Saturday Transcript: Head Coach Brian Daboll

Head Coach Brian Daboll

May 11, 2024

Q. You have a ton of tryout guys, what is the thought process, try to have a smaller group, bigger? How did you decide on that?

BRIAN DABOLL: You don't want anybody to slip through the cracks, so you bring as many people as you can in and give them an opportunity. Again maybe you sign one, maybe you sign two or you don't sign any. But I think it's good for those guys to get an opportunity and for us to get eyes on them doing some of our stuff, and if someone we think is worth bringing up and signing, that's what we'll do.

Q. Do you recall a situation where a tryout guy really impressed you and ended up turning your head and made a difference for you?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, Malcolm Butler.

Q. What about Malcolm in the tryout phase impressed you?

BRIAN DABOLL: I was on the other side of the ball, but obviously the play he made, the team that I was part of, won the Super Bowl at the end against Seattle. That was a tryout guy that ended up being pretty productive for our football team in obviously the biggest game of the year.

Q. The draft guys you study, some of the tryout guys you study, too. You get a couple days out here, and it's the biggest thing in their lives and this one and that one and you've got the coaches, is it hard to put the trained eye on these guys and make sure you’re seeing the right things?

BRIAN DABOLL: That's why you film every drill and spend time after practice. You go through the tape. You tell the coaches usually when training camp starts, and even these camps, don't be an instant evaluator, it’s not just one day but here you only have two days. We went through the first day, we’ll go ahead and watch these guys here in practice and then ultimately make our decisions.

Q. A lot of scouting is obviously looking beyond the numbers. Theo Johnson didn't even have a thousand yards in his four seasons at Penn State. What did you guys see beyond the numbers in Theo Johnson?

BRIAN DABOLL: He's smart. He's a young professional, a true pro, loves the game. Has good size. Can bend. Can run. Obviously tested really well. But had a really good pro day, too, at Penn State, moving around, running his routes, hitting the bag. You can only get so much out of it. You can tell his bend, you can tell he's athletic. He's a good guy we thought we could work with.

Q. Penn State, you've been there the last couple years when your son Christian was there. Did you get to know Theo from afar or closer than that? It looked like you had a relationship beyond.

BRIAN DABOLL: We’ve talked a few times before. Again had a lot of good recommendations from Penn State, from the people down there, what type of person he was. You know, some other people that have worked down there that either coached him or been on the offensive side with him. Big, long, athletic player that thought was good to work with.

Q. There were some specific times at Penn State where he thrust himself into a leadership role among his peers. What does that mean?

BRIAN DABOLL: I think, you know, credit Joe and their staff. Something that we place a high premium on is the type of person you are, the type of leadership qualities that you do have. It's hard to be a leader when you're a rookie and you're trying to learn everything. But certainly that's an important quality that we look at.

Q. You mentioned the team calls yesterday with some of draft picks. The undrafted guys, do they go through that process, too?

BRIAN DABOLL: It was mostly our draft picks to catch them up for, I would say, Monday. There's going to be a big learning curve for them. So just to try to catch them up on a few things but they are a ways away.

Q. How do you think Malik handled the bet that supposedly was made, and he ended up canceling. How do you think he handled that situation?

BRIAN DABOLL: One more time.

Q. He made a $10,000 bet for Rookie of the Year with Jayden Daniels and then he publicized it. Wondering how you thought he handled it, first-round pick, 20 years old?

BRIAN DABOLL: I think he's a mature young guy. Was happy with the way he handled it.

Q. Talking about Theo Johnson, he's one of three Canadians you have on the roster. How much of non-NFL football have you watched and how much correlation is there between the Canadian game and the NFL game.

BRIAN DABOLL: I got to watch him at Penn State. We have some people in our scouting department that are from Canada. I was born in Canada. If you can play, you can play.

Q. How much have you seen the way that betting is all over the place, the betting aspect of everything in sports, is that something like what Malik did, that six years ago wouldn’t have turned heads?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, there's rules in our league and we’ll do everything we can to follow.

Q. Did you tell him when you heard about that, is that something that you flagged immediately?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I'd say our support staff, our people, we have conversations with all our guys. Rookies, you even have more. So they did a good job, and look, this guy is a good, young kid and I think he put that behind him.

Q. Speaking of behind him, that catch he made yesterday, is that an example of what makes him special, catch radius, the fact that he doesn't lose any speed when he makes that play?

BRIAN DABOLL: Obviously we picked him really high, so there’s a lot of qualities about him that you can hopefully project him taking a good step here in this league. But there's a lot to learn. He's athletic. He's quick. He's explosive. He has very good hands. He's got good awareness. He's got flexibility to play inside and outside. Now it's our job and it's his job here to go ahead and start picking it up. There's a lot to learn. Certainly we thought he was a really good player obviously where we took him.

Q. You have some receivers, Malik is an example, guys who do have flex. Would you rather see them settle into, he's going to be our slot or he's going to be outside, or do you intend to go into the season flexing them in and out?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I think again the way the game has kind of evolved, the space game, you expect a lot of these guys to be able to play inside and outside. I think we have a number of players. Hyatt played a lot of inside at Tennessee. Obviously Wan'Dale played inside but he also played outside. We used Slay in a couple different spots last year, Malik.

So I would say that you try to teach them all the spots so that they can learn all the concepts and then try to put them where you need to put them. So we kind of require all our guys to try to learn multiple spots, multiple letters, if you will, of where we place them.

Q. The vets have been going through phase two. Guys who finished the season last year injured, like Evan Neal and Graham Gano, have they been working?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, they have all been doing different things. Some more than others. I think they are all taking good steps of, you know, trying to get out there for the phase three portion. They have all been doing something.

Q. How about Aaron Robinson?

BRIAN DABOLL: He's still working with the rehab guys. He’s doing some walk-through, but he's still working with the rehab guys.

Q. Has anyone been fully cleared?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, they are all doing something. They are all doing something.

Q. Has Evan been here?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah.

Q. Every year you look, but with the new kickoff rules, are you and your guys even more cognizant of trying to find guys who can do that?

BRIAN DABOLL: What spot?

Q. Kickoff return.

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I'd say there's a lot of – there are a lot of our skill players that are lobbying for it.

Q. Really?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, defensive back or receiver. I think it's a different play now. There's a lot less space to run. There's a lot more openings for some of the runners. We are using a variety of people back there, whether you're a receiver or a runner or a defensive back, guys that are good in space. You go back and watch some of the tape from the other leagues, could be an explosive play. Hopefully we’ve got some explosive guys that can make some yards. It’s another offensive play really.

Q. What's your philosophy with these guys lobbying if they are logging full snaps?

BRIAN DABOLL: If they’re the best guys, play them. I've been part of teams that – Julian Edelman, a returner for us, made a lot of productive plays. If it helps the team, it helps the team.

Q. Do you have to change your practice schedule and add more time for kickoff now that the play requires a lot more new teaching --

BRIAN DABOLL: Sure.

Q. -- and learning for players?

BRIAN DABOLL: We devote quite a bit of time in that area, not just kickoff but just in special teams part of it. Really how Gho (Michael Ghobrial) sets it up, he's gone a great job since he's been here of being very, very organized, detailed in things we need to try to get accomplished. We give them ample time. But there's definitely a little bit more strategy placed on it. It’s something new, so it's something we have to work out.

Q. Has it opened the door for seeing two returners back there more consistently?

BRIAN DABOLL: (nods yes)

Q. What have you seen from your new staff now that you have a couple weeks?

BRIAN DABOLL: I’ve been very happy with them. Very organized. Detailed. They have done a good job. Shane (Bowen) has done a great job leading his group. Very organized, and then Ghoby is full of energy out here, running around. We brought Cam (Achord) over from New England, he was special teams coordinator, he's been a good addition. Chuck, Charlie Bullen, has been a really good addition. TK, Tim Kelly, Carm (Briscillo). Again, we are out here, we've been out here for phase two. This will be the second day of rookie camp which is good. Be good to get out here for phase three and really get some good practices in.

Q. Inside linebacker seemed to be a spot where you guys actually had some pretty good depth with Bobby, Micah, Isaiah is back. What made Darius a good option for you guys in the sixth round?

BRIAN DABOLL: Well, Ghobs had some familiarity with him. Smart, instinctive guy. Loves the game of football. He was up there on our board, we were talking about him. I’m glad we got him. Good football player.

Q. Dru Phillips was talking about playing nickel and how it's changed, the perception. It used to be guys always felt like a last resort; well, you go inside, you go play nickel. I know you're talking from an offensive perspective when you mention your flexibility for your offensive guys.

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah.

Q. How important has that spot gotten as a nickel corner?

BRIAN DABOLL: Sure.

Q. And do you look at it as a premium spot because of the way the game changed?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, the game is mostly 11 personnel. There's some that people run some other, but heavy, heavy 11. I would say heavy sub on defense, almost three quarters of the game for the most part is played that way. It's a hybrid position. You have to be able to do a good job in the run fits, you’ve got to be able to cover man-to-man, tackle well, be physical. It's a very important position.

There's so many people that play multiple receivers that you need to be able to match that on the defensive side.

Q. How do you feel about that cornerback spot on the outside opposite Tae Banks?

BRIAN DABOLL: Look forward to working in phase three and training camp. But I’ve got a lot of confidence in (Cor’Dale) Flott.