Pass Game Specialist/Tight Ends Coach Tommy Rees (9.13.24)
So, can you just address having to be without David (Njoku) this game and what impact that has on you guys?
“Yeah, obviously David’s been a very good player in this league for a long time and somebody that has been critical to the offense here for a lot of years and certainly plans of what we want to do offensively. But we want him to get healthy, we want him to get back. When that is, we’ll see. But for us as a group, we got to really play to our ability via some of the parts to make up for missing David. We have a lot of belief in Jordan (Akins) and the other guys in that room. Obviously, there’s been some additions here over the last couple weeks, but I’m excited for those guys to get an extended opportunity. Jordan’s a guy who had a lot of production in Houston, somebody that’s played at a high level, somebody that’s played with Deshaun (Watson) and really, I think he has some strengths to his game, and we look forward to putting him in those positions and allow him to go play. He’s been great this week with prep and mentally really in tune to what we want to do.”
What did you see out of Jordan when he was kind of called upon on Sunday to really full-time take over for David? What did you see out of him?
“Yeah, I mean, I thought, the first thing is just like he played with some strain, right? I mean, there was finishing in the run game, finishing downhill, trying to do things right. Obviously had a really nice catch over the middle there, which is a strength of his game. I mean, he’s caught a lot of passes in this league. He can be a matchup for us. So we just want to continue to make sure — this week’s completely different for him because you go from getting 25% of the reps to a large number of them and really owning the role that he has, mastering the plan that we have and making sure that he can go out and play as fast as he can without needing to think and just go operate within the offense.”
With David, we talked a lot about his blocking ability and how much he’s worked at that part of his game. Jordan said, he himself, has worked at that part of his game over the years. What does he bring in that regard and with protection for you guys?
“Yeah, and I think one of the most underrated traits of a good blocker at tight end is the ability to have athleticism, to have balance. The better the athlete is — you think about a big, strong tight end. Well, sometimes if they’re not as athletic, it’s harder for them to stay on their feet and adjust and recover. And so Jordan’s an excellent athlete, so I think he has some of the fluidity to do those things. Obviously, we play a large part in protecting our quarterback and we got to do a good job of that again this week. It’s a huge point of emphasis for us and so as many opportunities we have to help in that, we have a ton of confidence in Jordan to go out and do that, and he is eager for that challenge. And again, like the run game stuff, he’s done a nice job throughout the opportunities he’s had, and he’ll continue to do that for us.”
Going back to David, now that you’ve been around him for as long as you have, is there something you’ve learned about him or kind of come to find out about him that you didn’t know before you arrived here?
“Well, I didn’t know anything about him before, you know what I mean? So Dave is an energetic, passionate person who provides a lot of really positive things for our offense. Whether it’s energy, juice, enthusiasm on the field. I probably didn’t realize that. I think his voice carries a lot of weight within our organization and he’s a guy that can provide to others on the team, right? And that’s really something that’s powerful for him and I think something he’s worked at quite a bit. And Dave’s a really good person. Like, to his core, he’s a really good person that cares about others. That, like for me, as a younger coach coming in, you have this big personality — like we’ve hit it off from the day we stepped foot to work together. And so it’s been a really great experience, you know, being with him, working with him, getting to know him as the guy, too, just not the player.”
Tommy, how did you see Jordan grow his ability to get yards after the catch just kind of over the course of his career when you guys have worked together?
“Yeah, I think, again, it goes back to his athleticism. He has a plan when he has the ball in his hands, right? Like he has a plan on how he wants to set up a defender; maneuver, make people miss. It’s different than probably how David breaks tackles and how is Jordan? Jordan uses a little bit more of shiftiness in those points of contact. So, hopefully we see more of it this week and give him opportunities in space to go use that.”
You can’t say who else might end up on the roster yet, right? In terms of…
“I’d probably rather not, yeah.”
Geoff (Swaim) has some familiarity with Vrabes (Mike Vrabel) from being in Tennessee with him for a few years. Might that help? Just in terms, I know Mike is working a lot with the tight ends, and getting some familiarity with him, I guess.
“I think that helps. I think you look at Geoff, you look at Blake (Whiteheart), you look at these guys who were in Arizona, which there’s some consistency with, a former coach that was here and the system they were running. So, like that helps from a learning standpoint, they can hit the ground running a little bit more than they could if they were coming from some offense that’s not really a part of this tree, right? And so, I think we have — again, we need a sum of our parts to provide to the whole and we have guys that we feel like can do that and our job as coaches is to put them in positions of strength where they can allow what they do best to show up on Sunday.”
What have you seen from those two young practice squad guys? I mean, they’ve only been here now less than a month.
“Yeah, you’re talking about Cam (Cameron Latu) then as the other young one? Yeah, I mean, I think both athletically move around really well. I think they learn it well. I think both of them have position flex, which is important because you can play them at Y, you can play them at F, you can do different things with them. They can provide in the run game, provide in the pass game. And for them, it’s just continue to learn what we’re doing and how we want to get it done. But they’ve done a nice job over the last, what has it been, 10 days, 12 days, something like that. And then obviously Geoff coming in has been — he’s going into year 10 right now and so you can have conversations with him about things that he sees, you know, anticipate. I think he’s been really good just in the short period for the room having such a vet that’s gone through a lot of the battles that he has.”
You talked about blocking. Are you more involved than you might have to be this week considering especially the edges that Jacksonville has?
“Yeah, I mean, I think week-to-week that’s always going to be a part of what the tight ends asked to do, right? I mean, there’s a lot of good rushers in this league and it’s our job to make sure that we help in the situations where we need to alleviate some of the rush; help the tackles, help the quarterback. I would say the first two weeks for the season, we’ve played two teams with two very good edge players and these guys might be a little bit different than last week, but they’ve been just as effective. So, we’re challenged in the run game, protection game, pass game. That’s part of playing the position and it’s probably going to be pretty consistent throughout the year.”
How, when you look at the Jags coming off of that, what are the challenges that pose as special for the tight ends?
“Yeah, I think the two — you look at 41 (Josh Hines-Allen), obviously a tremendous athlete, plays extremely hard. You cannot stop on a play. He’s going to make it — 44 (Travon Walker) is a big, stout, play through the tight end. We’re giving up weight to both those guys. But you look at 44 in the run game and he wants to play through you. So, we got to play with great technique against them. We got to play with great balance and a strength of their defense are those edge players and we’re on those edges a lot. So again, it’s about our fundamentals and technique when you’re playing against guys like that and just a strain to finish and continue to fight with them.”
We’ve seen Kevin Stefanski navigate adversity and kind of bring this team through after tough losses or whatever’s going on. But what have you sort of observed from him this week and what sort of tone does he set?
“When you know what you’re going to get from the person in charge, the guy that’s leading everybody, I think that, always speaks volumes, right? He’s somebody that’s the same guy every day. I think our players can resonate with that and relate to that. And it’s not a rollercoaster of emotion, it’s a consistent message, a consistent approach that I think in times where you got to be persistent through things can help. And so that’s how Kevin’s been. That’s how obviously he’s had a lot of success here and a lot of things that he’s worked through. And for me, again, as a young coach, to be able to observe that and see how it’s handled is really beneficial.”
I know we asked you about Mike Vrabel the last time we talked to you, but if he wasn’t out there would somebody else be taking that pounding that he takes?
“I think Vrabes misses that part of the game, you know what I mean (laughter)? He plays Mike linebacker on the scout team. He’ll come out there with the bag or not the bag and take the hit. Like he’s a weird…I mean — I love him. I mean, I love him, but I’m not going to be doing that and I think he’s taking enough hits. But shoot, he can take him. He’s a big man.”