Head Coach Brian Daboll

Q: What happened to (Brian) Burns yesterday?

BRIAN DABOLL: Ankle, nothing bad. Still be out. Doing Individual. We'll evaluate him, see how he does, but he'll be okay.

Q: What about (Lawrence) Cage?

BRIAN DABOLL: Cager got a hamstring, so he won't be up. He won't go today.

Q: And John Michael (Schmitz Jr.), is that shoulder the same shoulder as last year?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, it's a different deal for him. Making progress. We'll keep him on the same routine we had him. We'll see where he is after this off day. But it's a little bit different than what he had.

Q: Is it the same shoulder?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah.

Q: Tyler Nubin, no practice again?

BRIAN DABOLL: Same thing. Hopefully he'll be ready to go after the day off here.

Q: How about Dex (Dexter Lawrence)?

BRIAN DABOLL: Dex is feeling a little bit better. We're going to put him out there, see what he can do, and then we'll just monitor it after individual.

Q: Are you signing (guard Greg) Van Roten?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, we signed him. We signed him, we released (cornerback) Aaron Robinson.

Q: Where does Greg fit? Obviously, he's a guard.

BRIAN DABOLL: Interior, so center either guard. He's had experience with Carm (Offensive Line Coach Carmen Bricillo) last year. Veteran player. Can see him at play in any three spots that we need inside. Left guard, right guard, center. I haven't seen him yet. He's just getting here now. He'll be out here at practice, just kind of observing for the first day.

Q: Based on his track record, it seems like he's got starter potential for you guys.

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, we'll see. Glad we added him and throw him in the mix. Like what he did last year when he was with Carm. Tough, physical, good leadership. So, put him out there and let him get reps.

Q: You said he could play all three spots. He played right last year. With Jon Runyan Jr., do you want him to stay right or would it be an option to flip him?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, we've had conversations about it if this was going to happen. When everybody gets back healthy, we'll see how it shakes out. I wouldn't rule out left side, right side. We'll just see how it goes relative to how we got to practice with the guys we have.

Q: I couldn't hear, who did you release?

BRIAN DABOLL: Aaron Robinson.

Q: There's always outside expectations, which I know you don't pay attention to. When you guys make the playoffs, raises the bar last year, everybody's disappointed you don't get there. How do you manage that within your own locker room, the expectation?

BRIAN DABOLL: You just focus on this year. This will be my 24th season. I've been part of 15 winning seasons, eight losing seasons, one season won a Super Bowl, the next year not make the playoffs. It's really what you do each and every year. We've said that after the first year, I'll say it again after the second year. We have a new team, new people in the building, and we're going to work as hard as we can work to be as good as we can be.

Q: There used to be a saying, a lot of coaches would say, 'we hope to hit the ground running'. You've heard that many times, right? That kind of seems not en vogue any more with a lot of coaches. 'Pick up where we left off last year'.

BRIAN DABOLL: Again, I just go back to it's a new year, we've got a lot of work to do, and we're going to do everything we do to be as good as we can be.

Q: How's (kicker Graham) Gano been? Kind of coming off last year, he was kind of Mr. Automatic for so long.

BRIAN DABOLL: Getting back into the groove, he's done a nice job.

Q: Can you talk about (inside linebacker) Dyontae Johnson and what you've seen for him?

BRIAN DABOLL: Making the most of his opportunities. He's done a good job I'd say in both phases, defense and special teams. This will be an important training camp for him. It will be an important preseason for him, which it is for a lot of young players.

Q: We see (Malik) Nabers getting open pretty regularly every day. What is your initial impression of him through four practices?

BRIAN DABOLL: Early, but he's a confident player. He's got a good skill set. I've said this before, it's why we took him where we took him. He's picked up our offense well for a young player. Things we can always improve on. Again, you see some of the plays he makes, but there's always little details. Again, he's humble. He's not complacent. He's competitive. He just wants to keep getting better each day.

Q: You gave him the opportunity to call a play. It looks like you're scheming plays for him specifically.

BRIAN DABOLL: I try to scheme them for everybody. Not just one guy. Five eligible receivers out there and move pieces around. One time he could be here or somebody else could be there next. Tight ends. But, sure, you want to do that with your good players. You want to test some of these young guys too in terms of where you move them, formations you call, shifts, movements. Go fast because things happen fast when the regular season starts. You have to get after it pretty early here.

Q: Do you have any hesitation? What's your track record with young receivers and throwing them right into the mix and asking them to do a lot early?

BRIAN DABOLL: It varies. First year I was a receiver coach, we drafted in the second round a guy by the name of Deion Branch at New England. He picked it up right away and he was pretty effective early for us. I've been in the receiver room where we drafted guys early and it took them a little bit of time. Everybody's different. We've had the OTAs. You can tell he's put the work in in terms of studying it. We've had four days. Long way to go.

Q: How often are you asking whether it's in camp or in games where you ask a receiver what play they want to call at that moment? How often have you done it?

BRIAN DABOLL: I ask not just the receivers. I ask the linemen. (Jermaine) Eluemunor came up right after practice and was asking me for two different run plays today. AT (Andrew Thomas). It's good to have input from the guys that are out there on the field. You can see it standing on the sideline. What teams are doing or defenses are doing. There's times in practice where you just go off script and you see how the players react. You get feedback. You're trying to build into playing games and how things go throughout a game. Not just wanting to look at a call sheet and this is what we had. You got to adjust. You got to see things. You got to call it. The players got to react. There's got to be good communication between the coaches and the players. They come off the sideline. Maybe you as a coach saw one thing, but really that's not what it was. It's right there and they can give you good information. If you get good information, then you got to make good decisions with play calls and decisions. There's a give and take when it comes to that when you're running an offense.

Q: You haven't done it in a couple years. You haven't committed to calling plays. How much are you enjoying that process and how beneficial is it to be more involved?

BRIAN DABOLL: I love being out on the football field. It's been fun. We've had good OTAs. We've had a good start to training camp. There's been good collaboration, good communication amongst everybody on the offense. Coaches, players. Just try to keep getting better.

Q: Obviously, you wanted continuity on your line. You want the five guys set as soon as possible. How much of a concern is the injury to John Michael? You may be slotting Van Roten in there potentially as a starter? You're still searching at this point?

BRIAN DABOLL: It's day four here. Usually, we mix and match people. Obviously, you want to try to get your guys out there as soon as you can. With the injuries we had last year, we had to move people, shuffle people around. You do it now so that at least they've had some reps at it. You don't do it at all, and you just throw them in on game two and they haven't had one snap of moving to a spot. You'd rather work some of it now. But ideally, you'd like to get the five guys out there healthy, working together, communicating. But again, we're in day whatever it is. We're early.

Q: You've talked about versatility. You like guys who can move around a lot. How much more creative or challenging is that for someone like you when you want to design plays? Would you say that Wan'Dale (Robinson) and Malik are two guys who totally fit that characterization?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I think we place a high premium on bringing in intelligent people at all positions. So, again you can have five eligible receivers however you want to set it up. However many tight ends, running backs, receivers. There's five letters that we use. One time you can be this letter. One time you can be that letter. Just moving chess pieces around.

Q: How many letters can those guys be? Those two?

BRIAN DABOLL: I'd say most of our guys can do all of them.

Q: Can they?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah. They understand it. You could have someone play a letter and not ask them to do the same thing that you do someone else. It's just moving pieces around.

Outside Linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux

Q: How's it been getting back out there?

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: It's been good, it's been fun. Second day of pads, getting a little rust off.

Q: (Outside linebacker) Brian (Burns) mentioned the kind of competition that you two have with each other, because you're betting on, I can't even remember what at this point?

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Oh yeah, every time a drive goes out, we try to give us a little edge to go make a play. So, I think it was that last call period where I just told him 'Whoever gets the first sack, the other person got to do some push-ups'.

Q: You're very athletic. You're going from a nine to a seven. Do you prefer going from a nine to a seven? Does it matter? You just come off trying to make a play.

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: I think when you're talking ball, I think a nine is good when you're rushing a passer, when you're setting edges. I like a six when the ball's going away, you got the back to your side. And then that tight end, when they're playing heavy on the ball, you got to kind of have square feet being able to kind of shoot your guns.

Q: Now that the pads are on, are you getting a better vision? When everybody's out there now, about (defensive tackle) Dexter (Lawrence II), you, (outside linebacker) Brian (Burns), what things you can do? Play them off each other, things like that.

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Definitely, it's hard to put players together when you are not in pads, especially playing football. So, being out there, you get to see guys really in their element and let them shine. So, there's been a lot of plays made, whether it's in the middle, on the right edge or left edge, and it helps you understand how to work cohesively.

Q: What do you expect of yourself this season?

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Greatness, nothing less. I feel like that's going to be something you guys hear from me every year, every time you ask me, just because we work too hard, and we've done so much to get here that now we're too deep in it to turn back now. So, this is going to continue to strive for greatness, and whatever that looks like in my career, I've got to be happy with it and the work I put in at the end of the day.

Q: Along those same lines in terms of expectations, you guys can't help but hear the outside expectations, based on maybe the previous year or whatever. How do you handle that internally in the room, and what are your expectations given (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) back healthy and guys like (wide receiver) Wan'Dale (Robinson) back and some of the people you brought in like (outside linebacker) Brian (Burns)?

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Honestly, the thing about expectations itself is that it always seems bigger from the outside, but it never really is. Any athlete, anybody competing at the professional level will tell you that the expectations on oneself are always greater than the outside. So, I don't think there are any goals, any aspirations, anything that this team is trying to accomplish that the outside world isn't on the same page with. So, I don't see a lot of pressure. I think it's just continuously being keyed in on what's important and giving your energy to the day-to-day on getting better. I think it'll be good. I think it'll be great for us, and I honestly think the competition at each position is what's going to make us great.

Q: You've been a teammate of (defensive tackle) Dex(ter Lawrence II), who got paid. You're a new teammate of (outside linebacker) Brian (Burns). You're going into your third year with Dex and (tackle) Andrew (Thomas) both. That was after the year that they committed to them. I mean, as much as winning and all that, that's a carrot, I would imagine that. What are your thoughts on that?

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Yeah, when I was younger, my mom told me, you hang out with three clowns, you'll be the fourth. So, you hang out with three rich guys: you'll be the fourth. (Laughs) So, I'm just going to keep working, man. The lights and everything are ahead. Right now, I just got to keep my head down, keep tunnel vision, and understand that there's no greater way I can affect my future other than the work I put in on the field. So, just continuing to control what I can control and keep sharpening my tools.

Q: Is there any way for your mind, to think that (tackle) Andrew (Thomas) is a fixture here, and so is (defensive tackle) Dex(ter Lawrence) now. Is there any reason to think that you, as a first-round pick, will not be a fixture here? Is there any reason to think that?

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Nah, no chance. As long as Brian – as long as (Head) Coach (Brian) Daboll and (Senior Vice President and General Manager) Joe Schoen are here, I'll be here.

*Q: Out there today, you guys were making a lot of plays. You guys look like you were buzzing today. Can you speak about that confidence that's building and what does that mean later in the season and how does that impact the defense? *KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Yeah, I think the best part about playing team ball is that you get to celebrate other people. Right so, out there, we're playing physical, we're playing fast, we're playing our style. So, we're able to celebrate each other's wins. It's on different aspects of the game, but seeing guys run and hit, seeing guys make plays in the air, seeing D-lineman win rushes or set edges, it's something beautiful to see. Now we're putting it together, and it's always good when you can dominate offense.

Q: How can you and (outside linebacker) Brian Burns play off each other and maybe bring out the best in each other? Is there a way that that can happen?

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Definitely. I think the first step is just the standard. We set the standard in individual drills and team drills and how we play, and then we start to really use each other's skill set to grow each other's. So, for him, he's a fast, twitchy guy. I'm more of a long, powerful guy. And I can show him a few things. He can show me a few things. And while we're in the rush, right, I know how he's going to approach his offensive tackle, and he knows how I'm going to approach it. So, we kind of unleash it, and we just continue to play. And I think when you look at how a front rush is, it's balanced, right? And that's kind of the key to a good rush is having balance and the view of the quarterback. So, just understand that if he's going speed, I'm going power. If I'm going speed, he's going power. If he goes inside, I go outside. And it's simple. It's just knowing what a guy likes and being able to see it on the field.

Q: Did that chemistry, though, come pretty easily between the two of you? Because I can imagine other scenarios, perhaps other times, that maybe two players didn't have that kind of synergy.

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Well, I would say it's not necessarily just the synergy, right? It is. That is a key part. But I would say you got to have guys who can play. When you have a guy like (outside linebacker Brian) Burns who can call a shot and he knows what he's going to do. Because the hardest thing in football is, like, you can talk about it, but being about it is the next level. So, having a dude like (defensive tackle) Dex(ter Lawrence II), you know what he's going to do because that's what he does, right? And even last year talking to Dex, there are some inside moves, there are some things that I got to commit to that as a young player you don't understand that. You think you can be Superman and do everything, but no, I'm playing for my teammate. I got to commit to whatever we talked about, whatever game plan we have in place. And that's what when you have a vet like Burns, it does come natural.

Q: It seems so much emphasis is focused on the pass rush when we talk about this team. Stopping the run is always number one on defense. Have you seen signs that you can be a very good team against the run?

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: Yeah. (Defensive tackle) Dex(ter Lawrence II), he's the biggest signing we got. And then we got two edges that are committed to throwing their shots. So, I think when you look at just the run defense in general, we're coming to play. Every down is a one-on-one. So, whether it's nine-on-seven run, or it's pass rush, everyone is a one-on-one, and we're here to win them.

Q: Does it set a good tone that (outside linebacker Brian) Burns gets nicked up yesterday and that he's out there today? Did guys notice that?

KAYVON THIBODEAUX: I would say, in old school football, yeah. It sets a tone, like, I'll play through every injury. But I think for him it's just balancing. And for me, in seeing him, it's like, 'alright, man, balance. You know not to go out here and kill yourself just because you want to be great'. Right? And I think that's that next level of what greatness is. And, granted, if he feels great to go, by all means. If you're hurt? Go. But if you're injured, the next step of greatness is, being ready for Sunday. So, I think it's just that happy medium, being able to gauge, what's the most important. But, yeah, him being out there is definitely always a sign of strength.

Wide Receiver Wan'Dale Robinson

Q: I know it's early in camp, but just what feels different about this wide receiver room this year and just the offense in general?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: Well, for me, this year I'm actually out there with the guys. So, that's definitely a little different than last year. I would say this, we're kind of throwing the ball a little bit more, a little bit more vertically. All the guys know that we can make some plays. We're just kind of going out there each and every day, just trying to be the best version of us.

Q: Two off-seasons ago you were preparing for the draft and last year you were rehabbing. What was this off-season like where you actually got a chance to train and prepare for football?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: I guess you could say any other regular off season for an NFL guy. Finally being able to work out every day and just work on my craft and lift, run, run routes and do all the things I wanted to do. Last year, it was just a bunch of rehab and working on one leg and making sure, at this point, I was even running routes and just doing everything I could to be ready for the season.

Q: How does adding a guy like (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers) change the way you guys can attack a team schematically this year?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: Malik can play in all different spots outside, inside. I feel like a lot of us can do all those similar things. That just allows us to all move around in a lot of different places and do a lot of different things to get a lot of different mismatches.

Q: Did today feel a little bit uneven for the offense at times out there? How did you see today's practice?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: Today, I would say, it was a little bit up and down. We would have some good times and then we would have some lows. Just trying to be consistent each and every day and just continue to get better.

Q: You talked about your own rehab. Do you look at what (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) is doing, he's out here every day eight months after surgery, are you surprised he's out here?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: I'm definitely not surprised he's out here. If you know Daniel, (you know) he's one of the hardest workers that we have. You knew he was going to do everything he could to be out here and just to be able to go through the team stuff to be ready for Week 1. We have just little differences with what we had to do with our rehabs, just because obviously I have to run a little bit more than he does. But, he attacks it each and every day like he's supposed to.

Q: It looked like the defense was taking liberties, let's say, with no tackling and things like that. Is that something that you get annoyed at or is it…

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: You get used to it, it's camp. Tensions are high and the defense is going to do a little bit more than whatever they might not be supposed to. But, at the end of the day, it's football. You're going to get hit and you're going to take some hits whenever you aren't expecting it.

Q: You ever try to blindside block?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: No, I don't want to be on their hit list. So, I'm not even about to start all that.

Q: Do you, as players, listen to expectations outside of what the team will do, might do? How do you handle that internally in the locker room?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: We try not to really worry about it. At the end of the day, they're not in that locker room and they're not with us each and every day working. So, we have to go about it ourselves and do what we're supposed to do. We have our own expectations of what we want to look like. We're not too worried about anybody else that's not inside the building.

Q: Having Daniel healthy and you healthy again and some new people brought in here, what are your expectations from last year to this year?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: We just expect to win. At the end of the day, just coming in and doing our jobs and doing whatever we're supposed to do each and every Sunday. About as simple as that.

Q: How important is it to have guys who can play a lot of different positions? How many places do you think you would say you could line up?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: On offense, I'd say I play all five skill positions. For offense, it's really important for guys to be able to be mixed and matched, and obviously you want to get the right matchups and things like that. The more you can handle, the better. (Head) Coach Dabs (Brian Daboll) will call those plays and the more he'll call.

Q: How different is it with (Head Coach Brian) Daboll running the offensive meetings?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: He's a little intense. I mean, he's going to let us know what his expectations are of us and that he wants us to play at the highest level. Never worried about him coming in and not us working too hard and things like that. He's always going to be on us.

Q: Do you like coming out of the backfield?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, there's definitely some things that we've talked about that I don't like doing. But, obviously there's a lot of things I like doing and being able to run a lot of different routes out of the backfield to have a lot of different mismatches. Yeah, I definitely like what we do with myself out of the backfield.

Q: Fourth-and-one?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: No, I'm good on fourth-and-one (laughs).

Q: Third-and-one also?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: If I'm running an option run, we'll take it (laughs).

Q: Has Dabs ever come up to you and asked you, 'What play do you want to run?'

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: Yeah, definitely. Throughout my years here, he's always asked, 'What do you like?' Just going about it, whatever defense we're going against. He's always been like that with his guys and his receivers, just asking them what they want and being good about getting those guys with the plays they want.

Q: Have you ever said to him, 'Put (wide receiver) Leek (Malik Nabers) in the slot and let me go deep'?

WAN'DALE ROBINSON: Not too much. No, I'm going to let Leek stay on the outside. I'll do my stuff on the inside. They let me get deep a little bit on the inside too. So, it's all right. We all do a little bit of the same stuff.