Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees (8.4.25)
This week, how easy is it sometimes, at least from the outside, to overreact to finally getting live reps against another team. How easy is it and how much do you have to caution against too much overreaction to what happens either Wednesday or Friday night?
“Yeah, I think that’s human nature but from the very first day we met as an offense, our messaging has been let’s be as process-driven as possible. Let’s not look at results, positive or negative and let’s just try to stay in the focus of are we doing the right things at each position to give ourselves the chance to be successful. So, I think if our players, our coaches can stay within that framework and that mentality of, ‘Hey, let’s just focus on the process,’ are our guys are doing the right things that will lead to success? Then hopefully we can avoid any overreactions, we’ll save all the overreactions for you guys, and we’ll stay on target inside of our building.”
Do you guys have a plan for how you’re going to roll out the four QBs in that preseason game?
“Yeah. We’re working through it, obviously dependent on who’s available and what not but yeah, we have a plan in place, and we’re looking forward to those guys getting the opportunity to work.”
We’ve heard a lot about the process here in the first couple weeks of camp, at what point do those results start though?
“Yeah. I mean, I think when you’re focused on the process, the results are to show themselves, and you feel that in a certain progression as you go through camp, right? First seven or eight days, you’re in an install mode where you’re trying to install offense regardless of what you’re really seeing defensively, and defensively, you’re trying to install your stuff regardless of what you’re seeing on offense. And then once you kind of get past that install phase, you start focusing — all right, this is who we believe we can be. This is what fits our team. This is what fits our personnel. And then you start to build off of that, and that’s when you want to see the results follow up, because the process has been laid.”
Hey, Tommy, just looking at it, it looks like Dillon Gabriel is really struggling. So how do you assess the way that he’s having this camp?
“Yeah, I think all four of our guys have had really positive days and have had some days where they’ve not practiced as well as they want to. Certainly, you’re going to see great days from guys, and they’re going to bounce back the next day and maybe not be as polished as we’d want them to be. But we try to evaluate camp and practices and the offseason in a totality, and not just trying to look at one day at a time.”
Did you guys dodge a little bit of a bullet with Shedeur Sanders knowing that there’s no soreness that’s going to linger with him? And then also, how have you seen him develop since the start of camp?
“Yeah, we expect Shedeur (Sanders) to be practicing, and everyday he’s out there, he has the opportunity to grow and grow within the offense and get him more comfortable. So, keep coaching him and keeping him ready to be out there and participate. But progression is really important for all of our guys, especially the young ones. And really this whole rookie class is starting to progress the way that we need them to.”
Tommy, (Kenny) Pickett the other day expressed concern that even three days off for him sets him back. Can he make up that lost time?
“Yeah, we know Kenny (Pickett). He had a good first four practices there and had a good offseason. So, we know Kenny (Pickett). We know his strengths. He’s chomping at the bit to be out there and, like we talked about, hey, better now than butting up into the front end of the season. So, we just got to get him healthy. And he’s very into it mentally right now. He’s doing a great job with the rest of the guys in the room, and he’s starting to progress throwing the ball and doing some things. So, we’re excited to get him back when he’s healthy.”
So with the run game and Quinshon (Judkins) not here, what do you think about the extra work for Jerome (Ford) and Dylan (Sampson) especially with the team reps?
“Yeah, they’re maximizing their opportunities. We get a chance to evaluate those guys with extended amount of carries, and what schemes fit them the best, and how we balance those and how we continue to get them to grow in the others. But both guys are competing at a high level and doing a nice job.”
As far as schemes go, are you finding yourself leaning more towards gap schemes this year for run game?
“You know, we want to have a good balance. We want to be as diverse in the run game, to keep a defense off base as we can. And Coach (Mike) Bloomgren has done a great job with those – not just the line, but the personnel, and figuring out what fits our runners. The whole staff has put together a plan where we can present a lot of different challenges to a defense to keep them off balance. But we know the direction we’re going, and we feel confident in that.”
This is your first real exposure up close to (Joe) Flacco. He’s older than you, are you surprised by anything you see out there?
“No, I’m not surprised. I mean, you guys have all seen like Freddie Couples swing a golf club. It’s kind of like when he throws a football, kind of looks like that, right? He was given an incredible gift to throw the football and fortunate to have him around.”
Tommy, how can you, as the offensive coordinator design plays or do whatever it would mean to neutralize that or take that Dillon Gabriel being so short, how do you as an offensive coordinator compensate for that?
“Yeah, you do things, there’s small tweaks you can do to help any quarterback, right? Some guys feel more comfortable under center; some guys feel more comfortable in the gun. Some guys are comfortable with schemes. So put Dillon (Gabriel) aside, no matter who the quarterback is, there’s going to be things that you can tweak, that are easy changes to put them in the most comfortable position that they can go out and operate.”
Do you feel like Kenny (Pickett), especially if he can work his way back into a couple of team drills, even if he’s just in the pocket over this next week. Do you feel like he still has a legitimate chance to stay firmly in the next year, enough time to get him back?
“Yeah, excited to get Kenny (Pickett) back and healthy and get him competing. There’s no set timetable. And when Kenny’s (Pickett) healthy and out there, we’re excited to get him back.”
Shedeur (Sanders) does a lot of throwing before and after practice because his reps have been low with the sore arm. He said he’s had a history of that. Did you guys scale that back. Is that necessary?
“Yeah, that’s up to – you know, that’s not my expertise when it comes to the medical side of the arm. There’s been conversations about routine and what gets us warm, what gets us ready and I feel pretty confident in the plan in place to make sure that we can be readily available in practice.”
I know there’s such an emphasis, it felt like a recommitment to the run game. Does that change at all when you know the number 36 pick isn’t here and we don’t know when he’ll be back and assuming he was going to be, you know, the main cog in that run game?
“Yeah, the run game takes 11 guys, right? So, to just say, ‘Hey, one guy’s not here, – gotta scrap that.’ That’s not our mentality at all, right? I mean to truly be a great running team, you need the wideouts, you need the quarterbacks, you need everybody to be bought into it. So, we feel confident in our ability right now of how we’re running it and who we’re putting out there.”
If all four quarterbacks are healthy, do you expect them all to play in that first preseason game?
“I’ll leave that up to coach to answer those questions about the rotation and where we’re going in the preseason game.”
Jerry Jeudy is leading the way in the wide receiver room, what do you need to see from the rest of those guys to kind of shape up?
“Yeah, consistently – you know, they talk all the time, get open, catch the ball, and compete in the run game, and that’s their mantra, and that’s what they’re doing. You guys were out here Saturday, I thought Ced (Cedric Tillman) had his best practice of camp, made a couple of really nice, contested catches, and he’s doing so many things for us in a totality standpoint of helping our offense. It was great to see him get going a little bit, and we feel really good about the pieces there and being able to move guys to certain spots to maximize what they do, but just keep going on the trajectory they’re at, and we’ll find ways to build them out and get open.”
What do you think of the camp that number 84 (Gage Larvadain) is at?
“Yeah, Gage (Larvadain) has done a really nice job. He’s shown up. He’s competed; from the day he stepped foot with us in the offseason. He knows what to do, known how to do it. And when you put in that work, good results usually follow.”
I know there’s one practice where Kevin (Stefanski) said the D-line was living in the backfield, overall, how do you think your line, I know it’s more than just the line, but the lines done in the run, the runs inside, run sessions?
“Coach Bloom’s (Mike Bloomgren) has done a great job with those guys. Those guys are completely bought in. You know, it’s funny, and once you put on pads, it’s crazy how much easier it is to block, right? So, we just got to continue to focus on the fundamentals and work – like it is so important that those guys get as many reps together as possible, right? Like communication, the nuance of passing things off, it takes a lot of time and repetition, and so that’s where our focus is. And look, they love when we’re able to move the ball and balance the run and the pass and not be in a third and long situation. So those guys are completely bought in, really pleased with the progression there. And again, (Mike Bloomgren) Bloom has done a great job with that. So has Coach (Ben) Wilkerson and Sanders (Davis), who work with them as well. So, all three of them have that, have that group going in the right direction.”
How do you think Dawand (Jones) specifically has handled this move and working on the left side and like, along the lines of blocking, dealing with Myles (Garrett), I mean you see him get frustrated but…
“Who doesn’t, right? Yeah, no, no. And we put Dawand (Jones) in challenging situations by design. We give him help when we think we need to. But he’s continuing to progress. He’s worked really hard to get to a place where we feel like he can be out there for a sustained amount of time. And he’s progressing well, and he’s bought in right now, we have him working in the right direction. Again, you know, Myles (Garrett) wasn’t exactly out there the whole day Saturday, but Dawand (Jones) really had a strong practice, and every rep he does take, and every time he faces that success, it’s really a positive step for us as an offense. And again, pleased with Dawand (Jones) right now. Just want to keep him in the right place and keep moving forward and buying into the technique.”
What have you thought of (Harold) Fannin (Jr.) so far?
“Yeah, Harold (Fannin Jr.), he’s moved around all over the place for us, catches everything. You saw it on his college film; how much he competes in the run game and has value there. So as far as a rookie goes, he’s really done everything we’ve asked, and we put a lot on his plate, and excited about where he is in his progression right now.”
Have you seen Diontae Johnson make strides as we’ve gone deeper into camp?
“I think for Tay (Diontae Johnson) it was, ‘Hey, get back.’ We gotta get back into playing in shape, get back in the playbook. And every day he’s been here, the comfort level seems to grow, and his relationship with the quarterbacks and the players seem to grow. And look, when you rep as many guys as you do, sometimes you lose the timing that you build the rapport of, so all those reps, all those throws, are valuable for us right now, and Tay (Diontae Johnson) certainly done a nice job.”
You talked about developing that rapport, and how important is it in the next week or so kind of wittle that rotation down at quarterback so that these guys like Jerry (Jeudy) and Diontate (Johnson) develop a rapport with whoever may be the QB?
“That’ll continue to progress as camp goes on. We’ll have plenty of throws and reps over the next, what is it four weeks, to make sure that we’re ready to go come early September.”
You coached (David) Njoku and the tight ends last year, are you pleased with his camp this year, it seems like there’s a lot of drops?
“Yeah, I think he’s had one drop so far. And you know, Dave’s (David Njoku) done nice job of getting back and being ready to go and really bought in right now. I really love where his mentality is, and he’s doing so many positive things for our offense right now. And you know, we need him as a leader and as a proven player to continue on that stride.”
Is he even bigger than he was last year? It looks, he almost looks like he bulked up a little bit to help in the blocking game?
“I think maybe, yeah. Maybe not.”
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