Quotes: Coach Brian Daboll, CB Dru Phillips, QB Drew Lock

Q: What is the ramp up for today’s first day of pads?

BRIAN DABOLL: Normal practice. We will work on first and second down. We will work on some backed-up situations. There will be some 1-on-1s with the offensive line, defensive and then some other group receiver, DB (defensive back), linebacker stuff. It will be good to get out there with some pads on.

Q: You’ve been incorporating some pre-snap motion in some of the periods. Can you just talk about how that helps the offense get the upper hand?

BRIAN DABOLL: It’s training camp so you experiment with some things. We’ve used plays with motion, we’ve used plays with shifts, we’ve been stationary. That’s what you do this time of year, work on plays, see how they look, keep developing it as it goes. Then as you get into training camp, try to get your identity of what you need to be and see how the guys pick it up and how fast they can do it. You try to put as much pressure defensively in a variety of ways, whether it’s tempo, whether it’s shifts, whether it’s motions, whether it’s different personnel groups, that’s all we’re trying to do.

Q: (Wide receiver Malik) Nabers said the other day that you let him call that play, the long completion, just how does that come about, you letting a rookie call a play?

BRIAN DABOLL: He was over by the water cooler, we were getting ready to do a call-it period, so I just walked over, I said, ‘What do you want to run?’ He said, ‘Give me a go ball,’ and I called a go ball.

Q: When you were looking at (quarterback) Drew Lock in the offseason, what were the things that drew you to him as a fit here?

BRIAN DABOLL: He’s been to a couple different places. He’s had some things early on in his career that he’s had to learn from and grow from. He’s got some good experiences. He did a good job backing up (quarterback) Geno (Smith) obviously at Seattle (Seahawks). Mature. Got some size and got enough athletic ability. He’s not afraid to push it and throw it in some tight windows. We talked with him, thought he’d be a good fit for us, and he’s done a good job since he’s been here.

Q: You gave (guard Jake) Kubas, undrafted free agent, some first-team reps yesterday. What are you seeing from him, what do you like?

BRIAN DABOLL: He’s got good qualities for an offensive lineman. He’s tough and he’s smart, let me just start there. He’s got good enough movement skills and he had a good play style in college. He’s got a long way to go, I think (assistant offensive line coach) James (Ferentz) and (offensive line coach) Carm (Carmen Bricillo) have done a good job with him. He’s picked up our system. He’s a good communicator for it being only out here his fourth day of practice, albeit OTAs. We’ll try to keep developing him.

Q: You said (quarterback Drew) Lock is not afraid to push it and throw it into tight windows. Is that just a prerequisite to be a successful quarterback in the NFL?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, there’s not many big windows. So, you got to play on time, can’t have any fear, you got to be aggressive and not reckless, is what we say in the quarterback room. He’s shown that on tape and we’ve watched him do some of that.

Q: As someone who has coached the receiver position over the years, what kind of jump do you expect (wide receiver) Jalin (Hyatt) to make from last year to this year?

BRIAN DABOLL: I would just say, in general, we’ve talked about this from year one to year two, there’s so much you have to learn as a rookie. He’s put a lot of effort and a lot of energy into it and he’s done a nice job. He’s here early, he meets with (Wide Receivers Coach Mike) Groh extra early. He’s created a routine from his rookie season and they’re continuing that now. He’s playing faster, knows what to do and (we’ll) just keep on growing him.

Q: It seems, just from dealing with him last year, it seems important to him. Like he would be down on himself if he knew he wasn’t (improving), is that something you’ve noticed?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, he’s highly competitive. At receiver you have to be a mentally tough player. You could be open 10 times and not get the ball and it’s the 11th time when you’re… ‘Man, I was open on these 10 times,’ and then something either good or bad could happen. That’s a growing process for any young receiver. It’s one of the positions you can do everything right and not get as many touches as you want to get based on coverage, matchup, pressure in the pocket and whatever it may be, and that’s something that he’s grown with.

Q: Was (guard Jon) Runyan getting snaps at center because (center) JMS (John Michael Schmitz) was down and you had to spread the load?

Q: Or is that something you wanted to see?

BRIAN DABOLL: We’d like to just have the five (offensive lineman) guys out there, but the reality is they’re not, so you have to make alternative plans. Getting center reps for (guard) Jon (Runyan), maybe not this early in camp, but we were going to do that at some point. It just so happens that (center) JMS (John Michael Schmitz) was out, so we sprinkled him in there a little bit.

Q: (Center) JMS (John Michael Schmitz), (safety Tyler) Nubin, any of those guys come back today?

BRIAN DABOLL: No, same setup as yesterday. (Outside linebacker Tomon) Fox, he had a hamstring yesterday, he won’t go out. (Defensive lineman) Dexter (Lawrence), he’s pretty sick this morning, so we’ll probably hold him.

Q: There are times during camp where a quarterback goes back and he can’t find somebody, so he runs. Is that something where you would rather see him force something in there?

Q: Because you get the throw, everybody gets work?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, he needs to work running too. We try to play it like a game situation and if there’s going to be an open crease and you can get 10, 8, 12 (yards), go ahead and do it.

Q: There was a play yesterday where (quarterback) Tommy DeVito was back, late in practice, and he dumped it off to somebody and you started waving your hands. Did he miss somebody open?

BRIAN DABOLL: No. We had a little wrinkle called that didn’t get communicated, it probably would have been an 80-yard touchdown. But, he made a good decision because he had to adjust off of the play based on what we were doing. I was just watching the route that we checked to and we didn’t get to that route. We like 80-yard touchdowns.

Q: Is today a fun day for you to see how far your running back group has come knowing that there is pads on now and it’s a little different? Maybe you see more of the run game instead of it being just little dump-offs?

BRIAN DABOLL: We’re going to try to do what we need to do in terms of the passing game, throw the ball where it’s supposed to be thrown, whether it’s a dump off or a rail route or whatever it may be. But, yeah, whenever you get pads on, there’s some anxiety from guys I assume. One of our guys came in full pads to our team meeting today, (linebacker) Matty (Matthew Adams), so it’s good to get out there and work your craft and really start the initial phase of training camp.

BRIAN DABOLL: (Linebacker) Matt (Adams).

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah. He had his whole gear on, so I had him stand up.

Q: (Running back Tyrone) Tracy said yesterday that he’s been hearing from the defensive guys, when they (the offense) break a long one, ‘We would’ve stopped you there,’ and ‘We would’ve hit you there.” He said him and (cornerback Nick) McCloud have been going back and forth. Do you kind of like that today?

Q: Do you want to see that competitive nature from these guys with pads on?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, at every practice. You hit a fourth down conversion, ‘It would have been a sack, or we would’ve broke it up.’ Or, you do something offensively, ‘We would have double teamed this guy out of here.’ But the right thing is to practice the right way. You have pads on, there should be a lot of energy. But, you have to get good at your craft. It’s playing with good pad level, good feet, good hands, still taking care of one another. There’s obviously an added element to the contact part of it, but we don’t want to practice bad habits and, again, it’s training camp. It’s hot, it’s competitive. There’s always going to be some type of shoving and things like that, but we want to practice the right way, and carry those habits onto the field.

Q: Is the plan to do pads again tomorrow?

Q: Did you blow that play dead yesterday, when you guys were going to this endzone, because it looked like (outside linebacker Brian) Burns and (outside linebacker Kayvon) Thibs (Thibodeaux) both thought they had the sack but (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) dumped it off to (wide receiver Malik) Nabers inside the 10…

BRIAN DABOLL: That’s the competitive part of it. Daniel (Jones) said, ‘No chance.’ Defensive linemen say, ‘There is a chance.’ So you let them play it out as long as there is not potential injury, that’s the competitive part of it.