Darren Rizzi – June 2, 2016
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Thursday, June 2, 2016
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(On if anyone has a leg up in the kicking competition) – “From what we’ve done so far, it hasn’t been. It’s really not. I couldn’t say that one is ahead of the other. At this time of year, we’re really working on fundamentals. I mean (K) Marshall (Koehn) just got here with a brand new holder and two snappers. We’re trying to really work everybody in. It would be way too early for me to say that someone is ahead. I will say this, Marshall (Koehn), I think I said this earlier, has a real strong leg. He had a great career (at Iowa). He’s certainly in the mix and we’re going to look at both of those guys. (K Andrew) Franks had a real good day today, though. I think he just went 5-for-6 with a 52-yarder here with about 15 yards to spare. But they have a similar skill set. Marshall (Koehn) has a strong leg but Andrew (Franks) has come leaps and bounds. From this time last year until now, his improvement has been really dramatic. He’s always had the strength but he’s really ironed out his technique and those things, and that has been really impressive so far.”
(On the long-snapping competition) – “What we saw out of (LS) Ryan (DiSalvo) in college … In this day and age, it’s funny because the rules are completely different in college. In college, it’s hard to evaluate long snappers because they don’t block. Ninety-percent of them don’t block. The rules in college are different than the NFL. In the NFL, you can only release the end man on the line of scrimmage down the field where in college, you can release everybody. So that’s why you see all of those things in college – the rugby punts and the different formations. People always ask me why people in the NFL don’t do that. Well, it’s because the rules are different. My point is Ryan DiSalvo actually played for three years in a pro-style punting scheme, which is very rare in college these days. I could probably count on one hand the number of teams that use a pro punt formation. He happened to do that for three years so he’s a little bit ahead of the curve. What we saw out of him from a velocity standpoint and athletic ability standpoint and a blocking standpoint certainly was impressive. I went out there and worked him out myself out in San Jose. He had a good workout. I like his personality; I like his body type, his frame (and) all of that stuff. Again, he’s going to have a tough time beating out (LS) John (Denney), who has been a multiple Pro Bowler. I think John is older than me now. (laughter) I know he has as many kids too, by the way. But all kidding aside, it’s going to be a … Again, everybody we bring in here has a chance to make the team and that’s going to be a competitive situation, as well.”
(On how many players he has returning kicks right now in practice) – “What we’re doing right now, I think I mentioned this last time, we’re going to have multiple sets in the back. There are going to be teams this year that are going to hit the ball high and short. I just know that for a fact and we have to be ready to have that many guys back there. I don’t think the deep guy is always going to get the ball. For the guys that have followed us, we usually play a guy back and another guy a little bit shorter for the shorter kicks so we have to have as many people ready to field kicks as possible. As we move forward, that’s going to include the tight ends and some of the d-linemen and all of that on the high, short kicks. I just think with the new rule, a lot of people are going to try to take advantage of that. So we’re going to have as many people back there fielding JUGS balls and kickoff return balls as possible. I think there were only five guys that worked at the deep (position) yesterday and then we had the four or five other guys working short. We have to have as many guys that are able to do that (as possible). Again, depending on how the depth chart shakes out (and) who makes the team, I just want to make sure that we’re prepared for whoever is back there to be able to catch a kick. I don’t want it to be one of those things where we get to Game 1 and this guy has never been back there and we don’t have enough options.”
(On how quickly it takes him to realize if a guy has special return skills) – “That’s a great question. There are a couple of different facets to that. Number one, I think their college tapes. If you look at a rookie, for example, that has done it before, you can usually tell their skill set is pretty darn good. Kick return and punt return are two totally different animals. The majority of guys can field kickoffs but not everybody can field a punt. Fielding punts is a whole different can of worms. It’s one of those things where you have to get the ball in your hands first. It doesn’t matter how good you are if you don’t secure the ball. It sounds so fundamental and obvious but there are a lot of guys that struggle … that’s why you see some elite athletes that play in this league that don’t return punts because it requires a special skill set. A lot of guys can do kickoffs. A lot of guys can catch kickoffs. They’re easier to catch. It’s timing and all that stuff; you have more time. The second part of that is once you have the ball in your hand, can you make people miss and those types of things. You can look at an offensive player and if he’s a special guy on offense … let’s take (WR) Jarvis (Landry), for example. You watch Jarvis (Landry) in open field and now Jarvis can catch punts and kicks, now you have a guy that can be a dangerous weapon. The ball security part is going to be … there are a lot of guys who have come into this league that have tried to do punt returns and have not been successful. Then they find themselves out of the league because they can’t find themselves another knack. I could probably name five guys or six guys just off the top of my head. But there are guys that have special return ability when they get the ball in their hand but they have bad ball security and put the ball on the ground. So there are a lot of facets to that. Can you tell at practice? Yeah, I can tell at practice watching our guys on offense, for example, that get the ball in their hands. You can tell that (they can do it). But that doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to catch punts. Kickoffs, like I said, are a different animal. That’s why, and you’ve seen this before, (we) have many different guys back there returning kicks but not necessarily punts.”
(On what he saw in WR Jarvis Landry that identified he could return punts even though he did not return punts in college) – “When we drafted Jarvis (Landry) and through that whole draft (and) scouting process, we came to find out that he was the backup behind (WR) Odell Beckham (Jr.). So he actually went out and caught punts every day in practice and had that skill set for three years. He also, believe it or not, we tracked him back to high school and he did it in high school. So at least he had the skill set as a young player and he had a lot of return ability and a lot of big plays in high school. When he went to LSU, he caught punts a lot of times but he never did it in a game because he was always behind his buddy (Beckham Jr.). When he first got here, he at least had the fundamental part of it but he had never done it in live action. At least we felt like he had the skill set to do it. Obviously, the way his body control, his hands and all of that stuff certainly (helped him).”
(On how much he worries about the mental challenges a rookie faces in handling a full workload) – “I do. I think any special teams coach would say the same thing. It requires a special mindset. You have to have a mindset. It can’t be one of those things where you take it … it’s not a half-hearted thing. You’re jumping in the deep end (with) both feet first and you are going. It’s one of the reasons I really do like the preseason. Preseason has its pros and cons and one of the biggest pros for me is when you are working with a young returner, those four games are great. You get a guy back there and you get him opportunities because you don’t want that first time to be in Game 1 of the regular season. You can try to simulate it as much as you want at practice but you can’t. It’s never going to be the way it is during a game. So those preseason games are good opportunities for those guys. To answer your question, there’s no doubt. There’s always going to be that concern with … because in the punt game, even when a guy has done punt returns in college, it’s a completely different game. They’re not getting rugby punts and balls coming end over end and all these different wacky formations. It’s a completely different play than they’re used to. It’s not something they’ve done before. They may say ‘I’m a punt returner,’ but the way the game is played in college is not the way it is played in the NFL.”
(On if he is getting a competitive vibe amongst the returners) – “It is. I even see it sitting in this room in meetings. We’re going through the return stuff and it’s definitely a competitive battle, no doubt. I think there are guys that know (it’s going to be competitive). I don’t know if you guys were out there that one practice, but (WR) Jarvis (Landry) was actually back there one day with (WR) Jakeem Grant and he’s kind of coaching him up and doing different things with him. I was over there doing something else and they were working on a return drill and Jarvis has been taking ownership over that, as well. (Jarvis) knows that it’s going to benefit the team the more options we have. So no doubt, it has been more competitive. We have more options and we’re trying to work those guys. It’s a delicate balance because this time of year, when you only have so much time on the field, you take a guy like (RB) Kenyan Drake and you’re trying to get him ready at all different facets – punt protection, kickoff coverage, blocking, tackling –things he hasn’t done a lot of. At the same time, you want to get him his return work so (we’re) trying to find that delicate balance between the return stuff and the core teams is also interesting, as well.”
(On what he saw from LB Neville Hewitt to advocate for him making the team last year) – “I actually remember clearly, we did what we call a cover drill. It’s a really good open-field drill and I remember the first time we did it with (LB) Neville (Hewitt) last year, he made like three really good plays. He has exceptional feet for his size. You could tell that he had played defensive back before. For a bigger guy, you could tell that he was a safety at one point. He really is very good in the open field. He doesn’t lose his balance. He has very good body control. He’s very aggressive. He’s a guy that doesn’t say a whole lot. (He) takes it all in. He’s a sponge. He absorbs a lot and just watching his progression last year in training camp was impressive because he really didn’t have a big learning curve, especially physically. Now everybody has a mental learning curve but he was kind of right there from Day 1 with the veterans and he kind of looked like he belonged right from the beginning, right from that first drill. That kind of opened my eyes initially and then we kind of … baptism by fire a little bit. We kept throwing stuff at him and he’s a guy that made a lot of plays in the preseason games. If you remember back, he made a lot of tackles. I remember one tackle he made on kickoff team. He split a double team and made a play inside the 20 (yard line). He just happens… he’s just always making plays. He’s just always showing up on the film. He’s one of those guys that you keep getting him chances and he kept making opportunities. I mean kept making the most of the opportunities. So he was a guy that was a really pleasant surprise and ended up, I think, being in the top three or four (in) reps last year on special teams.”
(On what he has seen the past couple weeks from WR Jakeem Grant and RB Kenyan Drake as returners) – “ (WR) Jakeem’s (Grant) a little bit ahead of where I thought he’d be as a punt returner. He’s worked at it. You could tell that he really took that serious in his preparation for the NFL draft. He had probably heard it from many, many teams, including us, that if you’re going to make it in the NFL, this is a skill set you are going to have to have. So you could tell he really worked at it coming in. And then (RB) Kenyan (Drake) again, we actually had Kenyan returning punts a little bit. We’re trying to work on him more as a kick returner. We started to get him into the punt return stuff and he was a lot better early on than I thought he’d be, as well. So I think they’re a little bit ahead of probably where I thought they’d be at this point. I think again, watching those guys on the offensive side of the ball too has been impressive, as well – watching those guys work.”
(On DE Dion Jordan and what skills he brought to the special teams unit) – “I’m going to leave that one alone. I apologize. I did work with Dion (Jordan). I think I know the whole process right now but until the guy is in the building, I’m just going to kind of leave that one alone until he’s here. If and when he comes back, I’ll be happy to talk about anything but he did play a lot of special teams and all of that but I’m just going to leave that one alone until he gets back in the building. I’m just going to respect the process and all that stuff. I apologize but I just think that’s the best way to handle that one.”
