Nick Sirianni

Q. How have you evolved in this process? Or has it changed that much? And then with Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore and Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio, sort of bringing them into it? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Every year you do something, you go through, ‘What can we do better? What can we do better? What wasn’t quite good enough?’ The process always changes. You’re always in the business of perfecting the process. It’s never set.

I had one year, like, hey, I wanted to push it a little bit more and get a couple more reps in 7-on-7, and then a couple guys got hurt. And then my next notes in 2022 said, ‘Hey, pull back a little bit from that.’ You’re always in search of having a good process. That’s just what you go through at the end. But there’s some similarities. It’s different.

These guys are not in football shape. These guys were training to run a 40. These guys were training to run the combine drills. They weren’t training all this time to be football players. And then some of the guys were on a lot of 30 visits. We wouldn’t have ever asked our veterans to go out without any preparation into just full-go practice. You ease into it.

So, I think that’s the thing we always have to guard yourself against a little bit is, ‘Man, I want to do more. I want to see these guys a little bit more. Get this guy a touch, get that guy a touch.’ It’s making sure you’re not doing too much early on while still getting an ability to get an evaluation on the guys that are here that you drafted, that are undrafted free agents, that are try-out guys, stuff like that.

Q. You signed T Mekhi Becton this week. Are you going to rotate him at guard? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: We obviously have a lot of time to figure out who the top five guys are. He’s played tackle, obviously, as everybody knows. He’ll start there and then we’ll see what happens.

Q. What were your first impressions now that you had some of these guys out there today? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: It’s fun to get out. First thing you’re thinking is how do we knock the rust off of ourselves. We haven’t coached on the field for a while. You’re thinking, like, alright, making sure everything’s right there. And then get to be able to watch these guys. And so, you get good impressions. I had some guys in there that I’m like, ‘Man, that looked really good.’ I’m going to hold back on saying this guy or that guy because it’s only one day. But you guys kind of interrupted me. I was up there watching tape and I had to come down talk to you, so I wanted to see a little bit more. (smiling)

But you get to see it out there live. Again, it’s just exciting to get out there and work again. But there’s definitely guys that you saw out there that are like, ‘Okay, that’s the burst I saw on tape. That’s the little move right there I saw on tape.’ That’s exciting. And so, you definitely get excited about being back on the field, first of all, and secondly, the guys that we have, because we’re really excited to work with these guys.

Q. How have you gone about connecting with Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio since you hired him? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Just the same as I try to do with everybody else of finding that common denominator of what you have in common and talking to him about that. I know this about Vic: We have in common that we love football, and so we get to be able to talk a lot about football. And so, some of it is getting to know each other in just that way as far as our football discussions, situational discussions, taking-the-ball-away discussions.

And then it’s trying to find different ways. He’s been at both cheesesteak runs that we made. Now he knows all the good cheesesteak places. I get it. He’s from here. But just different things like that. I know how big of a Phillies fan Vic is. We haven’t been to a Phillies game together, but I’m imagining that’s going to happen at some point.

But similar ways that you try to do with players. Find that common bond that you have and kind of latch on with that.

Q. How important is it to get a guy like OLB Jalyx Hunt, for example around some of the veterans when then come in, other rookies as well, but particularly someone like him who doesn’t have a whole lot of experience. (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Goodness, he gets to be around [DE Brandon Graham} B.G., and that’s huge. Just like it was for [C/G] Cam [Jurgens] to be around [Former Eagles C] Jason [Kelce]. And just like it was for [DT] Jordan [Davis] and [DT] Jalen [Carter] to be around [DT Fletcher] Fletch [Cox]. It’s going to be the same thing there.

So really looking forward, and the same thing for [G] Trevor [Keegan] to be around [T] Lane [Johnson] and [T] Jordan [Mailata]. Yeah, that’s a huge advantage, right, to get him around these guys.

It’s not only that person at that position, it’s getting them immersed into the culture. Our culture is our behaviors, what you do every single day, over and over and over again. So it’s exciting that they’re here.

Now, they’re not here with the veterans right now, but they’re immersed in it. What was really cool in my mind was that [WR] A.J.[Brown] was out there today and that Jordan Mailata was out there today. A.J. giving out coaching points. Jordan Mailata, I got in here this morning, he was in here for the team meeting and went to the O-line meeting this morning, just to be there with those guys.

That’s special. That’s a connection that these guys are willing to put that time in to be around our rookies, see what they’re made of, and just be there for them.

So I’m excited for these guys to all get immersed into the culture. It was cool to see our veterans do that today.

Q. You heard a lot about CB Quinyon Mitchell from Mount Union guys, getting a chance to see him, what stuck out to you? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: We had limited reps today. I got to see [CB Quinyon Mitchell] him go through drills. You saw the burst and quickness that we saw on tape of why we drafted him in the first round.

Made a couple of nice plays on the ball today out there with some 7-on-7 speed. And so just excited to see him out there on the field and competing.

Again, limited reps today, but you did see the quickness and the burst and the acceleration.

Q. What were you trying to get done in the secondary in the offseason and how do Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean address that? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: [DB] Cooper [DeJean] has obviously versatility. [CB] Quinyon [Mitchell] has big play ability. They both have big play ability. Obviously we’re not to a point where this guy’s playing here or that guy’s playing here or this guy’s limited to just this. We’re just out there right now getting some reps out there and seeing where they fit.

Q. You mentioned G Trevor Keegan learning from T Jordan Mailata and T Lane Johnson. Is there maybe some tackle in his future? You didn’t mention G Landon Dickerson. (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: And Landon. And Landon.

Q. The first couple days can be overwhelming at times when it comes to rookies, what’s your messaging overall?

NICK SIRIANNI: Just get immersed into the culture. Just get immersed into the culture. We can go over our core values, what they are, what they mean, how we do it, but until we start doing, your culture is just your behaviors. Until we start doing those things, they’re just words on the wall.

So it’s just getting immersed into the culture. And part of that is the detail, understanding what to do and how to do it and just diving into that every day. Yeah, it’s a lot. Rookie minicamp, though, it’s new words for all these guys. It’s new language, all these different things.

But, remember, rookie minicamp, we’re not throwing them the whole book. We’re really pulling back, because in my mind it’s really more important to see what they can do as opposed to what they know because they’re not going to know much right now. It’s too fresh. It’s too new. [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] kept the inventory down. [Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio] kept the inventory down. [Special Teams Coordinator] Coach [Michael] Clay kept the inventory down so we can go out there and see their movements, watch them. Especially the try-out guys. You don’t want to flood them. You want to see what they can do. They’re here for a try-out. It wouldn’t be fair to them to make them learn everything and then they can’t play fast.

They’re not swimming yet, is what I’m saying. If they tell you they’re swimming right now, they’re not. It’s not to that point yet. They’re not swimming yet. It’s fun to be out there and watching them roll.