Vic Fangio

Q. Hey Vic, what’s the plan at safety? How are you going to handle that? Is that [S] Marcus [Epps] job to lose? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: I wouldn’t put it that way. I mean, obviously we’re running Marcus there with the first group, with the Nickel group, [DB] Cooper [DeJean] with the base group. But [CB Michael] Carter’s doing fine too. It’s competition.

Q. Is DB Cooper DeJean basically locked into the inside spot or can he move back outside? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: Hopefully, but things can change if we lose guys or guys aren’t playing [well].

Q. What have you seen from DT Jalen Carter as he gets his new extension? What’s your approach when guys cash in like that? You’ve been around a long time. (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: I think it’s individual. Part of when you give a guy a contract like that, you are also analyzing. I’m speaking for [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] on this part, but you’re also like, ‘What’s this guy going to be like when we do this?’ So obviously Howie’s confident that, in this case, hopefully he’ll pick his game up even more.

Q. What sort of jump have you seen, if any, in LB Jihaad Campbell? (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: It’s too early. He missed the whole offseason [and we had] one practice yesterday. He’s doing fine, but to give you anything of substance, it’s way too early.

Q. How valuable was it for Campbell to get the experience that he did last year? (Martin Frank)

Vic Fangio: It was valuable. Some of it was [not] valuable too. If you remember, there was a few weeks there where we had to play him at outside linebacker because we ran out of guys. That set him back a little bit as an ILB. It helped, no doubt.

Q. How long do you think it’ll take to get OLB Jonathan Greenard into the mix once he gets into practice? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: It remains to be seen. Obviously he’s a veteran player, so he knows the league, knows how to play, but we’re going to be asking him to do some different things that he hasn’t had to do in his career. That’s really what he’s going to be missing with this time off. He’s going to miss a good bit of camp.

Q. What are those different things? (Jeff Neiburg)

Vic Fangio: Occasionally drop a little bit.

Q. Is that something you think OLB Jonathan Greenard is capable of? (Jeff Neiburg)

Vic Fangio: I do think he’s capable of it, but he’s got to learn it. The only way you learn it is to do it. He does a good job in the meetings, he’s paying attention, he’s focused, watching practice, but it’s not the same.

Q. Do you expect OLB Jonathan Greenard to get on the field before the start of the season so you get a little time to work with him? (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: That remains to be seen.

Q. You just got OLB A.J. Epenesa. How does he help that depth on the edge? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: Remains to be seen. I told A.J. this, and I told him to him in front of the whole team too, for a guy that’s being asked to do a few things that he’s never done before, I thought he did a nice job yesterday with it. It was very encouraging.

Q. Are you looking for a big year from OLB Jalyx Hunt? he seemed on the verge last year of really becoming an exceptional player. (Merrill Reese)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I am looking for that. He’s very capable of it.

Q. What do you see from CB Quinyon Mitchell in year three? (Books Kubena)

Vic Fangio: Just Quinyon being Quinyon. He’s got a great work ethic, demeanor, and it’s just picked up yesterday where he left off last year.

Q. Is there a benefit for your defense seeing a different style offense in this camp? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: Yeah It is. There’s a lot more moving parts with this offense, so it does help us.

Q. What were your impressions of Epenesa before he came in? (Johnny McGonigal)

Vic Fangio: I didn’t really have any.

Q. Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio, with a guy like [DT] Uar [Bernard] how do you proceed with him? Do you try not to throw too much at him? What’s the plan? (Reuben Frank)

Vic Fangio: The “PP Plan,” lots of patience and lots of persistence. The day he put on a helmet here was the first time he ever put on a helmet. He hasn’t had shoulder pads on yet. That would be a new experience for him. Everybody, including himself and us, needs to temper any expectations down. He’s got a process to go through. Process, that’s a bad word around here [jokingly].

Q. What have you seen out of [DT] Ty Robinson’s development? Are you encouraged by what you’ve seen in his second year so far? (Cayden Steele)

Vic Fangio: Too early. Especially with the D-lineman, off-season, we don’t have pads on. We’re not going to have pads on here for another few days. Too early.

Q. With OLB Jonathan Greenard down, you have Former Eagles DE Brandon Graham on speed dial. Is there any conversation in maybe trying to get him back in here? (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: I don’t know. You guys had [Executive Vice President/ General Manager] Howie [Roseman] up here yesterday. You should have asked him that.

Q. I did. (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: And what did Howie say? He ducked you? He “Faucied” you? [jokingly]

Q. Is that what you’re going to do? Are you going to “Fauci” me on that? [jokingly] (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: I’m at the mercy of Howie.

Q. As a process note, what did you think of Lebron signing with the Sixers? (Dave Uram)

Vic Fangio: The Sixers had a great sequence there because it wouldn’t have happened without Jaylen Brown getting here, but it still wasn’t the greatest signing or acquisition in Philadelphia sports history. Who knows what it is?

Vic Fangio: Pete Rose. There you go. It’s not even close, but if you were born after 1970, you wouldn’t have known about it. That includes most everybody then.

Q. Vic, you have to evolve every year, obviously, in your scheme – the evolution in your scheme every year. I have a big picture question, but what have you seen from offenses when you’ve been analyzing this off season? What became something that was more trendy this past year that you have to kind of adapt to? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: I don’t think it’s so much this past year, it’s kind of been a few year evolution. The motion, all the various motions, is kind of the new fad. I wouldn’t say new, it’s been a few years, and it’s kind of expanding itself. That to me is part of the new. That’s the newness. Back in the 90s, late 90s, it was empty formations. Those are still here. All the various motions.

Q. Why do you think coordinators are going with more motion? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: It’s twofold. One, they’re trying to get a tell on the defense potentially. Two, they’re trying to get you out of position a little bit hopefully. They’re trying to disguise their final formation and their intentions. A whole lot of things, and some of it does do that. There’s certain calls that we’re in, or any defense is in, they could do cheetah flips with their motion. It isn’t going to matter. There’s other calls where it does cause a little problem.

Q. Eye discipline is so important when you’re dealing with that. How do you teach eye discipline? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: Repetitions. You’ve got to see it in practice and they’ve got to experience it. You’re right. You’ve got to see what’s happening. It all depends upon the call you’re in and what technique you have as a player, where your eyes need to be, and what you need to respect and not respect in certain calls. As an EDGE player, there’s certain calls they could do whatever they want and we’re just going to ignore it. There’s other calls where they got to respect it. And that’s just repetitions, repetitions.

Q. What’s the next step for OLB Nolan Smith? (Zach Berman)

Vic Fangio: Just stay healthy. Nolan’s last year was choppy because he had some injuries to deal with. He missed five or six or seven weeks last year. I’m very confident. I thought both him and Jalyx had great days yesterday.

Q. With LB Jihaad Campbell, how much more can he handle in this scheme in year two? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: That remains to be seen. It’s been choppy, but we’re confident he can do it.

Q. [Regarding whether Campbell’s time as an edge rusher is over] (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: He may end up there on occasion, but as a full-time player, yes.

Q. With LB Zack Baun, how much more can he handle this year compared to last year, especially as you build continuity with the system? (E.J. Smith)

Vic Fangio: He can do whatever we want him to do. He had the experience the first half of last year of being the main single caller when Nakobe was out. He’ll be that now, this year, full-time. Whatever we ask Zack to do, if he’s not good at it right now, he’ll fight through to get good at it.

Q. What are you seeing from DT Moro Ojomo? (Martin Frank)

Vic Fangio: I like him. Howie needs to save some money for him too (laughing).

Q. LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr. got some first-team reps as linebacker yesterday. Is that something you want to see or is that just a natural rotation? (John McMullen)

Q. We’ll mix and match it all the time. I think it’s very important in training camp that you’re not always working with the same guy next to you, particularly at ILB and safety, because things happen. All of a sudden at ILB, Jihaad can’t play and now Baun has to work with Jeremiah. We don’t want the first time that happens to be in a game. They need to work with each other and practice some. Same thing with safety – those are the two main positions. There’s others, but you have to mix and match a lot.

Q. Who’s replacing [Former Eagles S] Reed [Blankenship] in terms of communicating in the back? Who would be the guy communicating for the safety? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: That’ll be both of them. When it’s [S Andrew] Mukuba and [S Marcus] Epps back there, they’ll both do it. Epps is very capable of that, and I think Andrew is too. He’ll get even better and better, this being his second year and being more confident. And [DB] Cooper [DeJean], when he’s there, he’ll be capable of it.