Speaker 1: Three starting linebackers for two spots. Uh, how do you
Speaker 1: envision that playing out? You see using all three at
Speaker 1: the same time at times. Away. There's a couple of
Speaker 1: thoughts that are in. One of them is it's it's
Speaker 1: not only those three, but we really have a deep
Speaker 1: inside backer pool. I mean all the guys. We have
Speaker 1: some some talented players in there going beyond the first three.
Speaker 1: But if you're talking about the first three, we could
Speaker 1: go to packages, and we might go to packages. We're
Speaker 1: all three are on the field. But there's also we
Speaker 1: play more snaps. In the last two years, we've had
Speaker 1: more snaps defensively than anybody. So there's plenty to go around,
Speaker 1: and a rotational basis can also be used, and and
Speaker 1: that's probably where we'll start it. Does it really? Does
Speaker 1: you have the more flexibility when you have a guy
Speaker 1: like Keep who really is an expert. You know, him
Speaker 1: covering tight ends is a great matchup because of his length. Uh.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you have more flexibility with uh, like you said,
Speaker 1: not going into multiple packages right now. In the beginning
Speaker 1: of training camp, it is everybody's up for everything. Demico
Speaker 1: can win the starting nickel spot through competition, just like
Speaker 1: anybody can. There's not starters. We don't have depth charts.
Speaker 1: So right now, in this beginning phase, it's all you
Speaker 1: go compete for it, and then we'll as we break
Speaker 1: down the preseason games and we get closer to the the
Speaker 1: real game, then we'll start separating depth, we'll start separating packages.
Speaker 1: But right now, the demico has got every chance to
Speaker 1: be in the nickel like everybody else does. In there
Speaker 1: is Keiko or Michael. You know, I got a dress.
Speaker 1: We had to have somebody take the first practice naps
Speaker 1: that nickel. Jacory Shepherd is simply competing like all other
Speaker 1: guys that are in there. He just had the first rack.
Speaker 1: You'll see him again in there today. We're kind of
Speaker 1: going on a two day basis as far as who's
Speaker 1: in group one, Group two, in group three. It's not
Speaker 1: the first team, second team, and third team. It's just
Speaker 1: groups that we practice in and we are going to
Speaker 1: mix and match and move everybody around. And it's neat
Speaker 1: to have the ability from both the skill set from
Speaker 1: the players in the secondary and a football intelligence set.
Speaker 1: We've got multiple positions that can move around both from
Speaker 1: a talented where you know a guy can play corner safety,
Speaker 1: and nickel or corner and nickel or safety in corner,
Speaker 1: and we'll move them around until we find the best fit. Well, Chip,
Speaker 1: Chip may alot of them. You've got E. J. Biggers
Speaker 1: in there. You have Malcolm and Thurman that can both
Speaker 1: do it. You have Watkins, You've got the young guys,
Speaker 1: Rice and Evans. We've we've worked. Everybody's going to get
Speaker 1: in there and get a look at it. Maxwell not
Speaker 1: right now. Right now we're Maxwell and Row and Nolan
Speaker 1: will stay outside of the corner spot, with Nolan jumping
Speaker 1: into some dime when we go there, but right now
Speaker 1: we won't put them into nickel, but they are being
Speaker 1: taught to nickel. Nolan was not a first team player
Speaker 1: last year. Well makes him the first team player this year.
Speaker 1: I don't early in the season. Nolan has all the
Speaker 1: skill to set to start and he did in Miami,
Speaker 1: and we're very happy with the all he had. One
Speaker 1: best off seasons I've been around. He really has from
Speaker 1: every competition I think he won maybe every competition that
Speaker 1: we had in the off season to his technique that
Speaker 1: he's diving into. Nolan has been a start in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and we viewed him as a starter last year. Early on,
Speaker 1: we kept trying to rotate and he had some hamstring
Speaker 1: in different issues that the kind as we went around along,
Speaker 1: I didn't get him in there enough, and I probably
Speaker 1: should I that's on me. But we've got all the
Speaker 1: confidence and Nolan to compete for that other starting corner spot,
Speaker 1: and he is competing for it. Also, it's not handed
Speaker 1: to him because Boy's not here. It's it's one of
Speaker 1: those deals where we are in competition mode right now
Speaker 1: at all positions, and we're excited about Nolan and he
Speaker 1: started a lot of ball games in the NFL A corner.
Speaker 1: What's that like from your perspective where you have one
Speaker 1: of your to pass back off? He's see, yeah, well
Speaker 1: you never want to lose anyone. And I'm a Boykin fan.
Speaker 1: I've always liked, you know, Brandon, and I think he
Speaker 1: did a great job a Nickel for us. He's a
Speaker 1: pleasure to be around. And um, you know, I worked
Speaker 1: and coached a lot, you know, with the Nichols the
Speaker 1: last two years, so you know, I got to know
Speaker 1: him probably better than some of the other positions. But
Speaker 1: the competition and the depth because it's it's it's become
Speaker 1: more close. We have more depth when somebody comes asking
Speaker 1: for a trade and you have where you feel comfortable
Speaker 1: with the options that you have if that particular player leaves.
Speaker 1: It was a close enough gap that we felt it
Speaker 1: was a good move for both him and us and
Speaker 1: the Steelers. And it's like everybody won and didn't want
Speaker 1: to lose him. I didn't think we would. I mean
Speaker 1: as of two days ago, where you know, everything's all
Speaker 1: the plans were to go forward, but Pittsburgh kept coming
Speaker 1: and coming and coming and asking forward, so I think
Speaker 1: it eventually happened. I don't care about this gap from
Speaker 1: the top two guys wherever. There's a lot of bookies
Speaker 1: in there. How do you know? You don't, but it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's still a In the off season, you get a
Speaker 1: good look at guys movement skills, and I think in
Speaker 1: the secondary it's easier to evaluate guys in shorts that
Speaker 1: apply to guys in pads. When you start value in
Speaker 1: the d line and the linebackers, that gets a little scary.
Speaker 1: That makes sense because you're not watching them with the contact,
Speaker 1: but when you're watching dbs moving space and cover. We did.
Speaker 1: We weren't allowed to press like we would have liked
Speaker 1: to in the off season, but you still get a
Speaker 1: pretty good evaluation of secondary players in the off season
Speaker 1: that's accurate to game day set new slot. You drafted
Speaker 1: three d backs, get that process of getting your secondary
Speaker 1: to play together. There's so many new I think one
Speaker 1: of the things that separate us of all the NFL
Speaker 1: teams I've been with the Chip Kelly system, because it's
Speaker 1: a no huddle offensive system, means the volume of reps
Speaker 1: you get per practice are much higher. I've calculated two
Speaker 1: to three times higher per practice with having all those
Speaker 1: offseason reps, which is way more than you get anywhere else.
Speaker 1: Our backups and our younger guys get more and more,
Speaker 1: our new guys get more and more than if you
Speaker 1: were somewhere else. And there's nothing like a rep, a
Speaker 1: practice rep on the field to train somebody. You've got
Speaker 1: to keep doing and doing, and we covet mistakes. Come
Speaker 1: on and make your mistakes. Guys, don't be fearful of mistakes.
Speaker 1: Come make them because you'll learn from them. And I
Speaker 1: think all those offseason reps let the new guys and
Speaker 1: the young guys be better prepared to come out here
Speaker 1: and compete in the preseason and compete for a roster
Speaker 1: spots us a secondary. Do you feel like right now
Speaker 1: you guys are better offer seat in the last season.
Speaker 1: It's too early for me to make that statement because
Speaker 1: we still have this season. There's there's the off season
Speaker 1: where everybody in the world right now is happy with
Speaker 1: what they have and the changes they've made. And the
Speaker 1: reality of the NFL is until you start hitting Sundays
Speaker 1: for real, not the preseason games, and guys showing how
Speaker 1: they do in the heat of battle against the main
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and receivers, you don't know if you're better or worse.
Speaker 1: The first game against Atlanta will tell us are starting spot,
Speaker 1: particularly in the secondary, and then we'll move it from there.
Speaker 1: But I can't answer that question actually right now? Good? Yeah?
Speaker 1: About pressing more and do you have to talk about
Speaker 1: the evolution of back Do you want to press more
Speaker 1: in previous years? Why now? And personnelity allows you to
Speaker 1: have that ability to press. We've always we've always wanted
Speaker 1: to be a press team, and we always want to
Speaker 1: be a team to put our hands on the opponent
Speaker 1: on the line of scrimmage and reroute and disrupt the
Speaker 1: rhythm and timing of an offense. We say that all
Speaker 1: the time. I think the biggest change that's happened this
Speaker 1: offseason is the technique and the emphasis on technique. Not
Speaker 1: that we're saying we're going to press more. We're just
Speaker 1: spending more time on the press technique and how we
Speaker 1: can get better at it than we were a year ago.
Speaker 1: And that was one of our flaws, is our press
Speaker 1: technique wasn't where it needed to be. You know, I
Speaker 1: think what we're all struggling to understand is you had
Speaker 1: a known quality and quantity in Brandon Boykint and now
Speaker 1: you've gone to an unnoing. Why isn't brand boy on
Speaker 1: this roster? I think from an organizational standpoint, you make
Speaker 1: a decision, and we were all part of that decision.
Speaker 1: Uh In. Boykin did give us quality starting reps, like
Speaker 1: you just said, but the guys behind him and the
Speaker 1: guys that we replace them were close enough. In again theory,
Speaker 1: because Boykin did it on Sundays. Now Walter Thurman's done
Speaker 1: on Sundays. Jenkin's done it on Sundays. There's options there.
Speaker 1: Corey Shepherd is not, some of the younger guys have not,
Speaker 1: but there's enough options there to make it a good
Speaker 1: move for us as an organization to grab you understand
Speaker 1: that difficult, you know thing to go from a guy
Speaker 1: like to a fourth round picture Shepherds and say it's
Speaker 1: very close. It's more than Jacorey Shepherd. It's Walter Thurman,
Speaker 1: it's Malcolm Jenkins, it's other veterans that can play in
Speaker 1: the nickel. I'm not putting Walter Thurman down there yet
Speaker 1: because he's got a new position at safety. So right now,
Speaker 1: I'll give the younger and other guys some nickel reps
Speaker 1: as we are closer to the season. If that's not
Speaker 1: looking like it's supposed to look, then Walter Thurman will
Speaker 1: get more. Malcolm Jenkins would get more down not right now,
Speaker 1: not in our plans. He has the capability to do it,
Speaker 1: but as a young rookie, I'm not going to put
Speaker 1: that burden of learning on him right now. Right now,
Speaker 1: he's a corner. He's in the corner world. He's going
Speaker 1: to compete a corner and that's his spots. No, I'm
Speaker 1: not that's I'm I think Boykin came out, he competed
Speaker 1: he I'm it's no knock on Boykin at all. It's
Speaker 1: about um it's a compliment to others. And again it's
Speaker 1: not for sure. Obviously, it's now we have to make
Speaker 1: decisi reasons all the time and hope that it's close
Speaker 1: enough and we're right. And sometimes you're proving right, sometimes
Speaker 1: you're proving wrong. But no, it's not not at all.
Speaker 1: Just be looked at out. Why isn't he being a chance?
Speaker 1: It's the learning problem. We've got a lot of defense
Speaker 1: and at the corner spots, and we're really we drafted
Speaker 1: him in that corner position knowing that we could move
Speaker 1: him to safety as his career progressed if needed. But
Speaker 1: you can't say learn it all and really expect him
Speaker 1: to shine. As for instance last year with Marcus Smith,
Speaker 1: I didn't want to move him inside and it's warts
Speaker 1: your growth. It also it's a it's a chance to
Speaker 1: get better. You have to take a step back to
Speaker 1: do that. Right now, we think it's a great opportunity
Speaker 1: for Eric to just focus on corner and go compete this.
Speaker 1: So what kind of progress as Marcus Smith made in
Speaker 1: the off season BEFO we're getting into out. You know,
Speaker 1: he had half an off season kind he was he
Speaker 1: was out there some and out there now he's taking
Speaker 1: big steps. So his he came in there and looking great.
Speaker 1: He's in great shape, the best we've seen him. Look.
Speaker 1: His understanding of the scheme is that a whole nother place.
Speaker 1: The rookie year is so hard. Guys, you know, the
Speaker 1: from the whole off season after their college ends to
Speaker 1: the pressure of being a draft choice. The guys you
Speaker 1: see in the second year that relax more, they're more themselves,
Speaker 1: They they play smarter because they're not all nerved up
Speaker 1: and uh and we're hoping that would see all those
Speaker 1: things come through with Marcus in this training camp, coaches sounds.
Speaker 1: The way the Chip interacts kind of relates to his
Speaker 1: players compared to other guys, you feel it's outstanding. And
Speaker 1: I say that from all sincerity. He is got one
Speaker 1: of the most open door policies of guys I've been around.
Speaker 1: And you can look at the guys who've been around
Speaker 1: and make your own assessments. Some of those guys had
Speaker 1: closed doors policies, but his wide open. Boykin and you're
Speaker 1: talking about boy BOYK went in and obviously han't had
Speaker 1: a long talk with Chip about his role about outside corner,
Speaker 1: about Nicol came into my off who We had great
Speaker 1: conversations with Brandon about all those things, and I think
Speaker 1: Chip has one of the biggest open door policies for
Speaker 1: the players, And ask the guys that are in the
Speaker 1: building that he really does. It's h it's really being
Speaker 1: portrayed outside different than it is inside because it really
Speaker 1: is an easy to be around happen. Why do you
Speaker 1: think this just happened? Dude? And what do you make
Speaker 1: of the things that have been said by the three
Speaker 1: different guys? And also, I think every one of those
Speaker 1: three people need to answer their own question. I can't
Speaker 1: answer for any of those those guys or what they're
Speaker 1: thinking or what would cause it. I'd be crazy to
Speaker 1: even to try to answer that. I can just answer
Speaker 1: from my view of being in ten different organizations with
Speaker 1: all kind of different head coaches, scheme systems, and I'm
Speaker 1: telling you from bottom of heart, this is a very
Speaker 1: great place for players. And we do more for players
Speaker 1: than anything I've ever been around. We do more for
Speaker 1: their conditioning, their body, their health, their mental health, their
Speaker 1: growth in all parts of being a man and a
Speaker 1: player than anywhere I've been around. And you can just
Speaker 1: ask the players about how much we spend time on them,
Speaker 1: on their mindset, on their moods, on on how their
Speaker 1: bodies are feeling, their hydration, all of it. It's uh.
Speaker 1: I think it's a couple isolated guys and they have
Speaker 1: to answer their own questions about that. Outside of who
Speaker 1: can place all those guys that are incompeting in there?
Speaker 1: It really is, it's uh, it's a stack. There's Malcolm
Speaker 1: who really has played, and then there's Walter in a
Speaker 1: stack of guys competing. Now Walter is creeping up there,
Speaker 1: but all of them and nobody you're saying, oh man,
Speaker 1: he can't do it. It's who can do it the
Speaker 1: best is what we're looking at O the rest of
Speaker 1: the guys, and they're all going to be have their
Speaker 1: shot with the ones and the preseason will determine who
Speaker 1: fits that role. Yeah, and in the second day when
Speaker 1: you move somebody to position, they haven't played. And I
Speaker 1: was part of moving intre role from corner to safety
Speaker 1: in Arizona and I've seen it happen in San Francisco
Speaker 1: and Michael Rump from Miami and we moved him in.
Speaker 1: It didn't work like Antrell worked. But what you look
Speaker 1: at what those players is how how extensive is their
Speaker 1: football like you? And what kind of eyes do they
Speaker 1: have from a corner nickel position. And wasn't longer be
Speaker 1: around Walter to know he is extremely football intelligent and
Speaker 1: understands lever and concepts and where his teammates are. And
Speaker 1: when you put him at safety a little bit and
Speaker 1: we were going to just look at him. Now I'm
Speaker 1: looking at not only where his eyes are, but the
Speaker 1: angles of breaks, how he breaks his vision. If he
Speaker 1: has narrow vision, it's hard to play safety. If he
Speaker 1: has wide vision, you have more instincts. And Walter just
Speaker 1: kept checking off the box as we moved him, and
Speaker 1: it started with its football IQ in talking about corner
Speaker 1: and nickel plain that made us movie Harry, Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: yession when he said earlier you look back and maybe
Speaker 1: you should have been going it's more opting oportunity on
Speaker 1: the outside. Yes, what did you see? Maybe I've got
Speaker 1: this beautiful view of hindsight right now that when you're
Speaker 1: in the middle of it you don't quite have it.
Speaker 1: And as it works out and plays out against what
Speaker 1: you kind of thought, that you kind of say to yourself, well,
Speaker 1: I might have made a mistake there. And at the
Speaker 1: end of the game, the Giants game. You know, Fletch
Speaker 1: wentn't on the field, and we still had some issues.
Speaker 1: So we had to work through it and we make
Speaker 1: the best decision we can at the time, watching every
Speaker 1: snap of practice fifty times over and maybe overanalyze it.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it is it is. You have to
Speaker 1: make those hard decisions and some most hopefully most of
Speaker 1: them work out and you continue to have your job.
Speaker 1: And if too many don't work out, then you don't.
Speaker 1: And that's that's life in the NFL. It. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I've been missing you. Good. Jordan Hicks has got great instinct.
Speaker 1: It's neat to watch a rookie who has field vision.
Speaker 1: And Jordan really jumped out so far as a young
Speaker 1: man about how his vision and instincts and awareness. Uh,
Speaker 1: he still has a long way to go when he's
Speaker 1: you know, he's an athletic young man, intelligent, works extremely
Speaker 1: hard in the meeting room. So we're excited about Jordan's progress.
Speaker 1: Three for a guy to Ko's age to be a killer,
Speaker 1: especially what the second one in five years? Have you
Speaker 1: been surprised by how quickly he has come back around
Speaker 1: the second one? You know, knowing the man that is Demiko.
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised because it is Demiko, but I am
Speaker 1: surprised about it an Achilles injury and how far along
Speaker 1: he is because he's like, he's that heart of a worker. Okay, thanks, yeah,