Nick Sirianni

Q. When talking yesterday about how important it is for position coaches, to be good teachers, good coaches, and to work together. It seems like you have that on your staff. How do you get that? How do you build that? How important is that? (Reuben Frank)

Nick Sirianni: If we want our players to connect, it starts with us as coaches leading the way, as far as leading by example. We try to do that as coaches to promote that with our players. It’s important that with [Defensive End/Linebacker Coach] [Jeremiah] Wash[burn], [Senior Defensive Assistant] Clint [Hurtt], [Inside Linebackers Coach] Bobby [King], working in that front seven, that they are working together. The group rush is one of the most important things that happen, like when you see a quarterback break container. There are obviously different reasons for that, but sometimes it’s not working in unison as a group, and it’s important that those guys are on the same page.

I love the fact that Clint, Bobby, and Wash are all on the same page and have a good relationship. It’s just another verification of our culture of what we want to have here with the connection.

Q. What did you know about WR John Metchie before the trade? What do you think he can add to the team? (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: I really liked him coming out. We have a bunch of Alabama guys on the roster, so [I was] talking to those guys. As you’d see in Alabama game when he came out of college, obviously he made a lot of plays there. So, I was always a fan of his game. Being able to watch him, he is quick. He is very quick.

The thing that really stood out to me is how tough he is. With how he blocks, how he finishes on the sideline with the ball in his hands. You can really see there’s some similarities, and you can tell they all got coached by the same guys in college. There are some similarities to how they finish with that ball in their hands to [WR] Devonta [Smith]. Just always been a fan of his game and excited about the things that he can add to this football team.

Q. How do you balance certain star players’ workloads versus what happens after practice? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: Yeah, everybody’s on an individualized plan, make no mistake about it. To get ready to play in the season, you have to practice, or else your habits aren’t going to be sharp. I wouldn’t say that we are just conservative with them. If somebody’s going through something, and he’s a second stringer or third stringer and he has something that he’s dealing with, we’ll be conservative with that guy as well. That’s the same case with our guys that are starters. We look at that with everybody. Unless something went on the day before, their workload was a little high, then maybe we’ll pull back a little bit. Everybody is individualized, but if they’re ready to go, they’re going to practice. If they have something that’s bothering them and if we, our trainers, and our doctors feel like they need limitations, we’ll do that as well.

Q. Any concern with WR AJ Brown and WR Devonta Smith specifically that they won’t be ready for week one? (Tim McManus)

Nick Sirianni: Yeah, and once again, we don’t have to get all into that information at this time, but I will get you all the things for practice today. But they’re working hard to get themselves ready to go.

Q. You have one more day of camp left, but with it wrapping up, is there one thing that stands out to you about the last few weeks, either positive that you think the team improved on or just something about this last month that stands out to you? (Elliot Shorr-Parks)

Nick Sirianni: You’re always trying to improve. You see we do different types of drills to help our guys improve in certain areas. There’s been a couple, but we’re still in camp right now. I know there are certain things that are so important for game one, game two, game three, and the first month of that season that we’re working on as camp goes on.

We want to continue to get better at those things. We know how vital they are for opening games, and we still have one more day of training camp here. But then it’s going to be a shift of focus to getting ready for this first game of the season.

Q. On a personal level, what’s it been like to see Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo in this new role and how have you seen him put a stamp on the offense? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: I think he’s just so hungry for this job. As you would expect from Kevin, he puts everything he has into it. He’s always here, working hard to do what he can do for our offense to get him to put them in positions to succeed. He has great relationships with the players on this team where he can have a lot of good communication and dialogue with them. I think he’s done a really good job. Whether we’re doing operations out at practice, doing them at games, doing them at joint practice, or doing them at a practice in the stadium, it has been really good, as expected. We’ve been together so long with communication of what’s happening on different downs and different situations and Kevin’s done a really good job. [Passing Game Coordinator] Parks [Frazier] has done a good job of taking Kevin’s role to help Kevin out in that scenario. I think he’s done a really good job so far and looking forward for him continuing to do so.

Q. On defense, you’re going to have probably rookies either starting or contributing heavily again early in the season. You guys did that last year. As a head coach, how do you prepare them for that? How do you know how to equip them different? (Brooks Kubena)

Nick Sirianni: Practice all the different things we do in practice. When you put guys out there, you trust those guys. You trust them to be there in those situations and that doesn’t happen again. All your confidence in things grows in practice.

Whether that’s my confidence in a play if I’m deciding to go for it on fourth down, or my confidence in the players that we’re throwing into the play that’s being called. It’s the same thing with practice. When you put somebody out in the field, you are confident with those players and with the things that are being called to utilize those players.

Q. With the reserve tackle spot, do you want to have a swing guy there? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: If the guy’s better on the right, we’ll play him on the right. If a guy’s better on the left, we’ll play him on the left. I guess I’ve done that every single way that you can imagine in my time in the NFL.

Sometimes you got a guy that just plays right, sometimes you have one that just plays left, and sometimes you have a swing guy. I’m not concerned how that looks as long as we’re ready to go as far as having a guy in each position that we need to back up.

Q. As far as staff development, have you considered giving position coaches more responsibility in these preseason games, whether it’s defensive play, going, game management, things like that? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: No, because we’re going through our process for us to be ready for a game. Obviously, I’ve seen that be done, and it works for some people. But everyone’s mission is different during training camp.

A lot of aspects are the same, but everyone has different aspects of what they’re doing. What I want to do is to sharpen the tools that the coaches need to get ready for week one, just like we’re doing for the players. First and foremost, we need that work to get ourselves ready to be sharp. It’s been a while since we’ve done that, but also you just want to set that example that we’re all trying to improve. I used to be around the place where there were some young assistant position coaches and would say ‘Hey, go help out with defensive tackle this week instead of the defensive ends,’ and I still feel the same way about that as I do with this. You want them to continue to sharpen the tools of the things that they’re going to be doing in the season, just like with the players.

Q. To follow up about the rookies, what has LB Jihaad Campbell specifically shown to you? Things that give you confidence in him? (Brooks Kubena)

Nick Sirianni: In practice you see him make plays, you see him be able to defeat blocks. He really has great motor to get to the football. He has toughness, length, and just continues to grow the defense every day. So again, it’s the daily things, but those are some traits that I’ve seen.

Q. Going back to the past rush drills, we see Head of Football Development and Strategy Connor Barwin as the stand-in quarterback for those. What are some of the behind the scenes in ways that he helps get the most out of practice, and is there something about those drills that he does that we might not notice that it helps those guys? (EJ Smith)

Nick Sirianni: You see him in linebacker drills too the pads with the dummy on so he can strike so [Inside Linebacker Coach] Bobby [King] doesn’t have to get that every single time. He’s big and strong, so he can handle that well. It’s the same thing there. He’s a good athlete. He’s able to catch a snap sometimes when you don’t have as of an good athlete back there. The guy drops the snap and the balls on the ground.

Then the defensive line is working on finishing the strip attempt and Connor’s got the pad on his arm. I thought he was a little tougher than that, but that’s for him to be able to simulate that. He’s a good enough athlete to get out of the way in those areas. But Connor’s so valuable to our football team because he helps us as coaches, helps [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and helps develop guys. That’s your job as a coach, to constantly develop resources, and he has been able to develop our team.

Q. What do you like about DB Cooper DeJean outside and cornerback and what made you want to try him at this point in training? (Martin Frank)

Nick Sirianni: His versatility. You want to have versatility out there and Cooper has that. Obviously, he can do a lot of different things. He can punt return, he can play nickel at a high level. He has played corner at a high level, he’s just a good football player. You’re testing things out in this time and working on different things at this time.

Q. WR Darius Cooper, he’s gotten first team reps obviously by circumstance to a certain point, but as an undrafted kid, as the head coach, how does somebody like that catch your eyes more consistent? (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: It can’t just be splash plays, it’s got to be consistency. But the splash plays are what initially catch your eye. I’ve had a lot of free agents make our football team in the past from all the way back. Just speaking of receiver, thinking of three guys that come to my mind. You have [Giants Wide Receiver] Zach Pascal, obviously he was here with us, you have [Chargers Wide Receiver] Tyrell Williams from the Chargers and [Former NFL Wide Receiver] Dontrelle Inman and all those guys gave us a lot of quality reps.

You are always looking for guys that can contribute no matter how you acquire them. Again, you’re looking for consistency, but you also have to have the talent to be able to shine to get in there. And he has done a nice job so far.

Q. Senior Personnel Executive Joe Douglas, on the sideline with the headset, would say typically for a front office person, what’s his role in the game day operations? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: I’m not going to get into everybody’s operations there. Joe’s just a great resource for us to have and he’s awesome at his job, so we appreciate having him.