Nick Sirianni

Q. Is QB Tanner McKee still the backup quarterback? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: We’re rotating there at the two spot. I’m not ready to say anybody is anything as far as positions. We don’t have to make any determinations there, but what [QB] Andy [Dalton] and Tanner have been doing every other day is rotating there with the two’s and both [are] getting a lot of good work.

Q. When you’re installing a new offense like this, how do you know things are on track? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: You’re just looking for daily improvement in every phase. You go about that with the film study of what’s happening there, of what we see on film, how we’re going about it. Are you eliminating mental errors with some of the new terminology? Are you getting better at your snap points? Are you getting better with your cadence? Everything.

We look a lot at the things that take no talent, as we kind of say it, that goes into that. So that’s one of the ways that we look at it, but it’s the constant evaluation. I don’t think there’s anything that’s like, ‘Hey, here are the benchmarks of it.’ You’re just trying to see daily improvement in areas. ‘Hey, are you not making the same mistakes twice? Are you fixing things from the prior day? Are your fundamentals continuing to get better because you’re thinking less about your assignment and thinking and being able to focus more on the play of what’s happening?’

So again, it’s not, ‘Hey, here are benchmarks for it.’ It’s just about the signs of daily improvement that we’re looking for as we watch the tape multiple times after the practice and then review it with the team and then review it with the offense and then review it individually with position coaches.

Q. With DT Jalen Carter not taking part in team drills, is that injury-related, contract-related? (Tim McManus)

Nick Sirianni: I’m sorry, I’m not going to get into all those different things. Right now, I’ve been able to work some individual scenarios and individual practices, and everybody’s in a little bit different boat right now of where they are in the offseason, and that’s where Jalen is right now.

Q. Is his shoulder fine? Has he recovered from the shoulder surgeries? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: He’s worked really hard to continue to get himself [into] the best position he can possibly be in to go into training camp and he’s continuing to work with that.

Q. From your vantage point, what has the relationship been like between Offensive Coordinator Sean Mannion and QB Jalen Hurts, and how have you seen Jalen embrace the new scheme this spring during OTAs and minicamp? (Cayden Steele)

Nick Sirianni: Trust has to be built throughout. The way you build trust is not by one act of, ‘Oh man, you did this for me.’ Trust is built through consistently doing what you’re supposed to do on a daily basis. That’s Sean doing it on his end and that’s Jalen doing it on his end. That’s how relationships work together and that’s how they are formed. That’s what those guys are working on. I think Sean– and again, I’m not going to speak for the both of those guys, but I know Jalen sees Sean’s relentless approach and his work ethic and his knowledge on the offensive football. I think Sean sees Jalen’s relentless approach to how he goes about every single day, being the same guy every single day and doing what he’s supposed to do on the field and in the weight room and the way Jalen goes about his work.

It’s just daily consistent building of trust and that’s what’s going on right now. Again, that’s what they’re working on right now. That’s what we’re all working on. I know that’s the relationship you asked about, but that’s what we’re all working on right now. It’s a great opportunity to do that. It’s a great opportunity also to get to know each other in this timeframe, not only the time you’re spending on football, but the amount of times that we’re together outside this building, and then the amount of conversations we have from meeting to meeting or before a meeting starts. I know they’re working all that stuff out.

Q. When you’ve been around QB Jalen Hurts long as you have and seen him when he’s coming off being Super Bowl MVP, and now when he’s got a new offense and people are wondering how he’s going to pick it up and what’s the offense going to look like without former Eagles WR A.J. Brown, do you feel like there’s a part of him that sort of relishes being in a mode where people are doubting him? (Bo Wulf)

Nick Sirianni: I think Jalen is consistent. Very, very consistent. Jalen has played huge in huge games and Jalen’s played huge in games where people are doubting him and Jalen’s played huge in games where he’s the favorite. I just would say, I think sometimes that can be overplayed as far as that goes, because I think the best thing that Jalen does as far as his mentality with all that is his consistency. To know that you’re doubted or being questioned like that, you have to pay attention to what’s going on on the outside. One thing I know Jalen does is stay locked into the moment and things that he can control, and I admire that about him. I think that, just to really double down on it, I just think he’s consistent regardless of what is perceived. He’s consistent in his approach. I’ve always admired that about Jalen.

Q. You’ve preached since you got him about the importance of winning the turnover battle and protecting the football. Do you have to loosen that at all given that QB Jalen Hurts’ is going to be learning a new offense and there may be some sloppiness and some growing pains early on. Do you have to kind of tolerate maybe the possibility of some more turnovers to get him to where he needs to be? (Mike Sielski)

Nick Sirianni: You’re speaking of just interceptions, right? Because I think fumbles are a different story. Fumbles [have] a fundamental approach to it. I don’t look at fumbles the exact same way as interceptions. Interceptions are happening with decision-making as he goes through reads and stuff like that. So fumbles, never will I ever budge on that because that’s something that’s the backbone of what we do fundamentally. I say to the guys an awful lot that this program and everything we’re built on is built off fundamentals and the most important fundamental that we have is the ball, and it’ll be treated as so. With the way we drill, with the way we coach it, with the way they emphasize it as players, we’re going to continue to pound that and make sure that we’re diligent there.

As far as interceptions, I don’t look at it that way. Jalen knows how important it is for us to take care of the football and we’re going to continue to preach that. That doesn’t mean interceptions don’t happen. Of course they do. It’s a part of the game. But no, as long as I’m the head coach here, we’re going to be very diligent about winning that turnover battle and winning the explosive play battle. I know it’s like, ‘Okay, that sounds simple,’ but there’s an art to it because you’ve got to be able to create explosives in different ways and sometimes that puts the ball at risk, but at the end of the day, that ball is still the most important thing. We’ll know how to create explosives in that time, but taking care of the ball is the most important thing and we’ll talk about this all the time, can we come out of a game with every drive ending in a kick? Whether that’s an extra point, hopefully, whether that’s a field goal or whether that’s a punt.

That’s the mission of how we want to go about our fundamentals.

Q. What have you seen out of TE Eli Stowers? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: He has this ability to change direction and to accelerate and to catch the ball consistently. That’s unusual for that position. He has an unusual skillset at the tight end position with the matchups that he is going to be getting on safeties, linebackers. He’s fast, he’s quick, he can catch the ball well, and he’s still growing and learning in the position because there’s still some newness to him playing that position. I think that he shows power as far as his abilities to being able to block. Obviously, we don’t have pads on yet, so there’s some unknown, but you can feel some of the power when he’s hitting the bags and hitting the guy across from him in an individual setting. I think that you can see that he has that power and it’s very noticeable with his jumps, like his broad jump, his vertical jump.

He has explosive power in his body and it’s just about being able to go through those reps of getting better blocking, but we think he has that in his body with that, but he hasn’t had to do it much and he’s relatively new to the position. So, really excited about him and I think he’s [an] extremely, extremely intelligent football player. You can see his quarterback background. You feel his quarterback background with some of the instincts that he has on the field and also how he is in the meeting room and how he picks things up. Extremely excited about him.

Q. What are you seeing in terms of progress with the offense right now? (Chris Murray)

Nick Sirianni: That it’s a process. That it’s a process and that we’re on day eight of practices out here. We had some phase-two days, obviously. Also, I think two weeks of four days out in phase two, or so. Eight practices, add eight– 16 times that we’ve been out on the field together. So, it’s a process and I don’t get into benchmarks or landmarks as far as– I think one of you guys asked me that question, it’s just about daily progress. Where are you at now? Where are you guys right now? We’ll see.

It’s, ‘How are we progressing every single day?’ The guys are working hard. The guys are being intentional about the things that are important to our program; tough, detailed and together in every phase. They’re working their butts off, not only in team drills, but with the circuits that we’re doing and the individual that we’re doing. You get better as you consistently drop things in. It’s not about anything that’s, ‘Hey, we had a great day today.’ And then the other day it’s– No, if you can have a great day and be consistent about how you’re putting things into work every single day, then you’re going to give yourself the best chance to be where you want to be when you need to be there.