Head Coach Pat Shurmur
Media Availability, April 24, 2018
Opening Statement: Oh boy, quite a crowd. All right, it’s fun to be back out. This is kind of neat to have this first kind of veteran mini camp. Guys are out and ready to go, we’ve got a good group out there. We just finished the walk through, so they’re going to go in and have lunch and then we’ll come out this afternoon and practice at about 12:30. We’ll do the same thing tomorrow and then on Thursday what we’ll do is we won’t have a walk through, we’ll practice a little bit earlier, get them out of here by noon, so that we can finish up our preparations for the draft. So with that, I will take your questions.
Q: What do you want to accomplish?
A: Well, I think the big thing for us is our game is very simple – it’s about the ball, it’s about negotiating the ground and it’s really about man whipping man. Now this time of year there is not any contact so to speak, so that third part you can’t work on very much. But, we can work on throwing and catching; the defense can work on defending and trying to strip. We can work on the coordination of running plays and defending plays and the kicking and the punting and all of that. So those are the things we are trying to do. We’ve given the guys two weeks of meetings and we’ve put together a mini camp, there’s not a whole lot of scheme, but there is enough here to challenge them mentally and then hopefully by the end of these three days we’ll walk away and know a lot more about our players as we move forward.
Q: How much of this is about team building also?
A: Yeah, I think everything you do is team building. This is the No. 1 team sport and I think anything you do, any team activities, anything worth doing is worth doing right, so we’re trying to do everything we can to make our team as good as possible.
Q: What are you hoping to see out of the quarterbacks this week and specifically out of Davis Webb?
A: We want it to look like football and I’m not trying to make a joke there, but we want to get the ball snapped, we want to get guys lined up properly – the progressions we’re giving them, we want to see them go through the progression, throw the ball accurately, things break down and use their legs and generally make good decisions, throw the ball on time and be accurate.
Q: You have talked several times about this camp and about what Davis Webb can do and show. Have you talked to him about that?
A: No, I think for him there has been a lot that has been made of this is like his tryout. Well, I don’t think so. I think he’s just like every other player out here. They’re trying to take what we give them and then go out here and execute and try to execute at a high level and I don’t think there needs to be any anxiety on his part – get trained up, come on out here, let it rip and mistakes happen in practice and you learn from them. I think that’s why you practice, so I think you have to be careful about making a final evaluation on a guy in a three-day period here. He just needs to come out here and get as good as he can be.
Q: Have you learned anything about him in meetings?
A: Yeah, what I’ve learned is he cares, what I’ve learned is he is an extremely hard worker, what I’ve learned is he is very smart, he listens to what Eli (Manning) says, he listens to what all his coaches have been telling him. You can tell that he has learned things as time has gone along and I think what is important now is you take what you learned in the meeting rooms and bring it out here to the field and that’s what we’re going to see here in a couple hours.
Q: What is your feeling about Ereck Flowers not being in attendance?
A: He’s not here, so there’s not really much to say. That’s my feelings.
Q: Are you disappointed at all?
A: He’s not here. We understand that this is a program that is voluntary. I tend to believe it is very necessary, but he’s not here. So, when he is here, we will start to talk about him.
Q: How much has Odell been here, is he here now and what is the plan for him these three days?
A: Yeah, he’s here and he’s been here. He’s going through his rehab to get fully cleared, so he was able to be involved in the walk through, but as we get going here competitive full speed, he won’t be able to participate this afternoon.
Q: Are you planning for him to be a Giant this fall?
A: Absolutely. He’s an excellent player, he’s part of our team and he’s a very valued member of our team. Everybody that’s out here, I’m planning on them being here.
Q: Why did you guys cut Brandon Marshall when you did?
A: Well, that was a tough thing anytime you part ways with a veteran that’s done so much in his career. But, I think Dave (Gettleman) mentioned it and it came down to the physical.
Q: How do you feel about your receiver depth right now without him?
A: Well, we’ll see. Again, there’s a lot of players that I know but I haven’t seen them work yet, so we’ll know more as we go through these next three days.
Q: How has your relationship with Odell grown?
A: Well, it’s like any relationship – we constantly communicate, we had a great conversation yesterday. He came in and we sat down as we were getting ready for this mini camp so we could talk about what we were trying to get accomplished. We’ve spoken on the phone, we text, it’s just like any relationship. We’re very honest and open with one another and we communicate frequently.
Q: What has it been like working with Eli?
A: It’s a real joy. I’ve said all along that he’s the fittest 37-year-old that I’ve ever seen. I see a guy that genuinely cares. I see a guy in the latter stages of his career that wants to learn a new offense just like he’s a rookie. He’s got that enthusiasm and I’m looking forward to seeing him lead our team.
Q: Where is the team health-wise?
A: You guys are allowed to be here, right? I’ll allow you guys to do your little roll call.
Q: What have you seen so far from your defense?
A: Well, they got lined up properly in the walk through, that’s a start. We’ve got to be aligned properly and ready to roll. I’ve watched the coaches work with the players and what I like about our defense is there’s great communication, you can see they’re excited about learning a new scheme. We have career coaches that are teaching the players and I see a lot of players that really feel challenged and want to be good. So, we’ll get out here and try to be great.
Q: How are you balancing the minicamp this week and the NFL Draft later this week?
A: Yeah, there’s a draft, huh? Well, there’s been a lot of work done behind the scenes and certainly many, many hours putting the board together. It’s been a great experience for me, working with [General Manager] Dave [Gettleman] and [Assistant General Manager] Kevin [Abrams] and all of the scouts and really all of the player evaluation people. Whether you’re on the college end or the pro end, there’s a lot to the process. And being a part of it, I’ve been really impressed with how well they all work together. So, that’s been going on for a very long time and it intensifies as you get towards the draft. We’ve done a lot of work through, really, last night. There’s work to be done today when we get off the field and really, you work right up until when you make those picks. So, we’ll just work around playing football.
Q: Do you go out on the field today and envision how possible draft picks may fit into the team?
A: Not yet. Those are what we do off the field in the meeting rooms. Obviously, you want to have a vision for a guy that you want to pick. Out here, it’s very simple: we’re working with all the players we have with the idea that they’re all going to be here. We know the math is such where we’re going to have 53 of them. So, you’re trying to work with the players, get them as good as they can be and with every player, you’re sort of seeing, ‘Okay, this is how he would fit for us.’ And so, I think that’s part of what’s going on these next three days.
Q: What is the most important thing quarterback Davis Webb could show you these next couple of days?
A: He needs to be able to execute the offense, he needs to be able to drop back, complete the ball. And then there’s just that feeling you get by watching a quarterback move the offense. Now, there’s not going to be a lot of that type of competitive stuff going on, but you can tell by the way a guy runs a huddle, the way he gets the offense lined up, the way he drops back and throws, the way he hands the ball off. Just all the things that a quarterback would do. And I think this is hopefully the first of many days of him developing within our system.
