May 23, 2019 • 21 mins
Bengals.com Senior Writer Geoff Hobson sits down with offensive coordinator Brian Callahan to discuss the offensive scheme, personnel moves and how certain players will be utilized.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another edition of Hobson's Choice Podcast. We're rolling
along here. This won't be as fast as a Brian
Callahan practice, but we're gonna try and make it close.
We're here with the offensive coordinator to the Bengals. Coach
Callahan just had has his first look at the guys
this week, and uh, he showed us what's in store.
(00:21):
I guess we had one one count. Had you one
hundred plays or maybe even more than a hundred plays
in that Monday practice. It looks like you'd like to
get it and go. Yeah, I'd like to get reps. Um.
You know, anytime you put in a new system where
you're trying to get it taught, get it rep get
your stuff on tapes so we can make corrections and teach.
(00:41):
Anytime that happens, you know, you may may end up
squeezing a few more and just make sure you get
what you need as you move forward. But yeah, we're
gonna we're gonna get our our work in, We're gonna
get our reps in, and we're gonna get off the field.
They're not gonna be out there forever. And um, you know,
our reps come at a pretty pretty good pace. We
moved through practice quickly, moved from drow the droll quickly.
That's kind of what what coachers emphasized, and those guys
(01:02):
are doing it. It's kind of kind of the metaphor
I think, you know, Zach likes to call it, yep,
an attack an attack offense. Absolutely, and it seems to
be a lot of a lot of different a lot
of different things going. I mean, yeah, there's we're gonna
have them. We're gonna be multiples as everybody says. I
always enjoy when yeah, saying nothing, that's saying a lot.
You know, Yeah, no one, no one ever gets up
(01:22):
there and says in the press comments, yeah, we're gonna
really dull and boring. We don't want to do anything
fun um, but we are we we we do. We
fashion ourselves as an attacking offense. We're we're gonna we're
gonna do all the things. We're gonna run the ball,
we're gonna play action, we're gonna screen, we're gonna use
our tempo, we're gonna use our cadence. We're gonna use
our pass game, we're gonna use perimeter screen games, we're
gonna use seven step concepts and five step concepts and
(01:44):
empty and three step and we're gonna use it all.
We're gonna have every bit of it at our disposal.
But as they say, as the guys have been saying,
John Miller was talking about, By the way, John Miller
is a very bright guy. The right guard is that
you can talk exces and those with him for a while.
Sure can guess played a lot of football in his career. Yeah,
I mean what did he start forty forty seven games
in Buffalo and yeah he didn't experience player and a
(02:05):
good one and I'm really really happy we have him. Anyway,
he was talking about how he liked the how he
likes his five offense. He says, it's, uh, we're doing
a lot of the Uh it looks the same, but
we're doing different things, which is I think is a
lot of those. That's kind of a core philosophy of
how we want to go about our business on offense.
We never want to tip our hand one way or
another of the defense. We want release you know, formations
(02:27):
and release patterns and how we line up and in
the manner in which we line up to look the
same to the defense. Uh, pre snap and post snap
and as the play develops. Uh, the end result looks
a little bit different on all of them, but the
idea is is fairly to look the same. So we
never give anything away to the defense prior to the snap,
and they can't really know digg In on any particular
tendencies we may or may not have. Yeah, you've obviously
(02:51):
came out with that new look offensive line everybody was
chatting about forty Clinton kicked inside the left guard. Rookie, Uh,
Jonah Williams, first round pick is at left tackle, and
everybody else is the same. Billy Price, John Miller as
we talked about, and body hired at right tackle. Um,
but I think we talked about this a couple of
weeks ago. You're you're this probably won't be the last
(03:13):
year combinations. Oh and then usually usually never is in
the NFL. You know, they all end up playing the
old adage I've always kind of lived by, is there
throwing your roster when a season comes, they're probably gonna
play for you. Um, that's just the nature of of
the sixteen game season and and hwear and tear those
guys take We're all gonna get everybody, everybody that makes
this roster we're gonna need so um to sit there
(03:35):
and say that that's that's the only five guys I've
ever played for us, and that in those spots. I
think that's I think the history has kind of proving
that to be not the case. So everybody's gonna have
a chance. Uh, that's the five we set out there,
or the five that we wanted to start with and
and felt good about to get going, and we'll see
where that takes us. What a track of you do? Uh,
obviously we know what you feel about Williams, but what
(03:55):
a track of you to maybe going with him right
away and then putting Gordon And I think it's his
I think it's his natural position. Um, he played really
well for three years in the SEC and for a
young a young player, uh, that's trying to cut his
teeth in this league. To start on more than the
most comfortable makes the most sense. Um, there's no question.
(04:17):
So to have him come in and play what's his
natural position is and what he's done the most at
makes a lot of sense. And you know, and in
court and in credit to court, a court has benefund
How was he responded to do that? It was coolding great. Yeah,
it sparred like a pro. Courdy' is a pro. He
does his job the way that you want you guys
to do their job, and he wants to help the team,
and he's and he's done everything. Uh, I'll have all
(04:39):
of his actions. I've been consistent with that. I mean,
that's that's you know, obviously Joe is a left tackle,
it's not a right tackle. Uh. And I think you
guys have expressed early on, you know, your faith and
body heart. I think people maybe people don't realize why
he heart is going to be a different right tackle
this year than he was last year, purely because of
(04:59):
a scheme. I would hope so, I would hope so.
And then we do believe in Bobby. We've we've stuck
by Bobby since the minute we signed him back to
to come play for us. It's and I do think
that Bobby's going to be really good for us. And
I know that I'm I'm aware of the perception out there.
I get it, but um, I don't think that. I
don't believe in that. I believe in Bobby and I
believe and what he's gonna do for us, and yeah,
(05:20):
we're gonna help our our tackles are going to be
our tackles will receive plenty of help both in the
run game, in the past game, um when being necessary
and sometimes I don't need help. Sometimes I think Bobby's
good enough on his own. We talked about Miller, what
you know, when he was with Buffalo the last two
years or top ten in Russian yea, so he uh,
he likes to learning game. No powerful guy, but you
(05:41):
could really get some interesting guards beyond the John back there.
You've got the rookies, you know, you trade it up
to get Michael Jordan, who's three hundred and twelve and
grown when he's twenty one years old. And in your
free agents you get a guy that played for Jim
Turner and Image saw the Land and and the guy
the guy I got eye on is the guy with
the longest wings wingspan in the draft and Ducas yep
(06:04):
from a Louisiana Tech What what do you think of
those young guys and particularly Jordan Barry. All of all
of them are young guys that we felt really good
about with where we got them. The free agents, we
were guys we we liked a lot that we were
going to target in those in those areas. Obviously, Gym's
familiarity with Keaton is helpful. You knew him very well,
those kind of his strengths and weaknesses. But I think
(06:26):
you see the theme as they're all big. They're all
big guys, but they're all athletic, yeah, and we want
to have those type of players. And I think I'm
really excited about the potential and the development of where
those guys could be. Uh in four weeks and at
the end of training camp and in the end of
the year, we'll see what they all shake out to be.
But I'm excited about those guys are talented young players.
Jordan just turned twenty one, played a lot of big
time football, all righty, Yes, anytime you get guys that
(06:50):
play that played football at that level and play well,
you know you have something the same thing with Jona
with him, I mean, Jonas played three years in SEC
as a start of four years a starter, blocked everybody
that's in there. Uh. And those are some of the
best rushers in defensive linemen in football, and that's pretty
pretty well uh documented. So guys that have played big
time football against big time competition are usually most are
(07:10):
usually best suited to play well, when they step into
the lineup. You know, when you get in here and
Zach and in here and you guys have put your
personnel where your mouth is. You said we're going to
run the ball, and you've done and everything you've done
since then has pointed that starting with the Miller signing,
UH going to going kind of going off the defense
of picking the first round and going with offense with
Williams Jonah Williams, and going up in the fourth round
(07:34):
to take Jordan. Also you get the best blocking tight
end in the draft in the second round. And sample, now,
I know that UH. You know, Zach ran a lot
of three you know, one tight end UH sets in
UH in Los Angeles. But it would seem that that
(07:55):
sample would be kind of like a he'd be like
a second tighten maybe maybe a double tight end guy.
Or is he a guy that you feel like he
can do a variety of things. I think he can
do just about anything we need him to do. UM.
I think you saw from the practice on Monday. I
think you'll see more of it as it comes along.
But he's actually a very solid route runner. He catches
(08:15):
the ball well, so he has a unique skill set
where he can go in and block people at an
elite level, uh and and still be a option and
a good option in the pass game. So to say
there will be more twelve because of having him on
the roster, more two tight end sets, Um, I don't
know if that's necessarily the case or not. We'll find
(08:36):
out as as we kind of get going with the
pads and uh where we're good. But you know, the
starting point is we're gonna be eleven personnel offense, and
then those tight ends will rotate in and where we
need him and where we receive fit. That seems to
be a diverse room. You get guys in there that
do do a bunch of different things. I guess, you know,
with life, I think that's what we want. We want
we want we want versatility out of those guys that
(08:57):
and guys that can function at all levels are the
of the game. And um, you know, Efford obviously is
when he's healthy, it's as good a pass catcher, as
good a route runner, as good at red zone and
third down threat a tight end position in the league.
So I'm excited to have him. He's been he's been great.
Excited to get him going and when he's clear to
participate fully. You know, he's been kind of chopping up
(09:18):
the bit to get going as well as far as
CJJ fits the same roles. He's a guy that's been
productive in the run game. He can be productive in
the past game. Um, and we're not limited. We're not
limited by any packaging with any of those guys on
the field. We can pretty much do whatever it is
we want to do with them on the field, whether
it's one or two or three. Now there's obviously no fullback.
But you know this is we don't know what you get.
(09:40):
You guys don't have a tracker yet as a staff, right,
four tight ends, four running backs, we don't know, six
wide receivers. We can guess what we really don't know.
You guys probably don't know yet. It's a roster takes shape, right,
those things always, those things always fluid, and you always
try to find the best the best players that help
your team. And then you know the special teams comes
into that too, where where guys fitting in the core
from the special team. So, yeah, I couldn't tell exactly
(10:02):
what we're gonna be right now, but yeah, you know
we're still at the end of the day. We're still
an eleven and twelve personnel offensive football team. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
probably not a pure h back in the group, right,
I mean, you're not really we don't really have a
you don't really have a guy that could no. But
I think that that's both CJ and Drew have done,
have done the movement movement things, and they've they've inserted,
and they've run isolation plays and in their past. So
(10:25):
to say that we don't have it, I think we
have it if we if we choose it to deploy
that element you get. Of course, everybody's all eyes were
in John Ross. Yeah, it's early. I think people felt
like this would be a revival playing form with you
guys company. How is how is you look? The first
couple of days, John has been fantastic. He's really looked.
(10:45):
He's right, He's run good routes. You see his speed
on the field, He's caught the ball well, he's into it.
I can sense his confidence growing every day. I'm really
excited about where his trajectory is headed. And you know,
like I said, it's early, there's a lot of a
lot of prices left, but I think he's in a
good place for us. And he's gonna fit our system
very well. I mean he was all over the place.
(11:08):
I mean, I'm you know, with rets not tipping your
guy's hand, but you know you're doing a doing a
bunch of things. I guess that's it's the sense here
I think has been Get this kid in the ball
in space? Sure, I mean sure, And I will say
all of our receivers are gonna have to we ask
a lot of our receivers in this offense. We're asking
a block a lot. We put them in the core
(11:29):
um as part of our help and protection. They do
a lot of different things that make that position very valuable.
So the more that they can do besides just running
fast and catching the ball, the more helps our our offense. So, uh,
they're all going to move a bunch of different places.
I think you'd have a hard time saying that one's
gonna be just this or just that. Um, we need
(11:51):
versatility and guys that can do a lot of things
well for us. There's no X, there's no wine, there's
no there's no left I guess right, there's there's a
starting point. I mean there's definitely a starting point. There's Yeah,
you still have those those designations exist. You know, there's excess,
there's wise, there's but he could be at at any
point he could but yeah, they could. We move them
around all over the place, and a lot of that's
going to be determined by what what we ask him
(12:12):
to do. Uh and and where we think our best
matchups are kind of intrigued with the running backs, Brian,
you get a real really you might could come out
of there, out of the sixth round with two pretty
good ones there in Texas, A and M's uh trade
one that Williams and then of course Oklahola was Rodney
and Anderson who I don't know when we'll see him.
I don't know if he gets a red shirt you're
or what. But obviously he had you know, he was
(12:36):
married with you know, he's played with injury at at Oklahoma,
but they had any time to touch the ball, he
was terrific. Um, you get some you get an interesting
situation behind Joel Mixon if you haven't even heard, and
one that I think we're really excited about. Those guys
are two really good young players. You can you always
need a third a really good third back that can
(12:56):
that can contribute to play right. He's gonna play, they're
gonna playing special teams. There's a role for third back.
I really am excited about Williams. I think he's going
to be a good I'm excited to see his development
as mean, he continue forward, but you know, leading the
sec and rushing is is not a not a small feat.
That's good defense and that's good football. So to have
him and then Rodney, I think Rodney has been pretty
(13:18):
well documented. When he's healthy, he's a premier level type back.
And when he's when he's cleared, I'm not sure when
that is exactly, but I'm sure I'm excited to see
him too. Trivia is he doesn't look at what they
says five nine Uh tool tool He certainly doesn't look it.
And he doesn't carry the ball like it. No, he
carries the ball. He's got some suddenness, he's got some
(13:40):
making missability, he's got some burst through the hold. There's
a lot of things that that he does really well.
That uh. And he runs, he's you know, we got
no pads in yet, so I probably can't say too,
but I'm feeling he runs like a bigger back. Yeah,
he runs with some authority. He runs a physicality for
a guy of his stature, how about a guy. Let
you know, you you see Geo want tape and everything
went overt you Vonnie been Ard, Joe. I guess it
(14:01):
looks like Joe is going to be Uh. Guy's gonna
do some maintenance with him, keep him, keep him fresh.
So Gio, he's gonna get a lot of looks when
you see him in person and you look at how
he's gonna use the last couple of years, is it
is it's surprised at all that him he hasn't going
to use this Rutcher. Uh No, I mean I can't.
I don't I can necessarily speak to how he was
used prior. Um. You know, I just know he's got
(14:21):
a really pretty dynamic skill set. You know, he's a
really he's a good ball carrier. Uh and he's a
good route runner. He's catches the ball. Well, he's really
I'm excited about Geo. And on top of that, Gio
as a top notch person and a leader on our
football team. So Geo brings a lot to the table
for us. He's his value is very high. Looking at
what you know you did an open and what Zach did,
what Zach was with him Los Angeles GEO, which seemed
(14:44):
to be a perfect, kind of a perfect piece of
this thing. There's no doubt and he will Joe will
have a role, and if you know, Joe's carrying a
bunch of balls on first and second down, was certainly
going to have a role as a protector. Uh and
in the past game too. What I know, Brian, you
guys are kind of gear enough for that. Man. The
twenty mini camp, I guess that's kind of a kind
of address rehearsal for training camp, right, Yeah, a little bit.
(15:06):
I do think that that, you know, really there's kind
of an extension of OTAs and we just kind of
continue with our process. I would say that, you know,
it's gives us a chance because we already had the
one mini camp already, so we've got a little bit
of that gives a chance to kind of give a
little bit of training camp schedule going. But for the
most part, it's just you know, another couple opportunities to
be on the field together and keep teaching and learning
(15:28):
and growing with our system. Kind of what you said
about getting as many plays as you can on tape.
I think was writing this from my calm today. I
think the offense. Running so many plays, so many creative
plays with a variety helps the defense because they obviously
are going to have to responding reactive to that stuff.
They're only end Yeah, I think anytime that, anytime that
you stress your defense and practice, I think it prepares
(15:51):
them for those stresses that happened in the game. And
on the flip side, when when when our defense we
start getting into our third down stuff and we start
seeing the pressures and the exotic stuff. The more we
see that, the more that helps out because then we're
prepared for too. So I think that's the beauty of
the OTAs is you get a chance to really stress
your systems, both on really all three phases. So you
(16:11):
get a chance to really get some looks at some
things and with no real pressure, and we're just kind
of making sure that we're sounding what we do and
how we do it. And when you get the exotic
stuff and the tough looks, that hopefully that makes us
better for when we see them in September, October, November, December.
Any of the rookies that kind of like, you know,
any undrafted guys kind of strike you a little bit.
(16:34):
A couple of couple of two young receivers I think
have competed well so far early just with a little
bit of exposure we've had to them. M Stanley Morgan
Junior from Nebraska. Uh, those guys have done a good job.
Like I said, it's we're still limited in evaluation wise
where they're at exactly because it look like they're getting
a lot of reps, but a little bits like you
know that will come obviously, No, And I think the
(16:55):
other thing we have going Force two is that we're
also trying to get our systems taught. So we need
our guys to get the ones that are going right.
I need them to get reps and they'll be playing
opportunities to compete COMME Training Camp in the preseason where
those guys are gonna be a chance to showcase their
skills too. So I think that I'm excited about those guys.
I'm anxious to see them as they get more comfortable.
You know, their heads are still spinning. Yeah, yeah, you know,
(17:18):
you get everything in, you have, you get everything in
or just about just about there probably isn't a whole
lot that we're holding back on. We have a couple
more probably minor installations but more more kind of focused
on particular elements of situations and in the games that
we have to put in. But as far as our core,
I mean, it's pretty much it's pretty much in what
(17:44):
he's what he's folding is, what is that Andy, it's
just kind of our master list eleven by seventeen. I
would not probably, I would probably have an easier time
reading it. Man Country. Yeah, it's definitely if it's its
own language, it's its own language. I hope eighty percent
of them are runs. There's good amount of runs on that.
Don't worry. I know, I'm I'm I guess I'm biased,
(18:04):
but I think the best playing go football is the
handoff and the next best players the fake hands off
those I think first and second down. If you if
you if you keep the defense on our toes and
you don't, and you mix in your play action game
and your run game, I think you have a really
good chance to create explosive plays both and run hand pass. So, um,
that's certainly a part of what we want to do well.
(18:25):
Will we ever see a two hundred snap practice? Could
you get two hundred snaps into practice? I'm sure you could.
I don't know if we're interested in Yeah, I think that,
you know, I think with all the signs today and
the research is done on keeping players fresh, I think
ultimately will we'll always try to keep the players as
fresh as possible. We want to there's a fine line
of tune getting to work in uh and then over working.
(18:48):
So we want to make sure we get our work done,
and we want to make sure we keep our guys
fresh because really we need them. We need him come
in January, not necessarily to be want to meet their
freshest at that point. I'm bad management here. I'm a
four minutes over. So this is my last question for you.
Is the I guess I have to spike the ball
or something, but it would be this is your first
(19:08):
seasons as an Oldsea you first spring obviously, what if
there mane any surprises? Have there been any any any
any uh, anything that maybe you liked that you didn't
know or anything. Yeah, well there's some of the some
of this. UM. Even even though I'm kind of from
from a little bit of the same background as Zach
is offensively um same similar, similar systems at different places. UM.
(19:32):
I really I've I've learned a lot about this one
that they that the elements that Zach's brought with them
from Los Angeles, and I think that, Uh, I'm really
excited about it. And there's some there's some things I
was not aware of prior, some scheme things that they
did that are really unique, and I think that that's
exciting for me. I'm learning something new along with all
these guys in here. So yeah, there's some there's I've learned.
(19:54):
I think you're always learning. You brought some olds too, right, Sure,
I think I've I've had plenty of I've had plenty
of um of input on how and what we do,
how and why and what we do? Um. So yeah,
I'm I'm happy with that and I'm excited about kind
of continuing to build. This is really gonna end up
in an hour system. We got a lot of guys
(20:15):
here with a lot of good ideas that have been
a lot of been around a lot of football. It's
not something that seems to be a comment in Armator.
Is Zach always always admired to work at Gary Kubiak.
Sure you coaching and then spend spending you're under coach
Kubyak and Denver won a super Bowl. Is a lot
of fun. He's a fantastic head coach and an excellent
(20:35):
offensive offensive play caller. He's one of the better ones
I've ever been around. What what makes him good as
a play caller, and this will be it? I feel
there's a few There's an art to it um, you know,
the feel of the game, and I think the best
play callers usually have are quick with are quick to adjust,
and quick with answers. So if this play isn't working,
(20:57):
we get to this play, this, this scheme isn't working,
meat to this scheme, if they're playing a particular front
that's not conducive to our run game or what's what
run are we going to get to versus up front?
How are we going to protect it? I think those
as you get good at it and you get experience
doing it, those things kind of come. And coach Kobe
is called plays for a long time in this league
and at a very pretty high level. So I think
(21:19):
that's what makes the good play callers and him him
as well as the guys that are able to fluidly
kind of within the game. And everyone talks about half
time adjustments, but you know, I think as a play
call you're adjusting almost series by series, based on what
you're seeing and what you're getting and what's working and
what's not working. So that part of it, I think
it was really impressive. Thank you for your adjustment here
it went to twenty two minutes instead of fifteen. Thank
(21:41):
you for your patience and coach will catch up with
you soon. Thank you very much,
Welcome to another edition of Hobson's Choice Podcast. We're rolling
along here. This won't be as fast as a Brian
Callahan practice, but we're gonna try and make it close.
We're here with the offensive coordinator to the Bengals. Coach
Callahan just had has his first look at the guys
this week, and uh, he showed us what's in store.
(00:21):
I guess we had one one count. Had you one
hundred plays or maybe even more than a hundred plays
in that Monday practice. It looks like you'd like to
get it and go. Yeah, I'd like to get reps. Um.
You know, anytime you put in a new system where
you're trying to get it taught, get it rep get
your stuff on tapes so we can make corrections and teach.
(00:41):
Anytime that happens, you know, you may may end up
squeezing a few more and just make sure you get
what you need as you move forward. But yeah, we're
gonna we're gonna get our our work in, We're gonna
get our reps in, and we're gonna get off the field.
They're not gonna be out there forever. And um, you know,
our reps come at a pretty pretty good pace. We
moved through practice quickly, moved from drow the droll quickly.
That's kind of what what coachers emphasized, and those guys
(01:02):
are doing it. It's kind of kind of the metaphor
I think, you know, Zach likes to call it, yep,
an attack an attack offense. Absolutely, and it seems to
be a lot of a lot of different a lot
of different things going. I mean, yeah, there's we're gonna
have them. We're gonna be multiples as everybody says. I
always enjoy when yeah, saying nothing, that's saying a lot.
You know, Yeah, no one, no one ever gets up
(01:22):
there and says in the press comments, yeah, we're gonna
really dull and boring. We don't want to do anything
fun um, but we are we we we do. We
fashion ourselves as an attacking offense. We're we're gonna we're
gonna do all the things. We're gonna run the ball,
we're gonna play action, we're gonna screen, we're gonna use
our tempo, we're gonna use our cadence. We're gonna use
our pass game, we're gonna use perimeter screen games, we're
gonna use seven step concepts and five step concepts and
(01:44):
empty and three step and we're gonna use it all.
We're gonna have every bit of it at our disposal.
But as they say, as the guys have been saying,
John Miller was talking about, By the way, John Miller
is a very bright guy. The right guard is that
you can talk exces and those with him for a while.
Sure can guess played a lot of football in his career. Yeah,
I mean what did he start forty forty seven games
in Buffalo and yeah he didn't experience player and a
(02:05):
good one and I'm really really happy we have him. Anyway,
he was talking about how he liked the how he
likes his five offense. He says, it's, uh, we're doing
a lot of the Uh it looks the same, but
we're doing different things, which is I think is a
lot of those. That's kind of a core philosophy of
how we want to go about our business on offense.
We never want to tip our hand one way or
another of the defense. We want release you know, formations
(02:27):
and release patterns and how we line up and in
the manner in which we line up to look the
same to the defense. Uh, pre snap and post snap
and as the play develops. Uh, the end result looks
a little bit different on all of them, but the
idea is is fairly to look the same. So we
never give anything away to the defense prior to the snap,
and they can't really know digg In on any particular
tendencies we may or may not have. Yeah, you've obviously
(02:51):
came out with that new look offensive line everybody was
chatting about forty Clinton kicked inside the left guard. Rookie, Uh,
Jonah Williams, first round pick is at left tackle, and
everybody else is the same. Billy Price, John Miller as
we talked about, and body hired at right tackle. Um,
but I think we talked about this a couple of
weeks ago. You're you're this probably won't be the last
(03:13):
year combinations. Oh and then usually usually never is in
the NFL. You know, they all end up playing the
old adage I've always kind of lived by, is there
throwing your roster when a season comes, they're probably gonna
play for you. Um, that's just the nature of of
the sixteen game season and and hwear and tear those
guys take We're all gonna get everybody, everybody that makes
this roster we're gonna need so um to sit there
(03:35):
and say that that's that's the only five guys I've
ever played for us, and that in those spots. I
think that's I think the history has kind of proving
that to be not the case. So everybody's gonna have
a chance. Uh, that's the five we set out there,
or the five that we wanted to start with and
and felt good about to get going, and we'll see
where that takes us. What a track of you do? Uh,
obviously we know what you feel about Williams, but what
(03:55):
a track of you to maybe going with him right
away and then putting Gordon And I think it's his
I think it's his natural position. Um, he played really
well for three years in the SEC and for a
young a young player, uh, that's trying to cut his
teeth in this league. To start on more than the
most comfortable makes the most sense. Um, there's no question.
(04:17):
So to have him come in and play what's his
natural position is and what he's done the most at
makes a lot of sense. And you know, and in
court and in credit to court, a court has benefund
How was he responded to do that? It was coolding great. Yeah,
it sparred like a pro. Courdy' is a pro. He
does his job the way that you want you guys
to do their job, and he wants to help the team,
and he's and he's done everything. Uh, I'll have all
(04:39):
of his actions. I've been consistent with that. I mean,
that's that's you know, obviously Joe is a left tackle,
it's not a right tackle. Uh. And I think you
guys have expressed early on, you know, your faith and
body heart. I think people maybe people don't realize why
he heart is going to be a different right tackle
this year than he was last year, purely because of
(04:59):
a scheme. I would hope so, I would hope so.
And then we do believe in Bobby. We've we've stuck
by Bobby since the minute we signed him back to
to come play for us. It's and I do think
that Bobby's going to be really good for us. And
I know that I'm I'm aware of the perception out there.
I get it, but um, I don't think that. I
don't believe in that. I believe in Bobby and I
believe and what he's gonna do for us, and yeah,
(05:20):
we're gonna help our our tackles are going to be
our tackles will receive plenty of help both in the
run game, in the past game, um when being necessary
and sometimes I don't need help. Sometimes I think Bobby's
good enough on his own. We talked about Miller, what
you know, when he was with Buffalo the last two
years or top ten in Russian yea, so he uh,
he likes to learning game. No powerful guy, but you
(05:41):
could really get some interesting guards beyond the John back there.
You've got the rookies, you know, you trade it up
to get Michael Jordan, who's three hundred and twelve and
grown when he's twenty one years old. And in your
free agents you get a guy that played for Jim
Turner and Image saw the Land and and the guy
the guy I got eye on is the guy with
the longest wings wingspan in the draft and Ducas yep
(06:04):
from a Louisiana Tech What what do you think of
those young guys and particularly Jordan Barry. All of all
of them are young guys that we felt really good
about with where we got them. The free agents, we
were guys we we liked a lot that we were
going to target in those in those areas. Obviously, Gym's
familiarity with Keaton is helpful. You knew him very well,
those kind of his strengths and weaknesses. But I think
(06:26):
you see the theme as they're all big. They're all
big guys, but they're all athletic, yeah, and we want
to have those type of players. And I think I'm
really excited about the potential and the development of where
those guys could be. Uh in four weeks and at
the end of training camp and in the end of
the year, we'll see what they all shake out to be.
But I'm excited about those guys are talented young players.
Jordan just turned twenty one, played a lot of big
time football, all righty, Yes, anytime you get guys that
(06:50):
play that played football at that level and play well,
you know you have something the same thing with Jona
with him, I mean, Jonas played three years in SEC
as a start of four years a starter, blocked everybody
that's in there. Uh. And those are some of the
best rushers in defensive linemen in football, and that's pretty
pretty well uh documented. So guys that have played big
time football against big time competition are usually most are
(07:10):
usually best suited to play well, when they step into
the lineup. You know, when you get in here and
Zach and in here and you guys have put your
personnel where your mouth is. You said we're going to
run the ball, and you've done and everything you've done
since then has pointed that starting with the Miller signing,
UH going to going kind of going off the defense
of picking the first round and going with offense with
Williams Jonah Williams, and going up in the fourth round
(07:34):
to take Jordan. Also you get the best blocking tight
end in the draft in the second round. And sample, now,
I know that UH. You know, Zach ran a lot
of three you know, one tight end UH sets in
UH in Los Angeles. But it would seem that that
(07:55):
sample would be kind of like a he'd be like
a second tighten maybe maybe a double tight end guy.
Or is he a guy that you feel like he
can do a variety of things. I think he can
do just about anything we need him to do. UM.
I think you saw from the practice on Monday. I
think you'll see more of it as it comes along.
But he's actually a very solid route runner. He catches
(08:15):
the ball well, so he has a unique skill set
where he can go in and block people at an
elite level, uh and and still be a option and
a good option in the pass game. So to say
there will be more twelve because of having him on
the roster, more two tight end sets, Um, I don't
know if that's necessarily the case or not. We'll find
(08:36):
out as as we kind of get going with the
pads and uh where we're good. But you know, the
starting point is we're gonna be eleven personnel offense, and
then those tight ends will rotate in and where we
need him and where we receive fit. That seems to
be a diverse room. You get guys in there that
do do a bunch of different things. I guess, you know,
with life, I think that's what we want. We want
we want we want versatility out of those guys that
(08:57):
and guys that can function at all levels are the
of the game. And um, you know, Efford obviously is
when he's healthy, it's as good a pass catcher, as
good a route runner, as good at red zone and
third down threat a tight end position in the league.
So I'm excited to have him. He's been he's been great.
Excited to get him going and when he's clear to
participate fully. You know, he's been kind of chopping up
(09:18):
the bit to get going as well as far as
CJJ fits the same roles. He's a guy that's been
productive in the run game. He can be productive in
the past game. Um, and we're not limited. We're not
limited by any packaging with any of those guys on
the field. We can pretty much do whatever it is
we want to do with them on the field, whether
it's one or two or three. Now there's obviously no fullback.
But you know this is we don't know what you get.
(09:40):
You guys don't have a tracker yet as a staff, right,
four tight ends, four running backs, we don't know, six
wide receivers. We can guess what we really don't know.
You guys probably don't know yet. It's a roster takes shape, right,
those things always, those things always fluid, and you always
try to find the best the best players that help
your team. And then you know the special teams comes
into that too, where where guys fitting in the core
from the special team. So, yeah, I couldn't tell exactly
(10:02):
what we're gonna be right now, but yeah, you know
we're still at the end of the day. We're still
an eleven and twelve personnel offensive football team. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
probably not a pure h back in the group, right,
I mean, you're not really we don't really have a
you don't really have a guy that could no. But
I think that that's both CJ and Drew have done,
have done the movement movement things, and they've they've inserted,
and they've run isolation plays and in their past. So
(10:25):
to say that we don't have it, I think we
have it if we if we choose it to deploy
that element you get. Of course, everybody's all eyes were
in John Ross. Yeah, it's early. I think people felt
like this would be a revival playing form with you
guys company. How is how is you look? The first
couple of days, John has been fantastic. He's really looked.
(10:45):
He's right, He's run good routes. You see his speed
on the field, He's caught the ball well, he's into it.
I can sense his confidence growing every day. I'm really
excited about where his trajectory is headed. And you know,
like I said, it's early, there's a lot of a
lot of prices left, but I think he's in a
good place for us. And he's gonna fit our system
very well. I mean he was all over the place.
(11:08):
I mean, I'm you know, with rets not tipping your
guy's hand, but you know you're doing a doing a
bunch of things. I guess that's it's the sense here
I think has been Get this kid in the ball
in space? Sure, I mean sure, And I will say
all of our receivers are gonna have to we ask
a lot of our receivers in this offense. We're asking
a block a lot. We put them in the core
(11:29):
um as part of our help and protection. They do
a lot of different things that make that position very valuable.
So the more that they can do besides just running
fast and catching the ball, the more helps our our offense. So, uh,
they're all going to move a bunch of different places.
I think you'd have a hard time saying that one's
gonna be just this or just that. Um, we need
(11:51):
versatility and guys that can do a lot of things
well for us. There's no X, there's no wine, there's
no there's no left I guess right, there's there's a
starting point. I mean there's definitely a starting point. There's Yeah,
you still have those those designations exist. You know, there's excess,
there's wise, there's but he could be at at any
point he could but yeah, they could. We move them
around all over the place, and a lot of that's
going to be determined by what what we ask him
(12:12):
to do. Uh and and where we think our best
matchups are kind of intrigued with the running backs, Brian,
you get a real really you might could come out
of there, out of the sixth round with two pretty
good ones there in Texas, A and M's uh trade
one that Williams and then of course Oklahola was Rodney
and Anderson who I don't know when we'll see him.
I don't know if he gets a red shirt you're
or what. But obviously he had you know, he was
(12:36):
married with you know, he's played with injury at at Oklahoma,
but they had any time to touch the ball, he
was terrific. Um, you get some you get an interesting
situation behind Joel Mixon if you haven't even heard, and
one that I think we're really excited about. Those guys
are two really good young players. You can you always
need a third a really good third back that can
(12:56):
that can contribute to play right. He's gonna play, they're
gonna playing special teams. There's a role for third back.
I really am excited about Williams. I think he's going
to be a good I'm excited to see his development
as mean, he continue forward, but you know, leading the
sec and rushing is is not a not a small feat.
That's good defense and that's good football. So to have
him and then Rodney, I think Rodney has been pretty
(13:18):
well documented. When he's healthy, he's a premier level type back.
And when he's when he's cleared, I'm not sure when
that is exactly, but I'm sure I'm excited to see
him too. Trivia is he doesn't look at what they
says five nine Uh tool tool He certainly doesn't look it.
And he doesn't carry the ball like it. No, he
carries the ball. He's got some suddenness, he's got some
(13:40):
making missability, he's got some burst through the hold. There's
a lot of things that that he does really well.
That uh. And he runs, he's you know, we got
no pads in yet, so I probably can't say too,
but I'm feeling he runs like a bigger back. Yeah,
he runs with some authority. He runs a physicality for
a guy of his stature, how about a guy. Let
you know, you you see Geo want tape and everything
went overt you Vonnie been Ard, Joe. I guess it
(14:01):
looks like Joe is going to be Uh. Guy's gonna
do some maintenance with him, keep him, keep him fresh.
So Gio, he's gonna get a lot of looks when
you see him in person and you look at how
he's gonna use the last couple of years, is it
is it's surprised at all that him he hasn't going
to use this Rutcher. Uh No, I mean I can't.
I don't I can necessarily speak to how he was
used prior. Um. You know, I just know he's got
(14:21):
a really pretty dynamic skill set. You know, he's a
really he's a good ball carrier. Uh and he's a
good route runner. He's catches the ball. Well, he's really
I'm excited about Geo. And on top of that, Gio
as a top notch person and a leader on our
football team. So Geo brings a lot to the table
for us. He's his value is very high. Looking at
what you know you did an open and what Zach did,
what Zach was with him Los Angeles GEO, which seemed
(14:44):
to be a perfect, kind of a perfect piece of
this thing. There's no doubt and he will Joe will
have a role, and if you know, Joe's carrying a
bunch of balls on first and second down, was certainly
going to have a role as a protector. Uh and
in the past game too. What I know, Brian, you
guys are kind of gear enough for that. Man. The
twenty mini camp, I guess that's kind of a kind
of address rehearsal for training camp, right, Yeah, a little bit.
(15:06):
I do think that that, you know, really there's kind
of an extension of OTAs and we just kind of
continue with our process. I would say that, you know,
it's gives us a chance because we already had the
one mini camp already, so we've got a little bit
of that gives a chance to kind of give a
little bit of training camp schedule going. But for the
most part, it's just you know, another couple opportunities to
be on the field together and keep teaching and learning
(15:28):
and growing with our system. Kind of what you said
about getting as many plays as you can on tape.
I think was writing this from my calm today. I
think the offense. Running so many plays, so many creative
plays with a variety helps the defense because they obviously
are going to have to responding reactive to that stuff.
They're only end Yeah, I think anytime that, anytime that
you stress your defense and practice, I think it prepares
(15:51):
them for those stresses that happened in the game. And
on the flip side, when when when our defense we
start getting into our third down stuff and we start
seeing the pressures and the exotic stuff. The more we
see that, the more that helps out because then we're
prepared for too. So I think that's the beauty of
the OTAs is you get a chance to really stress
your systems, both on really all three phases. So you
(16:11):
get a chance to really get some looks at some
things and with no real pressure, and we're just kind
of making sure that we're sounding what we do and
how we do it. And when you get the exotic
stuff and the tough looks, that hopefully that makes us
better for when we see them in September, October, November, December.
Any of the rookies that kind of like, you know,
any undrafted guys kind of strike you a little bit.
(16:34):
A couple of couple of two young receivers I think
have competed well so far early just with a little
bit of exposure we've had to them. M Stanley Morgan
Junior from Nebraska. Uh, those guys have done a good job.
Like I said, it's we're still limited in evaluation wise
where they're at exactly because it look like they're getting
a lot of reps, but a little bits like you
know that will come obviously, No, And I think the
(16:55):
other thing we have going Force two is that we're
also trying to get our systems taught. So we need
our guys to get the ones that are going right.
I need them to get reps and they'll be playing
opportunities to compete COMME Training Camp in the preseason where
those guys are gonna be a chance to showcase their
skills too. So I think that I'm excited about those guys.
I'm anxious to see them as they get more comfortable.
You know, their heads are still spinning. Yeah, yeah, you know,
(17:18):
you get everything in, you have, you get everything in
or just about just about there probably isn't a whole
lot that we're holding back on. We have a couple
more probably minor installations but more more kind of focused
on particular elements of situations and in the games that
we have to put in. But as far as our core,
I mean, it's pretty much it's pretty much in what
(17:44):
he's what he's folding is, what is that Andy, it's
just kind of our master list eleven by seventeen. I
would not probably, I would probably have an easier time
reading it. Man Country. Yeah, it's definitely if it's its
own language, it's its own language. I hope eighty percent
of them are runs. There's good amount of runs on that.
Don't worry. I know, I'm I'm I guess I'm biased,
(18:04):
but I think the best playing go football is the
handoff and the next best players the fake hands off
those I think first and second down. If you if
you if you keep the defense on our toes and
you don't, and you mix in your play action game
and your run game, I think you have a really
good chance to create explosive plays both and run hand pass. So, um,
that's certainly a part of what we want to do well.
(18:25):
Will we ever see a two hundred snap practice? Could
you get two hundred snaps into practice? I'm sure you could.
I don't know if we're interested in Yeah, I think that,
you know, I think with all the signs today and
the research is done on keeping players fresh, I think
ultimately will we'll always try to keep the players as
fresh as possible. We want to there's a fine line
of tune getting to work in uh and then over working.
(18:48):
So we want to make sure we get our work done,
and we want to make sure we keep our guys
fresh because really we need them. We need him come
in January, not necessarily to be want to meet their
freshest at that point. I'm bad management here. I'm a
four minutes over. So this is my last question for you.
Is the I guess I have to spike the ball
or something, but it would be this is your first
(19:08):
seasons as an Oldsea you first spring obviously, what if
there mane any surprises? Have there been any any any
any uh, anything that maybe you liked that you didn't
know or anything. Yeah, well there's some of the some
of this. UM. Even even though I'm kind of from
from a little bit of the same background as Zach
is offensively um same similar, similar systems at different places. UM.
(19:32):
I really I've I've learned a lot about this one
that they that the elements that Zach's brought with them
from Los Angeles, and I think that, Uh, I'm really
excited about it. And there's some there's some things I
was not aware of prior, some scheme things that they
did that are really unique, and I think that that's
exciting for me. I'm learning something new along with all
these guys in here. So yeah, there's some there's I've learned.
(19:54):
I think you're always learning. You brought some olds too, right, Sure,
I think I've I've had plenty of I've had plenty
of um of input on how and what we do,
how and why and what we do? Um. So yeah,
I'm I'm happy with that and I'm excited about kind
of continuing to build. This is really gonna end up
in an hour system. We got a lot of guys
(20:15):
here with a lot of good ideas that have been
a lot of been around a lot of football. It's
not something that seems to be a comment in Armator.
Is Zach always always admired to work at Gary Kubiak.
Sure you coaching and then spend spending you're under coach
Kubyak and Denver won a super Bowl. Is a lot
of fun. He's a fantastic head coach and an excellent
(20:35):
offensive offensive play caller. He's one of the better ones
I've ever been around. What what makes him good as
a play caller, and this will be it? I feel
there's a few There's an art to it um, you know,
the feel of the game, and I think the best
play callers usually have are quick with are quick to adjust,
and quick with answers. So if this play isn't working,
(20:57):
we get to this play, this, this scheme isn't working,
meat to this scheme, if they're playing a particular front
that's not conducive to our run game or what's what
run are we going to get to versus up front?
How are we going to protect it? I think those
as you get good at it and you get experience
doing it, those things kind of come. And coach Kobe
is called plays for a long time in this league
and at a very pretty high level. So I think
(21:19):
that's what makes the good play callers and him him
as well as the guys that are able to fluidly
kind of within the game. And everyone talks about half
time adjustments, but you know, I think as a play
call you're adjusting almost series by series, based on what
you're seeing and what you're getting and what's working and
what's not working. So that part of it, I think
it was really impressive. Thank you for your adjustment here
it went to twenty two minutes instead of fifteen. Thank
(21:41):
you for your patience and coach will catch up with
you soon. Thank you very much,
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