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Steve Gregory – November 21, 2022 Download PDF version

Monday, November 21, 2022

Safeties Coach Steve Gregory

(Right now with S Verone McKinley III, what’s his best NFL skill – the thing he’s best equipped to do at this level?) – “It’d be hard to pick just one thing that really stands out about everything else. But I think he does a really good job with communication. He’s smart. He understands the game. He takes good angles to the football. He’s a reliable tackler. I still think there’s some areas of his game to grow. He’s still a young, maturing player. He plays the deep part of the field well. We used him last week on a couple of blitzes, so that was good to see. We’re just trying to use his versatility in different ways. I think he’s a smart enough player to be able to be a versatile player.

(Looking at the film, obviously S Verone McKinley III is back there on defense a lot of times. Sometimes he’s in the split safety looks with S Jevon Holland. With them being former teammates, I was curious if you see them maybe a step ahead or a level ahead of the communication, just knowing where each other need to be because there’s obviously a lot of communication with the safety.) – “I definitely think it helps. Those guys spent some time in college playing together. There’s little things that you can do as a player when you understand the guy that you’re playing next to on that level. They have a really good friendship. Just little nuances to body language and a certain look you can give a guy that he understands what you’re trying to tell him in certain situations. I definitely think that helps those guys in that area.”

(How about S Jevon Holland in recent weeks, just the versatility that he shows that if S Verone McKinley III is in the game, he can go in the box. If it’s other safeties, he can go play centerfield. Just the versatility that Holland brings.) – “Yeah, definitely. He has an all-around skillset that allows him to move around the film and you can use him in different places. You want to be able to do that. You don’t want to just pigeonhole the guy and put him in one spot on the field, especially a player of his caliber and the potential that he has to impact the game. You want to try to find different areas and different spots throughout the game to utilize that stuff. He’s doing a good job with that. Again, he’s another very intelligent, smart player that understands our system and has continually grown each week.”

(Regarding S Brandon Jones, has he been around the facility? Has he been sitting in meetings? Do you encourage that or is it a situation where there could be too many voices?) – “Absolutely. He’s been around. Obviously he’s dealing with the injury, surgery, recovery, rehab and all of that stuff. But he’s welcome in the room anytime he wants to be there. The guys love Brandon. Brandon is hell of a teammate. So whenever he’s around, we enjoy it.”

(So you want S Brandon Jones talking to S Verone McKinley III?) – “No doubt. Any pieces of advice that players can give each other from their own experiences, I mean I was that guy once too. I think that’s always valuable stuff.”

(With these new practice squad rules, you can obviously have older players, which is helpful. Have you guys had DB Jamal Perry working at both safety and corner?) – “Yeah, he’s been doing a little bit of everything. Jamal is a good football player, an instinctual football player. He’s doing a great job of giving the offense a look in certain situations that we ask him to do during practice. He’s continued to learn our defense and grown as a player.”

(As far as replacing – obviously S Brandon Jones does a lot of things well but his unique skill is blitzing. He does it as well as any safety in the league. How much do you and Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer and all of the defensive coaches talk about how you replace that? And S Verone McKinley III as a blitzer, I know you mentioned he blitzed a couple of times last week, how is he in that area?) – “A guy like Brandon, it’s hard to replace somebody of that caliber – the speed at which he plays the game, the intensity, his blitz ability, his coverage skills were growing and getting better each and every week. I don’t think you replace a guy like Brandon Jones. I think you collectively try to do it as a group. You try to build a scheme around certain players and utilize their assets and their abilities to their advantage. That’s what we try to do with all of our players at all three levels of the defense. It’s going well so far.”

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