Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on RB Arian Fosters injury) He has a pretty good calf strain, and we left him in (the training room) today. Hes hobbling; hes on crutches today and will be for a couple of days. Hes going to be fine, but dont expect me to bring him back out here. Weve got two weeks left, so well just go to work on getting him healthy, getting him ready for training camp. Its unfortunate, but we feel lucky, too. He didnt do anything; just took a step. Hes going to be OK, but like I said, dont expect to see him again (in organized team activities).
(on whether RB Arian Foster could return to practice during the teams minicamp June 11-13) No, I dont expect that. Weve got two weeks left of the offseason, so obviously were not going to do anything to take a risk with him.
(on whether he expects RB Arian Foster to be in danger of missing any parts of training camp) No, luckily weve got, what, two months almost now before we get ready to go. It might have ruined Arians summer; hes going to have to be here a lot, but thats OK and hes going to be OK.
(on if there are any other health issues with the team) No, weve still got the problem with (TE Phillip) Supernaw and (NT) Sunny Harris. They have not been back since they had their issue the second day. I rested a lot of older guys today, or veteran guys. I wanted to watch a lot of young players practice in different positions, with the first group and stuff, but other than that were fine.
(on the status of S Ed Reed) I had a long conversation with Ed yesterday. I think he actually got back to Atlanta on Saturday. We have him in a rehab program there in Atlanta. Next week, I think, is their (Baltimores) ring ceremony and going to the White House, so thats pretty important for him to get that stuff done there. But he will be back here as we approach the mandatory minicamp and be here for the rehab process, so you guys should see him in, about a week.
(on the play of the quarterbacks today compared to Tuesdays practice) They were better today. They struggled a little bit yesterday, especially in some seven-on-seven stuff, but thats part of it, and come back today and were pretty darn good today. I actually let (QBs) T.J. (Yates) and Case (Keenum) split the team portion of practice today with the first group and held (QB) Matt (Schaub) out. I wanted to see those guys operate with our ones, and both of them, I thought, had a pretty good practice.
(on the improvement shown by QB T.J. Yates) T.J.s career has been interesting because it was like, Boom, at once, and so many great things happened that year and his confidence is sky-high. And then you come back your second year and play the preseason, not play but about 20 snaps in the regular season and it seemed like nothing went right in those 20 snaps. Thats part of being a backup quarterback, because you hinge on that confidence for long periods of time, so we just need to get him going again. Hes working hard, hes doing good stuff, hes getting pushed extremely hard. What is this, now, year three? So Im expecting him to continue to grow as a player.
(on RB Ben Tate) Bens fine. Obviously, he steps up today and works as the starter, but Bens been working good either way. Hes had a really good offseason; hes been here every day, and its an opportunity for him this next six practices to be the bell cow, so to speak, and thatll be good for him in the long run.
(on FB Greg Jones performance thus far in minicamp) Were not in pads, and obviously thats where a fullbacks strength is, when you watch them in pads. But what were going to do is were going to be smart with him. Hes definitely going to be a one-a-day guy, maybe a one-every-day guy. I know what he can do; I know what hes going to bring to this team and I want to make sure I get the most out of him late in his career. Ive been very impressed with his mental approach and his professional approach to what hes doing. Thats why we brought him here.
(on NT Earl Mitchell) You watch practice every day and Earl acts like a full-time starter. What year is Earl? Three, four, something like that? If its time to be a big-time guy, its time and Earls acting like that. Thats been big for him.
(on what he wants to see out of RB Ben Tate in the offseason and training camp) I just want him to be healthy, thats the biggest thing. When Bens on the field, hes productive. He needs to have a good offseason, which hes doing his part and hes done all of that. Obviously, now his reps are going to pick up, but to me, if Bens in one piece, Ben is going to be very productive for this team.
(on what he told the team at the end of practice) Oh, I dont even know what I said. I forget from one minute to the next. We were just talking about a couple of things. I think what I was probably talking about was I told the guys that it says a lot about your team when the coach can sit down 12 veterans and watch you practice the way you practiced today. Thats a big part of what we do for a living. Were going to have guys get hurt; were going to have guys miss games, and there can never be an excuse in what we do. So that was my message today, and I liked the way we practiced.
(on rookie TE Ryan Griffin) Hes doing a lot of good things. Doing a lot of rookie stuff, too, but hes very talented. Hes getting a lot of reps because O.D. (TE Owen Daniels) is only going every other day. He fits the mold for whats been successful with us, so were excited to have him.
NOTE: The final two questions of Gary Kubiaks press conference are not included in this transcript. Some of the recorded audio was indecipherable due to wind.
