Vic Fangio
Q. I wanted to ask you about someone we haven’t really talked about so far this summer. CB Tariq Castro-Fields seems like he’s made a lot of plays out there. What’s been your impression of him? (Reuben Frank)
Vic Fangio: He has. He’s done a good job competing. He did the same thing last year in camp, too. He had some good practices, actually showed up in a game or two in the preseason and he’s kind of picked it up. He’s been around a while, so he knows the deal and he’s out here with a purpose and competing.
Q. You’ve been able to get Head Coach Nick Sirianni to allow you to play the starters in the preseason unlike the offense the last few years. Will that be the plan this week? (Jeff McLane)
Vic Fangio: We really haven’t discussed it in detail. We’ll see how that goes, but you guys have been around here.
Q. CB Mac McWilliams, he’s done some nice things these last couple days. How different is he this year, year two, versus last year? (Ed Kracz)
Vic Fangio: A lot different. He’s just matured. I’ve had a way of phrasing it to him that I really can’t say here, but he’s done much better. It’s been more than just the last few days. It’s been pretty much all camp and in the short offseason.
Q. Similar to DT Ty Robinson as a year two player, have you seen strides from him? (John McMullen)
Vic Fangio: I’ve seen some. The last day or two have been better than the previous days. We’re hopeful that will continue.
Q. Do you have an update on OLB Jonathan Greenard if he’s close or not to coming back? (Jimmy Kempski)
Vic Fangio: No, we aren’t going to see him for another couple of weeks at least.
Q. LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr., we’ve talked a lot about as well. I think it was a two-minute period he was getting some first team reps. Is there a possibility that there could be piecemeal next to LB Zack Baun? Are we at that point? (John McMullen)
Vic Fangio: Piecemeal? What do you mean?
Q. With LB Jihaad Campbell? (John McMullen)
Vic Fangio: Trot’s had a good camp. I think I said that here recently. I wouldn’t put much stock or read into who’s out there with who. When it says ones versus ones, we have a list of, I don’t know, 20 to 25 guys that could appear out there with the one defense. I wouldn’t read into that.
Q. CB Quinyon Mitchell had another interception yesterday. What are you seeing as far as him being–(Martin Frank)
Vic Fangio: He just keeps improving. He’s, like we’ve said, just a really good dude, as a football player and as a guy. He works hard. He’s not resting on any of the laurels that he’s gotten in his first two years. He still needs his first interception of his career. He’ll quickly remind you he’s got four in the playoffs, but he’s still a virgin in the regular season.
Q. What have you seen from DT Byron Young this camp? (Andrew DiCecco)
Vic Fangio: Good. He’s another guy, I think, second year here. We got him, I guess, last year at some point during camp. I can’t remember when. He’s doing good and getting better.
Q. What’s your view of QB Jalen Hurts and this new offense going, you know, your defense versus Jalen Hurts? What’s your view of Jalen Hurts? (Ed Kracz)
Vic Fangio: Jalen’s having a good camp. He looks faster. Obviously, we can’t touch him during practice. There’s always that debate whether you had him or not. There’s been a few times where our guys think they had him and they really didn’t. He’s moving good and I think he’s doing a nice job with the new offense. A lot’s been made about him, all these coordinators he’s been with, but it’s basically been the same offense every year. This is different. He’s done a great job with it.
Q. How do you either coach or call the game differently in year three with the experience you have than in year one when the guys were new to you? (Zach Berman)
Vic Fangio: Every year is a new adventure. Some of these guys have been here for three years, some of them haven’t. You always try and find the niche that best suits your guys and highlights their strengths, try and limit their weaknesses. It’s an evolution. I don’t think being here the third year has a whole lot to do with it.
Q. What do you see from OLB Jonathan Greenard behind the scenes during this layoff? (Reuben Frank)
Vic Fangio: He’s been great behind the scenes. He’s into practice, he’s into the meetings, he’s doing everything he can to stay up and be prepared as much as he can without doing anything physically. He’s been great that way.
When he does come back, whenever that is, the thing you miss by not partaking in training camp, which he probably won’t, you’ve got to get calloused to play in NFL football — the banging, the running, the change of direction, the fatigue of it. He’s going to lose that. If you guys would remember back before the 11 CBA, there’d be a lot of holdouts at first round, second round. A lot of guys would sign the week of the first game. There was a real correlation to those guys getting hurt because they weren’t calloused to playing football. That’s going to be something we have to be conscious of with him when he does get back.
Q. I want to ask you a question about possible trends across the league. It seemed last year there was a spike in the number of teams that were having plays go up against the play clock in a way. Did you notice that? (Brooks Kubena)
Vic Fangio: I don’t know that it’s been a spike. It may have been, but I think it’s more particular to certain teams than a league trend. A lot of the offenses try and get into the perfect play based upon information they perceive at the line of scrimmage and that could run the clock down.
Q. Where are you on the safety battle right now? Are you getting closer to figuring out who’s going to be in next? (Dave Zangaro)
Vic Fangio: It’s a good competition. Between [S] Marcus [Epps] and [DB] Mike [Michael Carter]. Mike’s had a very good camp, as has Marcus. I’d say that’s a real good competition right now.
Q. Now that you’ve seen CB Riq Woolen in pads — He was so good in the spring, the athleticism. Have you seen that translate with the pads on? (John McMullen)
Vic Fangio: At times he can get a little lazy or sloppy with his technique and have a bad down or two, but he’s still showing everything that I think he can do. He’s just got to get in such great shape and calloused to football that those don’t happen.
Q. When you evaluate corners, what value do you place on the ball skills? (Zach Berman)
Vic Fangio: It’s part of the equation for sure. I like PBUs too or blanket covers. They’ve got to look somewhere else.
Q. How do you feel about the cornerback depth, how it’s shaking out behind the top three guys? (Cayden Steele)
Vic Fangio: It’s evolving. We had [CB] Jonathan Jones there and he’s going to miss some time here. He’s got an issue physically. [S] Max [Maximus Pulley] coming on, [CB] JB’s [Jakorian Bennett] in there. I’m going to miss a guy’s name or two. It’s a spot that we hope can clear itself open to where if we need another corner, that we don’t have to put [DB] Cooper [DeJean] back out there.