Vic Fangio

Q. Were you close to stepping away? What was the offseason like for you as far as making a decision about coming back? (Reuben Frank)

Vic Fangio: No, I wasn’t close. I’ve had those thoughts [for] the last few years, every year at the end of the year. I just think about it. I never really got serious to where I would’ve done it and it’s no different than I did after the ’24 season, after the ’23 season. I told the players the other day that we had our annual physical. We get physicals as coaches and the docs told me I was reverse aging with my lab work and everything that came up. I told them, “You guys are stuck with me for a while, a long while.”

Q. When you have come back though, what is it that keeps you coming back? What keeps you going? (Bo Wulf)

Vic Fangio: I still like doing it. I like the group of guys we have. I like working with them. I still like the challenge of the job, work for a good organization. Really, it’s just something that I think you’ll always think about at the end of the year, but in the end, I didn’t come close to doing it. I really don’t foresee myself doing it. I’m good for two years at least.

Q. OLB Jonathan Greenard, you’ve seen him from afar. What have you liked about him? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: That he’s been a good pass rusher. He’s been productive in the rush. He’s had years where he’s had good numbers sack-wise, but like we always discuss, pressure on the quarterback is also important and he’s been able to do that throughout his career. I think he’s strong on the edge versus the run game. We’re excited to have him, but I think there’s a lot of good there.

Q. How about CB Riq Woolen, the other big addition? What do you see from him? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: I’m excited to have him. We looked at him during the middle of the season last year a little bit because they may have been interested in trading him, and we didn’t decide to do it and I didn’t get too involved in the evaluation. But then when it came free agency time this year and I actually sat down and watched him thoroughly, I was excited for him and kind of surprised that he was one of those guys that didn’t get a lot of action for a long-term deal. I was thrilled to get him. I think he’s going to play [well] for us.

Q. What about his game were you excited about? (E.J. Smith)

Vic Fangio: Well, he’s a rare guy in that you don’t see many corners in the league that are 6’4″. You don’t see many that are 6’2″ or even 6’1″ and there’s a reason for that. It’s hard to find guys at those heights that can move and mirror receivers that are hard to cover. He can do that for a guy his height. He can get in and out of breaks. He obviously has good downfield speed and his length is more of an asset than a detriment in his case. I’m excited to have him. He’s been here since we started the offseason. Seems to be a great guy. He’s into being here and really looking forward to working with him.

Q. What’s your reaction to the OLB Nolan Smith speeding incident? Is this something where you reach out and talk to him about it? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, eventually I will, but I mean, [Head] Coach [Nick Sirianni] addressed it today. I didn’t find out about it until this morning. But yeah, we’ll address it with him at some point.

Q. What’s your view of the safety position next to S Andrew Mukuba? (Zach Berman)

Vic Fangio: It’s open. I think [S] Marcus [Epps] is someone that will put up good claim to it. In base, it will be [DB] Cooper [DeJean]. When we go to nickel and Coop comes up and plays nickel, it’ll be Epps. We’re taking a good look at [CB] Michael Carter back there. [S] Andre Sam. Then we signed an undrafted free agent, Gush [DB Kapena Gushiken]. [S] J.T. Gray has been mainly a special teams player, but he’ll get a look. We’ll look at all those guys. It’s an open competition.

Q. With all the moving pieces at the other safety spot, how important is S Drew Mukuba’s offseason? How have you seen his development so far in the last few months? (E.J. Smith)

Vic Fangio: It’s been good. As you guys know, last year, his season– first off, his training camp was interrupted by a couple injuries that kept him out for two different lumps of time. Started off the season up and down, had some shaky plays. But I felt like the last five or six games prior to him getting hurt, he was coming on and hopefully he’ll be able to pick up from there. He’s had a rehab-dominated offseason, but he’s been out there with us these last couple of weeks. He’s not 100% yet, but he will be soon.\

Q. With CB Michael Carter, is there something innate about him that you think would make him a good safety or is it about the nickel position that translates well to that spot, or a little bit of both? (Jeff Neiburg)

Vic Fangio: I don’t think it’s the nickel position translating. That’s an individual thing. He’s an instinctive player. I think he has a good feel for the game. What little he did play for us last year, he did show that. I don’t think he’ll have a hard time learning the position mentally. He’s just got to go out there and be able to do it. What we’ve been doing out there these last couple of weeks are just kind of walkthroughs and route pickups against other defensive players running the routes or even non-players. I think we’ll know early whether he’s got the feel for it or not.

Q. With LB Jihaad Campbell missing most of the offseason. How’s he coming along and was that always part of the plan, I guess, when he was drafted last year? Because he had issues with both shoulders and he had a procedure on one last year and then he had a procedure on the other one this offseason. Was that always part of the plan when he got drafted or is that something that- (Jimmy Kempski)

Vic Fangio: I don’t know that. I don’t know that, to agree or disagree. I don’t know. If we knew last year at this time he would have to get the other shoulder done. I don’t know that.

Q. How’s he coming along? (Jimmy Kempski)

Vic Fangio: Good. He’s just not going to be able to partake in these OTAs ’til maybe later, maybe not, but he’ll be ready for training camp.

Q. The on-field leadership part of losing former Eagles LB Nakobe Dean and S Reed Blankenship specifically, how comfortable are you with that aspect of it? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: I think we’ll get guys that will step up. We played I think the first seven games last year without Nakobe. [LB] Zack [Baun] did a good job of that. Obviously, Reed did a good job, quarterback in the secondary, especially because he had Andrew with him there as a rookie. I think Andrew will be able to step up his game there along those lines and if Epps is the guy, he’ll definitely be able to do that also.

Q. Have you had an opportunity yet to sit with Offensive Coordinator Sean Mannion at all and what are your first impressions of him? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: Obviously we’ve talked some, but he’s been pretty busy. We haven’t had any in-depth discussions or anything, but he occasionally pops in and will ask something here and there.

Q. What did you see from S Marcus Epps last year and what does he do well? What do you like about him? (Reuben Frank)

Vic Fangio: I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe surprised is the wrong word because I just really didn’t know him. But when he had to play last year, he came in and showed his experience, showed his instincts that he has for the game. I was pleased with the way he played last year. I wasn’t considering him an old player at this point, but he’s obviously a veteran. I think he’ll do fine. I’m not sure what his injury history has been, but I think if he stays injury-free and if he wins the job, we’ll be fine.

Q. What do you think about DT Uar Bernard and him coming in and not really having played the game, what are the differences in developing someone like that? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, it’s really different. The guy’s never played high school football, college football. I had a similar experience when I was with the Niners. We had a guy by the name of Lawrence Okoye who was an Olympic discus thrower for England. Looked a lot like Uar looks now and we kept him for a couple years. Other teams tried. It never worked for him, but patience will need to be a virtue both on his part and ours.

Q. What are you seeing from DT Jalen Carter? Obviously, he had the shoulder issues throughout a lot of last season and everything, just like where he is with the shoulder and what you’ve seen so far. (Martin Frank)

Vic Fangio: I think his shoulders are fine. He’s had a good offseason of lifting. I think he started that earlier than normal for him and you can see the difference in that regard. I think he’s in a better spot now than he was.

Q. What’s the next step for OLB Jalyx Hunt entering year three and where are you looking to see him grow his game? (Andrew DiCecco)

Vic Fangio: Just keep doing what he’s doing. He’s had a nice progression. I see him growing his game in all aspects. I think he can and will rush better. He’ll play the run better. It’s just the natural progression. He’s had a good progression. In his rookie year, he didn’t play a lot early [on]. Then when BG [DE Brandon Graham] went down, he started playing more, and I thought for a guy with his background, was kind of a perfect year for him. He ended up playing a good bit if you remember in the playoffs, et cetera. Then last year played a lot, did good. Yeah, I think he’s just ready to keep getting better and better.

Q. You had Offensive Line Coach Chris Kuper on, I think all your staffs, in Denver. What’d you like about him as a coach and why did you want him around? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: I didn’t have a whole lot to do with that in that he was the guy that Sean brought up that he would want to hire. At that time, most of the coaches weren’t even in the office. Obviously, Nick was, he was interviewing 20 guys. And then when they got down to where it would look like they could want to hire him or get close, they realized that I had him for three years in Denver and they gave me a call about him. I think Kup’s an excellent coach. He did a great job for us in Denver. Worked under [former Broncos Offensive Line Coach] Mike Munchak there for a good three years. Went on to Minnesota as the head line coach. I thought did a good job there. I have the utmost confidence in Kup that he’ll do a great job here, and I think the players will like and respect him. I don’t see any issue there.

Q. With former Eagles Defensive Pass Game Coordinator Christian Parker leaving, what made Joe Kasper the right logical choice as defensive pass game coordinator, and then similarly with Mike Pellegrino coming in at secondary? (Olivia Reiner)

Vic Fangio: [Jokingly.] Defensive pass game coordinator? All these titles you guys see around the league, pass game coordinators, run game coordinators. There’s many more. Assistant head coach, associate head coach, this, that, and the other. You know what those titles mean? About as much as this bottle of water’s going to mean after I finish drinking it.

But yeah, Joe was with me in Miami. When I came back here, he came with me, has done a good job. So he was the logical choice just to move up, and I have the utmost confidence in him.

Q. Going back to CB Riq Woolen, he said when he met with us that he wanted to do a better job of controlling his emotions. We’ve seen sometimes where he’d get beat over the top. When you’re analyzing that versus all the positives, how do you sort of view that? (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: What was the first part?

Q. Riq said that he wanted to do a better job of controlling his emotions with the taunting penalties and things like that. But your comments were that you’re surprised he didn’t get a long-term deal. When you’re evaluating a player in that respect, what are the- (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: I think he’ll grow out of that. We’ll show him plenty of examples. I think it was in the playoff game when they had the one that was most serious and could have been most damaging. If he doesn’t learn from that, I don’t know how he would learn from anything else, but I’m confident he’ll overcome that.

Q. It’s our first time speaking to you since the end of the season. How do you view year two here and what’s the next step in the defense? (Zach Berman)

Vic Fangio: Man, you always give these wide range questions. How do I view year two? Just through the lens of the defense– In some ways, I thought we were very good, had some very, very good games. And there’s the narrative out there that if the offense could have been better, we would have had a more successful season, but we could have played better too on defense in certain games and we need to take that mindset moving forward.

Q. As a football-lifer, have you talked to former Eagles Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland at all about what it has been like to not be in the building? (Bo Wulf)

Vic Fangio: Yeah. I mean, him and I live near each other. I haven’t seen him in the last few weeks, but we played golf a couple times, but I haven’t seen him lately. He seems to be enjoying himself. I know he’s playing a lot of golf. I don’t know that he’s gotten any better, but he’s trying.

Q. You had mentioned that at the end of every year you kind of think about those things. What do you consider when you think about those things? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: Well, your birth certificate tells you [that] you should think about it, and I do and then I’m always back, and I’m back.