Matt Burke – August 5, 2016
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Friday, August 5, 2016
Linebackers Coach Matt Burke
(On the advantages of having a veteran linebacker corps) – “Anytime you’ve got guys that have played football in the league – conceptually and stuff like that, that can pick up things easier – it just helps. Obviously (we have) guys that have seen plays and seen reps and played some of the defenses that we’re playing so it’s a pleasure to work with those guys.”
(On if he is seeing the rookie version of LB Kiko Alonso) – “Absolutely. He’s been great. He’s really taken to what we’re trying to do. I was telling somebody earlier, to me he’s a modern-day Mike (linebacker). He’s a long, rangy, instinctive kid. He’s got a great feel in space for us and getting in throwing lanes. He covers a lot of ground. He’s really picked up on what we’re trying to do. It’s a new scheme for him. He’s never really played this style of football so that’s kind of one thing about … but he’s picked up on it. He’s been really great to work with.”
(On LB Kiko Alonso being a three-down linebacker and how common that is in today’s NFL) – “To me, that’s ideal. It’s ideal, especially with little things like having the guy that has the headset (being) a guy you can keep on the field for all three downs and can play and you’re not worried about it. So that’s why we feel, again like I said, (he’s) kind of a modern-day Mike (linebacker) where he’s not a two-down thumper and you’re worried about his matchups in space. We feel just as comfortable with him playing on third-and-10 as we do on first-and-10 so that will be helpful for us to keep him going like that.”
(On the depth at linebacker and LB James-Michael Johnson taking first team reps today with LB Kiko Alonso getting a rest day) – “He (James-Michael Johnson) has been (taking first team reps with Kiko Alonso missing today’s practice). ‘JMJ’ has done a great job. Honestly, he probably prepares better than anybody in the room. It’s important to him. He’s in asking questions every day. He comes in the morning first thing and literally has a list of ‘Alright, here’s the five things I saw last night that I need you to tell me about.’ He’s done a great job of preparing and filling in there. Like I said, the rest of the guys are just working. We’re just trying to mix them up, mix some groups up and put some guys in different spots. Ideally in terms of depth-wise, it helps to have guys that can play multiple positions for you so we’re trying to mix and match some guys in that sense. So as you move forward into the season, you have some versatility there where you’re not stuck with just one guy can only play one position because that hamstrings you a little bit as you move forward.”
(On LB Koa Misi playing the run well thus far during training camp) – “Oh yes, he’s a man child. That’s a big 6-3, 255 pound linebacker that can run and with his history of what he’s done… It’s funny, I coached Koa in the Senior Bowl. We were with the (Detroit) Lions when he was coming out and that was his first experience playing stack linebacker, so I started training him a long time ago. We feel in the run-game specifically, I really feel there are not a lot of tight ends that can match up with him in the run game – strength-wise, explosion. He’s obviously played on the ball as a 3-4 guy and some rush stuff. He’s got a versatile skill set that we’re trying to take advantage of but he’s showing a lot.”
(On if the starting linebackers should be above-average in the NFL) – “I can’t speak for any other teams in the league but I always have high expectations for everybody in the room. They’ve been playing well, like I said they’ve been buying in. So yes, I don’t know about a ranking, but I have high expectations for them to perform. And they do too. That’s part of the way we run our group. That’s the way I run my room. We have high expectations for all of them so when we’re in there watching practice film, we’re coaching up the little things and the details. If it’s not good enough, they’re going to hear about it and they know it. It raises their bar and everyone (else’s). I think we have high expectations as a group. That’s the only way to do it here.”
(On if any of the undrafted college free agent linebackers have caught his eye) – “They’re all working – I’ll give them that. It’s a tough spot to be in; probably very typical as a rookie. They’re all inconsistent. They flash some things where you’re going, ‘Okay, he’s kind of turned the corner,’ and then they have an error. With those guys, it’s consistency of getting everything down and doing it play-in and play-out and it’s not good enough to make one flash play. All of them have had their moments and all of them have had times where I’ve wanted to (knock) them to the ground sometimes.” (laughter)
(On if he feels obligated to give his backups snaps during the season so starters can rest) – “I think it’s situational. Ideally, yes, you’d like to be able to… Two-fold: To me, I’ve always felt that you keep guys involved. If you’ve got a guy like Spencer Paysinger and you can give him a role and keep him involved and give him some plays, not only giving the other guys maybe three or four plays off in a game but keeping him into the game plan. I think it’s hard when you have three guys that just take every rep the whole year and then something happens, now a guy hasn’t played much (is on the field). So yes, ideally you’d like that, but you can talk to (Defensive Coordinator) Vance (Joseph). His philosophy has always been since Day 1 when we got here, this defense is going to be about players, not about scheme. We’re going to utilize the skill sets of the guys that we have and if we feel comfortable with someone fitting a role or taking 10 reps a game or 12 reps, then we’ll do that. If not, then we’re going to go with what we go (with). Obviously we’ll make those decisions as we move forward once the roster is set and (once we know) what the talent level and skill set is that we have at the position. There’s a lot of ways to handle it and again, you have guys like Koa (Misi) who has a different skill set than Jelani (Jenkins) and Kiko (Alonso). So there may be different spots where we can roll those guys through.”
(On if he keeps his linebackers at specific positions or if he cross-trains them) – “We cross-train them. To be honest with you, in our scheme, the two outside guys are fairly interchangeable. And again, depending on some of the schematic stuff that we’re doing, a guy like Koa (Misi), who has a skill set of sort of an on-the-ball guy, maybe we move him up there (to the line of scrimmage) and we move some guys around. But ideally they’re interchangeable, especially with the way the league is going offensively and what you have to defend. You need three guys with fairly similar skill sets – guys that can all play in space, move and cover and come downhill and whatnot. We’re trying to cross-train some guys just to have position versatility.”
