Brian Flores – June 16, 2021
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Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(We get to talk to WR Allen Hurns and WR Albert Wilson today. Did it look to you like there’s been any rust at all with them or anything that would suggest that they sat out last season? Or did they pick up where they left off in 2019 basically?) – “First I want to say sorry, guys, for being a little late. But as far as Allen (Hurns) and Albert (Wilson), I think that they’re both in good shape. I think they both look good. I think they both – there’s always a little rust from any player after having some time off – but I think they look really good. They’re both in good shape. I think they’re both running well, moving well, picking up the offensive concepts well. Yeah, I’m pleased with both guys.”
(And one last quick thing about receivers in general. The fact that you kept so many, at least at this point, instead of maybe paring down the roster of what you have there, you could very well have eight to 10 NFL-quality receivers. What’s the thinking of you and General Manager Chris Grier to keep that many as opposed to maybe cutting one or two of them to clear out cap space?) – “I think we like the depth in the room and the competition in the room, and we’ll see how it all plays out. We always talk about creating a competitive environment for each position room and I think that’s the case in the receiver room. We’ll see how it shakes out through training camp and preseason games. The best five, six, seven guys will be on the team.”
(A somewhat relatable question with WR Albert Wilson and WR Allen Hurns, my question specifically is about scouting a guy that you guys drafted – S Jevon Holland – who also opted out last season, but you guys showed confidence to pick him pretty high. For guys who did opt out like those three mentioned, do you look at I guess individual training during that period? Is it more so like with Jevon, what he had put on tape previously? How much thought process in the scouting with Jevon went into his individual training during that period of last year?) – “As far as their individual training, we really don’t know what each of those guys – they’re not with us. Obviously Jevon wasn’t with us and neither were Albert and Allen, so we don’t know what they’ve done specifically. I think when you see them in person and watch them work with us, we know that they’ve been doing something and doing something that has kept all three guys in good shape. The ability to move the way they need to move to have success in this league, I think with Jevon specifically, he’s learning. Knowing the defense, the terminology, learning, getting to know his teammates – that’s part of his kind of learning curve. Not necessarily the case for Albert and Allen – older guys who know a lot of the guys on the team already; but I think we can assume. I don’t know exactly what they did from a training standpoint. I think we can assume they all were working – working hard and doing a good job from that standpoint. I know you mentioned kind of as far as how we evaluated Jevon without seeing him, we went off his ’19 tape and a lot of things we liked and we’re happy to have him. Really happy to have all three guys.”
(I wanted to ask you about the decision to stay outside when they elements got kind of rough yesterday. What was the thinking? Was there any thought of going inside and what did you accomplish by being in that weather?) – “We could end up playing in that type of weather. It’s really as simple as that. I think we need to be prepared to play in that type of weather. We live in South Florida. It rains pretty much every day and we could potentially play in that weather, that type of setting, and I think it’s good work for us. People may not want to stand out in the rain, but I think how you – your body mechanics need to change. You’ve got to keep your feet underneath you. You’ve got to be able to keep yourself under control so you can cut and make tackles and make people miss. I think oftentimes when you get into rain-type of situations, that’s the first thing that happens, is you just lose your footing and a tackle that would have been made means the guy was on the ground or a big play you don’t get because the receiver or running back is on the ground. I think you need to practice in those elements, so any time it rains and we have an opportunity to stay out there and there’s no lightning and we’re not forced to go in, I think it’s a good opportunity for guys to practice in those elements, so if they do show up in a game, we can still have success and not turn back and say, ‘Aw man, I wish we practiced in the rain one more time so guys would know what it feels like to make a tackle or make a cut and get vertical or make a break on a pass or get your plant foot down on a field goal.’ We’re not always going to have perfect weather conditions.”
(Quick follow-up if I may – were you pleased with how they responded to the elements yesterday?) – “Yeah, I think any time you get into any type of situation where you have experience, I would say, it helps you. So yeah, we were on the ground a little bit; but offensively, defensively, in the kicking game, they now know what it feels like to play in the rain and they can make some adjustments. And I think the flip side of that is if you’re not practicing in the rain, how do you make those adjustments? You end up making them in the game and hopefully we’ve prevented or maybe gotten one more play because we practiced in those elements versus not practicing in them and not having understood or felt what it’s like to slip, fall and know what those adjustments need to be.”
(I’m sure if it was October or November and your starting quarterback threw five interceptions, you’d be losing your mind. So in June in a minicamp, QB Tua Tagovailoa throws five interceptions and you think what?) – “I think practice is a time where not just at the quarterback position, but at every position you test the waters and see what works, what doesn’t work so that you can go back, learn from it, make adjustments and try to improve. I think that’s the same thing for us as coaches. There’s been many times where I say, ‘Hey, I want to see what this blitz looks like,’ or ‘I want to see what this coverage looks like,’ or ‘let’s see what this pass route looks like or what this punt fake looks like against a certain defense.’ And then we’ll come back and say, ‘We probably shouldn’t do it that way. We should do it this way.’ I think that’s the case for any position. If you’re a DB – hey, let me see if I can jump this route and make this play and let’s see if I can do it in practice versus a game where obviously if you jump and you don’t make it, that’s not what you’re looking for. Or if you never attempt a 60-yard field goal in practice, how do you know you can make it in a game? I think it’s the same thing at every position. I want to punt it inside the 5-yard line. If I never practice it or never try to attempt to do it, then what makes me think I can get it done in a game? I think it’s the same at the quarterback position. We’re going to see if we can fit some throws in and then there might be a minor adjustment that we need to make to make the play. How do you know that if you don’t make the attempt? But at the end of the day, you never want turnovers anywhere so we need to limit those. We always need to limit those. But at the same time – what, this is the first day of practice? We’re not looking for the finished product. Mistakes are going to happen. We’re going to correct them and continue just to improve and get better.”
(I wanted to ask you about G Solomon Kindley. Where is he, one from a conditioning standpoint; and two, what do you expect to see from his development in the second year? I know you’ve got so many of them grouped in, in terms of second year players; but specifically him, since he started most games last year?) – “You mentioned conditioning and I don’t think anyone is where they need to be from a conditioning standpoint. It’s hard to think anyone on our team is ready to go out there and play 70 to 75 plays in an NFL game right now. We haven’t had enough practice. We haven’t had any preseason games. So collectively across the board – look our guys are in shape, but it’s different type of shape to get into and get ready for an NFL game, which that includes putting pads on and practicing in pads play after play after play. I think Solomon, as well as really everyone on our team, is working to get into condition. We’ll continue to do that. As far as where he is as far as a player – I think you mentioned going into Year 2 – I think he’s a little more comfortable and understands the importance of communication along the offensive line, and how important his techniques and fundamentals are. I think he’s trying to take it one day at a time and improve and get better. I’ve been pleased with where he’s at and hopefully he continues to make strides to get everything – his techniques, his fundamentals, his conditioning, all of it – where it needs to be so we can have a good finish to this minicamp up, then hopefully that springboards us into training camp.”
(My question is similar to the earlier one in terms of how you calibrate aggressiveness in training camp. I’m wondering, when do you kind of pull that back and start to focus on “we have to be more detailed and more sharp in those areas, and not be so aggressive, and play more like a gameday week?”) – “Well, we always want to be detailed. We always want to be detailed. We always want to make the right play; but there is a little bit of – I think you have to practice. I don’t think that’s Day 1 of practice where it’s, ‘everything has to be – the ball has to be perfect, this has got to be –’ I think there is some leeway. I think we try to tell all the players practice is a place where you work your fundamentals and techniques and if there is a specific route technique you want to use to try to get open, let’s see if it works in practice. If there is a specific technique as a DB that you want to work a quick jam, or you want to work press, or you want to work off, or you want to blitz from depth, or you want to get up on the line of scrimmage and blitz them that way – there are a few different ways you can approach any play and I think you use practice as a way to figure out what’s the best thing for you individually. And we, as coaches, will say ‘this is what I think you should try.’ The players have input on that as well. I think that’s when you do it. When do you say – I think you need to try it first before we as a staff say you probably shouldn’t do that, you should do this. I think you just learn from those experiences. Whether it’s football, whether it’s anything – I’m sure it’s journalism, whether it’s any sport – I think you learn from experiences. That’s the case with all of our players. I know we’re talking specific to one position, but we’ve got guys that try different things really at all positions.”
(To follow up on that QB Tua Tagovailoa thing again, he mentioned the aggressiveness and you mentioned his aggressiveness. I think a lot of people who watched last season would know that’s something you guys want him to improve on. What do you say to him after that practice so that he doesn’t go back into a shell as far as aggressiveness?) – “I don’t think Tua is going into a shell. I think – look, I tell him to continue being aggressive. Really, the conversations are a lot of what we’ve already talked about here. It’s using this time to practice pushing the ball down field, then we’ll make the adjustments and the corrections. Then we’ll go at it again the next day. That’s the normal progression of how this goes. My conversations with him are, ‘we’ll look at it, we’ll make the corrections and we’ll get better and come out here and go tomorrow.”
(If I can ask about another second-year player, CB Noah Igbinoghene is obviously getting a lot more reps out there because of CB Xavien Howard’s situation. Where have you seen him going into Year 2? I know he maybe didn’t perform as well as he wanted to as a rookie, but have you seen elements of his game that have made an early jump at this point?) – “I think he’s worked hard this offseason. I’d say from a training standpoint but also just understanding conceptually the defense and all of the things that are going on in the back end. I think he’s made some improvements and I’m pleased with where he’s at. Hopefully he continues on his trajectory.”
(I wanted to ask you about CB Nik Needham’s rise and his improved play over the years. We saw him pick off WR DeVante Parker yesterday on the outside. It seems like he’s always been a consistent player who has practiced well and showed up in games for you. What can you say about his progression over the years?) – “He’s worked hard. He’s tough, he’s competitive, he’s a team-first guy. He’s made improvements really since he’s got here, and he’s continuing to get better. He’s aggressive. He wants to be out there, he wants to compete and normally guys who put all of those things together, they improve. And he’s definitely made a lot of improvement. He’s continuing to improve and I’m very happy with where he’s at. He does everything necessary to continue to make improvement.”
(Is there any news to report on CB Xavien Howard and do you expect him today?) – “I do not expect him today. Obviously we talked in length about him yesterday. There’s really nothing else to report.”
