Vic Fangio

Q. Obviously you have a guy like DT Jordan Davis, he obviously lost a lot of weight. That’s great. How did you kind of balance losing weight and still having the power, the strength to do what he needs to do? (Reuben Frank)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, he had lost a lot of that towards, like I said, last 6, 7, 8 games last year. He was down then too. Not down as much as he is now, but close. So it’s nothing new.

Q. Replacing starters is something that teams have to do every year. How excited are you to see what some of the guys have as they come into camp with those four slots that are open after last season? (Jason Dumas)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, we have a lot of battles going on for starting jobs in the different packages. We got some good players battling for it and it will be interesting. If you ask me to predict who’s winning those jobs right now, it’s a guess and hopefully we’ll get ’em enough practice time and rep time that it will sort itself out.

Q. With DB Cooper DeJean in the spring, you kind of started him outside in the base corner, yesterday with safety, anything to that or you just want to see what he’s doing at each position? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I mean the primary motive is we’d like to have him be part of our base package and I do believe he can play safety. It’s new for him so we’re going to give him some work there. Then you’ll see days in the base where he’ll play some corner, so it’s going to be an evolution and a lot of it will depend upon how well we do at those positions with the other guys. So we’ll make the best decision for the team based upon. It’s not only how he’s doing, it’s going to be determined by how everybody’s doing. That’s safety and corner.

Q. What’d you see from LB Jihaad Campbell in this first action out there? What can you expect from him? (John Clark)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, it was good to see him out there. I wasn’t expecting him out there. The trainers had been telling me all spring that it would be at some point in August when he’d be out there. (Jokingly) So I’m learning that our trainers like to understate and overachieve so they look good. [Laughter]. But it was good to get him out there. Number one, it was just an hour of practice, but no earth shattering news to report yet other than it was good that he was out there and he’s progressing.

Q. With your experience at the LB position, what are things you look for from a young player to know whether or not they’re ready for an expanded workload? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: Well, at that position in particular, obviously you have to know what to do and how to do it, technique, but the instincts part of it. Play recognition, diagnosing things. How quick do you react? That’s very telling at that position and we’ll see how fast he comes along in that area.

Q. What did LB Jihaad Campbell’s knowledge level look like after the summer coming back to you? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: I thought he did fine yesterday. In the spring I was having him off to the side and we were doing drills and then yesterday is the first time he’s in there against a moving offense and for what he’s been exposed to up to this point, I thought he did fine.

Q. Is there any chance that the trainers are underestimating when LB Nakobe Dean can come back? (Bob Brookover)

Vic Fangio: I don’t think so.

Q. How much does it hurt him? Will it be a tough task for him to be around to start the season given how much time he might miss? (Bob Brookover)

Vic Fangio: The start of the season? Yeah.

Q. After practice we saw LB Jihaad Campbell working with Defensive Ends/Outside Linebackers Coach Jeremiah Washburn. I’ve seen that in past with LB Zack Baun. Is that something cognizant or are they just working out on their own? Or do you want sharpening edge rushing skills? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, that’s something that he could possibly do. We have fronts where those guys move up on the line and then because of his background, again, depending upon how the roster shakes out and who’s playing, it might be a position where we might need to play him at some point.

Q. We know you’re a proponent of as much practice time as we possibly get. What have you found the push/pull of those conversations to be like coming off the Super Bowl season? (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: No, I mean you’ve got no better evidence than our own league. From ‘11 to ‘18, 2011 to 2018, the Patriots were in five Super Bowls. The ones they weren’t in, they lost the championship game and then the last six years the Chiefs have been in five Super Bowls. The one they weren’t in, they lost the championship game and they didn’t alter their schedule and plan.

Q. When it comes to your scheme, it’s been entrenched for really long time, how much do you spend looking at it self-scouting in anticipation of teams trying to do whatever they can to beat it? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: Well, you’re always self-scouting. You’re always looking for ways to get better. So much of what you do is determined by who you have playing for you. What are your strengths, what are your weaknesses and the offense you’re trying to stop that any given week. So yeah, we’re always trying to improve. I always study other teams, study ourselves obviously, so yeah.

Q. Do you think it’s evolved much? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: What we do? Oh yeah. I mean you have to evolve. The offenses have changed so we have to change with it to stop them.

Q. What is the reason behind CB Quinyon Mitchell working on the other side in the spring and summer? (Bo Wulf)

Vic Fangio: Well, if we ever get to the point where we want to match him on his particular receiver, he’s got to know how to play both sides if we want to play him at left or versus right, so we’ll figure that out on a weekly basis.

Q. Do you view the two as different? There’s a thought I guess that the left corner gets a little bit more action because the right-handed quarterback, is that true? (Bo Wulf)

Vic Fangio: That’s kind of proven to not be true over the years.

Q. When it comes to cornerbacks traveling with the receiver, do you have any kind of philosophy on when you want to do that? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, when warranted and there’s two factors. One, is there a guy worth doing on the other team worth doing it and two can your guys do it because there’s a lot involved with doing it defensively and I’ve had years in a row where we never did it then I’ve had years where we did it every week and so again, it’ll be an evolution.

Q. DT Gabe Hall and DT Byron Young spent last year learning, what have you seen entering year or two for them? (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: Well, I mean it’s early. We had a one-hour practice yesterday without pads on and we need to see the pads on. But I do think both of those guys, particularly Gabe, the practice squad is made for a guy like Gabe. He’s got some ability. He was coming off an injury in college. It was really good for him to be here, practice, be a part of it without the stress of having to play in the game and BY [DT Byron Young] we got during the season, did a good job for us and we’re anxious to see he never got to play for us, but we’re anxious to see what he can and can’t do.

Q. If I could get back to CB Quinyon Mitchell for a minute, what are you seeing as far as him raising his game now that Former Eagles CB Darius Slay is not here coming back in year two? (Martin Frank)

Vic Fangio: He’ll be fine. He’s got a really good work ethic. He’s got tremendous pride and always wants to do well. He will be fine.

Q. S Sydney Brown, its your first training camp with him on the field. What is your impression of him? What is your expectation level for that safe position for somebody to distinguish themselves? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, you’ve just got to go out there and play good. I mean so much of the safety position is just like ILB where instincts and play recognition play a major part in how good you are and he just needs a lot of reps. He didn’t start practicing last year until October and at that point you’re in game weeks where you don’t practice a whole lot, you don’t have a lot of reps. So he didn’t have a great opportunity last year because of his injury and hopefully now we’ll see exactly what he can do. He had a good off season, did well yesterday and we’ll see how he does.

Q. How comfortable are with DT Moro Ojomo stepping into Former Eagles DT Milton Williams spot in the run defense? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I think Mo [DT Moro Ojomo] did a good job last year in the reps he got his reps will kick up this year. I think Milton’s reps will be divided up between him. Jordan playing more. We’ll see what Ty can do, see what BY can do, Gabe can do and [DT Thomas Booker]. So I think it will be more of a committee eating up those reps than just one guy. But back to your question, I’m very happy with Mo, was happy with him last year and I expect him to play good for us.

Q. T Jordan Mailata was really complimentary of OLB Jalyx Hunt yesterday and even mentioned Micah Parsons in talking about him? WR AJ Brown was complimentary of S Andrew Mukuba. Are you ready to go there with those guys? Have you seen the progress there that warrants what they’re getting from veterans? (Bob Brookover)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, both of them overdid it. Come on (laughter). Those two guys are coming along. Jalyx to me, the last third of the season into the playoffs played a lot for us and played good and we have high expectations for them. Anything beyond that right now to say would be reckless and Mukuba is a rookie who’s learning. We like them. And let’s see what happens.

Editor’s note: For the sake of accuracy, it was CB Cooper DeJean, not S Andrew Mukuba, that AJ Brown had spoken about in his press conference yesterday. That was clarified after the press conference.

Q. How is installation the system different of year two compared to year one and how has the continuity of the defensive staff helped with that? (Zach Berman)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, the continuity of the staff helps a lot. The installation, we have to go fast. It used to be back in the day when you would start all over once training camp started, but our OTAs, we only had six of them and we just pick up right from there. We don’t go back to ground zero. So everything that was in and OTAs is in now can be called and we’ll build on that some more.

Q. How has CB Mac McWilliams been adjusting to the slot? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: Mac is a young player that we like, we think he can play the nickel position. Think he’s got a chance at corner. He’s an interesting guy here these next four or five weeks to see how much he progresses and see if he finds a role with us.