Matt Burke – May 12, 2018
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Saturday, May 12, 2018
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(Can you please talk about the challenge of replacing DT Ndamukong Suh and how you guys plan to do it? And if you wouldn’t mind just going over briefly the top four guys you have there, each of them – DT Jordan Phillips, DT Davon Godchaux, DT Vincent Taylor and DT Akeem Spence now.) – “Is that your top four guys? (laughter)”
(Well I guess DE William Hayes, obviously if he plays tackle. Is there someone I’m missing?) – “I don’t know. We’ll see. Obviously, I have a long history with (Ndamukong) Suh. He’s a good player and (an) organization has to make decisions on certain things. It’s always hard to move on from guys and obviously, on the field and guys you have relationships with; but that’s part of the business, so we’re prepared to do that. I’m excited about that room. We’ve got some young players in there with Jordan (Phillips) and Davon (Godchaux) that we’re expecting to make leaps from. Bringing in Akeem (Spence) was a nice piece for us. We feel, especially with his history with (Defensive Line Coach) Kris (Kocurek) … I’ve worked with Kris for a long time. I feel pretty strongly about his influence in that room and what he’s going to bring to the table. Really, it’s going to be an open competition. We’re looking to get … In an ideal world, we’d play four tackles and rotate them through. The way we want to play and the style that we want to play, we want to keep them fresh and roll those guys. We’re asking guys to play full speed and chase the ball and attack and do those things. It’s hard to do that if you’re asking them to play 80 snaps or 60 snaps or whatever it is. So ideally, we’ll have four guys that we’ll feel comfortable rolling through there and all getting equal reps. Whoever earns the starting spots, earns the starting spots; but our two backup tackles are going to play football for us. Vincent (Taylor) played some football for us last year. Gabe Wright got in at the end of the year. We’ve got some guys we’ve added to the mix and like I said, it’ll be a good competition. Again, it’s early. It’s four weeks or whatever it’s been; but it’s been a good work ethic. Again, Kris has done a good job of kind of connecting with those guys and getting things started. I’m looking forward to that room. I think it’s going to be a surprise for people.”
(Has that been the catch-22 with DT Ndamukong Suh, that he was such a high-volume player and he was on the field so much you really couldn’t have a four-man rotation?) – “It’s obviously a valuable piece to have – a guy that can perform at a high level and take those reps, that’s rare. I don’t know if I would phrase it that way, but obviously those are snaps that we have to replace and we think we have a pretty good plan moving forward to do that.”
(With S Minkah Fitzpatrick’s versatility, are you tempted to use him in a lot of different ways or would you rather him focus on one spot?) – “I think that’s going to be up to him and how much he absorbs and takes on. Again, it’s been 48 hours or whatever it is. In the limited interaction I’ve had with him, he’s shown the ability to be sort of a big-picture thinker and he understands football and he’s a student of the game from that sense. So, I think he, again, my initial impression is that he’s got the ability to absorb a lot; but we’ll have to see how that goes. We’re just kind of starting him out. It’s going to be up to him how much he can take on and how good we feel about expanding his role into certain things. Once we get everybody together – it’s just the rookies this weekend – so once we get the whole squad and that whole room together and sort of how we’re utilizing those players, I’m hopeful we can do some different things with him.”
(On linebacker, if you can talk about LB Jerome Baker’s skillset, and also there’s clearly a job open in your starting group. If you could throw out people you envision being in the mix for that.) – “You know I’m going to name every linebacker in the room right now? (laughter)”
(I know you could easily say that, but I think logic would suggest … You know you have guys that play more than others – LB Stephone Anthony and LB Chase Allen. Just you vision for the spot alongside LB Kiko Alonso and LB Raekwon McMillan, presuming Raekwon returns to health.) – “Man, you answer a lot of your own questions. (laughter) Okay, sure. I’ll try to remember all of the questions you asked. (laughter) There’s a multi-part there. (laughter) Jerome … Obviously, the skillset for Jerome Baker, as an athlete, we like his speed. That was obviously the first thing that stood out. He ran well in Indy, but even talking to a lot of guys up at Ohio State, they even felt like he’s even faster than what he tested at in some things. Put him in the category of some of those guys that’ve come through there in terms of the (Darron) Lees and the (Ryan) Shaziers and those type of athletes. That was obviously a strong point for us in terms of a starting point for a skillset. We want to add speed to that room and he was one of the faster linebackers in the draft and we felt good about getting him where we did. Again, in terms of a starter … What’s the date? May something? All of those guys have had … The guys that were here last year, all of them played for us. Chase (Allen) started for us. ‘Steph’ (Stephone Anthony) started for us. Mike Hull started for us. Obviously getting Raekwon back and getting back in that mix, we feel good about where he is. Again, I think it’s a pretty open spot right now. We don’t have, per se, a returning starter. Obviously, Kiko (Alonso) in one spot and we’re hopefully projecting Raekwon. We feel good about putting him inside and letting him play ball there. I think we’ve just added a lot of pieces to that room and I think there’s going to be a lot of … Again, hopefully some cross-training and some mixing and matching a little bit and it may again … This may come down to putting it on myself and the coaching staff in terms of there may be packages that Jerome fits in better than ‘Steph’ or Chase or whatnot. We’ve got some different body types and some versatile players in there that may end up shaking out. Again, looking ahead, it’s sort of package to package or week to week and things like that. All of those guys are going to get a shot to work through that and we’ll go from there.”
(The offensive guys have been talking so much about QB Ryan Tannehill’s return over and over and over. You guys, it’s not exactly the same position, but you get your middle linebacker back. And in this case, we don’t actually know that much about LB Raekwon McMillan because we haven’t seen him play. You do, because you’ve seen him on the field.) – “Not as much as I’ve wanted to.”
(How big of an acquisition is this essentially for you guys, that you’re brining in a starting middle linebacker?) – “If it works out the way we think it can and hope it does, that’s a huge acquisition for us. We obviously had high expectations last year for him coming out of the draft as a second-round pick. It was tough, obviously. Not just everything that went down, but we kind of … (Linebackers Coach) Frank (Bush) and I had gone back and watched – getting ready for some of the stuff – we went back and watched some of the offseason last year and watched some of his snaps. He was really getting to that point where he was about to make that move. We really felt like we went through training camp and we wanted to make him earn it. Some of those guys and Mike Hull had been here and had been getting some time and had played ball for us. We really felt like he was just starting to take that step when we got him going before he got injured. We had high hopes for him last year. Nothing he’s done since then has discouraged that. He’s been really in-tune, been really sharp. He’s got all the leadership skills and things that we look for, especially at that position. He’s worked his ass off to get better. He’s rehabbed. He’s in here every day. He hasn’t shown any limitations so far, which has been encouraging. Hopefully he’s a big piece for us. I’m encouraged by him and I’m excited to see him get some work.”
(I know that it’s May and…) – “Disclaimers already out there. (laughter)”
(Can you explain the vision of S T.J. McDonald, S Reshad Jones and S Minkah Fitzpatrick – three safeties. How does that play? How does that work?) – “Did you say it was May? (laughter) Listen, it’s always good to have different weapons for me. Again, I know I mentioned this last year, but the way offenses are going, even when you look at some of the guys that we drafted on offense at the tight end spot and running back spot and those sort of things. We’re going to put this best 11 players on the field – maybe play to play, week to week, game to game – in terms of our matchups. I have a little bit more comfort level now with how to utilize those guys. Again, we’re going to let those guys compete in terms of safeties; but again, I look at it a little bit like the linebackers now. There may be some three-safety packages where they’re all on the field together. There may be times where T.J. and Reshad are a better grouping for us or Minkah and Reshad are a better grouping for us or something else. I don’t know. I think our challenge, again, as a coaching staff, is to get the best feel for how to utilize those guys best – what each of their strengths are – so when we get into a game plan situation, ‘Hey, this guys is better at doing this,’ or, ‘We can put all these guys and maybe use this guy this way,’ or that sort of thing. Again, it’s early. Again, just through our scouting process with Minkah and how we felt about his versatility and his ability to do a lot of different things on the field at a fairly high level, so that’s another piece we’ve added in the room and we’re just going to let it play out. I would just, again, I’m anticipating – if I’m going to be honest with you – I’m anticipating having different packages where there’s going to be different groupings on the field at different times, whether it’s all three of them or different groupings of two of them at a time or whatnot. That’s going to play out as we go through. I’m anticipating having to control that a little bit – whether it’s in the linebacker room or the safety, DB room, however you want to call those guys – having multiple packages were we’re going to have the ability. I think is a good thing. We’ll have to manage it, but it’s a good thing that we’ll have the ability to put different people on the field in terms of how the offense is dictating what we need to stop.”
(When you have three safeties on the field, what are some of the things that you can do, some of the options available to you that you wouldn’t normally have?) – “To me, it’s all about matchups. So if we feel that those body types or those players, whether its Minkah (Fitzpatrick), T.J. (McDonald), Reshad (Jones) at our safety spot are better matchups, whether it’s on tight ends or backs or whether it’s having a bigger body as a nickel on … Say it’s a first down and Minkah has absorbed a nickel spot better, then maybe we can use him as a first-down nickel, for example. Or maybe Jerome Baker has a role in that sense or whatever it may be. We played a little bit around with that last year against New England. We played some three-safety packages. They’re such a tight end heavy team and things like that. I just think the more players you get, again, that are multi-dimensional and have different skillsets, the more you can play around with how you’re utilizing them on the field on defense. It’s hard to say right now. It’s going to be week to week. We’re going to see how it plays out in the next, whatever we have here, six weeks of the offseason program and going into training camp. We’re going to try to get all of those guys caught up to speed and in multiple spots and have the versatility to do a lot of different things, hopefully.”
(DE Robert Quinn, was this a guy that you kind of got on the table for when they were discussing a trade and is his best football still ahead of him?) – “Yes, yes, yes, yes. When (General Manager) Chris (Grier) called me … I don’t remember what the timeframe of it was, but Chris kind of reached out and was like, ‘Hey,’ or maybe it was (Head Coach) Adam (Gase). One of them or both of them kind of reached out and was like, ‘Hey.’ He’s like, ‘Take a look at Robert Quinn and let me know,’ when the possibility was starting to be discussed. I thought he was joking. Literally he called and I was like, ‘Yeas, I’m good. Absolutely, 100 percent. I’m on board.’ He was like, ‘No, seriously. Watch him and just make sure.’ Kris (Kocurek) and I sat down and probably watched about five or six games. I called back and said, ‘Hey, my answer is still the same. One-hundred percent, yes.’ He’s a guy who, honestly, even going back to when he came out of the draft, we were really high on him when I was in Detroit. We thought he was a really good scheme fit for what we were trying to do. I think he’s … He’s a rare … He has a rare ability to bend. It’s kind of freaky to watch sometimes, even just going through drill work. He’s one of the most loosest, kind of bendy, athletes I’ve ever seen and I’ve ever been around at the end position. He battled through a few injuries the last couple years but it wasn’t … It was two or three years ago or whatever when he had 19 sacks or something in a season. He’s got that kind of ability, and he’s been great. He’s been a good worker. He doesn’t say much. He’s kind of a quiet guy. He just comes to work every day with a smile on his face and gets after it. I think he feels comfortable being in, hopefully, a scheme that fits his skillset; but I’m really excited to see what he can do for us. I think that positon is going to be an area of strength for us.”
(Your pass defense has added a lot of weapons in the past couple of years among DE Charles Harris, DE Robert Quinn, CB Cordrea Tankersley, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, T.J. McDonald. How much different should it look this year? Are you expecting just an all out game-changing attacking unit?) – “You put me on the spot. Yes, I have high expectations. I do every year. Obviously, we’ve been fortunate the last couple drafts and offseason to add some pieces. Chris Grier and those guys have done a good job in trying to get … I’m like the broken record in terms of me always wanting more, more, more and ‘Give me this,’ and ‘I don’t have this,’ and all of that. They’ve done a good job of providing some of those weapons and pieces. Again, right or wrong, I have high expectations every season. But the more that we develop these guys and the more we kind of get the pieces that we think fit our scheme … I don’t know if you can put it on one guy like all of a sudden Minkah is going to be the end-all, be-all and change everything or Robert Quinn is the X-factor. But the more of those guys that we keep adding to the puzzle and the more we can get them comfortable playing the techniques we want to play and doing the things we want to do, obviously the better we should play. We have high expectations in the defensive room, on this staff, for this unit, and I expect that we’ll perform better. If not, I’m sure I’ll hear it from you guys.”
(Going up against Head Coach Adam Gase’s offense every day for the last two years in practice, he doesn’t seem able to run the up-tempo offense he wants to – the hurry up, the no huddle. Why has he been handcuffed by that situation? Do you envision he’s got the opportunity to do that this year?) – “You guys get to talk to him too don’t you? I don’t want to speak for Adam. Again, I’ll say this, just again, in terms of some of what we’ve been talking about here. As a play caller, I think the best coaches, your job is to take what you have in hand and utilize it to the best of your ability and put the players that you have in the best position to succeed and to make plays, whether to score points or to stop points from being scored or whatnot. I think Adam has just been conscientious of, ‘Okay, these are the pieces that I have at my disposal,’ and trying to put … I think if you look at Adam’s history, one of the things I really respect about him if you go back to … (He) had success with Tim Tebow to Peyton Manning to Jay Cutler in Chicago (and) all of these things here. I think that’s just what he’s done. So I’m not sure if he has used those words about feeling handcuffed. I think he’s just said, ‘Okay, this is kind of what we have at our disposal and these are some of the best ways to utilize the skill players or the pieces I have.’ I’m sure, just like myself, you always have sort of the perfect vision. I’d love four top line d-tackles and four top line d-ends that we can roll through and three linebackers that can play every spot and 10 safeties. That’s your ideal; but then you get to the season, you say, ‘Okay, this is what I have to work with. What’s the best way to put these 11 guys on the field for this game or this play or this season and have success?’ I think that’s just what Adam and the offensive staff have done the last couple of years and said, ‘Okay, here’s what we’re working with and how do we utilize it to the best of our advantage?’ I think this year is going to be the same. I’m assuming he feels the same way that I do in that we’ve added some new pieces through the draft and the offseason program the last year or two, and he’s going to look at the weapons he has now and what he has at quarterback and getting Ryan (Tannehill) back and those sort of things and say, ‘Alright, you know what? I think we can do this.’”
