Adam Gase – June 15, 2016
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Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On what it meant to have S Reshad Jones participating in practice) – “It’s good. When we have our players out there, you get excited – whether they’ve been injured or they haven’t been here. To get him back out there and DeVante Parker back out there, it’s a good feeling for the coaching staff. To get all of your pieces kind of in place and get these guys rolling in the right direction, as far as what we’re trying to teach.”
(On if S Reshad Jones will be fined for missing that first day) – “Anything we ever do with any of that stuff is always in-house and I’ll never talk about that.”
(On how WR DeVante Parker looked out there today) – “He did good. I think he was itching to get out there yesterday and holding him out another day. Then coming out today he was actually … he did a little more than I thought he was going to do. He kept trying to get in the team periods. We were just trying to be smart to make sure he didn’t get caught on a route where he had a take off or (QB) Ryan (Tannehill) checked to something to where now he’s moving down the field and he hadn’t really opened it up yet. So we were just trying to be smart with what was going on. He did a good job as far as kind of tempo-ing himself through that individual to make sure ‘I’m good, I’m good, I’m good,’ and then he kind of turned it loose a little bit in those team periods.”
(On former Indianapolis Colts WR Reggie Wayne being at practice today) – “Yeah, obviously (Offensive Coordinator) Clyde (Christensen) coached him for a long time and they were together in Indy forever. I met Reggie at the Pro Bowl after the 2012 season and I had just become the (offensive) coordinator and go out to the Pro Bowl. We’re sitting there talking and it’s him and (Indianapolis Colts LB) Robert Mathis and they were both just like you got no chance. Peyton’s (Manning) going to eat you up. I’ll just never forget that. I was like, ‘I appreciate your confidence.’ But he’s one of those guys that you just love talking ball with. (You) love being around (him) and anytime any of players can talk to guys of that caliber … you know him, Wes (Welker), when we get Jason Taylor out here, Zach Thomas … It’s just great for our guys. They learn stuff. Like defensive guys are talking to Reggie or Wes and they’re kind of saying ‘Hey, how were you successful? What can I do against a wide receiver of your caliber?’ To get that kind of information is valuable for those guys.”
(On how former players contact the Dolphins to come out to practice) – “A lot of times it’s … Wes (Welker) and myself have been friends since we left Denver. We’ve always kept in contact. And then Reggie (Wayne) and (Offensive Coordinator) Clyde (Christensen) are constantly in communication. These guys, they’re down here and sometimes they’re looking to get that little bit of that football fix and it’s a good way for them to do (that). (They) kind of get around it and they enjoy coming out to practice and they enjoy talking to the guys.”
(On former players telling the current guys to listen) – “Yeah that helps. It doesn’t hurt us.”
(On how involved former NFL WR Wes Welker has been and if there’s any chance anything full time) – “I wouldn’t but any kind of pressure on him. We’re here to kind of … when he wants to come around, he’s welcome. So whether it goes any further than that, I mean it’s a day-by-day thing with Wes (Welker) and he knows that I’ll always have his back on whatever he want to do. We’ll be here to kind of help him grow with whatever he ends doing.”
(On if he recommends players work out with each other in between offseason sessions or if the players do it on their own) – “Yeah, it’s player generated. As coaches, that time that you’re off, it’s almost like the college dead period – like you’re out of the loop. If you ever call a player, it has to be for personal reasons if something comes up and you’re just checking on a guy. But as far as football related things, I mean we’re out of it. It’s five weeks of … if a guy doesn’t do anything for five weeks; you’re going to know it right away in training camp. So it’s really driven by the players. The good thing is you can tell once you get to training camp and then you know who’s on board and you know who is basically saying ‘Hey, I’m ready to go for the season,’ because training camp is so short. If you’re not ready to go, it’s not like how it used to be where you could work your way into shape. I mean you better be into shape when you get going.”
(On if he was satisfied in the shape that S Reshad Jones came in today) – “Yeah that was one thing that I was told from the get go whenever he showed up, they were like, ‘Don’t worry about it. He will be in shape.’”
(On how S Reshad Jones looked today) – “As far as I saw, the way he was moving around looked really good and then he jumped right in there. Like we talked about yesterday, this is what they do (learn playbooks). What was he here … like an hour a half (before practice)? And he was able to go in and practice? It’s not that hard.”
(On what his vision is for S Reshad Jones is for him in this defense) – “Obviously we’re going to have to figure that out. We’re in Day 1 with him. We have a general idea how we want to use him but that will obviously expand when you got a player of his caliber. We want to put him in position where he can make as many plays as possible.”
(On with one practice left how he would evaluate QB Ryan Tannehill through the spring) – “He’s done a good job. I know I put a lot on his plate and it’s almost to the point where it’s probably too much this fast. But I want to see how far … I want to see where the breaking point is and he keeps battling and he keeps doing things (well) in practice. When we have a two-minute drill and we’re putting ourselves in some situations like today. I think we were like fourth-and-10 and then him and (WR) Jarvis (Landry) make a play and we end up moving the sticks. To see that happen, there was no panic and that adjustment of (moving onto the) next play. They moved on then figured out a way to get a first down. We’ve been putting a lot of pressure on him on offense and then he’s been doing a good job of responding. We might have one day where it doesn’t look great and then the next day we’ll come back and we’ll regroup and kind of adjust some things and then we’re good to go.”
(On RB Kenyan Drake go off the field limping) – “I’ll have more information once I get back in there. I saw him briefly and they kind of just said he was out of practice. I haven’t really been updated all the way to what happened.”
(On if he would say the offense won today’s practice) – “I wouldn’t say that. Any time that you’re not in pads or it’s really not a preseason game, it’s tough to tell because I know this … With our d-line and I really like our offensive line, but I just know when you get pads on it could look a lot different.”
(On the push-ups the defense was doing at practice) – “That was something that actually (former Denver Broncos Interim Head Coach Jack) Del Rio brought to us in Denver when he took over as the head coach for four weeks, and we started doing these competitive periods on Fridays. It was just the last play of the game, 4 seconds, no timeouts and you need a touchdown to win. The fun part of it is (it’s) five push-ups and you try to get everyone to pick a side. I was waiting for (Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike) Tannenbaum to try to waver but he stayed in the back.” (laughter)
(On his choice of veteran backup quarterbacks and why he chose QB Matt Moore) – “It was an interesting process. At first we weren’t sure where he was really at, as far as whether or not he wanted to come back. I know him and Ryan (Tannehill) are really close. We kind of went through a whole process. We talked to a bunch of guys. We were talking to him. He was talking to other teams and at the end of the day, (Offensive Coordinator) Clyde (Christensen) kept coming back to it and so did (Quarterbacks Coach) Bo (Hardegree), as far as there’s not a lot of guys that can come into that role and then if he goes into the game, I think he has a winning record as a quarterback. I don’t know how many backup quarterbacks you can actually say that of. He’s come in here and he’s done a good job. The good thing for (me) at least, a guy I was with in Denver, (former Broncos Offensive Coordinator) Mike McCoy, had coached him in Carolina and I had always heard great things about him. It wasn’t unfamiliar territory as far as we knew what kind of a guy we were getting. When you have a guy that supports you like Matt does to Ryan, that’s valuable.”
(On whether G/T Laremy Tunsil will have to earn everything that is given him or if he’s definitely going to be a starter) – “That’s how we are rolling. You have to earn your spot. I don’t think you’ve seen anybody really get plugged in and anointed anything. Everybody is battling. That’s what we want. We want competition. We want guys to earn their spots. If you’re a veteran player, a lot of guys respect that because they know it’s not going to be handed to anybody. Guys know, ‘Hey, I’m going to battle for the five spots on the offensive line.’ (It’s the) same thing on defense, like the corners. They’re battling. I know Tony Lippett isn’t going to be like, ‘Yeah, you take it.’ I hope not. I hope he battles this thing all the way out. If he’s a starter, (then) great. Then we’ll be happy. I just know we have three really good players there at corner.”
(On if anything should be read into the offensive line rotation at practice) – “Are you just sitting up there charting that thing? (laughter) We’re going to just keep working on different groups. I don’t sit there and say, ‘Hey (Offensive Line Coach) Chris (Foerster), who do you got starting today?’ We’re just going to keep rolling guys in there.”
