 So looking ahead to the joint practices how excited are you to kind of just go up against another team and have that environment? Yeah man super excited you know to be able to have the opportunity to go against some other players and it's gonna be a good week I think for both teams get some hot some hot competing in and you know see how you know other guys do versus competition they don't see all the time so I think both organizations looking forward to it I'm you know it's gonna be a good time. We're talking to Brian there's that line of like all right we're getting too competitive we're getting a little too intense how do you kind of stay in between those lines? I don't know if it's much of a line you know you can't go out there going crazy but at any day you know it's a job to be done on both ends and you know it's a competitive game physical game and you know whatever done will be done and you know that's why we do what we do and that's why you know guys play this game. You was talking about how the practices are kind of more chippy more interesting game maybe sometimes because it's a little bit of a different energy in the practice. Yeah definitely definitely more grimy definitely more grimy in practice and that's why you want to make it harder in the practice you know so and definitely down to the group of guys you got man you know we got some guys who willing to willing to buckle it up you know and so I mean it come down to the character of the team but a controlled aggression is probably what we want to go with the most. Do you feel like last year against Miami that helped? The joint practice? I think it was cool that was my first experience with a joint practice I had fun and to be able to see go against a competition from another you know organization in the preseason for a couple days was good and a good experience so I mean I enjoyed I enjoyed it and from my one experience that I've had so I'm excited to have two this year. It doesn't happen on every rep but when you have AO one-on-one against do you enjoy those that's two high-level guys going against each other how are those battles? Yeah you know it's been highly competitive between me and Chris for years and I think it makes us both better pros and both you know and but I mean just going against each one of them guys across the line man I mean a lot has been doing a great job for us man I've been encouraged to have him come in and do a good job and he's been a highly competitive dude and so I mean them two guys you know I can't get much better work than that so I mean I'm super super excited to have them on my team and but yeah I mean you know Chris is a special as a special player and he'll be doing doing good for a long time. Do you ever kind of have a dialogue with those guys if you win a rap or what they do? Is there any kind of back and forth like here? Here's how I got you that? I mean you can have a dialogue I don't I mean I think you can talk about it on time but it ain't really like to me the competitive nature you know it happened in a moment you know I don't think talking about it you got to make adjustments we pros out here you know I'm saying I'm not about to sit here and say oh well just but I mean you could talk about it but that ain't really my steelo you know and I just I just don't I wouldn't even ask for his you know I'm saying because I gotta do how I need to do what I need to do and he might have the different process but that's how I handle my business so I mean I don't know about that I think you know every day is a new day we just grinding stacking the days man stacking the days we in the middle of camp and just got two preseason games left you know you got guys competing for spots and guys trying to you know get better day in day out I think if you look at the whole picture it can become overwhelming so as long as you take a day in a day out and just stack the days everything else to take care of it so you know I mean a lot you know to have have my family support you know my mom hasn't never had never missed a game and you know she gonna make it happen regardless you know so that mean the world to me me having my first child having my son it's just been has been amazing my girlfriend his mother she's been amazing support for me and sort of my whole family so I mean it's been it's been really good it's been a blessing and it's been extended family as well you know people tap dead with me from you know all across the country just supporting me and wanting to see me do good and so I mean it mean a lot man definitely take a village and but but you know I could I could I couldn't be blessed with a better situation and I'm grateful grateful for that and I mean it's just super cool you know we had the open practice last night in the stadium and I'm just running around my little dude man is he got his Jared stuff old and just it's just it's really surreal you know because at the camp last time he was he was in that stomach you know I'm saying kicking that stuff I think he might have felt was going on but he ain't see it so just to see him becoming more aware and just see what's going on he come on the field and run around and so I mean like I said like I said the interview last year just talking about you know at this point in my life you know it's about leaving a good legacy you know for my family and building that and you know making making the family name great you know make people proud when they hear that name and so that's one of the biggest things I'm proud of is just pride that I can give my family and the experiences and you know it's about giving back they give me so much too you know so it's a definitely a team effort and you know thank God every day you know for them and for their protection and continued support and you know because it's a journey we all do together. I mean again this is our roster when you talk about the punt return room the returners we have we're very fortunate here to have a bunch of different guys that could catch filled punts which is not easy to do Mike and when you talk about that position the number one thing that we're looking for is one decision-making and ball security because anybody you can have a guy that's dynamic with the football but they're not making the right decisions and they're not catching the ball properly and having ball security then that goes out that goes you just throw that in the back burner when it comes up being a returner right now all of our guys are making great decisions when it comes to practice we only had one opportunity in the game but you get fast forward you could move forward let's talk about kickoff return like you had Cam back there you have Avery Williams back there I thought they did a great job this past week and making great decisions when it came to when to take the ball out when not to take the ball out so those are the two top things decision-making ball security What do you see on kick return translate in some ways to punt return and then making a decision maybe on the punt returners since the theory of Kodaro being a kick returner still exists I thought D-Lay was going to be the returner all right that's what we talked about that yeah on Madden right Madden okay I got to see that tape we got to pull that out return right we got a ball set up return right you went left all right so when you talk about that's good all right so when we talk about kickoff returners I know the two different spots because as a punt returner you can't control when the coverage is going to be downfield based on the hang time based on how far that ball is being punted on kickoff you think theoretically it's going to be about 30 to 25 yards of space when you do catch the ball so when it comes to decision-making they're two different things because there's two different ball flights there's two different rotations on the ball and the coverage is in different spots when you talk about when the ball is being caught so we try to you know match those guys up but I think that's why CP is a kickoff returner that's why there's guys that could do both that's why there's guys that could just do punt return and you just got to make sure that we're putting our guys in the right position understand the rules of the game and then making sure they're making the right decisions when it comes to that play. Oh yes yes you want to be able to when our defense makes a stop and we get to fourth down the number one thing is that we make sure we have the ball the next play we got to have the ball the next play our defense work too hard to get that stop and then that ball is being transitioned to us we have to secure the football and that's the worst thing that could happen is you get you put your defense back out there and now they're back out there and now that offense that we're going against has better field position so that's the biggest thing right there. He's been doing a great job you know getting in our program understanding what we want to accomplish on special teams on field goal punts kickoffs he's been great for the room he's been great for coup he's been great for our other core players when it comes to special teams and again his best days are yet to come in his profession and we're excited to have him. Reaction to when he got signed because he is an established veteran the guy who's done it that high level. As an organization I can speak for us we were excited to have a guy that's been a special teams captain Super Bowl champ you know he's had a great career so far and he's continued to get better and grow and overall he's a good human being you know both on and off the field like guys like being around him he's a leader by example he works hard at his craft and you can see he looks at helping others get better around them and that's what we're looking for here. I mean there's always those thoughts whether you know based on his workload based on what type of team we're going against and I know I've kind of answered this question before it's a week by week process and decision when it comes to who's gonna be our kickoff returner yes we love CP to be back there and he wants to be back there and do we want him to break the record or for sure we want to break a record the guys that are out there blocking for them once and they want them to break the record and but the number one thing is we want to help our team win just so happen if we do it while helping our team win that's a bonus you know but when it comes to that decision-making you know it's just a case by case week by week depending on what type of team we're going against let's say we're going against a team all they're doing is just hitting touch backs well there's no purpose if they're hitting it out the back of the end zone to put them back there when it comes to that but if we're going against a team and we know that we like what we have whether it's on our offensive staff what we were doing our special teams what we're doing of course we would love to have them back there and I know that he wants to be back there and everybody in our special teams room wants them back there to be our returner. What makes him that guy back there? What makes him a great kick off the job? I mean he's fearless and he runs full speed while people are running full speed at him. Anybody can run a 4-4 but it takes a different person and different mentality to run full speed while people are running full speed at them. You get what I'm saying with that aspect vision break tackle ability that's what it like comes to you and guys like and I think his personality is a big thing too who he is as a person because guys love going out there and playing hard for him you know you could have a guy that out there that doesn't probably doesn't have the best attitude or whatever and that guy might block but he might not block as hard because he doesn't really care for that person and in the locker room and on the field you can see guys are all working hard with each other for each other and C.P. is one of those guys that he's always been a great teammate to his teammates. That's a way to get a helmet on Sunday. If you're not starting on offense or defense you better be starting on special teams and you better put yourself in a position where you could help on all four phases five phases if possible and it could not just only be a court player it could be offense alignment helping us on field goal it could be a defense alignment helping us on field goal block or punt rush and again it could it's all across the board not just the late-round picks it's anybody that's on this team if you could help us on special teams and you could help us gain a first down in the return game or control field position in the coverage game we're going to put you on the field because it's an extension of our offense and defense. He's going to make his role whatever he wants to be we're going to continue to coach him provide him with tools to be successful on the field on all four phases and he provides a lot of versatility answer your question he's a physical player he could play in space he could run he could block in space so those things are attributes that he does bring to the table but he's a physical and aggressive player and that's the mindset and that's the that's what we're looking for on special teams Vernon is he a kid that has an inner field leg that you know probably you know sometimes you see guys get cut and they come back and other you know venues and so forth but is he a guy that you know might be a fit in that category one we're very blessed to have Seth here he does have a very strong and talented leg at the play at this level and you know I wish him nothing but the best and when it comes to that position and him you know playing in his future in the NFL but he is talented and he's gonna again his best days are yet to come in this profession and I'm excited for him whatever that may be yeah I think first and foremost there's a couple of things we want to accomplish with the quarterbacks get out there and get out of the huddle with tempo get us into the logistically the motion landmarks the right plays so we wanted to see that from a mental standpoint then physically right we wanted their instincts to take over so go through your reads your progressions and then obviously allow yourself to continue to move the ball down the field and you saw in the first drive with Marcus not everything played out exactly perfectly but he found a way to continue with the rest of the offense to keep the chains going and find the end zone and so for us right things to coach off of but more importantly we want to see these guys go out lead which we felt they did and you know there's things to coach on but we'll get better from it and the running back the one thing the one quote after the game was quadriceps there were lanes he looked like there were holes to run through i guess it might not have been and no i think what you know a cue obviously he had some runs there that allowed him to get some extra yardage and i think what we all did a good job of from the offensive perspective with the players uh their ability to execute what was asked and again nothing happens by one player doing something supernatural all 11 guys have to be on the same page and there was times that we were and there's times that we need to coach better and make sure they are but for the most part for the first outing i thought guys play fast what type of word you want to get when you all see the jits and they got another practice yeah yeah it's great to go against another opponent an opponent that you know defensively will give us a different look in terms of how they play their fronts some of their structures in the back end and for training camp it allows us to go back to some of our base rules and the quarterbacks have to apply them as well as the rest of the offense and there's always you know when you're a player and you go against the same guy over and over in training camp then you go against a different competitor and a different team in practice setting like it does bring a different element of energy um and these guys are all competitors they play hard between the whistles but they're also professionals know how to do that and it's exciting for all of us to go out there and compete against somebody else to get better and it allow us to challenge ourselves in a different way which these guys have done a good job of accepting challenges and moving how's the line uh progressing yeah I think from the line's perspective right and again I'm not the first person up here to say anything about competition but uh what you see out there is a bunch of guys um going out in different units and playing to the best of their ability and pushing each other and that starts really pre-practice all the way through and for right now what the guys are asked to do they're getting pushed by coach Ledford and they're responding and so we've got more weeks to continue to do that to gel but from where they're at they're pushing hard and they're challenging yourself with Brian Edwards back 100% what's the difference with having him on the field 100% versus not well I mean first and foremost just having him out there to go through the reps right and get the timing with the quarterbacks and that's really for anybody who's you know been in and out of the lineup this is what training camps for we're trying to build chemistry we're trying to build rhythm and so for him or anybody else who's missed time to come back out there obviously that's it's a good thing for the offense um and we're going to continue to grow with all the players that'll be on the field and it does obviously help from the quarterback perspective to to build that timing and trust when it comes to I know we're still a couple weeks away from a 53 man cut down but this wide receiver group I feel like is very interesting you have a lot of different body types a lot of different guys who can provide a lot of different things when y'all are going through these evaluation processes what is kind of going through head in terms of like who we need to win versus yeah I think that's a great question I do think for the most part what we try to set up is the ability to compete regardless of your body type right there's a certain way that we like to play football um and these guys are going in and first and foremost you got to know your assignment and you got to play with a certain intent and you see these guys go out each and every day guys are getting better from where we got them in the spring to where they are today and for the most part what you want to see is you want to see guys go out there and push not the judges themselves but each other that group right now they're pushing each other and it's great to see it's bringing out their personalities but it's also bringing out the competitiveness and it's a great battle on there right now I think it's really interesting that y'all I know Felipe is doing what Felipe is doing right now but you're only really caring to quarterback how do you kind of navigate that and making sure that you're not overworking someone in this very competitive time where you have them throwing a lot of runs yeah and I think we you know we make sure we monitor the amount of throws right first and foremost for anybody out there second thing is you know when it comes to the quarterback spot the way that practice is set up you know we have the ability to tempo how many throws are needed in between the team periods so we feel we're light one day we can push if we feel we're too heavy one day we can back off and obviously Felipe provides that flexibility for us in practice and in individual drills where he's still working his quarterback craft with obviously spending time at the other position he's accepted that role he's embraced it and I think the the other two quarterbacks obviously understand the uniqueness of that and they appreciate that from him one more for me how have you kind of seen Frank Darby kind of progress through this training camp yeah I mean you know we had Frank last year and you you bring him Frank as a rookie there's things that Frank showed on film that he came here and he showed there's things that Frank need to grow with just like any other player and just like all our players what you in this system another year there's definitely a comfortable level of what's asked there's no new voices in terms of me up there or coach Smith talking to him so it's one of those things where like just everybody in that receiver room Frank included those guys they brought a level of competitiveness and you see that from Frank and everybody else well you feel like he is Misaka and so you know obviously at the rookie there's kind of a learning curve there but you get a lot of playing time in college sure you feel like he's kind of step up and start to do some little things a little that you get into playing time and it has a lot to do with yeah and I think you know coach Petrie's done a great job of being able to facilitate the reps for the backs there's a great competition there just like the receiver room and really a lot of the rooms right and so what you see from him and everybody else is when they get their opportunity like they value it they understand that reps are a premium just because of how they're divvied up and again they're taking advantage it's not just him but they're all taking advantage of their opportunity you saw it in the game and you come out here and see it in practice so it's exciting to see where that group's going right now sure yeah I think right now obviously regardless of his Drake or another receiver where Brian Edwards was out a day or two yeah it just changed the rotation you know different guys competing at different spots but what's great about this group offensively is regardless of who is in or out of the lineup we mix in personnel's you either see guys willing to do whatever and wanting to compete that has been how we approach everything and you can see it in the receiver room and you can see it in other rooms and and they've done it regardless of who's in there who's not game out the way you've got a joint practice coming up you like it where things kind of are yeah I mean we're trending right we have obviously the ability each and every day to to work on something fundamentally we're obviously not there yet that's what training camps for we'll have a great challenge this week we'll have a great challenge next week and then obviously on week one to prepare for a great opponent in New Orleans what they provide defensively so this is what you do in training camp right you you get through the fundamentals you try to get better in and there's things x and o wise that you're seeing how they fit the players and obvious our job as coaches to make sure that we highlight their strengths and that's what we're trying to find out right now and some of the players and make sure that we're playing to the best of ability