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(on what he's seen from NT Vince Wilfork and his impact) “That’s hard just because we’re not in pads. I just know that I feel like he’s going to make a big difference for us just knowing what I know from being around him in the past. He’s one of the best nose guards to really ever play this game and he’s going to add that dimension to our defense and our front. Also, he’s leadership in the locker room has been really good. As far as totally seeing what it does with all the packages that we have on defense, it’s hard because we’re not in pads. It’s more of a passing camp right now. More so for the development of the skill positions then it is necessarily for the lineman on both sides of the ball. I know that with Vince, he’s going to add a lot to our defensive front.”
(on where things stand with G David Quessenberry) “Well, first of all, I think his story is something that we probably- I know you guys have done a great job of covering his story, but I think it’s something that should be talked about even more. I mean, think about what this guy has gone through just to even be here today. To even be here, playing on a pro football team, coming back from cancer, I think probably it’s a little bit better question for him. Not as a cop out, but just more he’s a very bright guy. He knows his body really well. He knows where he’s at in his treatments. I have an idea of where he is at. I would say that this season is a possibility. I would not rule it out. I would not rule it out, but we haven’t come to that determination yet. He’s here every day. He’s not allowed to be out there as far as in the practice, but he’s out there. You guys see him out there. He’s in all the meetings. He can lift weight. I just think it’s an unbelievable story. It says a lot about him. It says a lot about our organization, I think, that we’ve stuck by him.”
(on holding joint practices with the Washington Redskins in August) “I do really believe in these joint practices. Especially when we can get away, go to Richmond, practice against a very, very good football team with a great coaching staff and great players and be in the hotel. It’s like a camp unto itself, so I think that it’s going to help our team. I thought when we went to Denver last year, I thought that was a great experience for our team. I think it helped our team and hopefully this will be the same type of experience. We’re looking forward to working with those guys. Speaking to Coach (Jay) Gruden, he’s just obviously a great guy to work with. I know that New England went against them last year and had a great experience with them, so we’re looking forward to the same thing.”
(on what he is looking for from the players during OTAs) “There’s a lot more situations now, so I’m really looking for how we adapt to the different situations. The first two weeks was a lot of first and second down. A little bit of third down in the second week. Now, it’s first, second, third down, two minute, red area will come up now, we’ll be doing more four minute situations, end of game situations. It’s not that you didn’t have to be mentally sharp in the beginning, you always have to be mentally sharp. But you really have to be in tune with your teammates and your coaches as far as what’s coming over the horizon over the next two weeks here. Today was a third down day, a two minute day. I thought we had a good, tough practice today, but we have to do a better job in situations and I think these guys are really in tuned to it.”
(on the importance of the team standing behind G David Quessenberry) “That’s what I’m saying. I think it’s important to. First of all, you have a guy, let’s just tell it right off the bat. This guy is a good football player. This is a guy that was a versatile football player, could play tackle, could play guard, I think we even trained him a little bit at center last spring before he was diagnosed. This is a tough guy. This is a guy that went out there and practiced three or four times last year with cancer. Before he was diagnosed, he was fighting through what he thought was probably some type of flu, cold, or something. Geoff Kaplan and our doctors sent him right over to the hospital and found out it was cancer. Here’s a guy that’s tough. Here’s a guy that’s been through all these different things, radiation, chemotherapy, and all the things that he’s been through to be back here where he is today. I just think he’s an inspiration to our football team. I know that teammates have a lot of respect for him and the coaching staff does, so good football player, tough guy, been through a lot. Let’s see where it’s at. Maybe not right today, but down the road here, let’s see where it’s at.”
(on the importance of RB Arian Foster to the offense) “He was a big part of it last year. He was a big part of it. When he plays and he’s out there, he means a lot to our offense. He’s one of the best backs in the league. I believe what I’ve seen this spring out of him, he’s a very motivated individual. He’s out there, he’s practicing hard, and he’s been here every day. We appreciate that as a coaching staff. He is, you’re right, he’s an important part of our offense and we need him out there. He’s been out there every day and it shows. We’ve been able to do some decent things on offense this spring. A lot of it has to do with him being out there.”
(on if the coaches have ‘scratched the surface’ on what they can do with RB Arian Foster) “You entered into the Arian Foster laboratory. He can throw. I think in a lot of ways, he’s right. He’s a good runner. He’s a good pass catcher out of the backfield. He can line up in empty. He’s a very bright football player. I don’t know about ‘scratching the surface,’ or scratching this, scratching that. I just know that we’re going to use him as one of the more important parts of our offense.”
(on judging the kick and punt returners during OTAs) “That’s something that I think about a lot. That position is definitely up for grabs both kickoff return and, most importantly, punt return is up for grabs. It’s tough to get a gauge on that right now. What you can tell right now is, ‘can this guy catch or can he not catch.’ That’s the way it is right now, but I think when we get into preseason it’s going to be really important for us to see what these guys do in practice, against the Redskins, in the preseason games, and be able to make a determination towards the end of August about that position. But yeah, you’re going to have to really determine that during training camp.”
(on OLB John Simon) “John Simon is a guy that we picked up from Baltimore last year that really defines in many ways the type of player that were looking for. He’s tough. He’s smart. He’s in here all the time. He works extremely hard in the weight room. He’s a great teammate. He’s a guy that I’m familiar with when I was at Penn State. We played against him when he was at Ohio State. Mike Vrabel was very familiar with him, coaching him at Ohio State. He’s been a good addition to our team. He really embraces the role that he has on our team and he’s been a good addition to our team. Look, he’s fighting, just like all these guys, to earn a job on this team. But he’s out there every day and he really earns the right to be out there every day, if that makes sense. He’s a tough guy and a good guy to have around right now.”
(on RB Chris Polk) “Chris Polk has come in here. It’s a very competitive position at running back. I just talked about Arian (Foster), there’s Alfred Blue, Jonathan Grimes, Chris Polk, and Kenny Hilliard. We got some guys back there and Jay Prosch at full back. It’s a very competitive position. Chris Polk has come in here and really picked up the offense pretty well, so he’s made the position even more competitive. He’s a good pass catcher out the backfield. He’s a smart guy. It’s going to be a very competitive training vamp at that position.”
(on if the offensive line depth worries him) “Again, you guys always use the word ‘worried’ with me. I really don’t get worried. You know me. I get worried about my family. What I do is I try to analyze the roster and I try to look at the roster and say, ‘okay, where do we need some help?’ Right now on the offensive line, I like the competition that’s going on there. But I think that’s going to be something that were going to have to evaluate all the way through training camp. Because when you’re out there in no pads, it’s kind of easy to see what the assignments are and who’s making mistakes as far as assignments go, but as far as contact and how they’re doing in that regard, it’s tough because there’s no pads on. Right now, I‘m happy with the way they’re working. I’m happy with the way they’re being coached, but that one is going to have to play out for a while.”
(on the importance of having versatility across the offensive line) “I would say that on the final roster, if we decide to keep nine or if we decide to keep eight, that’s always a discussion depending on that position and how it effects other positions. So when you can only keep that number of guys, those next three of four guys, you have you’re starting five, but the next three or four have to be versatile because when you go to the game, you can look on last year, where we usually went to the game with, I think, seven guys. So the sixth and seventh guy had to be guys that can play center and guard, guard and tackle, or tackle and tight end. That’s just the nature of the game because you don’t want to get stuck out there not having guys that can be versatile, so I think versatility upfront is a very, very important factor for us.”
(on WR Nate Washington) “I really like Nate (Washington). I think he’s been a good addition to our football team, both from a veteran leadership standpoint and then from his route running ability. He’s really practiced hard all spring. He’s been here a lot. He’s been out there every day at practice. He’s picked up our offense well. He’s always communicating with the other receivers and the quarterbacks. I think he’s going to add a lot to our offense. I’m glad he is here.”
(on what he has seen from G Brandon Brooks) “First of all, I think when you look at Brandon (Brooks), you see a guy that really understands the expectations with our coaching staff. He’s come in here and lost weight. He came back in shape. He’s had a really good spring. He’s, knock on wood, he’s stayed healthy. He’s moving well. He knows our offense better. I have very, very high expectations for Brandon Brooks. I think he can be one of the top guards in this league, I really do. I think he is a very, very good player who can pull and that can be stout inside. He just needs to keep developing in that regard. He’s got to have high expectations for himself. We have very high expectations for him.”
(on the team’s offensive philosophy) “We were (a running team). I think we lead the league as far as rushing attempts last year. We did. We ran the ball. We felt like that was our best way of wining last year. Playing good defense, run the football, don’t make a lot of mistakes on offense, try to be good on special teams. I think every year is different. I think when you look at our team this year, I think we have more depth on offense especially at the receiver position, the tight end position, and the running back position. I think you have two quarterbacks that are very familiar with our system as far as both pass and run, how to get us out of a bad play and into the right play. They really have a good understanding of it. I’m not sure what our team is right now in regards to what type of offense will be. We are a game-plan offense, so what that means is when we play a certain team, let’s say we’re playing Jacksonville as opposed to playing Baltimore. Our gameplan is going to be totally different based on what Jacksonville does versus what Baltimore does. It’s what we need to do to win the game. If that means running the ball 55 times, then that’s what we’re going to try to do. If that’s what that means. If that means throwing the ball 55 times, then we’re going to have to figure out if that’s what we need to do. I know that’s kind of a non-answer for you, but we’re not in a situation yet in June where we can say, ‘this is the type of offense were going to be.’ We’re going to be a game-plan offense.”
(on the team running the ball a lot) “Well, we have a very good running back so you can rest assured that as long as he’s healthy and he’s out there, we will run the ball. I can tell you that. That’s one thing we will do.”
(on what he looks for from the quarterbacks) “We look at a lot of different things. We look at their operation of the huddle, their operation at the line of scrimmage, and then their operation after the ball is snapped, meaning what type of decision are they making? Are they making a good decision? Is it a poor decision? Is it a decision that maybe we can agree with because it worked but maybe we’d like a little bit better decision? So, we look at three phases with them. All three of these guys, each in their own right, have done a good job in all three of those phases. It’s a really good competition, especially between Brian (Hoyer) and Ryan (Mallett) because both of those guys are very competitive, they’re very bright guys, and they’re good quarterbacks. These guys are good quarterbacks. They can throw the football, they understand our offense, they’re good leaders, they’re good communicators, and so it’s still an evaluation process but both of those guys are really working hard. (Tom) Savage has gotten better and I think a lot of it has to do with what he’s seen from those two. That’s helped him get better. We’re driving them hard. They’re driving each other hard. It will be interesting to see how it all ends up.”
(on if WR DeAndre Hopkins will be ready for camp) “Yeah, I think (DeAndre) Hop(kins) will be ready for training camp. I can see him being ready. I don’t know the date. Like, I can’t tell you if it’s going to be July 25th or the 27th or the 28th at 9:00 am when he’ll be ready. I don’t know, but I know that he’ll be out there at some point during training camp ready to go.”
