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Press Pass | Liam Coen & Brian Thomas Jr. Recap OTAs on Last Day · Press Pass

0:00
Speaker 1: He's been in the league form with the good acclimated
0:02
Speaker 1: discussed the week ago.
0:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, a similar type deal we did with Sterling Shepherd
0:07
Speaker 2: last year in Tampa, where you have a little bit
0:09
Speaker 2: of a runway for the next couple of days to
0:11
Speaker 2: get acclimated. Continuing to, you know, add competition to the
0:15
Speaker 2: room and guys that have played some meaningful snaps in
0:19
Speaker 2: the league in a similar system, and just the type
0:22
Speaker 2: of person that he is that we've heard, you know,
0:24
Speaker 2: from Zach and those guys in Cincinnati. Just continuing to
0:28
Speaker 2: develop the roster really and you know he's so far,
0:32
Speaker 2: he's just he's been a great guy to kind of
0:34
Speaker 2: get to know a little bit, and he'll continue to
0:36
Speaker 2: learn the offense as we go here.
0:39
Speaker 3: He mentioned does talks on how much the priority that is.
0:42
Speaker 2: Is it the offensive line that really kind of sets
0:44
Speaker 2: that cons does. Yeah, it's and it's really a like
0:48
Speaker 2: I've said, it's an interesting dynamic in this time where
0:52
Speaker 2: you can't bang, you can't hit, really you can't establish
0:56
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage, but you can establish the way
1:00
Speaker 2: that we want to play in some ways in terms
1:02
Speaker 2: of attacking the line of scrimmage. Mental toughness when it
1:06
Speaker 2: comes to multiple play calls, handling cans, handling, handling the audibles,
1:11
Speaker 2: zero checks like them, the way they break the huddle,
1:15
Speaker 2: the way that.
1:16
Speaker 4: They're disciplined with cadence.
1:18
Speaker 2: That's definitely helping set the mentality and toughness of the group,
1:23
Speaker 2: specifically on offense. It always starts with those guys up front.
1:28
Speaker 2: Although it's just a weird time to truly, I guess
1:32
Speaker 2: evaluate it, but you can continue to press that and
1:36
Speaker 2: push that envelope and say, guys, let's continue to be
1:39
Speaker 2: at a high level every single time we come out
1:42
Speaker 2: on the grass and every single protection walkthrough and every
1:45
Speaker 2: single play that we're doing.
1:47
Speaker 4: Knowing it's a lot of pass game.
1:51
Speaker 1: You look at rut if you're going to figure at
1:53
Speaker 1: last year, what dynamic is any.
1:56
Speaker 4: Travis Hunter on making the same side you know, do
1:59
Speaker 4: as deep.
1:59
Speaker 3: Into try to take him away.
2:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I saw so much of it.
2:04
Speaker 2: Obviously a different entity with Cooper cup in La where
2:07
Speaker 2: you're getting a lot of double coverage, whether it more
2:10
Speaker 2: so be from the slot where maybe they have a
2:12
Speaker 2: nickel playing outside leverage and then a safety or a
2:15
Speaker 2: linebacker inside of him to double. And then go to
2:18
Speaker 2: Tampa with Mike Evans, and he's more of that outside
2:21
Speaker 2: receiver that's getting the corner and the safety double. So
2:25
Speaker 2: it's really just about creating balance. And Okay, if we
2:29
Speaker 2: put them on the same side, well, can we dictate
2:32
Speaker 2: maybe where those the double may go and help maybe
2:35
Speaker 2: get one on one coverage elsewhere, So you know, as
2:39
Speaker 2: we go and see maybe how people defend us that
2:43
Speaker 2: way with Brian, it'll help kind of dictate whether we
2:46
Speaker 2: want to get the one on one match up in
2:48
Speaker 2: the in on the inside or on the outside, at
2:51
Speaker 2: the running back position, at the tight end position. So
2:54
Speaker 2: it kind of helps dictate terms, even though it can
2:56
Speaker 2: be annoying at times to get double teams.
3:00
Speaker 5: Just the offensive guy. If you wanted your guy to
3:02
Speaker 5: do well and one on ones. Now as a head coach, yeah,
3:05
Speaker 5: well both of those guys are yours. Now, how do
3:07
Speaker 5: you balance out not roots for the offensive guy?
3:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's hard.
3:10
Speaker 2: I actually got to ask a similar question on Monday,
3:12
Speaker 2: where your your first feeling is always, man, we had
3:18
Speaker 2: a good day on offense. You're usually pretty pleased just
3:21
Speaker 2: in general. Now that mentality kind of has to shift
3:25
Speaker 2: a little bit. I don't think you're ever going to
3:27
Speaker 2: be fully pleased if one side of the ball maybe
3:29
Speaker 2: is that much different than the other, whether it be
3:32
Speaker 2: on offense or defense. But I've definitely had to find
3:36
Speaker 2: myself to you know, stay positive even when maybe something
3:40
Speaker 2: negative happens to the offense. That man, at the end
3:43
Speaker 2: of the day, this is about developing a team, and.
3:46
Speaker 4: I have to be at the forefront of that. I
3:49
Speaker 4: hope you got three of your six running back for
3:52
Speaker 4: rookie seven or your fourteen receiver for the rookies.
3:54
Speaker 1: How have you seen they'll kind of develop over the cordoldia.
3:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, a ton of learning. You know, it's so much learning,
4:00
Speaker 4: so much they're doing a ton of extra Like you
4:03
Speaker 4: walk out here, I think it was about.
4:06
Speaker 2: Seven this morning, got finished working out and saw Trevor
4:10
Speaker 2: Lawrence and Travis Hunter out here walking through.
4:12
Speaker 4: So that's just one example. You know.
4:15
Speaker 2: You see the rookies they do development periods every day
4:19
Speaker 2: right at the end of practice. Why we kind of
4:21
Speaker 2: leave fifteen minutes per day at the end is for
4:25
Speaker 2: them to go in and get developmental work. So that
4:27
Speaker 2: has been really I think key to those guys learning
4:31
Speaker 2: the system getting updated, because man, they got thrown in
4:34
Speaker 2: the mix. We're a month already into the install and
4:39
Speaker 2: so they've had to play catch up. And that's kind
4:41
Speaker 2: of what those developmental periods are for. And it's hard
4:45
Speaker 2: to truly judge it at the moment, you know, I
4:47
Speaker 2: think I just see, Okay, are we getting lined up properly?
4:51
Speaker 2: Are we getting off on the right cadence? Are we
4:54
Speaker 2: not making total bust mistakes? The finer details will come
4:58
Speaker 2: for those guys in training camp right now. It's more
5:01
Speaker 2: about that broad scope learning anybody fitting out before man
5:08
Speaker 2: hard to say, to be honest with you, it's it's
5:10
Speaker 2: kind of a group of guys that, you know, I
5:14
Speaker 2: think you'd say the majority of the draft picks have
5:17
Speaker 2: taken steps within each kind of realm. I can't really
5:21
Speaker 2: single anybody out specifically that I think that's like, wow,
5:24
Speaker 2: oh my goodness, this has been amazing. I think you'd
5:27
Speaker 2: just say, like, I'll kind of wait on that judgment
5:30
Speaker 2: in training camp, bring it in.
5:32
Speaker 3: A bar deck. Just what really does he bring to
5:33
Speaker 3: you guys?
5:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, just a ton of respect for the player competing
5:38
Speaker 2: against him two times a year in LA, you know,
5:41
Speaker 2: since twenty eighteen, and he was every time we would
5:44
Speaker 2: go play the Arizona Cardinals he was on the game
5:47
Speaker 2: wrecker board, so we would always kind of introduce the
5:52
Speaker 2: game wreckers to the players, and he was on there,
5:55
Speaker 2: whether it was for originally you know, for special teams
5:58
Speaker 2: and then also for rushing the passer and creating some disruption.
6:03
Speaker 2: So it just gives us somebody a little bit different
6:06
Speaker 2: kind of style rusher special teams. Demon he was a
6:10
Speaker 2: captain in Arizona on special teams. He had three sacks
6:13
Speaker 2: in a game last year. I'm not sure how many
6:15
Speaker 2: people did that this past season, but he did and
6:19
Speaker 2: had an interception in the following game. So you're just
6:21
Speaker 2: looking at continuing to find guys that can disrupt the
6:25
Speaker 2: game in a specific way, whether it's in the DPR
6:29
Speaker 2: or on special teams with Smoot'll Smot give you, you know,
6:33
Speaker 2: just again continuing to add competition to the room consistency.
6:40
Speaker 2: A guy that obviously, you know, has roots in this
6:42
Speaker 2: area and and you know has strong friendships with some
6:46
Speaker 2: of the guys on the team. And then when you
6:49
Speaker 2: talk to guys that maybe have not been in this building.
6:51
Speaker 2: With Eric Ciano, our strength coach, was with him in
6:54
Speaker 2: Buffalo and he just said he was a tireless worker
6:58
Speaker 2: in the weight room on the practice feel consistently going.
7:02
Speaker 2: You kind of had to pull him back at times,
7:04
Speaker 2: and that was something that continuing to get a little
7:07
Speaker 2: bit of veteran presence, guys that have played meaningful reps
7:10
Speaker 2: in this league that can give us some meaningful snaps
7:13
Speaker 2: hopefully and continue.
7:15
Speaker 4: To create that competition we're looking for.
7:17
Speaker 2: So just getting to know him a little bit seems
7:19
Speaker 2: like obviously he's a grown man and really cool to
7:23
Speaker 2: get to know him a little bit. Here it's yeah, yeah,
7:29
Speaker 2: a little bit. You obviously you want, like we talked
7:33
Speaker 2: about the other day, waves of maybe some different types
7:35
Speaker 2: of rushers at times. But you know, guys, when you're
7:38
Speaker 2: when you're playing in the trenches specifically, you know when
7:42
Speaker 2: you come in maybe you're a UDFA or or a
7:45
Speaker 2: rookie in general, man, that size, that strength, that speed,
7:49
Speaker 2: especially in the trenches is different for anybody, and.
7:53
Speaker 4: So you know, there's always a curve.
7:54
Speaker 2: There's always going to be a learning curve and a
7:56
Speaker 2: physical growth curve that is going to need to occur.
8:00
Speaker 2: But getting some of those guys that have established themselves
8:03
Speaker 2: in this league and played meaningful snaps I think will
8:05
Speaker 2: just help us maybe in times of maybe crisis and
8:09
Speaker 2: just to maybe be a little bit more consistent in
8:11
Speaker 2: some ways, knowing that we're pretty young as a team
8:14
Speaker 2: in general.
8:16
Speaker 5: As you hit into into mandatory on mini camp, just
8:20
Speaker 5: what do you want to see in terms of growth
8:21
Speaker 5: from Trevor and just how much growth have you seen
8:24
Speaker 5: over the last ten.
8:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know, when you look at maybe
8:27
Speaker 2: the first few days of OTAs and really even phase
8:30
Speaker 2: two that we were out here on the grass, I
8:33
Speaker 2: think his footwork has drastically improved. You know, I think
8:37
Speaker 2: just the rhythm of playing the position in every system
8:42
Speaker 2: is different, right, the drop of a quarterback is very
8:45
Speaker 2: similar to a dance, and so each song right has
8:49
Speaker 2: a different rhythm, Each play has a different rhythm, Each
8:53
Speaker 2: systems have different rhythms, And so continuing to develop that
8:58
Speaker 2: for him so that you know, we talk about footwork
9:01
Speaker 2: so much because when the game is being played, we
9:05
Speaker 2: know it's lived in the gray, but we're trying to
9:07
Speaker 2: create black and white lines for footwork, for reads, for timing,
9:13
Speaker 2: because when the things start moving, often times you have
9:18
Speaker 2: to revert back to your fundamentals, your footwork, your timing,
9:21
Speaker 2: And so I think he's taken a step in that
9:23
Speaker 2: area as well as just the overall operation, Like that's
9:27
Speaker 2: what I've really looked for for him in this time.
9:30
Speaker 2: Has been okay, really focusing on his lower half in
9:34
Speaker 2: his footwork, and then also just running the show, like
9:37
Speaker 2: I'm not really judging. Does he make every single throw
9:40
Speaker 2: right now? Is every single ball perfectly accurate right now?
9:44
Speaker 2: Is he operating the offense at a high level? Yes,
9:47
Speaker 2: he is right now?
9:49
Speaker 5: How would you?
9:51
Speaker 4: Oh?
9:51
Speaker 3: Man?
9:51
Speaker 2: I mean, it was a change up right down the pipe.
9:56
Speaker 2: Might have gone four hundred over the left center field
10:00
Speaker 2: somebody else, but I think it was about what I
10:02
Speaker 2: was hutting up.
10:03
Speaker 3: Is it supposed to be a changer?
10:05
Speaker 4: Nah, Yeah, it was just it was cool.
10:08
Speaker 2: I was downstairs kind of getting some practice in and
10:12
Speaker 2: they had really cool technology that they're using down there
10:15
Speaker 2: to simulate the opposing picture and what was learning some
10:19
Speaker 2: of that stuff down there, and I was throwing a
10:22
Speaker 2: couple of knuckles and curves. I was gonna maybe throw
10:24
Speaker 2: that out there, but ended up just sticking with the
10:26
Speaker 2: change up. All good, good for sure, Thanks guys the rookie.
10:31
Speaker 3: Year you had last year.
10:33
Speaker 1: Just to come out and be better than I was
10:35
Speaker 1: last year, I'll just come out here each and every
10:37
Speaker 1: day and just pushing myself to be the best that
10:39
Speaker 1: I can be in see where that takes me. So
10:41
Speaker 1: I just come out here and be the best that
10:43
Speaker 1: I can be.
10:44
Speaker 5: How much does that having gone through that rookie year
10:47
Speaker 5: allow you to kind of be more comfortable, can be
10:50
Speaker 5: a little bit more I don't know, like more yourself,
10:52
Speaker 5: but you know, maybe more so than you were last year,
10:55
Speaker 5: not as guarded.
10:57
Speaker 1: Just being able to be around like all my teammates
10:59
Speaker 1: and have some of the same guys here, some of
11:01
Speaker 1: the same faces, being able to bond with.
11:03
Speaker 3: Trevor and stuff.
11:04
Speaker 1: It's, uh, it's been just been it's been pretty good,
11:07
Speaker 1: just being able to have those bond have those bonds
11:09
Speaker 1: and it's just gonna uh help us out going into
11:12
Speaker 1: this year.
11:12
Speaker 5: What's the biggest thing year more under God, out of
11:15
Speaker 5: last season that.
11:16
Speaker 3: Maybe wasn't football strictly on the field real later.
11:20
Speaker 1: The biggest thing was, uh just probably like taking care
11:23
Speaker 1: of your body. Uh how much how long the season
11:25
Speaker 1: really is, how long this season actually is? So just
11:28
Speaker 1: doing the little things, uh so like doing like prehabs
11:31
Speaker 1: so you don't have to do rehab. Just taking care
11:33
Speaker 1: of your body before uh things happen. So just being
11:35
Speaker 1: being up on everything.
11:37
Speaker 3: I feel like getting the Travis. Uh, it's been, it's
11:40
Speaker 3: been pretty good, pretty uh pretty fun.
11:42
Speaker 1: He's a fun, fun dude. Uh super cool, super chi Uh.
11:46
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna say that super super cool, super fun.
11:49
Speaker 1: I mean he's just a fun gotta be around, a
11:51
Speaker 1: lot of energy, uh super super fun looks.
11:53
Speaker 3: Like, and a lot of drills just against each other,
11:56
Speaker 3: kind of pushing each other a little bit. Yeah, for sure,
11:58
Speaker 3: we compete in there everything we do.
11:59
Speaker 1: We come out here each and every day, just coming
12:01
Speaker 1: out here describing to be the best.
12:03
Speaker 3: Before he was.
12:04
Speaker 5: Gonna bother you, not stop talking and not stop asking
12:07
Speaker 5: questions too.
12:08
Speaker 3: Has he gotten to.
12:09
Speaker 1: That for yet?
12:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's been.
12:12
Speaker 1: He's been asking a lot of questions. But I mean
12:14
Speaker 1: it's just him trying to be the best that he
12:15
Speaker 1: can be. Uh, just like talking like throughout talking through
12:18
Speaker 1: little things plays and while we running certain plays versus
12:22
Speaker 1: the certain looks. So just like little things like that.
12:24
Speaker 1: I mean, he wants to be the best. We both
12:26
Speaker 1: want to be the best. We just come out and
12:27
Speaker 1: compete each and every day, and whatever he needs help with,
12:29
Speaker 1: I'm gladly help him.
12:31
Speaker 2: Getting when you.
12:32
Speaker 3: Gotten to that point where you're like, health not another
12:35
Speaker 3: question for me.
12:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I it would never be like that because
12:39
Speaker 1: the guys that uh was here last year, they helped
12:42
Speaker 1: me out throughout the throughout the whole season and they
12:45
Speaker 1: were there for me.
12:45
Speaker 3: So anything that he needs help with, I'll be there
12:48
Speaker 3: for him.
12:48
Speaker 1: Is that you have taken on more leadership role now
12:51
Speaker 1: like you have some games and seasons.
12:53
Speaker 3: Under your belt. Yeah, that's super important for me.
12:55
Speaker 1: That's one of my goals this has become a better
12:57
Speaker 1: leader and just be there for my teammates when when
13:00
Speaker 1: they need me.
13:00
Speaker 3: So yeah, that's that's super important for me.
13:02
Speaker 4: I know it's only been like teen ota though.
13:04
Speaker 3: What do you think about brands offing so far?
13:06
Speaker 1: It's been Uh, it's been pretty good. U. I've been
13:08
Speaker 1: liking it. Just getting adapted to it and learning the system. Uh,
13:11
Speaker 1: it's been pretty good, pretty pretty fun. I've been liking
13:14
Speaker 1: it for sure.
13:15
Speaker 5: Right, differ between this year last year obviously you were
13:17
Speaker 5: a rookie, But if somebody said how big the difference
13:21
Speaker 5: is between the way you feel now in this time
13:23
Speaker 5: last year, how would.
13:24
Speaker 3: You describe him?
13:25
Speaker 1: I felt way better this year than I did last year.
13:27
Speaker 1: Just coming off a long like a long rookie season.
13:31
Speaker 1: Well just with the combine, uh draft all that. Just
13:34
Speaker 1: being able to have some all time take care of
13:36
Speaker 1: my body and just come back and.
13:37
Speaker 3: Be ready to go. I felt way better this this
13:40
Speaker 3: this this season for sure.
13:42
Speaker 5: The first time you saw draft it's out of here
13:43
Speaker 5: on the field.
13:44
Speaker 3: It was his first of all.
13:46
Speaker 1: I actually came out here for uh, when they had
13:48
Speaker 1: the rookie minic camp, I was up here, so I
13:50
Speaker 1: came out. I just uh just stepped out here and
13:52
Speaker 1: looked at looked at him doing like the drills and stuff.
13:55
Speaker 1: It was really just how quick he was out and uh,
13:56
Speaker 1: how detailed he was when he was like just he
13:59
Speaker 1: might have got a drill room or something. He was
14:00
Speaker 1: just hopping back in line, going right back at it
14:02
Speaker 1: and trying to find ways to do it right and
14:05
Speaker 1: t find ways to be the best that he can.
14:06
Speaker 3: Be excited about the possibility you can him on one side,
14:09
Speaker 3: You on the other.
14:10
Speaker 5: Pretty excited about the possibility him on one side you
14:13
Speaker 5: want another and how that's gonna work and and you
14:15
Speaker 5: know how that's gonna take some attention away from you
14:18
Speaker 5: or some coverage your way from you.
14:19
Speaker 1: At times and I'm super excited just to have him
14:22
Speaker 1: and Dianmi over over there on.
14:23
Speaker 3: The other side.
14:24
Speaker 1: I feel like they're both Uh they're both gonna play
14:26
Speaker 1: a big role in the offense. Uh, They're both gonna
14:28
Speaker 1: help us out and push us to go where we
14:30
Speaker 1: wanna go. So yeah, I'm super excited to have both
14:32
Speaker 1: of those guys out there with me.
14:33
Speaker 2: What does that do for a defense that, you know,
14:36
Speaker 2: against the opposing defense when you got two speechers on
14:39
Speaker 2: the outside like that. You didn't really have that last
14:41
Speaker 2: year with Christian getting hurt and Gage getting hurt.
14:44
Speaker 3: H's just hard for hard for them to cover, just
14:46
Speaker 3: or hard for them just locking in.
14:47
Speaker 1: On one one person. So just being able to have two,
14:51
Speaker 1: two or three guys out there that can run and uh,
14:54
Speaker 1: really we all gonna do it all. We all can
14:56
Speaker 1: do uh everything. So just being able to have that
14:59
Speaker 1: that h it helps out the offense a lot.
15:01
Speaker 3: Would have been like getting that except work. Oh it's
15:04
Speaker 3: been super Goodan is a cool guy.
15:06
Speaker 1: Uh been talking to him a lot. He was just
15:08
Speaker 1: on the phone talking last night.
15:09
Speaker 5: Uh.
15:09
Speaker 3: So just getting to know him each and every day,
15:11
Speaker 3: just building a bond with him. How's that working with
15:14
Speaker 3: Trevor right, know when you guys had the first half
15:16
Speaker 3: of the season, like, yeah, it was hurting.
15:18
Speaker 1: It's been it's been good just getting to know each other,
15:21
Speaker 1: uh just out here, spending time with each other, staying
15:24
Speaker 1: after practice, getting some extra throws in, just to have
15:26
Speaker 1: that uh have that that uh chemistry with each other.
15:30
Speaker 1: So it's been uh super good just to be able
15:31
Speaker 1: to bond with each.
15:32
Speaker 3: Other, Right, Yeah, I definitely, I definitely like it.
15:36
Speaker 1: Was growing uh each and every day, each and every practice,
15:38
Speaker 1: like we just all coming out here to be the
15:39
Speaker 1: best that we can be and we all just wanna
15:41
Speaker 1: get better. So it's gonna it's gonna growing out next
15:45
Speaker 1: RN