Special Teams Coordinator Byron Storer (8.11.26)
We talked to Easton (Mascarenas-Arnold) yesterday, and guys like him and Winston Reid and those linebackers. How important is it for them to make the 53-man roster for your group and their performance on special teams?
“I think it’s a combination of things. They’ve got to perform on defense number one. Those two guys have done a tremendous job for me. They just have to make sure they’re doing what they need to do on defense and continue to play at a high level for special teams, and I think the rest will take care of itself.”
Is there a competition going on for the punting position?
“Yeah, we have three punters. It’s Corey (Bojorquez)’s job to lose, like I said in the spring, but we’re definitely taking a hard look at the two young guys, so there is a competition going on at punter.”
Obviously, we know about Corey, but what would you say about the two young guys?
“The advantage that Corey has is eight years of NFL experience, and he’s been here the last four years. So, I think we need to see them go out on the field and play a game. That’s the next thing we need to evaluate next, is them going out there and playing in a game.”
Does it help that one of those guys is an international pathway player?
“Yeah, that is a bonus for sure. Usually, you’re not going to carry three punters on a 90-man roster, but because Nik Constantinou can be on that IPP 91-man roster spot, that’s huge. That’s a great thing to have for us to have him on the roster but not counting against the 90-man roster.”
At practice, I’ve seen you guys do blocking drills with volleyballs. Tell me where did that originated because I don’t think I’ve seen that before here and why do you like doing it?
“I got that from Keith (Tandy), really, my assistant. Instead of blocking a football, you block a volleyball instead. It’s just another target to put your hand on. Usually when we did the footballs, we deflated them a little bit, but it’s just a little bit easier for these guys to put their hand on a volleyball, and they see it. We really want them to see the block. So that’s just something I got from Keith Tandy, to tell you the truth.”
With the return game, specifically the returners, how much are you going to use these preseason games, as opposed to just practice, to mix and match and test guys out? Or do you feel like you can see the vision of where you want to go with those spots.
“I think we’re going to try different guys out there. It just depends on what role they have on offense and on defense, so we have to be smart with them. Depending on how big a role they’re playing on offense. If we’re going to put them out there and how much we use them. It could be more or less based on their usage on offense or defense.”
What was it that made KC (Concepcion Jr.) such a good punt returner in college?
“He was fearless, really fearless. He’s a north-south guy, very decisive, and he’s got incredible acceleration. He’s extremely tough. There’s nothing not to like about him as a punt returner, to tell you the truth.”
(Denzel) Boston just got a promotion to the number one offense, yet he looks like the number two punt returner. Will his reps as punt returner be affected by the promotion?
“Here’s the deal with KC and Denzel: depending on what their role is on offense, that will dictate how much we’re using them on special teams. It’s a collaborative process, so we’re going to use them in the way that gives us the best opportunity to win the football game, whatever capacity that is.”
So where does Gage (Larvadain) fit in in that? At mini-camp you said that was 1A and 1B.
“Gage is still competing. He’s still doing a great job out there; he’s getting catches every single day. We have multiple guys getting catches right now. We still haven’t even played a game yet, so we still want to see how everything shakes out. There’s still a lot of evaluating to do.”
What can you say about Tylan (Wallace) as part of that group, and just the efforts you’ve seen in him. I know we’ve seen him on the offensive side a lot, but what about his role on special teams?
“The cool thing about Tylan, and I think I’ve said this before in the spring, is that he is so versatile. He can play on kickoff return, he can be a kick returner, he can be up on the front line playing tackle, he can catch punts, he can go up and play safety on punt return. He’s a Swiss Army knife in all the things he can do, so his value is his versatility.”
When you have your kicker position set as you do with Andre (Szmyt), how much does that allow for more things in training camp, knowing you don’t have that extra worry?
“With Andre, I told him in the spring that he’s our kicker, one hundred percent, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to challenge him every single day. We’re going to put him in situations that are going to challenge him, so he continues to get better and better. He’s still got to improve every day just like everybody else, even though he is our kicker.”
On the other hand, there is a punt competition going on. Where does that sit?
“It’s still Corey’s job to lose, but there is a competition going on, and we’re still waiting for these young guys to go out there in a game and see how they perform.”
So, you’ll try to rotate them into the preseason games?
“Yes. Corey has eight years of punting and holding tape, so in the preseason you’ll probably see a little more of Wes Pahl and Nik.”
That’s a little challenge for Andre too, dealing with two different holders?
“What we’re going to do is have one holder in the first half and one holder in the second half, just so it’s consistent.”
It doesn’t look like it’s affected him so far.
“No, we do a tremendous amount of drill work with the holders now. If you watch practice, you’ll see us over there working a ton of bad-ball drills on holding, just to make it as consistent as possible with those three guys.”
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