Rob Leonard – September 3, 2019
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Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Linebackers Coach Rob Leonard
(LB Sam Eguavoen when he arrived in May, has he exceeded all the expectations you all could’ve possibly seen him evolving into at this point?) – “Honestly, when I came here, I didn’t know any of the guys on the roster. So when I came here, it was really a clean slate for me in terms of knowing anybody. In all honestly, when Sam got here, he has done everything we’ve asked him to do and beyond. He’s just stacked each day and gotten better each day and where he is now is just a result of that. What he’s done all spring – really it started in the spring. He really impressed me. The detail that this guy takes into account every play, every meeting. Then the physicality, putting it all together once we put the pads on, was really impressive to me. He’s continued to get better and that’s been the key.”
(With LB Raekwon McMillan having missed a month, is it realistic for him to have a significant role early in the season?) – “I hope so. He’s put in the time. He’s come into the meetings prepared. Raekwon has been excellent off the field – excellent. You can’t control the off-field injuries. I’m excited for Raekwon this season. Week to week, we’ll see where he is. We will see where he is.”
(I remember LB Sam Eguavoen telling me that he didn’t run a very fast 40 once and that that hurt him. But, on the field it seems like her reacts fast and plays fast. What do you see on that?) – “He plays fast with zero hesitation. He plays like a confident football player that’s played a lot of football in the CFL in three years. In my mind, you can’t replace that experience. See ball, get ball. He was a highly productive player in the CFL. I remember when I watched his tape back when I first got here, that’s the first thing that flashed. No hesitation, explosive and can tackle. You can coach it, but that’s pretty instinctive right there. I was excited to start with him at that point.”
(It’s a shame that LB Andrew Van Ginkel got hurt, but what had he shown you before the injury?) – “Toughness, again versatility. He’s football savvy. He knows how to not be blocked. He knows how to play on the edge and play to his skillset. That was impressive early on and I’m pretty excited to get him back.”
(LB Jerome Baker is the guy who has the headset. What goes into that and how does that mesh with skillset?) – “To be honest with you, we kind of – in terms of the headset, we kind of cross-train a lot of people in all honesty. He just happens to be the guy right now. I’m sorry can you repeat the question in terms of?”
(I’m just asking about LB Jerome Baker in terms of his intelligence and his knowledge of the game, and being able to help his teammates when he’s in charge of taking the play calls in.) – “In all honestly, the way I see it in our defense, I coach spots. ‘Bake’ just happens to be the center of that spot right now. When he’s out there, that can be different. In a different game plan, if ‘Bake’s’ not out there and Sam (Eguavoen) is in that spot, he might be running the show. Whoever is in the center of the defense, kind of runs the show – like your traditional Mike as you would know back in the day. That happens to be where ‘Bake’ is excelling for us right now, so he’s kind of running the show from that standpoint.”
(Do multiple guys have a helmet that can be tuned into a coach at a certain point?) – “Just one on offense and one on defense.”
(For the whole game?) – “You can exchange within a game.”
(So LB Jerome Baker may have a wired helmet and a non-wired helmet and he has to know which one to wear?) – “Yeah. Shoot, if we wanted to put the mic on Christian Wilkins, we could do that. You have one mic on offense and one mic on defense.”
(So you physically move the mic into a helmet? Every helmet is equipped to handle the listening device?) – “Yes.”
(You got the new guy from the Saints – LB Vince Biegel. I don’t know how much film you’ve watched, but what does he seem to do well?) – “Right out of the jump just having first met with him yesterday, he’s extremely smart. He’s physical. He’s got some good size to him. Again, another versatile player it looks like. Again, I go back to what we say our identity is: tough, smart, disciplined. He kind of checks all of those boxes. I’m excited to work with him. What you know after a day and what you’ve seen on field, I’m excited for where he is right now.”
(A little bit about LB Jerome Baker and what you’ve seen from him from a pass-rushing perspective and how much can we expect to see him in that sort of role as opposed to coverage?) – “This may seem cliché, but we’re going to go week to week on what’s the best thing for him to do this week. Is the best thing for him to cover? Is the best thing for him to rush? Who is he rushing? Can he beat this guy? Is this guy big? Is this guy small? How does that matchup versus ‘Bake’s’ skillset? How does that help us? Does having him cover and not rush, does that hurt us or help us more? That’s kind of how we do it, and we have the tools in place to help him do those things to really match his skillset. That’s kind of how the conversation goes, in all honesty.”
(Do you like what you’re seeing out of him as far as his pass-rushing ability?) – “Absolutely. I want him to play fearless. When he’s rushing the passer, to me he’s using his raw natural athleticism first to win. I always like to see that. When people are just playing and not thinking, you normally get the best version of themselves. That’s what I see when I see him rush. We’ll work on getting the quarterback to the ground. But, that’s a whole different story. (laughter)”
(What about with LB Sam Eguavoen I think that’s a guy that has impressed a lot of people here. How has he been able to come so far so fast and did you even have any suspicion he was going to be what he is when you first started with him?) – “I was telling these guys, when I clicked on his CFL tape when I first got here, the thing that jumped off to me was, this guy is all over the field making tackles – like explosive tackles, running down people, and violent on contact. This being the first time that I’ve gotten a player from Canada, I can’t help but think that experience, that three years there of just playing football, had to help him. I don’t know the player he was coming out but it’s hard to teach that – just being instinctive, and finding the football, and being violent on contact. You can work tackling all you want, but that’s kind of a mentality more than anything. Sam is that way just naturally.”
(It must be difficult from a scouting perspective, because there are a lot of guys in college, the CFL or whatever, who look good. But, you’ve got to weigh in the level of competition and it doesn’t translate over to the NFL.) – “Sure. There is lot of different – In my opinion, there’s a lot of different factors to how that translates to the league. When you watch the tape and the guy is making tackles all over the field, is it within the scheme of the defense, or is this guy just running around? When you’re watching the college tape, you’re trying to figure out generally what’s going on, what are they asking him to do, or is this guy doing his own thing and making plays? To me you can tell the difference. One doesn’t translate to the league: just doing your own thing and being a better athlete than other people. That doesn’t translate to the league because you get here and everybody is pretty good. But, if you’re making plays within the defense, that’s a whole different thing. With Sam (Eguavoen), he has that discipline and he has the tenacity.”
