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Press Pass | Campanile & Udinski on Week 1 Readiness, Prep for Browns' New-Look Offense · Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Week one, interested to see how all the pieces come together.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: For the first time?
• 0:04
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 0:05
  Speaker 4: There's, you know, some new faces, but pretty much a
• 0:10
  Speaker 4: good amount of consistency, I would say, overall. Any time
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: you get a chance to go out there and compete
• 0:16
  Speaker 4: and really are ones aside from the joint practices, you know,
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: this is really their first opportunity getting out against another team,
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: certainly in a game setting.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, it's definitely exciting, man.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: How helpful is it when you have that amount of consistency?
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Build off of what you did really last year?
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: It's helpful and it's been fun, you know what I mean?
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: Because you know each other really, really well. They know
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: the system a little bit better, the materials, all stuff
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: that they've done before. So it's exciting. It gives you
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: a chance, obviously, to expand on it a little bit.
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: And the guys have been great with that.
• 0:48
  Speaker 5: Have you liked.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Travis's progress just the last few weeks with communication, chemistry,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: the rest of the secondary?
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, having him with us a little bit more, I
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: think that's been good for all that. Just like you said,
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: the chemistry. and obviously the communication. We do a fair
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: amount on defense, so there is a lot of communication,
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: and we really, really rely on that at every position.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: And just his communication in the meetings, on the field,
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: and any time you get more of an opportunity to
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: do that, the players get more of an opportunity to
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: do that amongst each other.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: It's a great thing. Kim, Brian Thomas Jr.
• 1:22
  Speaker 6: Making the teams, and I'm driving the guy. How impressive
• 1:25
  Speaker 6: were you by the steps he kept.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Taking throughout campus?
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: I thought what he did, I was very impressed with
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: the steps he was taking, but what I thought he did,
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: and what you really hope for a lot of rookies
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: who are in that situation, he took advantage of what
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: we were saying in the meetings, and really what we
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: were saying was, go out.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: And play, man.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: Go out and play, and put your best foot forward.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: Don't worry, and show us what you got.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: He did that.
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: He didn't really worry about hey, do I got to
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: be perfect? I never felt that way with Brian. I
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: felt like he just, every day he went out there
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: and practiced. And when he got to playing the games,
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: he was trying to break glass.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: He was going a thousand miles an hour and being
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: competitive as hell, not out there worrying.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: So that was impressive.
• 2:09
  Speaker 7: Coach, Deshaun has played 19 games in five years, but
• 2:14
  Speaker 7: do you operate under the assumption that At the age
• 2:16
  Speaker 7: of 30, you've been in the league for 10 years.
• 2:18
  Speaker 7: He still is capable of doing all those Deshaun Watson
• 2:21
  Speaker 7: things that.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: He did in the past.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I do.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, when you watch him play over the course
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: of those games, there's a lot of impressive stuff, you know,
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: with his arm, obviously, and his feet. So, yeah, I'm
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: under the assumption, you know, and watching him in the
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: preseason that he's capable of doing all those things.
• 2:37
  Speaker 7: Do you feel like Todd can maybe even enhance his
• 2:41
  Speaker 7: skill set having coached Lamar Jackson? Do you think it's
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: an obvious thing that he's installing some stuff?
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fair to say.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: I think he's helped everybody that he's been around, just
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: watching his teams over the years, his offenses. You know, he's–
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: I mean, there's a lot of dimensions to what they do.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: He's done a great job. He did a phenomenal job
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: in Baltimore. And, yeah, I'm under the assumption certainly that
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: he'll be a big helper.
• 3:10
  Speaker 7: You mentioned that this.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Will be the first time for the ones to really
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: get out there.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: And play a game.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Are you at all worried about the rust maybe taking
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: a little while to come off, or do you think it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 7: Will equal steam from the jump?
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: No, I mean, it's my job to knock the rust
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: off in practice, I feel like, you know. No, but
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: they've been competitive as hell in the practices, and Coach
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: Cohen's done a great job of creating that environment every day,
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: you know, making it highly competitive. And I thought in
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: the joints they did a really good job rising to
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: the occasion that way.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: So I don't have any worry about any of that. Yeah,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: I think he's a matchup issue. You'd put him in
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: that category as a tight end.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: You know, there's some guys in this league who really,
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: and what I really am impressed with with him is
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: I think he's a multidimensional type of tight end, meaning that, like,
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: he'll put his hand on the ground, you know, He
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: puts his face in the fan, and he's tough on
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: the line of scrimmage. He does a lot of things
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: away from the line of scrimmage that are impressive, certainly
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: in the pass game. But, yeah, he's a multifaceted player,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: and you need to really be good about or be
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: on point with the matchups when you play against a
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: guy like that.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: William talked a little bit about you guys wanting to
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: play a little match on the back end this year.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: What goes into the thought process of him kind of
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: trying to balance what he did last year really well.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: And adding that in? Yeah, I think.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: You're always looking at that, but there's also, you know,
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: the reality is we did a fair amount of it
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: last year too, you know, so there's not a wholesale difference.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: I think every offseason you start looking at things like, hey,
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: could we incorporate this? Could we incorporate that? And you're
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: always trying to play to the skill set of your players. So, yeah,
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: there's probably a lot of similarity, probably more similarity, you know,
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: than anything, but Yeah, the guys have done a good
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: job with any of the new stuff we've put in.
• 5:07
  Speaker 8: What's the challenge of preparing for a Browns offense? You've
• 5:12
  Speaker 8: seen Deshaun Watson play, but it's been a while. And
• 5:14
  Speaker 8: then they have two rookie receivers, four new starting offensive linemen,
• 5:18
  Speaker 8: new coaching staff.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: What goes into that?
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: It's always a challenge when you get new staff and
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: you're going back, you're watching tape of Coach Munkin's team
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: in Baltimore, and then you're obviously watching the preseason and
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: watching the players play. that are going to be out there.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: And like you said, there's new players as well. So
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: getting to know those guys and knowing the personnel, that's
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: a challenge. But I think they definitely upgraded all of
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: their personnel, you know, offensively, offensive line, the skill positions,
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: you know, and obviously getting a great player back at quarterback.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: And obviously there'll be some new things that are different
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: in the system offensively.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: So it's a challenge on pretty much every level.
• 5:57
  Speaker 8: What do you have to tell your guys about Quint
• 5:58
  Speaker 8: Sean Judkins, kind of the physicality.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: And everything that he brings to the field?
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: I think you've got to have a team-tackling mentality with
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: a guy like that. I think he's very good after contact,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: just a good runner in general, but he's a competitive runner.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: He's a guy, he's going to keep his feet moving
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: on contact.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: You see that throughout his.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: Career as a football player, but that's something that we've
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: talked to the guys about.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: That's a challenge with him for sure. strong near your point.
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: In your system.
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: You guys kind of rebuilt everything with him, kind of
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: took it back to ground zero. How much better can
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: he be this year now that you guys have kind
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: of focused on the specifics with him? Yeah, I think
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: he's gotten a lot better over the course of the summer.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: I thought he really closed out the last few weeks
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: in the summer playing really, really well. And I think
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: he can take a big jump this year. He's a
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: guy that's really taken to the coaching. Being in the
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: room with Matt, I think, has been Great for him
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: as well, developing some other parts and facets of his
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: skill set. So Matt, I would say in general, I
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: think has done a great job with all those guys.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: But with Buster, I've seen a jump with him to
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: this point already.
• 7:09
  Speaker 8: I think part of how you try to teach it
• 7:14
  Speaker 8: is teach it part to whole and teach the techniques
• 7:15
  Speaker 8: to the players.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: And that way you can kind of plug and play
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: players in different positions because they know the techniques and
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: they can define them, you know, and then obviously they
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: have to get the opportunity to go out there and
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: do it and practice it. But that, in my opinion,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: gives the opportunity to have multiplicity on the defense and
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: have guys that have, they can kind of apply that
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: skill set to different positions. You know, Jorian, you already
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: mentioned him. I think he's done a great job that way.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: Antonio is one of those guys. We've had a bunch
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: of guys on the defense like Trayvon, Even across the
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: front has done that, plays basically everywhere from outside linebacker
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: to nose guard. So I think when you have guys
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: that have position flexibility, that makes the defense more flexible
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: and gives you an opportunity to play different personnel groupings,
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: even if you're doing some of the same stuff.
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: With Miller and Combs, do you have a game plan-wide
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: comfort with those two?
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: Or have you narrowed it.
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: Down to say, this package I like this guy, this
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: one I like this guy?
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, those guys, we have a game plan
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: of how we're going to play them. And, you know,
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: I think they've done a good job in terms of
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: how we've used them over the course of the summer.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: So it will always be game to game with those
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: guys and how we decide to use them within each
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: game plan.
• 8:43
  Speaker 8: When you look at Eric Armstead, I think it's his
• 8:45
  Speaker 8: first fully healthy offseason with the Jaguars in training camp.
• 8:49
  Speaker 8: Does it feel like he's ready to really get after.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: It this year? Yeah, he had a great summer.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: Even yesterday, I was talking about him, just his preparation
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: in individual and everything. He's been grinding. He's done a
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: great job. He looks great. Honestly, I think he looks
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: as good as he ever has. Obviously, I've coached him
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: here one year, but going into our second year, but
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: watching him over the course of his career, he looks
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: as good as he ever has.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: So I'm excited for him. I think he's very excited.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: And just watching him practice, he's got a great way
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: about him right now. So I'm fired up for him.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: You were talking about some of the guys that can
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: kind of move around different skill sets. How helpful is
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: that for you to be able to kind of put
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: some of that creativity out there and put.
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: Those different packages together?
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's super helpful for me. I think part of
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: that is these guys do a great job of communicating.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: We meet together a lot as a unit, so they're
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: constantly hearing what everybody else's role is in the defense,
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: and I think you learn that way. It's easier to
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: learn that way for sure when you're not breaking out
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: into silos all the time. We do a bunch of
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: individual meeting as well, because I think our coaches do
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: a phenomenal job of just teaching the detail of all
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: the techniques and everything that we're trying to do. But
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: I think some of those opportunities when you can get
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: together and you're kind of hearing how everything works and
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: what this guy's doing, that develops trust. And when they
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: understand that, hey, this is the way the technique's supposed
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: to be played, they're hearing it every day.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: I think it's a lot easier for them to apply it.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: And it does give you as a play caller more
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: opportunity to be creative.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: I think.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Is it challenging to get ready for week one when
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: you're going against this first time kind of staff.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: You don't have as much tape. Certainly.
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: I think any week one, there's always the questions going
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: into how true are they going to be to what
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: they've shown in preseason or even what they've shown in
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: previous years. I think a new coordinator adds that extra
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: element of challenge because you you see that he's got
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences being a part
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: of different fronts and different coverage structures. So trying to
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: find the combination of all those things, along with what
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: Cleveland has done in the past and figure out who
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: they're going to be. So you're preparing for a little
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: bit of everything, but it allows you to focus maybe
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: a little bit more on yourselves and just executing what
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: we know and can do well against a variety of
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: different looks. So there's a balance to it because you
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: know they can't do everything, we can't do everything, just
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: trying to find what fits best.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: On the flip side of that, this time last year
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: there was no tape of what this team.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: Wanted to do. Now they have a full year's worth.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: How much self-scout goes into the offseason to try and
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: find some of those tendencies that other teams will be
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: looking for?
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: It's a long and arduous process going through all of
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: the plays from the previous season. I think by the
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: end of, shoot, maybe April, the coaches are sick of
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: talking about <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL>
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: So you go through a full process of evaluating every
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: play from a whole bunch of different mindsets and frameworks.
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: And that allows you to kind of evolve the offense
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: moving into this year and So just like we have
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: a challenge of anticipating what they're going to be defensively,
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: the same thing for the defense applies where they have
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: a challenge of anticipating what we've changed from last year.
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: So I think going through that process is a great
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: opportunity for us in the offseason, even throughout the summer,
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: to really see what we were and how we want
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: to continue to grow. But it certainly takes a lot
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: of work to go back through everything when you're watching
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: some of the plays that maybe weren't so successful over
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: and over and over again, and you have to relive
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: those moments. That makes it a little more painful than
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: we would like.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: Grant, how would.
• 12:33
  Speaker 6: You describe the task of Quinn Ewers over the last
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: 10 days?
• 12:37
  Speaker 9: Describe the what was that?
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it is a extreme challenge for anybody to learn
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: the offense, whether you're a quarterback or a running back
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: or a wide receiver, offensive lineman to come in because
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: you're trying to learn so much mentally and then be
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: able to go out there and physically execute it when
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: you're learning it more often than not in a classroom
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: setting where other guys have an opportunity when you're learning
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: it through training camp. to gradually learn it from the classroom,
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: take it to the field, classroom to field, classroom to field,
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: or classroom to walk through to field. Instead, you have
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: to totally change that process to take it from all
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: classroom or all film study and then apply everything at
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: once to the field. So it's a unique process and
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: it's totally different than really any other time you're learning
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: in offensive football. So whether it's quarterback for Quinn, which
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: we know kind of has the most to learn typically
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: from a communication, from an identification, and really from a
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: conceptual standpoint, for him, or whether it was just a
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: running back trying to learn everything, go out there to
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: physically execute it, is a really difficult challenge.
• 13:46
  Speaker 9: It's probably the same things that Liam mentioned.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: You see the arm talent, the accuracy, the ability to
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: throw in tight windows, the ability to throw with anticipation,
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: the poise under pressure, the ability to fix problems in
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: cloudy or maybe more challenging looks. I think all of
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: those things were apparent on the tape. I think he
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: knows that there are areas that.
• 14:05
  Speaker 9: He can improve on, and he will continue to improve.
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: On those, and that will allow some of those skill
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: sets that you see from an arm talent, accuracy, some
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: of the movement in the pocket, some of those things
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: that really were highlighted in those better moments to continue
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: to grow and be highlighted in the future.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: You guys knew Chris had a reputation as a physical
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: runner coming into signing him, but what he's kind of
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: done in pass protection, especially since the glitz kind of
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: been sidelined, has that really stood.
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: Out to you?
• 14:28
  Speaker 9: That's a great point.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: I think all of the backs, Chris in particular for sure,
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: but all of the backs have shown great growth from
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: a conceptual understanding of the pass protection game and then
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: a technical understanding of what we're trying to get accomplished
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: from a footwork, hand, technique standpoint. And I think Chris,
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: you see when he's approaching some of those blocks in
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: the pass protection game, what he's capable of now that
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: he's started to.
• 14:50
  Speaker 9: Refine and continue to develop some of that technique.
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: I love to see the way those guys have embraced
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: that role because it is such an important role. And
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: you so often get no credit, doesn't show up on
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: the stat sheet. Running backs want what? They want touchdowns,
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: they want yards. And those guys have truly embraced that.
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: And they really hang their hat on that being an
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: advantage for us, not just something that they have to do.
• 15:11
  Speaker 9: That's something that they get to do. That's something that's
• 15:13
  Speaker 9: a big part of our offense.
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: And Chris's performance and really all the backs performance in
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: that area has been encouraging to see.
• 15:28
  Speaker 9: That's a great question.
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: I try not to think that far ahead as, as
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: bad as that might sound. You certainly think ahead in
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: the sense of projecting, but because you can only take
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: it one day at a time and you're so focused
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: on the process of the day to day with a
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: player or with our plan as an offense, you really
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: don't take anything for granted assuming Emmanuel could be this
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: spot or Emmanuel could be that spot or somebody else
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: could be this spot or that spot. I think what
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: we saw in the draft process and when we talked
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: to him and we went through the film and did
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: all of our research and due diligence is you saw
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: the things that have allowed him to elevate to where
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: he is now from a play style standpoint, his strength
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: is his hands, his finish ability, his ability and pass protection.
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: So all of those things we saw, but you never
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: really know how that's going to translate or how that's
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: going to fit in our offense until you get the
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: guy in here. So it's a credit to him, and
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: it's a credit to Coach Mendelsohn, who spent a lot
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: of extra time along with Coach Pacucci and Coach Surrett
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: working with him extra. Like I mentioned in, I think,
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: a previous press conference, those guys are with Emmanuel all
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: the time, and he's in here at all hours of
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: the day. You could walk downstairs in the locker room
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: at 10 o'clock at night, and he's still here working
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: on something, whether it's recovery, studying, watching tape. So it's
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: a credit to his work ethic, first and foremost, along
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: with the coaching staff and Coach Mendelsohn putting all that
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: extra time in.
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: What about Ezra flipping over to the right side? It's
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: been a couple years since he played there. How has
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: he made that transition?
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: I think one of the things that him and hopefully
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: the whole offensive line has benefited from is how much
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: we've moved guys around. Now, Ezra, because of his physical
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: ability and his experience playing at left or at right
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: or at tackle, and you go back to even college
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: days playing at all these different spots, he has the
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: ability to do those things, which makes it, once again,
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: a luxury for us. But it's really as he embraced
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: that role and the ability to say, I could be
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: the left guard, I could be the right guard. You
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: saw him at practice playing right tackle. He could probably
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: go play left tackle if he really had to because
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: of his physical ability. Once he embraces that and puts
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: his mind to it and really works on some of
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: those techniques, he just continues to grow at whatever spot
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: we put him at, which we really appreciate about him.
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: The one thing that never disappears with Ezra that we love,
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: it's kind of the foundation of his play that you see,
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: is the finish and the effort. and bringing that edge
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: and trying to really establish who we want to be
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: from an offensive identity, whether it's a run game or
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: pass protection game, trying to be like, well, we talk
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: about the Jaguar offense, 2026 Jaguar offense, the way he
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: plays the game, whether he's at left, right, shoot, you
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: could probably put him at center.
• 17:52
  Speaker 9: That never fades away.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Over the last year, where have you seen the most
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: growth from Tootin?
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: That's a good question. I think Tootin has done a
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: great job. He's another guy who he's, on the day off,
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: stopping up, trying to get extra work in, studying on
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: his own, always asking questions.
• 18:10
  Speaker 9: So he's embraced really.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: Trying to grow in all roles of the running back
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: because last year he wasn't asked to do a lot
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: in pass protection and he didn't have quite as many
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: opportunities in the pass game. So he's really tried to
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: round himself out. So it's hard to pinpoint one thing.
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: I think if you looked at what he was last year,
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: given the limited opportunities in the pass game, you would
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: probably just say by default that he's improved the most
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: in the pass game because he didn't have the opportunities.
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: And I don't think that that necessarily means that he
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: hasn't improved in the run game. I think he's really
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: tried to improve in all areas, and I think he's
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: done a great job at that. But just due to
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: the opportunities this year, you might see more opportunities for him,
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: whether it's pass protection, going out on routes, or in
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: the screen game, whatever it might be, he just might
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: have more opportunity this year than last year.
• 18:52
  Speaker 8: Do you feel like he can be a weapon as
• 18:54
  Speaker 8: a receiver out.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Of the backfield?
• 18:56
  Speaker 9: I think the nice thing about.
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: the running back room right now, it's not unlike the
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: offensive line room, is the versatility of those backs allows
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: those guys to really play in all the different roles
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: that you ask of a running back. I think you
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: see it with Tootin. I think when LaQuint's healthy, you
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: see the same thing. You see with Amir, and I
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: think you see it with C-Rod. All those guys can
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: come out of the backfield, they can protect, they can
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: run the ball, and they can run screens. Now, some
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: of those guys might have a little bit different runs
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: or a little bit different routes that are better than
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: others or a little bit different screens that are better
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: than others. But I do think that all of those
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: guys can fit in some aspect of our offense. And
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: of course, we're trying to build the offense to highlight
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: what those guys do well. But it's nice to know
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: that you can put any of those backs out there
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: and you're not tied to say, well, we can only
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: run one set of runs or we can only call
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: this pass play when this back is in there because
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: we're trying to target a back. Knowing that any one
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: of those guys could go in there at any point
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: and we can stay balanced and really keep our whole
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: offense open is a great luxury for us as we're
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: putting together a game plan.
• 19:53
  Speaker 6: With Trevor Lawrence and his knowledge of this offense, how
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: much more collaborative are your meetings?
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: That's a great question. That might be a Trevor question.
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: Cause I'm going to say they're super collaborative. He might
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: say they're not so, no, I'm kidding. He, uh, I
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: think we try to keep him collaborative. I think he
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: does a great job of balancing having his own ideas
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: and wanting to be collaborative and being involved while not
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: going so far the other way that he's shifted himself
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: out of the quarterback and player framework because you can
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: get so tied in with a concern over how we're
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: doing something with the offensive line where it might not
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: necessarily be the most important thing to focus on as
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: a quarterback, if that makes sense. where you could certainly
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: shift so far the other way that you become a
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: coach and now you're worried about things that are taking
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: away from where my mind should be and my focus
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: should be as a quarterback. So he does a great
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: job of finding that balance of really executing and operating
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: the offense as the signal caller, as the quarterback up
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: there and understanding the full picture and having ideas and
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: ways to solve problems and different things that we could
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: check to or get to or ways we could attack
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: defenses without going overboard and worried about what the left
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: guard might be setting on a certain play, if that
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: makes sense.
• 21:04
  Speaker 8: With Nate Borkature, obviously high investment in the draft. Has
• 21:09
  Speaker 8: he come in and been what y'all had hoped he
• 21:12
  Speaker 8: would be? Obviously potentially having a pretty big role as
• 21:16
  Speaker 8: a rookie.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that's probably a similar answer in the
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: sense to the Emmanuel question, which I know is not
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: an answer, so I apologize. But I try not to
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: have the anticipation of saying, this guy's going to be
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: in this spot at this certain time. You see those
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: things on tape and you see what he did at
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: A & M. You see what he did in Nebraska.
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: And you have an idea of the traits that he
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: brings to an offense and the physicality.
• 21:38
  Speaker 9: And he has some ability from the backfield.
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: He has some ability up in the line of scrimmage,
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: whether he's in line, whether he's flexed out. Now in
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: the past game, what routes is he good at? The
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: physicality he brings in the past game as well. But
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: it's really unknown on how that will apply to us
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: in our offense till we get him in here and
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: start working on that stuff. So I try not to
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: have the anticipation of saying, This is how we're going
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: to use Nate before we take him. And this is
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: what he's going to be. You try to see what
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: this guy is. We have a little bit of projection.
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: Then we get him, see what he can do, see
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: what he can handle. And then we want to really
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: build the offense around him as opposed to trying to
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: make him say, this is what you have to be.
• 22:11
  Speaker 9: We need you to be this.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: And then if it doesn't work, then we're just kind
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: of stuck, you know, stuck with a guy in an
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: unfortunate situation. Now I do think that as he's gotten
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: his role and continue to get it down, that role
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: will continue to develop hopefully throughout the season as him
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: and the rest of the tight ends continue to grow.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing guys.
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: Thanks for sharing.