Head Coach Robert Saleh, 8.9

[Please click photo for link to video]

 

Opening statement…

Good morning, real quick, I am going to go through injuries just so we can knock it out. On defense, not practicing today is (Chazz) Surratt, Sauce (Gardner), (Bryce) Hall, and (Carl) Lawson and then on offense, we’re going to integrate Garrett (Wilson) back into practice, but he’s not getting any live team reps.

 

Zack Rosenblatt, The Athletic: Who was that?

Garrett.

 

Brian Costello, New York Post: What is wrong with Sauce (Gardner)?

Sauce, it’s more precaution than anything. He felt something yesterday in practice, so we’re just holding him out.

 

Brian Costello, New York Post: Was it his hamstring?

Quad.

 

Rich Cimini, ESPN.com: You had (Carl) Lawson in there?

Yeah, Lawson – it’s his back, it’s just for precaution. We are trying to take care of his lower back and hopefully, we get him back soon.

 

Rich Cimini, ESPN.com: What is your plan this week through Saturday with Aaron (Rodgers) and the rest of the quarterbacks?

They are obviously going through practice, but in the game, Aaron’s (Rodgers) not going to play. It’s going to be Zach (Wilson) and Tim (Boyle).

 

Brian Costello, New York Post: Sometimes there are veteran rest days during training camp, is there any plan to give Aaron a day off or anything?

That’s a good question. We’ve talked about it, the first couple of weeks of camp are a grind, but now that we’re in a weekly schedule, the schedule worked out in a way where we can simulate game weeks, so he’s naturally, all our vets, not just him, but all the vets are naturally going to get, for example, yesterday was a walkthrough, or not a walkthrough, but the day before yesterday was a walkthrough. If we go through this week, Friday will be a walkthrough, Saturday they’re just getting a workout in, Sunday’s a walkthrough, Monday they’re off, so there is plenty of time to recoup and to make sure that we’re taking care of them from a freshness standpoint, but also enough strain that we’re still able to push them physically, so I think to answer your question, I think the rest day is already naturally built in.

 

Zack Rosenblatt, The Athletic: Do you anticipate playing Zach (Wilson) more than you did in the first game?

We hope to. I’m not going to put a number on it. Obviously, we’d like to get more snaps, but we’ll see how it goes.

 

Brian Costello, New York Post: When you did the joint practices in Green Bay, there was obviously a connection between you and Matt (LaFleur), Philly, there was a connection with Joe (Douglas), is there any connection here or how did this come about in Carolina?

Just speaking with Frank (Reich) over the last couple of years. Gus Bradley was with Frank last year and you guys know how highly I think of Gus, so just through that connection and having a chance to speak to him and they do things defensively that we’re going to have to learn how to play against with Vic (Fangio) and Ejiro (Evero) being similar, then offensively, to get new taste and I think Frank does such a good job in attacking our scheme. He knows our scheme and having gone against it with Gus Bradley in Indianapolis last year, so I think we’ll be able to get in a lot of good work. They got a really good football team, a lot of good players.

 

Brian Costello, New York Post: You mentioned it a couple weeks ago, I asked you about the offensive line and you pointed to these practices as important. What do you want to see from the offensive line?

Obviously, aside from competing and representing our style, I want to see execution. We all want to see them execute, give themselves a chance to compete. Like I’m sure they are, you want to see our guys owning the line of scrimmage and competing their tails off against bodies that they’re not familiar with. On game week, you study, you study, you study, and then Sunday hits, it’s just a different body you’re feeling, you’re leaning against, so how quickly can we acclimate to having to go against different bodies. I think it just adds to the overall evaluation and the progress we’re trying to make.

 

Rich Cimini, ESPN.com: With Duane Brown, how far away is he? Is it more rehabbing the shoulder or is it more of a conditioning thing?

It’s a little bit of both. Eric (Gelfand) is hitting me in the back of the head for giving timeframes, so I’m not giving timeframes anymore. I’m an optimistic guy, but we’ll see. I know he’s close, we’re anticipating it soon. I can’t give you a specific date, but it’s getting closer.

 

Rich Cimini, ESPN.com: Even though he’s played forever, do you still want to give him some reps?

Yeah, he needs to get some reps and some training for sure. Football shape is football shape. You can be in phenomenal shape, but moving football wise is just a little different. He knows his body, he’s been doing this for a long time, and there’s no question he’ll be ready for Week One.

 

For Mekhi (Becton), how important are these next couple weeks of practice?

Every day is important for him, every day. He’s making progress, he’s getting a lot better and he had a really good day yesterday and today’s going to strain everybody. This will be the heaviest workload that we put on our guys all camp, as we continue to build for Week One. Today is going to be a good test for him, in the confidence that he has in his knee and there’s no one denying the young man’s talent, so the talent part and evaluating his ability to go play to play and dominate his one-on-ones isn’t even it, it’s just evaluating and making sure he’s in the right headspace and confident in his knee, so he can continue to build towards what we think he can be.

 

Rich Cimini, ESPN.com: What are your takeaways on Hard Knocks?

I haven’t talked to my wife yet. She’ll let me know, but I’m sure they did a great job.

 

Rich Cimini, ESPN.com: Did you watch live?

No, I didn’t. I was out cold at about nine o’clock last night.

 

Do you see any similarities between Bryce Young and Aaron Rodgers as far as arm angles?

The only studying we really did was through the Draft. I won’t put them in the same voice, in terms of arm angles, but I will say I felt like he’s an unbelievable point guard, being able to deliver the ball where it needs to go in a timely fashion and super, super great young man with tremendous football IQ. I think I speak for everyone, we think he’s going to be pretty damn good.

 

Brian Costello, New York Post: Robert, with (Chris) Streveler now going to IR, do you feel like you need to add a fourth quarterback, or will you roll with the three?

I think we’re good for now. Especially now, it goes back to your question about rest days. Everything’s kind of built in with the rest days and all that, so we feel really good about the direction we’re going with regards to that. As of now, I don’t think, I think there’s more pressing needs elsewhere. It doesn’t mean we won’t, but as of now, camp is kind of catching up to us a little bit.

 

What are you most excited for this season?

Oh, man, so many things to be excited about. I’m excited to see people like you cheering, that’s first, but I’m excited to get into our routine, so we can go out there and compete. We’re competing every day, but it’s always fun to go compete against other people. When it’s real, it’s different.