Brian Flores – July 26, 2019
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Friday, July 26, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(We saw the WR Allen Hurns news. The decision to bring him in was based on what?) – “Well, I would say we’re still in the final stages of that, finalizing that. But yeah, we expect him to be at practice today. Really, the decision there was to bring in competition, bring in what we feel like is a good player, somebody who embodies a lot of the characteristics we’re looking for, is tough (and) is competitive. He’s been reliable over the course of his career. But I’d say this – I talked to Allen and told him this specifically – if he’s not ready to compete for a position, then this isn’t the place for him. He understands that. That’s the conversation we had. Really, anybody that comes into this building, that’s going to be the conversation I’m going to have with them. Allen understands that. There’s no solidified or locked in spots here. You’ve got to earn them.”
(Is the WR Allen Hurns signing based on anything you saw that you needed at that position or was it just for depth?) – “Nope. We saw a player who we thought was a good player, could add value to our roster and that’s how we’ll do business moving forward. If there’s a good player out there that we feel like adds value to our team, then we’ll try to add that player. Those are the conversations that (General Manager) Chris (Grier), (Vice President of Football Administration) Brandon (Shore) and myself have really on a daily basis. That was the case here.”
(What role did RB Kalen Ballage’s spring and run up to training camp – what he did and what you saw and the coaches saw – what role did that play in him being out there first yesterday?) – “Well, he had a good spring. I know he was out there first but I don’t really look at it that way. We’ve got a lot of good (running) backs. We’ve got a lot of good players at a lot of positions, so guys will be moving. That could have been based on what happened in the previous drill. (Running Backs Coach) Eric (Studesville) and the offensive coaching staff kind of handles that. We’re just trying to get guys the amount of reps they need to evaluate them. So first team, second team, who goes first, who goes second, right now it’s about their improvement, getting better with their fundamentals and technique and really getting them enough reps so that we can evaluate it. That’s kind of my take on the first team, second team, etc. He’s done a great job, I’ll tell you that. But so have all of the backs. (Kenyan) Drake has worked hard. The two rookies – (Chandler Cox and Myles Gaskin) – they’ve worked hard. Kenneth Farrow has worked hard. Obviously Mark (Walton) has worked hard. So I feel good about that entire group and we’ve just got to get those guys as many reps as possible to see how guys fit and how they can help this team.”
(New England’s used mainly package-based scheme stuff for how they use their rotations with backs and things of that nature. Is that what we can expect from this team?) – “You can expect us to put guys into positions to do things that they do well. If we’ve got a guy who can do everything well, you may see that guy on every down. If we’ve got guys that are better in one role and not as good in another, then we’ll try to put those guys in those positions. At times, guys get tired. So some guys are going to do things that you would normally think such and such would be in that role but another guy has to step in and we need backups and we need depth and we need all of our guys to be versatile. So that’s going to be our philosophy. (We will) try to put guys in the best position to do what they do well and at the same time, we need to build depth and our guys have to be versatile.”
(What have you seen from DT Adolphus Washington and how could you use him in both a 4-3 and a 3-4?) – “Adolphus obviously is someone who is experienced in the league and played a good amount. I wouldn’t say a significant amount but he has some experience in this league and has played in multiple defenses. Right now, for me with him, it’s about his fundamentals, his technique. Looking into the future about what role he is going to play and how he’s going to fit in this scheme or that scheme, I think right now the focus for him is: ‘Let’s get better with our run technique; let’s get better with our pass rush technique; let’s get better with our alignments, our execution, our communication, and then we’ll see how they fit moving forward.’”
(What characteristics do you look for in a prototypical cornerback?) – “Tough, smart, disciplined, puts the team first. Athletic, obviously. Can tackle. Put that at the top of the list. I really should have said that first. I think that goes into the tough and smart. Can tackle. And ball skills are important to me. I think taking advantage of opportunities to create big plays on offense and then defending those plays defensively, those are big plays in football games. Those are big field position swings. We need to be able to defend them. We need to be able to capitalize on them offensively. So playing the ball in the air is important to me. Obviously playing penalty-free, there are a lot of let’s call them pass penalties that you have to be aware of in those positions. Look, you’re playing against the best and most talented players and most talented people in the world – the receivers in this league. That’s what you’re up against on a daily basis. It takes a special player to play that position down after down after down in this league. You’ve got to work hard at your techniques, your fundamentals, your conditioning, your ball skills. You’ve got to work a lot of areas to be successful in this league.”
(Two of your fastest, shiftiest receivers were hurt last year in WR Albert Wilson and WR Jakeem Grant. Do you keep up with how they were training together or rehabbing together and getting back onto the field?) – “Both guys worked extremely hard over the offseason and really into the summer to get themselves in position to where they could come out, practice, learn, compete and get back and help this team. Obviously, like you said, they both have skillsets. They’re both fast, both explosive and both have made plays in the past. Again, the past doesn’t really matter to me very much. I’m worried about today and I’m worried about guys getting out on the field, practicing, working hard in the meeting room, taking it to the practice field and then being productive on the field.”
(WR Jakeem Grant told us that one of his favorite plays was the game where he elevated and caught a pass against New England a couple of years ago.) – “I remember that one. (laughter)”
(What do you remember from that play and think about WR Jakeem Grant after seeing him make a play like that?) – “Yeah, I remember that play vividly. He’s a very talented player. He’s got speed, he’s got athleticism, he’s got quickness. He’s a tough cup. That’s just the reality of it. I think my memories of that play are not so good, but they’re good now if we can duplicate those and do that on a consistent basis. That’s something that I talked to the entire team about – consistency. Again, offensively, defensively, in the kicking game and in meetings and walkthroughs, you guys have heard me say this over and over again, I think that’s very important. Each individual player – Jakeem is part of that, Albert (Wilson is part of that, defensively and all of our guys are part of that – everyone has a skillset. We talk about that play and we need to see more of those plays out of Jakeem. If you make one play in this league, everyone has talent in this league. You can see a play here or there from a multitude of players but being able to do that and do those things consistently, that’s the mark of a good player.”
(What’s the next step for LB Raekwon McMillan in his development? His play last year was kind of a second chance at a rookie season. What do you hope to see from him in Year 3?) – “I think Raekwon’s done a really good job for us thus far. We had a little snag in the spring, and he’s back. He’s worked extremely hard over the summer. He came in in great shape. He’s on top of everything in the meetings. I think he’s done a really good job. What I’d like to see from him is like I said about a lot of the players: consistent play, consistent communication, consistently knowing where to be. Obviously, at the linebacker position, the game is – you don’t really see the game until the pads come on. So you add in the run game, you add in a physical playstyle that we need to play with, I think that kind of plays into some of his strengths, hopefully; but again, what’s happened in the past doesn’t matter. Obviously, we put pads on tomorrow – not that I’m focused on tomorrow – I’m locked in on today, but obviously that’s upcoming, and I think the roles that we’re talking about with offensive and defensive line, linebackers, fullbacks, receivers blocking in the run game, the kicking game, blocking on return units and defeating blocks on the coverage unit – all of those things count. They’re not really things you can see right now, but we’ll see them when that time comes. Today is about our execution, our communication, and we’re working towards that. To get back to Raekwon, I’m happy with where he’s at; but again, that’s one day. We need to build on one day and continue to improve and in those areas where you have strengths, you have to take advantage of those situations.”
(How has LB Sam Eguavoen gotten to the point where he is now, and how did you identify him from up in Canada?) – “(General Manager) Chris Grier and his staff, obviously they do a great job. Those guys are looking at everyone who’s got a pulse that’s available to play some football. They do a great job. They saw Sam and saw speed, saw athleticism, saw a tough kid, brought him in, met him, talked to him, and that was all even before I got here. They did a really good job bringing in a good, young, talented guy who has some developmental characteristics. He’s done a good job. We give him something, he does a good job with it and we’ll give him more. That’s kind of what I told the team. ‘Look, if you do a good job, then we’ll try to give you a couple more things to do,’ and I think that’s what training camp’s about. We talk about Day 1 and who’s with the first team and who’s doing this and who’s doing that. First-day installs, everybody’s got it, but when you put the Day 2install and then run some plays from Day 1, and then Day 4 comes, and you’ve got installs one, two, three and four, and then we got back to Day 1, then we’ll see who’s got it, who can play, who can think and understand what we’re doing offensively, defensively and in the kicking game when the volume starts to increase. I don’t take too much stock in Day 1. I thought it was a good day. I thought the guys, they worked hard. I thought there was good energy, good effort. I thought there was good communication. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought for all intents and purposes, it was a good day. But we’ve got to string good days together, and that’s really what it boils down to. So it’s Day 2install. We’ll sneak a Day 1 play in there or Day 1 defense or Day 1 kicking game call, and we’ll see if they remember those.”
(You mentioned yesterday that the lightbulb comes on later for some players. When you’re determining starting spots or even roster spots, how do you determine between a high ceiling player with lower performance and a low-ceiling player with higher performance?) – “It’s part of the job. It’s what we get paid to do. As coaches, as personnel guys, that’s part of our job description. I think there are guys with – some developmental players – if we feel like there’s a ceiling for them and they’ve got to play to reach the ceiling, that’s always the case – can they develop in practice? Do we stick them in for a play here, a play there in a game? That’s part of the process. It just is. I think every team’s going through that exact same process. It’s not something that’s new to evaluating and football, and it’s different. It’s case-by-case, to be frank, to be honest. Player X may need to play in some games to get to that ceiling. Player Z may just need to get those reps in practice and then gets his opportunity in a game, and he’s got to take advantage of it or not take advantage of it. It’s case-by-case. That’s part of the process, and we’ve got to do a good job of making those evaluations of who has a ceiling and who doesn’t.”
(The number of minority head coaches in the NFL is down this year, the most since the adoption of the Rooney Rule, and you were the only one hired this offseason. Can you just talk about what the opportunities are like right now in the NFL for minority head coaches?) – “I’d say there’s a great number of smart, talented leaders across the league – minority and not minority, for lack of a better term. I know of many. We’ve got some on this staff. Minority coaches who have leadership abilities, who are smart, hard-working, have all the qualities I feel are what you need to be a leader, a head coach, a coordinator, etc. That’s my opinion on it. As someone who’s gone through the interview process and been in this role even for a short time, I know there’s guys out there that I’ve been around that could do what I’m doing. Hopefully those guys get that opportunity. I think it’s coming, to be honest.”
(T Laremy Tunsil told us yesterday he did the conditioning test pretty frequently during the offseason. He said, ‘you see how this man runs us.’ When you look at the retention, I know you say you don’t put a lot…) – “Is that what he said? ‘You see how this man runs us?’” (laughter)
(I think he said, ‘you see how much he runs us.’ I don’t know if he said ‘this man.’) – “Okay, just checking. I’m going to go check on that here in a second. (laughter)”
(When you consider conditioning and tempo of practice, and I know you said you don’t put much into Day 1, but how much retention was there yesterday? How much did that part of your message get through?) – “I think the guys came in in fairly good condition, maybe because this guy told them that they better be in good condition. (laughter) I thought they were in good condition. I thought there was fairly good retention from what we went through in the spring. Like I said earlier, I thought they were ready to go. Again, Day 1 was Day 1. We’ll see how much retention they have on Day 2. My focus is on today, and again, you guys have heard it: you’re only as good as your last performance. That’s where we’re at right now. I think these guys are working though. I think they understand that. They understand they’ve got to string them together. If they don’t do that or we don’t do that as a team, then what happened yesterday doesn’t matter. Then the conditioning and all of the things they did over the summer to get to this point, they can be gone in a couple of bad practices, and then now we’re behind. Now we’ve got to review some stuff and not move on to the next install because we’ve got to go back. That becomes a spiral. So we’ve just got to string the days together. I think they understand that, and if they don’t, then this man will be telling them about it.”
