Michael Clay

MICHAEL CLAY: Looking forward to going down to South America. I know it’s a big thing for the NFL, for us. I know [Head] Coach [Nick Sirianni] reiterated we’re going down there to play a game and come back with a win after that game. That’s our sole mindset is to go down there, handle our business, and come back up here.

Q. Are the kickoffs going to look a lot different than they did during the preseason? Not just for you, but for everybody. Because it seemed everybody was just trying to get the basics down without really scheming? (Merrill Reese)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, it’s just uncharted waters again. We had a little bit throughout the three preseason games, four for Chicago and all that, but you never know, there’s probably a lot of people that were holding some stuff close to their vest. They didn’t want to throw anything out there where you could scout in terms of that nature.

Again, the first few weeks are going to be very interesting across the board, not just our opponents but across the league on what everyone is trying to do and trying to gain an advantage. Again, that’s the interesting thing about special teams; you always find the unknown and the uncommon. So we’re going to try and go out there and put our best foot forward.

Q. How anxious are you just to see it in a real game context? (EJ Smith)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, you get anxious going into that first preseason game, then you always have some anxiousness going into the first regular season game because then you get to see their guys who — some teams have probably have not played their guys on kickoff and their kickoff returners. Again, it’s going to be interesting as we go forward, seeing what everyone else is doing throughout the league.

Q. Have you had LB Oren Burks here long enough to get a sense of where he could fit in? He’s been here, but I mean healthy. (Reuben Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, [LB] Oren [Burks] being a savvy veteran, he started off in Green Bay, then was with San Francisco, so he has enough tape out there that you do have a good sense, and he’s very smart. Hard to find smart players that have seen a lot of football from a special teams standpoint, so feeling good about Oren and where he’s at even though he did have that setback in training camp, but he’s a professional, and he’s been here intent whether he was injured or not asking questions in meetings.

Having Oren there, a savvy veteran, is always great, not just for him but for all the young guys in the room, as well.

Q. You have more depth at that inside linebacker spot than in years past. Is the new kickoff format part of the thinking there, having bigger bodies up front? (EJ Smith)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I know [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and Nick do a great job constructing the roster, and I’m never one to say no to a linebacker. That’s a soft spot in my heart, playing in my college days. But having that, guys that are physical that can play tough football, make tackles, you’re always going to want those type of guys on special teams.

Q. Along those lines, LB Ben VanSumeren making the 53; what was your reaction to that? (EJ Smith)

MICHAEL CLAY: All the credit in the world to [LB] Ben [VanSumeren]. These stories of undrafted free agents coming in, practice squad most of last year, then earning his spot to make the 53 at the end, then this year, training camp, OTAs, then again, just starting to make the team off the hoof is really cool for him. It’s kudos to him for how hard he works and intent he wants to be to try and make the 53. Not a lot of people can say in their lives that they made a 53-man roster.

A lot of credit goes to him just wanting to go out there, put his best foot forward and show out in front of everybody, not just ourselves but the scouts and everybody else.

Q. What are the Packers like in the special teams game? (Dave Spadaro)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, [Packers Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator] Rich [Bisaccia] has been doing it for such a long time. Admired Rich for a long time when he started out. He was with the San Diego Chargers, Dallas for a long time when I was first here way back when, then what he did in Vegas was awesome.

He’s done a great job with Green Bay. They play hard, they’re fast. They’ve got two really good returners in [Packers CB] Keisean Nixon and [Packers WR] Jayden Reed. Those two guys got real gas and they can make an explosive play happen in a heartbeat.

We’ve got to be really ready. It’s going to be a good test for us moving forward to start off Week 1 against Green Bay and such a veteran coordinator in Rich and those returners they have back there. They’re a good special teams unit.

Q. Is K Jake Elliott your kickoff guy because you did experiment during the preseason with P Braden Mann kicking off at times and you don’t have to really bang it out of the end zone? (Merrill Reese)

MICHAEL CLAY: I think we’ll look on September 6 at who our kickoff guy may be.