do it. He’s a diligent worker. He doesn’t really get enough credit sometimes; it doesn’t flash in shorts, what he gives you. But I can tell you, in ’23 against the (Los Angeles) Rams in overtime, he returned a punt that won us the game. Against the (Cincinnati) Bengals the next year, we’re down a touchdown, we threw just a quick out, he breaks three tackles and scores from 80 yards out. I mean, you can scroll down NFL Films and try to find a punt return for 60-yards and a quick out that goes for 80. He’s just a guy that can plug and play a lot of positions and has been an upper-tier special teams player. He’s really valuable.”

 

Is there a way when you’re going through this installation process with these quarterbacks to help them sort of speed up their processing of what they’re seeing and get through their reads quicker, and just the mechanics of the position with the ball in their hands post-snap, I know you spend a lot of time pre-snap with those ‘perfect play’ sessions you do, but what do you do from a coaching standpoint to speed up the post-snap process for these quarterbacks?

“Yeah, great question. I mean, all of it’s important. We two-spot our morning walks like most teams. We try to get as many reps as we can, and when we get on the field we try to get as many reps as we can. Really, especially with the quarterback, it comes down to the meetings and the mental reps, and then taking it onto the field. They need it as much as anybody. So that’s all we’re trying to do, is give as many reps and as many looks as we can. The problem is everything compounds, we install, they install, so for every concept we install, it’s another look he has to process through, and you’re adding checks at the line of scrimmage. So, he’s working at it. It’s just a matter of time. I really believe it’s just a matter of time.”

 

KT (Leveston) has been playing guard since the offseason. How have you seen him sort of grow and get more comfortable at that position since last year he was mostly a tackle?

“Yeah, I think he’s more fit to be at guard. I like his toughness. I like his finish. He’s a great kid. Now it’s just a matter of the operation, what we’re doing offensively, when the ball snaps his ability to react to what he’s seen. But we really like KT, we really think he’s got a bright future. It’s just, again, he’s another young player that needs reps. We just need to continue to rep, whatever that is. Every day we get a chance to go out there; our guys are going to benefit.”

 

Is it possible you and (George) Warhop will decide on your five starters up front before you decide on your quarterback?

“It’s a great question. I don’t know, I really don’t. I mean, both are a work in progress, and like I said, they’ll decide who starts, and I don’t know when either one is going to happen. Well, I do know come the (Jacksonville) Jaguars game, but I don’t know until then.”

 

With Deshaun Watson, do you need to see more completions from him? I know you’re still in the installation phase, but it seems like he’s almost struggling to put a drive together or complete as many passes as he’d like.

“Well, we’ll get a better feel for that once we have a little bit longer practices and we’ll have move-the-ball sessions. Right now, the only time we’re doing that is in two-minute. The only time you get to try and stack plays besides just running one play after the other, third-and-four, third-and-six, third-and-seven. The only time we’ve had that is two-minute, and in the last two days with them in there, we haven’t functioned very well with it. Now, some of that, a lot of that, has to do with the defense in terms of how well they’re able to rush the passer. But I’m not concerned about any of that yet with any of the quarterbacks until we actually start working on drives and then once we get into practices against the Bills and then the preseason games.”

 

Yesterday, Jamari (Thrash) came out in a knee brace, working on the Jugs machine does it seem like that’s going to be a long-term injury, and are any of the absences right now long-term issues?

“That’s a better question for our medical staff and for Andrew (Berry). As far as I know, I come out every day and the guys that are healthy practice.”

 

Philosophically about the deep ball, do you have to throw it to be a good offense? And do you have to throw it all the time, or is this something you can set up? Just in general, how do you go about that?

“Another really good question. I mean, you certainly have to have receivers that can go get it, either by speed or by size. And then obviously there are parts of it that come from your system that tries to take advantage of being able to throw the ball down the field. I do think you’re seeing less and less in terms of balls traveling over 40 yards. I think you see 40-yard gains with catching guys in run on the move more than you see actually throwing it. You’re seeing more off coverage, safeties are deeper, you’re seeing not as tight corners. But I will say this in order to be a proficient offense, you have to be explosive, however that happens, however you get that, however you gain those throws. But certainly, if you don’t practice them, if you don’t scheme them, you’re never going to have an opportunity to really take shots down the field. We were really explosive at Baltimore, but really it came on more on catch and run. We probably had more 20-to-40-yard plays than we did actually above 40. I don’t know statistically over the three years, but that would probably be the same way at Georgia or wherever we’ve been. It’s hard, but we certainly need to practice it and scheme it to get good at it.”

 

You got a little better taste of the running game yesterday for the first time — what did you think?

“Work in progress. First day in pads, working gap schemes — I thought there was, on both sides, some positives and some negatives. I’m sure if you asked Rudy, he’d say the same. So I’m excited we get another chance today, second day of gap schemes and some of the other runs.”

 

We talked to Ronnie Hickman — I know the Browns have used the three-safety package a lot. How does that make life more challenging for an offense when you have three guys of that athleticism?

“Well, I think the three-safety package really comes into play, in my mind, when you can play one of those guys at nickel — you’re really not playing a three-safety package in terms of the shell part, it’s who you really want in the box. Especially if you’re a zone-based, maybe zone-match defense, obviously the bigger safeties are not going to be an advantage matching up against a slot without having help. But they’re difficult blitzers, they’re going to be elite run fitters. So you’re actually almost in a base defense — that’s why Kyle Hamilton, if he really wanted to, could gain 20 pounds and play WILL linebacker, and the guy at Seattle, I’m sure it’s the same way. So, they’re really playing base with a guy that’s got elite athleticism and the ability to blitz off the edge, which is hard, because then he could get matched up on the back, potentially. So, it makes it harder in nickel to run the ball.”

 

Going back to what you were saying about explosives and the cash-front stuff — does that make a guy like KC (Concepcion) even more valuable?

“For sure. I mean, we don’t have all day to list the ways to be explosive, but that’s one of it — an explosive players. I just saw a little bit ago a guy that got $140 million, that’s explosive as hell, and that’s why he got paid that. We were talking about Mike Evans,  but in his own way he’s leaked and hard to cover and explosive. So of course he fits that: the ability to catch and run, you can use him in the screen game, you can use him in the RPO game. All of those things — his ability to route-run and separate, I think is what you’re looking for.”

 

Yesterday you guys did that fire drill session trying to get the kicker out — it looked like maybe in Shedeur’s (Sanders) time, he ran plays that maybe wouldn’t have had time to get the kicker out there, and then you talked to him a little bit. What was that about?

“Well, we were beyond that. At that moment, we were beyond the fast field goal — we were really limited in terms of the amount of time you had in the red zone. I don’t have any timeouts. I have the ability to make a decision like, can I get the ball to the receiver and get out of bounds, or do I have to throw it away, or does it have to go in the end zone? Those are always going to be a work in progress, making sure he understands the situation — what exactly does that word, that trigger word, that we’re telling him mean, that says this cannot happen, otherwise the half will end, the game will end. And that falls in the same category with all of our players, that’s why you’re repping it, because something comes up every day that’s different than just running pivot-slam or running a screen. That’s a scenario that comes up, and it’s like, ‘okay, are we really prepared for it?’ Similar to the headset going out…all right, what are you going to do, do you just keep taking timeouts? You better have a plan. That’s part of the process of situational football.”

 

So off of that, my question is going to be: when you get those moments in practice, how valuable is that as a teachable moment, especially for a young guy like Shedeur (Sanders)?

“100%. It doesn’t matter who’s out there, all of the players, even on the hurry-up field goal, what’s our exit angle getting on the field, making sure that we report right, the holder understanding what the time was. We did it in the spring, we lost track of the time and let the clock run out. And that’s why you do it, though, that’s part of it. You’re doing it so they understand, because there’s nothing better than those end-of-game scenarios where you nail it as a coaching staff, and there’s nothing worse than when you don’t. We all know that, right? ‘Boy, that was great execution, holy cow.’ or, ‘Boy, that didn’t look very good — that’s crappy a** coaching.’ So we just continually try to work on those scenarios.”

 

Todd, are you guys in pads today, and what’s the plan for the rest of the week with pads? How many days can you wear pads?

“Pads today, shells tomorrow, pads Thursday, helmets Friday, pads Saturday.”

 

Going off what Spencer (German) asked, you coached Lamar (Jackson) for a lot of years, knowing that he works off script a lot. How do you coach against going off script, and staying on script, when it comes to a quarterback progressing?

“Full of really great questions. That is true. I think the game has changed. I think you’ve got quarterbacks that have the skill set of Lamar, or somewhere similar to that. They’re comfortable with their ability to move and stay clean and see downfield. And you’re going to see that when the pocket collapses, some guys more than others are more comfortable in the pocket. So, what are you going to do? Guys that want to escape quickly, you’re training what? How to stay in the pocket, and guys that want to stay in the pocket, you’re training ‘how do you find a way to escape.’ You’re basically working all of those areas to improve. We want you to hang in there, be ready to distribute the ball, progress quicker and get rid of it, 100%. But he does have a natural feel — you guys saw it last year, when he gets outside the pocket, keeping his eyes downfield and making explosive plays. We’ve seen it. So the combination of both – and Deshaun (Watson) has that as well. But we also have to be really really elite on the perimeter with our scramble rules and fight for space for our quarterbacks. That’s going to come up, I don’t care who you play, defensively and offensively, how we handle two-play quarterbacks.”

 

Did you notice some of the pre-snap penalties yesterday? It seemed like there were some of those that weren’t there the day before.

“No, as I tell the guys, we’re just going to continue to work it, offense and defense. There were times they jumped, we didn’t take advantage of it, we didn’t actually tap. We went to the cadence, so you’re going to work that in the mornings. You’re going to work on cadence, you’re going to work on all of those things until you get to games, and then you’re going to find out where you can be in terms of cadence, in terms of, can you carry it to games without constantly being first-and-15, or defensively, first-and-five.”

 

Do you have an idea yet about playtime in Chicago, or is that going to be a last-minute decision?

“Well, we anticipate — I don’t know how it’ll go, but right now I anticipate in all the preseason games, our guys will play. Now that’ll be case-by-case basis, but I know that at this point our plan is everybody will dress, and they’re going to play.”