Nick Sirianni

Q. With you guys installing a new system, is there any more consideration of playing guys more in the preseason or — (Tim McManus)

Nick Sirianni: We’ll see. Obviously, we’ve got to get through this week, and that’s at the end of the week. We talk through everything. Everything’s usually fluid in that matter, and we’ll see how that continues to go.

Q. [Regarding T Lane Johnson’s comments about potentially playing his final season.] (Ed Kracz)

Nick Sirianni: We want to support Lane in that, and he’s a phenomenal football player. One of the best guys I’ve ever been around and, in my opinion, the best offensive lineman in the NFL. So glad he’s here and just thinking about every day. I can’t say enough good things about Lane, but you don’t think about those things until — I don’t think about those things until later on and just happy he’s here and out at practice and contributing to our football team.

Q. I know you don’t think about it, but when you go all the way back to when you’re a first-time head coach and you said, ‘Boy, you usually don’t get players like T Lane Johnson and former Eagles DT Fletcher Cox, former Eagles C Jason Kelce, DE Brandon Graham.’ Have you ever thought about that and how it helped build the winning culture? (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: All the time. Those guys are all awesome. Every one of those guys. I have so much respect for Lane, Jason, Brandon and Fletch, and great relationships with those guys and love them to death. I’ve said that before, just how much they brought early on and continue to bring, that group, to the team. [They] knew how to win, knew how to practice, knew how to lead. You love that about those guys.

Q. You said at the beginning of camp, it would kind of be like this on offense. Now that you’re entering day nine, are there any specific areas you feel the offense has really taken some steps forward in so far in camp? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Nick Sirianni: You’re just looking for continual progression in every scenario. You’re looking for that progression in assignments. You’re looking for that progression in how you take care of the football and [ball handling]. You look for that progression in how you’re catching. You’re looking for that in all areas. We’re continuously improving, which when you put the work in like we’re putting in and the extra work that the guys put in on their own, you have no choice but to continue to get better. I appreciate the coaches of when there is something that’s struggling, of the attention to detail that they’re putting in and the players are putting in on that. Again, just a continual progression of what we’re looking for. We are getting better in the areas that we emphasize.

Q. What are you liking about how QB Jalen Hurts is picking up the offense? What have you seen from him so far? (Martin Frank)

Nick Sirianni: You’re seeing it out there. He’s just doing a really good job. You can see how quickly he’s getting through progressions and onto the next read with great footwork. Jalen’s a very accurate passer, and you’re seeing that continue to shine. Some of the new things [that he has to do] with different footwork, particularly under center. You’re just seeing the growth of him daily within this offense and getting more and more comfortable, and you’re seeing that on the field. Jalen’s having a great camp, and look forward to continuing that.

Q. Some players have talked about being the aggressor on offense, getting to the line quick, using the cadence as a weapon. How much was that something that you wanted to shift back towards being the aggressor in the offseason and what do you like about this system and how that allows you [to do] that? (Brooks Kubena)

Nick Sirianni: Always want to be able to use cadence. That’s a weapon that the offense has on the defense. They know when the snap count is. They know how to switch up the snap count. That’s a game within the game that Jalen has to do a really good job at. That’s been good. Just being able to fire off the football on some of the wide zone things has been good to see. It’s been a good start to camp, and getting the pads on allows it to be more aggressive on both sides of the football. As far as an offense goes, we’re getting a great defense to go against on a daily basis and a great defensive line to go against on a daily basis in particular. That just allows for growth when iron sharpens iron.

Q. T Lane Johnson said T Markel Bell is the most impressive rookie he’s ever seen. How important is this year going to be for Markel to have Lane have that overlap for a year? And what have you seen from Markel? (Reuben Frank)

Nick Sirianni: Like I’ve said to you guys in the past, whether it’s [C] Cam [Jurgens] with Jason [Kelce] for two years, learning from him and then playing beside him, or [DT] Jordan Davis and [DT] Jalen Carter being with Fletch, or [OLB] Jalyx [Hunt] and [OLB] Nolan [Smith] being with Brandon. Same thing here — Markel being able to learn from Lane.

These guys out here, they all have guys that they like to study from around the league, whoever’s game is similar or whose game they respect. To be able to have the guy — I can imagine that there’s a lot of people that study Lane Johnson, even though there’s not a lot of people that can do what Lane Johnson does. Now, not only can you study him, but you can ask him why he did something in this particular case. That is very beneficial for a young player to have, or any player to have for that matter, to have one of the all-time greats to be able to ask them questions of what he did, why he did it. That leads to great growth.

Q. What do you think of C/G Willie Lampkin despite the size deficiency, how do you think he’s been playing? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: You’ve really seen Willie continue to get better and be more — and you notice him even more once the pads have come on. He has ability to play on the inside at center or guard, good versatility, smart guy, really athletic. He’s been fun to watch at camp. We find ourselves as coaches when we’re watching tape, just kind of being like, ‘Man, Willie did it again.’ Willie’s getting some really good guys to go up against. That’s tested every day, and we’re just looking for him to continue to grow and continue to show what he can do because it’s about consistency. We all want consistency, to have that steady growth of getting better, but you’re building trust. I think Willie is building trust with his teammates because you build trust by consistently doing what you’re supposed to do out there, and Willie’s been doing that. I know not only the coaches, but we’re all impressed by Willie.

Q. How does a player in your experience graduate from a designated role to more of a contributor to that position? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: Everybody has a role to play on this football team. Roles don’t have to stay the same [forever]. There’s different reasons of why guys switch out of roles, but we’re going to need every role filled that we need to play offense, play defense, play special teams, leadership, and everything like that. Just because you’re the dirty work guy doesn’t necessarily mean that the ball can’t come to you on third down or whatever it may be. That kind of plays itself out as the training camp progresses. We’ll talk through that as a team at some particular point in training camp.

But, I guess to really answer your question, you graduate by trust and by consistently doing what you’re supposed to do and say, ‘Man, okay, we look at him as this dirty work guy, but man, he’s had opportunities in training camp to win on third down, and he has done that. Let’s give him those opportunities.’ Everything that we do is built on trust and you get that through practice, you get that through meeting films, you get that through walkthroughs that you consistently do. I keep saying that word — consistently do what you’re supposed to do.

Q. When it comes to traits, several times you’ve mentioned Los Angeles Chargers WR Keenan Allen, traits-wise with WR Dontayvion Wicks. Now that you’ve seen Dontayvion for a good number of practices, do you still like that comparison? (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: The things that remind me of Keenan are his ability to separate at the top of the route and the ability to get off press. I thought Keenan was such a feisty player. Keenan would do the dirty work, and Tay has done the dirty work. The competitiveness reminds me of each other. I hope you know how much high praise that is because of what you guys know I think of Keenan. I think Tay’s been doing a good job, and we’ll look for him to continue to do so.

Q. What resonated with you most about the ‘Chop Wood, Carry Water’ quote? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: What resonated with me the most is that there is no secret to why success happens. It’s really hard, dirty work at the end of the day. I can resonate with that. It’s hard, dirty work at the end of the day that’s going to get it done. Sometimes we can get caught up in the flash of whatever, but at the end of the day, tackling wins. At the end of the day, block destruction wins. At the end of the day, toughness wins. At the end of the day, ball security and takeaway ability wins. At the end of the day, blocking wins. So all these fundamentals that can get overlooked sometimes are what makes it happen. The only way to get better at those fundamentals — It’s not going to happen just because you’re talented. It’s going to happen because of the work that you put in. I can just resonate with that so much. So many of our guys on the team can resonate with that so much. We know that if we put the work in on a daily basis, we can, God willing, reach where we need to go as a football team and be playing our best football by the end of the year.

Q. To put forward that message, Nick, obviously you set the precedent, but who else do you lean on, I guess, players on the field to bring that mentality for it to resonate to the rest of the group? (Jason Dumas)

Nick Sirianni: You’ve got our leaders on the football team that guys are constantly looking at to see how they’re working. I think that we have a bunch of guys like that on this team. One thing that is very obvious is that our best players work the hardest and you’ll be exposed if you don’t. I love when we’re able to — Alignment is so critical. We all have to understand this. That’s not only alignment within the coaching staff, that’s alignment from coaching staff to players.

Since day one here, I feel like we’ve had great alignment there and how they relay the message. You can relay the message as much as you want, but everybody’s looking at your actions. So, at the end of the day, am I living the tough, detailed, together-world? Are our leaders on our football team living the tough, detailed, together-world? Is that trickling down to everybody else because the coaching staff and the leaders on the football team are doing that?