Linebackers Coach Jim Herrmann
June 19, 2014
Re: Devin Kennard
A: His college career he played everywhere. He had like I think three different coordinators at USC. When he was there with Monte Kiffin he was a MIKE. He played in that system. So for him, he’s played all over so he’s got multiple talents and he’s a smart guy so it’s not anything new for him. And he gives us a lot of flexibility. He has some rush ability so on third down he could actually be a rush-type guy. The flexibility helps us. As you go into the season there are 46 guys out there, normally the linebackers get maybe five guys so somebody has to know dual roles and we’ve always had guys that could do that. He’ll give us that ability.
Q: How valuable does that also make Spencer Paysinger? It seems like when Jameel McClain moved over recently you kind of moved him.
A: Our two outside linebacker positions are very similar, the WIL and the SAM are very similar spots. Being able to move from one to the other, to me that’s a natural movement. The middle guy is a little bit different in terms of a lot of things that we do but yeah, Spencer can play both, he has played both. Mark (Herzlich) has played in the middle, he’s played on the outside so having guys that have the ability to have multiple roles helps us because you never know. On any given play, ‘OK hey, you’re going to go in at the SAM.’ ‘OK great, no problem.’ We always try to do that.
Q: Is Jacquian Williams the one that brings… he sort of brings something different to the table. He has a little bit of a different skill set than those guys.
A: He does. I will say this though, this OTA and minicamp he did a great job in our base stuff as a WIL. He’s a natural WIL in nickel, he did a great job with our WIL stuff in base. To me he made a big jump and big improvement this spring.
Q: Does that make him the guy to beat there now? Obviously there’s always competition.
A: He did a good job.
Q: What are your thoughts on Dan Fox? The undrafted guy out of Notre Dame.
A: To me he’s another guy, one of the young guys who’s got a lot of intelligence. He can play multiple roles. He actually played all three spots this spring, MIKE, SAM, WIL, he plays in our sub. Any time you’ve got a smart guy like that who football just comes natural to him, that gives him a chance. He’s got to make the team on special teams, obviously, that will be his biggest deal when he comes back. For me, as a position coach, being able to say, ‘Hey look, he has multiple roles on defense, he can play a lot of positions,’ that helps his chances. To me, that’s what you want.
