Rob Leonard – December 3, 2019
Download PDF version
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Linebackers Coach Rob Leonard
(Obviously it’s too early to tell what you have with LB Andrew Van Ginkel, but you have seen him before he got hurt and the last couple weeks. Do you have a feel yet at all for what you think you might have in him?) – “Andrew is truly committed to the process of what we value here: getting better every day. Two weeks ago, he went out there, made a couple plays out there on (special) teams, which was good to see. Here, you earn your playing time. So if you go out there and do the things that required of you on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and it’s going to lead to more opportunity, depending how you play game day, as well. He’s right where he needs to be coming off injury. (He’s) taking it a day at a time. He’s a very smart kid. He understands a lot of things, so putting those into play full speed, a fastball pitch that you see on Sunday is kind of big for him. Just the reps…”
(We saw moments. I remember early August, LB Andrew Van Ginkel made a great play in the end zone in coverage. We know he could obviously rush the passer at Wisconsin. Do you have a sense of what he could do well at this level yet or did the injury make it tough to gauge that?) – “The best thing with Andrew is you’re not going to be able to peg him down to one thing that he does well. It’s just his overall body of work is his value – that he can play (special) teams, that he can drop into coverage, that he can rush, that he’s smart; so you really can’t talk about one thing. It’s the overall body of work, and I call that just being a football player. That makes him valuable and a good teammate, in all honesty.”
(Can I ask you how LB Sam Eguavoen has this year? Just your thoughts on how Sam has played this year.) – “Again, (he is) another guy that’s gotten better. In my opinion, he took advantage of his opportunity this week. He got a chance to play a little bit more, made a few more plays. Again, (he’s) another guy that’s truly committed to the process of what we value here.”
(LB Sam Eguavoen coverage was certainly a cause for encouragement in the offseason program. We saw him make a bunch of plays. He hasn’t had a huge body of work in terms of coverage opportunities. His metrics in that area aren’t great if you believe in metric sites. Has he in coverage been what you expected? Is there room for growth there?) – “Yeah. I think – again, I’m not sure about the sites or whatever it may be – but his coverage in the opportunity that he’s had, I thought he’s done a good job. He’s an explosive guy, has a good change of direction, he can run, which all help in coverage. We see him working his eyes, his eye transition is always important, as it is with all of them, but I would say specifically with him. Yeah, he’s been okay in coverage for what we’ve asked him to do.”
(At the very least this year – and there’s always question with CFL guys – at the very least he’s shown he’s an NFL player.) – “Yes. For sure. Absolutely, in my opinion.”
(I wanted to ask you about the coaching staff. It seems like you guys really did come together. A little birdie told me you guys have little Tuesday night dinners and get to know each other a little bit outside of this, too.) – “Oh yeah, as far as family coming and stuff? Yeah, it’s fantastic. You create that bond in every little way and it creates trust. The more trust you have, the more transparency there is and this staff really feels like a family. People say that, but it truly feels that way from your wives to your kids to interacting with each other; so the more you can have those open transparent conversations, the better you’re going to be off in any situation.”
(Who sparked that? Is that coming from Head Coach Brian Flores all the way down?) – “Oh, yeah. It starts with the head man. It starts with the head man. In my opinion, whether I should or should not say, he’s the most straightforward man in coaching that I’ve been around. He’s going to tell you the truth – player, coach, trainer, scout. It doesn’t matter. He’s the same person. That’s all you can ask for to work for, in my opinion. That’s why I wanted to be here.”
(How’s it working with Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham?) – “It’s awesome. It’s the – again, another guy that I worked with in the past. I was his assistant at New York and again, (he is) another guy that you know exactly what you’re getting. I don’t care if you’re looking for a friend or looking for a guy to work with. When you’re able to have transparent conversations, whether it’s game-planning, personnel, coaching, schematics, whatever you may have – we’re able to have those conversations. He’s a great person, first and foremost. I can attest to the character of anyone in that building. Once you have that, it’s easy to go from there.”
(When you say transparent conversation, is it, “I’m not afraid to go and say, ‘Coach, hey, this is something we need to work on.’”) – “The ability to agree or disagree. ‘I see it like this.’ ‘I don’t see it like that.’ Which – to able to talk to someone like that, there has to be an element of trust. We’ve had that and you develop trust over time through adversity (and) certain situations. At times in New York working with him wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Our last year there was pretty tough, and (we) were able to have conversations of why and why not. That’s just people in general. It’s not football, in my opinion. You know what I mean?”
(Of course. I don’t think it’s been sunshine and rainbows here, too, but it’s something that it’s helped you guys kind of stick together, right?) – “Absolutely. It’s the most important thing, starting with how we see things in that defensive staff room and those coaches rooms before we deliver the message to the players that we’re all saying the same thing. That’s one of the best parts about being here.”
