Frank Smith – September 8, 2022
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Thursday, September 8, 2022
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(One thing that Head Coach Mike McDaniel has told us is that when you and Offensive Line Coach Matt Applebaum and him came in and evaluated the young offensive linemen, these were guys that you all thought highly of coming out of the draft. I wanted to ask you specifically, have you studied OL Austin Jackson and OL Liam Eichenberg coming out of the draft? And also, skills that you think they have that will make them good at their new positions?) – “Liam, yes, due to last year, coaching the line in L.A. Prior that to, Austin, normally with the Raiders, we normally do a collective evaluation. But that was our transition to Vegas and with the virus, so I did not (see much of) Austin, but I had seen him in crossover tape. But I mean, we were fortunate with the way that they are as players, their abilities, they possess the skillset necessary that we look for in linemen. We actually liked Liam in our evaluation process. He was on our draft board in kind of the same area where he was selected. So overall, that was the one thing I think you hit on, that we really viewed as a positive of the job, was the investment in the group with the draft picks, and also some of the back-end guys. Larnel Coleman was a target of ours for free agency as well – college free agency. So just overall, when we looked at the group, we saw a young group that really had potential, and sometimes when you see guys that have potential, why isn’t the reality coming? And sometimes it’s a system, coaching, consistency of a system. There was a lot of change here prior within the systems. And just the greatest thing over our experience coaching young players, that are the triggering tools to help them – consistency, not moving around spots across the line, letting him be able to sink into one spot, understanding that playing run on the right side is different than the left. You try not to switch him to let him get in the groove of that, let them understand how the picture is affected at that spot. So overall, we’ve been very pleased with the development. But like everything, most positions take time because you’ve got to learn and you’ve got to learn through experience. And also it helps why we valued having Terron (Armstead) here with his experience and our history in New Orleans. I just, personally, knowing him from when he was a rookie, knew what experience he would provide as a leader, and also as a player, and his perspective has been extremely valuable for our young players.”
(One of the sacrifices you make when you do that – and I totally understand what you’re saying about keeping guys in one spot and letting them develop – but one of the sacrifices could be if there’s an injury and a guy needs to fill in. How versatile are players? Or how ready are you to fill in those gaps if need be?) – “That’s a great question. So I think it’s always you’re planning for contingencies and you work them as a staff upstairs. You do that in more of your individual when you’re drilling. You’re trying to create consistency in your group work. But in turn, that’s why you try to position them in spots where you feel that the flexibility maybe on their same side, outwardly or inwardly – not necessarily may have to go across the ball, but sometimes it’s necessary what happens. Last year, our left guard was our backup right tackle. So I mean, we work that. Every Friday, he would do right-handed sets. So you always work those contingencies. I think that it would be remiss for us to not make sure that they understand. But at the same time, you can’t always be in the worst case scenarios because you have to let them get a solid understanding of the foundation of playing that spot. It’d be like your right defensive end, we want him working on the left side so he understands his rush role. If that’s what he does well, you leave him over there. Like that’s one thing I always thought with Von Miller, that’s why they always left him on that side in Denver, because he rushed the right tackle really well. Khalil Mack rushes the right tackle really well just because normally lines have these premier left tackles and sometimes the guys on that side just play well. So I think in turn, an offensive line, if you’re moving around a lot and working contingencies, you never really get the consistency of the fundamentals you’re looking for and then the confidence in being able to play through the variables as they change.”
(When you think about how you want to use your running backs this season, how much will be what you want to dictate to teams and how much of it will be matchup-oriented?) – “I think both. I think that you try and you understand basically what your players do well and then what schemes put you in a position to attack the defense and keep them – I wouldn’t say guessing, but keeping them to react to what we’re doing. So I think it’s always, whether it’s running backs or all positions, we’re always trying to make sure that we maximize the player skillsets inside of schemes that complement that. I think we’re blessed with versatile – especially running backs, versatile backs that have full skillsets. Like our wide receivers, obviously, have great skillsets for their position. And then obviously, athletic linemen, versatile tight ends. I mean it’s kind of a primary thing. Guys who have one specific skillset, you can play with them, you’ve just got to make sure you’re asking them to be maximized in those situations.”
(What do you like most about your offense, or the two or three things that you like most about it?) – “You can go all kinds of places there. (laughter) Well, I would say for me personally, and my time in Chicago, years ago, I was able to first start studying what Mike (McDaniel) and Kyle (Shanahan) were doing, through basically their journeys in Cleveland, Atlanta and then San Francisco. So I’ve always admired this offense for its versatility, for its foundational pieces, for its basis in their scheme and how everything is a complementary piece off of it. So for me to be working in this offense with Mike and then also the collection of all of our coaches, (Passing Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks) Darrell Bevell, (Wide Receivers Coach) Wes Welker, (Assistant Head Coach/Tight Ends) Jon Embree, (Offensive Line Coach) Matt Applebaum – I mean, I could go on and on just listening to all of the people. But everyone has a story from their journey that it was being incorporated through their experiences, their schemes, their knowledge and the collective of, as Mike was putting everything together, assimilating any concepts or thoughts that guys had along the way. So for me, this is a system that in a weird way, I believed in way back when I was coaching in college and calling plays because inadvertently foundations of running the football that open up the rest of the offense was kind of just a core belief of mine. I didn’t really know it at the time – I was like, 26 years old – but then as you grow, you really realize that’s a fundamental foundational piece, philosophically, for my coaching that I share with Mike. I mean I skip to work every day. It’s awesome. So just the whole being coupled with the system, the scheme, the makeup of this building, just everyone that comes to work every day to be their best – the players. I mean you couldn’t ask for a greater situation as a coach.”
(What stood out to you about TE Tanner Conner since you first got him?) – “It’s weird. So him coming out of Idaho State kind of reminded me – it was funny when Jon (Embree) brought him up through the process, Josh Hill was out of Idaho State in 2013, a similar story, a spread out wide receiver converting to tight end in New Orleans, and man he was a great glue piece for us. And Tanner has shown a really, really great skillset. He shows the ability to block. He shows the ability to run down the field, separate, track the ball. I mean, just all great things for the position that we’re really excited for. And his development, as the season comes, will be a great challenge for us because you’re really excited for what he’s going to bring with the way his skillset and everything has been flashing in camp.”
(What stands out when you pop on the Patriots defensive tape?) – “Just for them, they’re versatile. They’re a fundamentally sound, well-coached team. They have a system they believe in that you can just see they know who they are. (They are) versatile in what each week will be necessary for them to try and match up with the offense. So just overall, as they’ve done over the years, they just have a very sound system where they try and make you play to other parts of your strengths because they just understand what the offense is trying to do.”
(To follow up on the tight ends, you guys have five listed on the depth chart. That’s maybe more than some other teams around the league. What have you kind of seen on the buy-in side of those guys? It’s very different scheme than maybe they are used to, maybe they are used to being used more in the passing game. What kind of buy-in have you seen from those guys in the blocking game and their commitment to that?) – “I think the buy-in has been great. They understand in the system how important they are to make it go. Through coaching the position for six years, I understood personally that you can never have enough at that position just because there’s always a shortage. Evaluation of the tight end position always felt similar to quarterbacks. It’s like there are just never enough. So when you have guys with NFL skillset, ability, broad-based skillsets, you can never have enough. So ultimately, I think the buy-in has been phenomenal. I think Jon’s done a great job with the group, painting the picture of what we’re going to ask of them to do. It’s been different from what they’ve been asked to do in the past. So I think from Durham (Smythe), Mike (Gesicki), Hunter (Long), Cethan (Carter) and Tanner (Conner), they’ve done a fantastic job of really trying to be complete players inside of their skill sets.”
