Vic Fangio

Q. Who’s starting at cornerback? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: I’m not sure yet. I’ll let [Head Coach] Nick [Sirianni] announce that.

Q. I guess you could say the same for linebacker, too? (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: Yeah. Nick will announce that

Q. Safety? (Reuben Frank)

Vic Fangio: [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] will announce that.

Q. They talked earlier in training camp about CB Quinyon Mitchell, the idea of him starting to travel. Where are you in that process? (Jeff Neiburg)

Vic Fangio: It’s something that we’ll look at each and every week depending upon the matchups. With this team that we’re playing this week, they have two great receivers, but it is something that’s viable for us.

Q. How much does the volume of snaps that Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb plays in the slot factor into the decision with travel CB Quinyon Mitchell or not? (EJ Smith)

Vic Fangio: Well, it will factor in, but there’s times when he could travel, if you’re in a week where you are, and times where he won’t.

Q. You mentioned the receivers, Cowboys WRs George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb, and then you have their tight end who’s pretty good. Do they remind you in any way of WR A.J. Brown, WR DeVonta Smith, and TE Dallas Goedert? (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: They are three bonafide really good players, and [Cowboys QB] Dak Prescott’s obviously one of the top quarterbacks in the league. They’ve got a lot of talent on offense.

Q. Are there things from a young linebacker that you need to see before you put them on the field for significant snaps? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: Yes and no. Yes, you’d like to see it. The chances to see it without it being in a game are kind of over. We can control practice, what they see and what they need to see. But it’s real now.

Q. In the Spring, you made a point of discussing how you depended on the depth from last year’s group. How do you feel about the depth of this year’s group, and do you feel comfortable if you have to get to those spots? (Zach Berman)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, right now I do until proven otherwise. I like the group we have. We’re going to play guys as we need to play them, whether it be just to mix guys or rest guys or guys stay in for every play. But yeah, right now I do.

Q. With DB Cooper DeJean, is that the base defense? Are you still figuring that out as opposed to those other moving parts, or have you kind of figured out where he’s going to be in the base? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: We figured it out, but Nick will tell you.

Q. What did you like about the way S Andrew Mukuba played up until he got hurt, and does that set him back going into the season? (Martin Frank)

Vic Fangio: Well, it does set you back. I mean, he basically missed two weeks of training camp, two separate injuries. But, he’s done well this week, looks healthy, looks like he’s done a good job of staying on top of things and he has done well with the reps he’s gotten in practice. So, I do think as it pertains to comparing other rookies, he’s done well overcoming those obstacles.

Q. Do you see it as kind of being similar to DB Cooper DeJean’s situation last year where he missed three weeks of camp? (Martin Frank)

Vic Fangio: No, Cooper had a bigger roadblock last year. He didn’t do anything until the last week of the last preseason game.

Q. With whoever you start at cornerback, with the depth you have there, how much of a leash does that cornerback have in terms of the game or when you have other options in there that you could throw out there if need be? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I mean no corner’s going to pitch a shutout every game or during the whole run of the season. So yeah, they’ve got a good long leash, whoever’s out there, but we may play them all anyway.

Q. With DT Jalen Carter, beyond the ability that he has athletically, does he have to play with a certain nastiness to get to the level that you guys want him to be? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I don’t know that nastiness is the right word. That kind of invokes [former NFL G] Conrad Dobler-type stuff.

Q. What’s the best way to describe that? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: I just think he has to play with the right mindset to reach his potential, or come close to reaching his potential. He’s just got to be on top of the details, play with great effort, and be focused.

Q. You mentioned that you might play multiple corners, are you talking about a rotation? If so, what would be the benefit? (Dave Zangaro)

Vic Fangio: No, I wouldn’t say that.

Q. At linebacker, sort of the same question. Last year, you had LB Zack Baun and LB Nakobe Dean pretty much taking all the reps. Are you open to more of a rotation at that position opposite Zack? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: Not really. I mean open, yes. Do I see it happening immediately? No.

Q. We talked about DT Jordan Davis and kind of refining more of a pass rush technique. How has that process been? (Ed Kracz)

Vic Fangio: Good. I think Jordan’s had a really good camp, and expecting good things from him this year.

Q. At edge depth, you were looking for somebody to step up early in training camp. What did you see as the summer unfolded? (Tim McManus)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, we’ve got [OLB] [Joshua] Uche there, [OLB] Azeez [Ojulari], Big O [OLB Ogbo Okoronkwo]. We’ve got the guys that can come in and relieve our starters if need be.

Q. It took four or five weeks last year for the defense to kind of get their feet underneath them. Do you feel like you’re going to need a month to know what this group is? (Zach Berman)

Vic Fangio: I hope not. I don’t foresee that. I think that’s overplayed a little bit, what happened those first four weeks. But no, I think we’re ready to go. We still have a lot of guys that were here last year and guys that we expect to be improved from last year.

Q. What is the difference versus the end of last year when you saw OLB Jalyx Hunt in the Super Bowl versus where he’s at now? (Cayden Steele)

Vic Fangio: He has gotten logically and progressively better through all those reps he got last year, which in his case kind of came in a good logical way. He was getting more and more as the season progressed. Then, when BG [former Eagles DE Brandon Graham] went down, he got more and more and played a good bit in the playoffs. So, it was nice for him to end the season on that. Since the start of OTAs ‘til now, he’s been working with the first group, gotten a good bunch of reps and I think he’s in a good spot.

Q. You have a whole new set of captains on the defensive side of the ball. I guess it speaks to the people who left. Does that matter at all to you? (Jeff McLane)

Vic Fangio: No, it doesn’t. I don’t think you need a C on your chest to be a leader. I don’t think [LB] Zack Baun and [LB] Nakobe [Dean] had one on their jersey last year and those guys were two really good leaders for us. Just because you have a C on your chest doesn’t mean you’re a leader either. You have got to uphold and fulfill the duties of it.

Q. Defensive tackle behind the big three, so you have DT Jalen Carter, DT Jordan Davis, DT Moro Ojomo. Then you have three younger guys. What has stood out about each of those three guys when you talk about DT Byron Young, DT Gabe Hall, and DT Ty Robinson? (John McMullen)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, those guys, we will end up dressing five of them. Probably one won’t dress, and those guys will fill in as needed.

Q. You mentioned that the first four games last year, as opposed to the rest of the season, was overplayed. Curious to hear you unpack that a little bit. (Jimmy Kempski)

Vic Fangio: I just think the first game last year, we probably did too much as coaches schematically, which somewhat was my fault. I gave up too many big plays because of things we weren’t playing correctly. It was more so [that] than execution. It was execution, but we shouldn’t have been playing them that early. I had too much confidence in what I thought they knew in that first game.

The second game, we just didn’t play the run well. The third game, I thought we played great, and then in the fourth game, our entire team just got slaughtered. Then I think the fifth game, we had a game come down to the wire against, I think it was Cleveland. It’s there, I’m not saying it wasn’t, but it wasn’t like suddenly a light went on.

Q. What has CB Jakorian Bennett shown you over the past four weeks? (Andrew DiCecco)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, I like him. He’s got good speed. He’s got a good attitude. He’s got a good football brain. Shown some good cover ability. I’m sure he’ll be out there at some point this season. Could be this one, too.

Q. So the confidence of what you think they know schematically, the young guys, this time around too. How’d you approach that? Where do you think that is? (Brooks Kubena)

Vic Fangio: Yeah, learn from your mistakes and there’s a lot of things that we bring up as coaches that would be nice to do. But I’ve always got to say, we’ve got this young guy here and this young guy here. We’ve got to be careful.