OPENING STATEMENT
First of all, thanks for coming. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you guys, and I know you take time out of your day to come here. I'm going on my 20th year season here, and it's always good to come here and talk to you guys and give you kind of a little bit of last comments about how the spring is going.
Before I open it up to any questions, I'd just like to sit here and talk about little things that we try to get accomplished during the spring, and one is the leadership. I always believe that if somebody is going to be a leader, and we'll do it by position, and to me, you have to do well on the field to take that leadership role, and I think that's very important.
And obviously we need them in other parts outside the football field. But with leadership, I think that's where it all starts: Where are you achieving on the field.
If I look at the defensive line, the leadership comes from Parker Hesse and Anthony Nelson. You look at the safeties with Jake Gervase and Amani Hooker. We expect a lot, and they've been doing a lot for us on the back end. And then obviously in the linebacker area, I think Amani Jones is doing a great job there at the Mike backer.
Going down to the strengths of our team, a strength is our defensive line. I think we have a lot of guys that can play defensive end, which allows us to be more flexible and maybe slide a couple guys inside. With the opportunity to put maybe Sam Brincks inside a little bit, Chauncey Golston, to put him inside has helped us out to be a more effective two-deep in the front, and I think it's been really good. They've been working there. We did it for two weeks with one and then we did two weeks with the other, and we'll probably switch them off going back and forth.
I think in the linebacker group, I think you look at Amani (Jones) and Jack Hockaday, I think they've been doing a very good job of taking charge at the Mike position, and Welch and Aaron Mends at the Will. And Nick Neimann, and also I think a really good surprise, Barrington Wade has really done a tremendous job of increasing his knowledge and his ability to move around on the field.
The inside guys, the defensive linemen, I'd say Cedric has done a good job. He's improved. He's not there yet. And you look at Brady Reiff as another guy inside. But moving Sam and Chauncey in there a little bit has given us a little bit more depth across the board.
You go to the linebackers, obviously the challenge is we lost a trio of Josey Jewell, Bo Bower and Ben Niemann. Losing those three guys is a challenge. That's a job, and I think the growth that Amani and Aaron have been doing on the field, making plays, and the communication between them and their effort that they're giving is everything we're asking for them to do.
You talk about the defensive backs, Jake Gervase obviously has the most experience back there. He's been a vocal leader and I like his energy, and Amani Hooker has obviously played a lot of games back there, and you've got Geno Stone that played against Nebraska, and I thought he did a really great job during that game. We're really solid with those three guys.
And Brandon Snyder is definitely going to be coming back, and he's on schedule with his rehab, and we're really excited to see where he's going to be in the summer, and definitely next fall he's going to be a factor.
Q. At linebacker if you had a game Friday night instead of a scrimmage, who would be your two guys on the inside right now?
PHIL PARKER: I would say right now we'd start off with Amani Jones and Aaron Mends. I think they are two guys right now that we'd probably start off with. It varies every day. Sometimes one guy might be better than the other, but right now that's who I'd start.
Q. What has Amani done? He's built like a bowling ball or a tank, I guess, but what has he done to assure you that he can handle that responsibility?
PHIL PARKER: Commitment and the way he puts his effort and the time in, watching film, preparation, the energy and the excitement that he brings to the field, and then obviously when he finishes plays, I mean, he likes to go after guys, and he does a good job of tackling guys. We just like his enthusiasm.
Q. So it's Jack and Amani in the middle, and Christian and Aaron at Will?
PHIL PARKER: Yeah, right now, yeah, that's the way we have it right now, and then obviously Ben and Barrington Wade outside.
Q. With Amani in the middle, what do you like about him in the middle?
PHIL PARKER: I think his ability to read the box and diagnose the plays, and when he goes, he goes. I think his ability to go ahead and trigger when he sees something, and when he comes, he's well-packed. He's got a low center of gravity, and he runs through guys. I'm really excited to see what he can do.
Q. Where is the communication in the back seven compared to where you want it to be going forward?
PHIL PARKER: Well, you know, we kind of keep track of guys, and the big thing for us is we never want to get beat with mental errors. If we get beat physically, that stuff happens. It happens every day, whether you're in high school or whether you're in college or pro football. But the biggest thing we don't want to do is get beat by mental errors. Since the beginning of practice, we've been tracking them to now. We've cut them down almost in half. Every day there's always a challenge of the way the offense is operating and how we're doing things that they're going to make us think a little bit, and our guys have to be on the same page.
So at the beginning of spring ball, you know, the changing and who's going to be in there, and now we're settling down on the guys that are in there, it's a lot better over the period of time of, what, 13 practices or 12 practices so far.
Q. Does it help with the defensive line right now, especially with Brandon being the most experienced, when they're making calls? They're obviously doing their line calls, but the back seven has got to do more --
PHIL PARKER: The backers have to do the most. They've got to do it up front and the back end. The good thing is we've got good experience up on the front guys, and we've got good experience in the backside. So between them, you gain a little bit from the defensive line, you gain a little bit from the secondary. So I think it all kind of evens out after a while.
Q. The linebackers, have you guys lost time in installing nickel and maybe some other packages because you're figuring out linebacker?
PHIL PARKER: I don't think so. I think we've been pretty on schedule. We went through all the installs so far. Right now we're done installing, and we've got everything in that we need to get in for right now. But basically that really didn't change anything. Whoever is in there, we're going to put a sub. We have enough guys on the back end that we can put in there. And the good thing about Amani Hooker, he's another guy that can go ahead and play the star position along with Manny, so that's been beneficial. So when we run first or second team, we've still got a guy. Now, there might be double reps with some other guys at different positions, but we're going to live with that, and we're going to go ahead and do it, execute it.
Q. Like pull a linebacker off, and then same principle up front, your four best pass rushers --
PHIL PARKER: Yeah, it depends. Sometimes we might keep our four guys in there, but we like to get our fast guys on the field and our best pass rushers to get after the quarterback.
Q. To be clear, you said Sam Brincks is moving inside --
PHIL PARKER: No, I didn't -- he's moved inside to take some reps. He still does both. Chauncey still does both. The more flexibility that we have that we can put guys inside and outside is a benefit to us right now, and I think they both can do it. Obviously they can't play them at the same time, but I think they're doing a pretty good job of it.
Q. Last year you pretty much stuck with the three. Do you anticipate multiple linebackers playing throughout next season or is it too early to tell?
PHIL PARKER: I think it's too early to tell. I like to settle in on -- there's going to be somebody that's going to be the starter, so whoever that is, I think you play them until you think the other guy is better in, my opinion.
First of all, thanks for coming. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you guys, and I know you take time out of your day to come here. I'm going on my 20th year season here, and it's always good to come here and talk to you guys and give you kind of a little bit of last comments about how the spring is going.
Before I open it up to any questions, I'd just like to sit here and talk about little things that we try to get accomplished during the spring, and one is the leadership. I always believe that if somebody is going to be a leader, and we'll do it by position, and to me, you have to do well on the field to take that leadership role, and I think that's very important.
And obviously we need them in other parts outside the football field. But with leadership, I think that's where it all starts: Where are you achieving on the field.
If I look at the defensive line, the leadership comes from Parker Hesse and Anthony Nelson. You look at the safeties with Jake Gervase and Amani Hooker. We expect a lot, and they've been doing a lot for us on the back end. And then obviously in the linebacker area, I think Amani Jones is doing a great job there at the Mike backer.
Going down to the strengths of our team, a strength is our defensive line. I think we have a lot of guys that can play defensive end, which allows us to be more flexible and maybe slide a couple guys inside. With the opportunity to put maybe Sam Brincks inside a little bit, Chauncey Golston, to put him inside has helped us out to be a more effective two-deep in the front, and I think it's been really good. They've been working there. We did it for two weeks with one and then we did two weeks with the other, and we'll probably switch them off going back and forth.
I think in the linebacker group, I think you look at Amani (Jones) and Jack Hockaday, I think they've been doing a very good job of taking charge at the Mike position, and Welch and Aaron Mends at the Will. And Nick Neimann, and also I think a really good surprise, Barrington Wade has really done a tremendous job of increasing his knowledge and his ability to move around on the field.
The inside guys, the defensive linemen, I'd say Cedric has done a good job. He's improved. He's not there yet. And you look at Brady Reiff as another guy inside. But moving Sam and Chauncey in there a little bit has given us a little bit more depth across the board.
You go to the linebackers, obviously the challenge is we lost a trio of Josey Jewell, Bo Bower and Ben Niemann. Losing those three guys is a challenge. That's a job, and I think the growth that Amani and Aaron have been doing on the field, making plays, and the communication between them and their effort that they're giving is everything we're asking for them to do.
You talk about the defensive backs, Jake Gervase obviously has the most experience back there. He's been a vocal leader and I like his energy, and Amani Hooker has obviously played a lot of games back there, and you've got Geno Stone that played against Nebraska, and I thought he did a really great job during that game. We're really solid with those three guys.
And Brandon Snyder is definitely going to be coming back, and he's on schedule with his rehab, and we're really excited to see where he's going to be in the summer, and definitely next fall he's going to be a factor.
Q. At linebacker if you had a game Friday night instead of a scrimmage, who would be your two guys on the inside right now?
PHIL PARKER: I would say right now we'd start off with Amani Jones and Aaron Mends. I think they are two guys right now that we'd probably start off with. It varies every day. Sometimes one guy might be better than the other, but right now that's who I'd start.
Q. What has Amani done? He's built like a bowling ball or a tank, I guess, but what has he done to assure you that he can handle that responsibility?
PHIL PARKER: Commitment and the way he puts his effort and the time in, watching film, preparation, the energy and the excitement that he brings to the field, and then obviously when he finishes plays, I mean, he likes to go after guys, and he does a good job of tackling guys. We just like his enthusiasm.
Q. So it's Jack and Amani in the middle, and Christian and Aaron at Will?
PHIL PARKER: Yeah, right now, yeah, that's the way we have it right now, and then obviously Ben and Barrington Wade outside.
Q. With Amani in the middle, what do you like about him in the middle?
PHIL PARKER: I think his ability to read the box and diagnose the plays, and when he goes, he goes. I think his ability to go ahead and trigger when he sees something, and when he comes, he's well-packed. He's got a low center of gravity, and he runs through guys. I'm really excited to see what he can do.
Q. Where is the communication in the back seven compared to where you want it to be going forward?
PHIL PARKER: Well, you know, we kind of keep track of guys, and the big thing for us is we never want to get beat with mental errors. If we get beat physically, that stuff happens. It happens every day, whether you're in high school or whether you're in college or pro football. But the biggest thing we don't want to do is get beat by mental errors. Since the beginning of practice, we've been tracking them to now. We've cut them down almost in half. Every day there's always a challenge of the way the offense is operating and how we're doing things that they're going to make us think a little bit, and our guys have to be on the same page.
So at the beginning of spring ball, you know, the changing and who's going to be in there, and now we're settling down on the guys that are in there, it's a lot better over the period of time of, what, 13 practices or 12 practices so far.
Q. Does it help with the defensive line right now, especially with Brandon being the most experienced, when they're making calls? They're obviously doing their line calls, but the back seven has got to do more --
PHIL PARKER: The backers have to do the most. They've got to do it up front and the back end. The good thing is we've got good experience up on the front guys, and we've got good experience in the backside. So between them, you gain a little bit from the defensive line, you gain a little bit from the secondary. So I think it all kind of evens out after a while.
Q. The linebackers, have you guys lost time in installing nickel and maybe some other packages because you're figuring out linebacker?
PHIL PARKER: I don't think so. I think we've been pretty on schedule. We went through all the installs so far. Right now we're done installing, and we've got everything in that we need to get in for right now. But basically that really didn't change anything. Whoever is in there, we're going to put a sub. We have enough guys on the back end that we can put in there. And the good thing about Amani Hooker, he's another guy that can go ahead and play the star position along with Manny, so that's been beneficial. So when we run first or second team, we've still got a guy. Now, there might be double reps with some other guys at different positions, but we're going to live with that, and we're going to go ahead and do it, execute it.
Q. Like pull a linebacker off, and then same principle up front, your four best pass rushers --
PHIL PARKER: Yeah, it depends. Sometimes we might keep our four guys in there, but we like to get our fast guys on the field and our best pass rushers to get after the quarterback.
Q. To be clear, you said Sam Brincks is moving inside --
PHIL PARKER: No, I didn't -- he's moved inside to take some reps. He still does both. Chauncey still does both. The more flexibility that we have that we can put guys inside and outside is a benefit to us right now, and I think they both can do it. Obviously they can't play them at the same time, but I think they're doing a pretty good job of it.
Q. Last year you pretty much stuck with the three. Do you anticipate multiple linebackers playing throughout next season or is it too early to tell?
PHIL PARKER: I think it's too early to tell. I like to settle in on -- there's going to be somebody that's going to be the starter, so whoever that is, I think you play them until you think the other guy is better in, my opinion.