Vic Fangio

Q. Hey Vic, what do you know about the new guy? CB Jakorian Bennett? (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: We’re going to find out here soon. Just throw him into the action and see what he’s got.

Q. Did you see anything about him coming through the draft process? Did you learn anything? (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: I don’t remember him in the draft process. Watched a little bit of his tape last year with the Raiders. He’s got some good speed, got some coverability. We’ll see.

Q. Do you expect him to compete for that starting job? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: Possibly. I mean everybody’s got the right to compete out here. I think we need to get his feet under him and get our eyes on him and see what happens over the next few weeks.

Q. What made Former Eagles DT Thomas Booker expendable? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: He wasn’t expendable. We’re going to miss Book [DT Thomas Booker]. I’m going to miss him personally, but to get something, you got to give something.

Q. Did it have anything to do with the depth that you had at that position being greater than you thought it was going into camp? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: No. Obviously we have our three starters [DT] Gabe’s [Hall] been coming along, BY’s [DT Byron Young] been coming along. [DT] Ty’s [Robinson] been coming along. Are they where they need to be? No, but they’re coming along and hopefully that will continue.

Q. Going back and looking at the tape of the pre-season game, what’d you think of CB Kelee Ringo and CB Adoree’ Jackson’s performance? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, obviously they had some tough assignments in that game going against that quarterback and those receivers, but I think it’s a great learning experience for both of them and hopefully they’ll both come back. Obviously Kelee had more balls thrown his way than Adoree’ did, but I think it’s great that happened and we’ll see how much they can grow from that.

Q. What is it about CB Jakorian Bennett that you like about his play that maybe you’ve seen on tape and they haven’t seen him out there yet? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: He can run, he has some coverability and he’s going to be in the mix with the rest of them.

Q. With LB Smael Mondon and LB Jihaad Campbell at off ball linebacker A, why did Smael start do you think? How did you think he performed? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, Smael started, we were going to play all those we him Trot [LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr.] and LB [Jihaad] Campbell equally and Campbell would’ve started, but then a day or two before the game, the trainers asked if we only play Jihaad as much fewer snaps coming up. So it made sense to not start him. There’d be a logical rest period for those other two guys.

Q. On that Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase touchdown, I think you called a zero there. Is that intentional at all during the preseason to give a certain look or test a cornerback in that spot? (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, there’s a lot of times in the preseason where you’re calling stuff for the purpose of evaluation, whereas during the season a real game, you’re calling stuff to stop anything that you can to help your guys. But during the preseason, a lot of times you’re calling stuff to get a good evaluation of everybody.

Q. Was that a specific one for CB Kelee Ringo and the corners? (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: Just not particularly for Kelee, but for all the cover guys.

Q. So when you are making those evaluations off the games, clearly you’re not scheming for the other team. Those guys that potentially are starting, aren’t playing alongside starers. How do you weigh that when you are making that final evaluation? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: It all factors in. It just all factors in. There’s not an overriding thing. Our practice against our team got the Browns coming in there for a couple, the three preseason games. It’s an accumulation.

Q. How do you think S Sydney Brown played? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: I thought he did fine and I think he’ll keep progressing. Sydney’s got a lot of good stuff to his game. We just got to polish him up and see things a little better, a little quicker, which is a natural progression for young players, training camp last year from a defensive standpoint was a very small chance for him to grow. So this is his time.

Q. You mentioned the Browns coming, Cleveland Browns QB Shedeur Sanders. What do you know about him? Did you study him at all coming into the draft? (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: No, I don’t know anything about him.

Q. Is there anyone that has stood out in particular through these first 10 practices and the preseason game that maybe you weren’t expecting? (Jimmy Kempski)

Vic Fangio: A lot of the guys have had their moments good, not so good. I don’t think we’re there yet to say stand out.

Q. What’s your level of comfort right now with the edge rushing room as a whole and do you have any concerns about further down to the depth chart right now? (Jeff Neiburg)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, we need some guys to surface behind the first couple and I think some of them are making good strides. I think [OLB Joshua] Uche is getting better. He’s just got to keep learning how we want to do all the little details both against the run and the pass, [OLB Azeez] Ojulari same. Then the other guys we’re looking for somebody to surface to say, hey, maybe we need to keep this guy.

Q. With the Bengals playing their starters, how much better is it for you to evaluate guys like CB Kelee Ringo and S Sydney Brown and all these guys? (Martin Frank)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I think it’s great. It’s great.

Q. What kind of things can they learn going against guys like that obviously they have WR A.J. Brown and WR DeVonta Smith here? (Martin Frank)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, those guys have missed a lot of practice, both of them. They’re great learning experiences, the one thing for corners and DBs out here there’s no scoreboard. [Referring to Lincoln Financial Field] Over there there’s a scoreboard and you got to be able to play when there’s a scoreboard.

Q. What stood out to you about DT Ty Robinson and DT Gabe Hall from the preseason? (Jeff Kerr)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I thought they both showed pretty good knowledge of what we’re asking them to do from an assignment and technique standpoint. I think they both played hard and I think they’re both progressing. I think Gabe’s had a nice camp. I think Gabe’s, like I said before, a poster child for what practice squad is supposed to be.

Q. How did you see DT Gabe Hall develop in that year on the practice squad? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: I think he just kept getting more confident coming off the injury ahead in college. He needed some confidence in that regard. He needed to get stronger, needed to adjust playing against men, not college players. It was a great learning experience for him.

Q. What’s your overall take on working on tackling in camp now? How can you get around with not doing it to the ground? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I was just telling somebody this morning, what is it, about 40 some years, I’ve only been in one camp where there was live tackling in practice and that would show up about every other day for about a 12-play period. I’ve been with some of the most hardworking head coaches or driving head coaches and push players, but we would do it in shorty yardage goal line, but out in the field never. You got to be able to learn how to practice by approaching everything in practice as if it’s going to be a live tackle and then at the point of contact you don’t and that’s the best way to do it in practice. Obviously, we show video on how we need to do it, the best way to do it and you’ve got to be able to become good tackler that way.

Q. To follow up on earlier about the cover zero play with CB Kelee Ringo, so whenever you’re calling plays and practice or in games, are you doing that? Trying to find out whether certain guys can play man or whether they’re better at zones, things like that? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, and also to stress them, to put them in stressful situations, which are going to happen during the season and games. We played Cincinnati last year and there was no cover zero because of [Cincinnati WR Ja’Marr] Chase and their receivers and their quarterback, but it’s a good evaluation.

Q. What have you seen from DT Jacob Sykes? He flashed a little bit the other night. (Reuben Frank)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, he’s got good movement. He’s better on the move right now than he is grinding blocks. We’ve got to improve on his ability to grind blocks more. But yeah, he did play pretty good.

Q. Thinking about rookies missing time, last year with DB Cooper DeJean, do you think he would’ve been ready to be a factor week one or did he need that time watching those first four weeks? (Bo Wulf)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, he didn’t practice last year all off season and the only time he started practicing was the week of the last preseason game and he played a good bit in that game and he didn’t play well, meaning how to do things from a technique assignments, more of a technique standpoint. He wasn’t ready to play. Contrary to popular belief, practice is important and repetitions are important. There’s a lot of people that don’t believe that these days, but he’s a poster child for that last year. If you watch his last preseason game and then watch how he played once he got going, it’s night and day,

Q. What are the teaching points to CB Kelee Ringo on the touchdown? Just about getting leverage? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: Yeah. He’s got to tackle. I’m not upset that the guy caught the ball on him. I’m upset that he didn’t tackle him and he’s got to realize where he is on the field, use the sideline, realize who he’s going against. Those are all things you got to process and factor in a millisecond and he didn’t do a good job of that in that play, but I expect him to learn from that and I expect them to improve from that.