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Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan
On Jammal Brown’s status:
“He’s got an appointment set up for Tuesday and I’ll be able to speak with him after that.”;
On why Jammal Brown is not having an MRI right away:
“I’m talking to the doctor. That’s when I’ll find out. He went to see his doctor, and he’s going to have his doctor do it out in New York. His first availability is Tuesday.”;
On the return of Trent Williams and Fred Davis:
“I think they both know that if they slip up, not only are they killing themselves, but they are really hurting our football team. They have both come in in excellent shape. You can see they made a commitment to work out, work out extremely hard, and I’m really proud of the way they’ve handled themselves, all the way through the OTA’s and what type of shape they’re in.”;
On the depth of the offensive line:
“Yeah, we made some strides and it was addressed in the draft. Anytime you get a third-rounder, you get a fifth-rounder, you get a sixth-rounder, and you put a little bit through free agency, you help the depth of your offensive line. And we’re a little bit more comfortable with the system. You know, we’ve had a good eight or nine weeks with the OTA’s to work these guys out, watch a lot of film, so we do have some competition there just compared to the last two years.”;
On Maurice Hurt switching to right tackle:
“He’s got great feet. He’s a guy that’s played tackle in college on both sides. He’s played guard against excellent football players in the SEC. And he has the ability really to play any position on the offensive line and play it extremely well.”;
On Lorenzo Alexander:
“Lorenzo’s a warrior. You know, the way he plays on special teams, the way he plays on defense, the way he prepares himself…And whatever you ask him to do, he’s going to do. He’s in excellent shape. I like his weight. I liked the way he’s played through the OTA’s, transitioning to that inside linebacker position. And I’m looking for good things out of him.”;
On how Lorenzo Alexander joked he wants to play every position before he’s done:
“He may, he may…Offense, defense. He can help you in the fullback position, the tight end position. We’re going to work him a little bit at those positions, just in case we lose somebody during the season. You know, he’s very sharp, so he picks things up quickly. You want to be able to do a lot of different things in this league, and he’s able to do it.”;
On Lorenzo Alexander’s weight loss:
“Well, when you play the outside position, you want to play someone at the 265-270 range. And he knew that anytime you go from the outside position to the inside position, coming from a wide receiver to tight end, you’ve got to be fast. You have got to be a lot quicker. And he cut the weight very quickly. He’s looked good.”;
On how Santana Moss said he wanted to be careful about praising Robert Griffin III too much:
“I think what Santana’s saying is that, yeah, you have got to go out there and get it done on the football field. A lot of speculation every year about a lot of different people, and you know, your focus has to be on football, and you’ve got to do your diligence. And I think Santana [Moss] knows, as much as anybody right here, there’s growing pains in every position, especially the quarterback position. And I’m sure that’s what he’s thinking.”;
On Robert Griffin III’s progress:
“You get better with every repetition you take. And the reason why it’s so hard the first year—and there’s not many quarterbacks that have been successful unless they’ve had a great supporting cast—is it does take time. It doesn’t happen right overnight. You’ve got to have the game slow down. And when the game does slow down, it’s usually because you’re a lot more comfortable with the position, you’ve got a lot more repetition, and you see things a little bit differently because you understand defenses. And you’ve been going at it week-in, week-out.”;
On what linebacker Brian Orakpo can do to improve as a puss rusher:
“I don’t think it’s just sacks, but I’m sure that’s what he’s looking at because everybody that looks at the position wants a guy to have a lot of sacks. The better we get as a defense, the better the opportunity both outside linebackers and inside linebackers will get their stats. I just think we made some big strides over the last couple years. You go from 31st to 13th, we’re deeper this year at all different positions. There’s a couple unknowns, I know that, but I like the way we’ve worked through the offseason. We have to get it done in the preseason and carry it over to the season.”;
On what the coaches are looking Brian Orakpo to work on:
“There’s always different pass rushing moves you have to work on. Different schemes sometimes when you’re forcing or you’re containing. There’s a growing curve with every player, especially as you get more comfortable with the system, both in base and nickel. Orakpo is a student of the game. He works at it. He studies a lot of film. With that type of effort, with that type of mindset, we’re going to get better.”;
On Brian Orakpo and other defensive players diversify their moves:
“These players do as they get more comfortable with the system and the scheme. You start looking at different players and saying, ‘Hey, I don’t have that move or this move and work in my repertoire’ rather than just maybe power rushing somebody. Saying, ‘Hey, what can I do to get maybe three or four more sacks?’ That’s what he does. He’s a student of the game. He studies it. Obviously he’s working with the coaches to get better and better.”;
On how he is going to use the running backs during the preseason:
“We kind of talked about it a little bit yesterday. I really don’t know what’s going to happen at the tailback position. You guys kind of tease me a little bit saying that I won’t say. I don’t know. I don’t know who’s going to be the tailback. I do know that I have three guys I have a lot of confidence in that played last year, the guys you just mentioned. We’ll find out. Obviously with [running back] Tim [Hightower] coming off of an ACL, he’s not even close to 100 percent but I see improvement everyday. [Running backs Roy] Helu and [Evan] Royster, they had some mild injuries, and they’re 100 percent ready to go, and I thought they both did a great job last year. Not many guys in a rookie year average 5.9 yards per carry and Helu did a great job averaging 4.2 yards per carry.”;
On if he will decide to rely on one running back:
“I really don’t know…people asked me about [former Denver Broncos running back] Terrell Davis. They didn’t think he was going to make the football team going into the last preseason game, but he had a heck of a game. So we really don’t know who’s going to play. Maybe [running back] Alfred Morris is the guy who steps up, just as Davis did. That’s why you have to have competition.”;
On how he will decide which running back will get more repetitions in practice:
“Number one, we have to stay healthy. Helu and Royster, with the limited play they both have been hurt, so if you are going to take some more reps, obviously you have to stay healthy. So it’s a combination. Can a guy stay healthy when he does perform? Is he consistent doing what he’s doing? What I mean is, first and second down as well as third down…Some guys can’t block those linebackers. They’re more runners than pass protectors. So if we can get a guy that can do it all, obviously we’d like to leave that guy in and play all the time. There’s some backs in the league that do.”;
On kicker Graham Gano’s response to competition during training camp:
“Like we just said, I can’t tell you anything until we start practicing and having some preseason games. Right from the start, both kickers know they have an opportunity to make this football team. This is a situation you want on any job. This is the way it’s supposed to be. You really don’t know in a lot of different positions. A veteran comes in and he’s not in great shape, he loses his job. For a veteran, you get guys like [linebacker] London [Fletcher] that come in at 37 years old and they’re in great shape. Mentally they enjoy practicing every day and they don’t skip a beat. To me, the great teams have that talent competition where you just let the best player play.”;
On what Rex Grossman can teach Robert Griffin III:
“He’s great. You’ve got a lot of veteran players that want to help the younger player. I understand that when they were rookies at one time, he probably had a vet really sit down with him and give him some tips that some veterans don’t do. We talk about that all the time. You know these veterans are here to help our football team win and improve, obviously not athletic ability, but at least the mental preparation for some of these young guys.”;
On Evan Royster:
“You can see it. You can’t tackle him. He makes people miss. He knows how to cut, he knows when to cut.”;
On Evan’s weight:
“You can see. The guy can make people miss. The reason why he averaged over six yards a carry for four years is he can make the first guy miss. And not many guys can do that. One of the reasons he averaged over six yards a carry last year. Hopefully he can keep on doing that in future years to come.”;
On where Evan’s ability comes from:
“I can’t tell you. You can either do it or you can’t. That’s why you know he had the success that he had. There’s some people with the innate ability to, when there in the hole, to make the right cut. And he seems to always make the right cut. Once he gets his balance after that 10-15 yards like he did in the last couple game, I think you’ll see those big plays come more and more. He’s got some great instincts and he’s got great control of his body.”;
On when Tanard Jackson is going to come back:
“I think he’s going to come back on Monday. I was talking to Larry [Hess]… Yeah he just, he looked pretty good but he’s got 24 hours to help him a little bit more, just getting back into football shape. So hopefully Monday he can go full speed.”;
On if it bugs him that receivers throw the balls in the stand:
“Yeah I did. Number one I said it’s going to cost each guy that did it. Well Pierre Garcon, he did it three times, and that cost him $2000 a ball and then on the last one Aldrick Robinson did it one time that cost him $2000. But more importantly we only have six balls left. We’re going to run out of playing football’s here(?). I like this guys being enthusiastic. They’re excited to see the fans out there and they wanted to give them a souvenir so it was great.”;
On if he thought Terrell Davis would make the team with the Broncos:
“Oh I knew he was going to make the team. I wasn’t sure he was going to be our starting running back but he was like the MVP two games on special teams. And anytime a guy that’s a running back that hasn’t played special teams, plays at that level, you know he’s going to be on your team you just don’t know if he’s going to be dressed or be apart of your 46 or 53 or 61. But after that last game where he got his opportunity to play, everybody knew he was going to be the starter.”;
Wide Receiver Leonard Hankerson
On if he has returned to full health after injuring his hip last season:
“Not quite yet. I’m still working down in the training room, working with [Head Athletic Trainer] Larry Hess and the other training guys. Still preparing myself, still getting better each, and every day, and I have to continue to work.”;
On playing at less than 100 percent:
“It’s nothing major. It [the hip] is just not normal. Any time you come off injury, you tend to have low confidence in what you have. I just have to continue to keep working on building my confidence and just keep going.”;
On when he was cleared to practice fully:
“On Friday. I’ve been running ever since seven weeks after I had surgery, so when I got cleared it wasn’t [anything] different.”;
On how he is approaching the competition at wide receiver:
“When you’re in the NFL, there’s going to be competition every day. When I was at Miami, I had just enough competition there. You just have to come to work every day. Do what you have to do mentally and physically, go out there and have fun and compete with the other guys.”;
On the openness of the wide receiver competition:
“It’s an open competition between everybody. You have to come to practice every day, work hard in the meeting rooms and stuff like that to get better, compete, be consistent and get better each day.”;
On how this year is different from his rookie season:
“This year, it’s totally different from last year. I know what [coaches] are expecting now. I’ve been through last year. I know what coaches expect. I know what I need to do. I’m more confident in the playbook. I know a whole lot more. I’m ready to just go out there, be more confident in what I do and just have fun.”;
On what he needs to do to get better:
“I just need to go out there, be consistent and get better each day, compete at a high level, have fun, and just make plays.”;
On if he would have liked to have been with the other receivers in Waco:
“Of course I want to be with my teammates getting better, but like I said, I couldn’t. I had to be here, rehab, and get my injury better.”;
On his impressions of Robert Griffin III:
“He’s a good guy and a great player to have on our team. It’s going to be fun being out there with him making plays, also with Pierre [Garçon] and Josh [Morgan] and all the other guys. We’re looking forward to the season.”;
On his comfort level after the team added more depth at wide receiver:
“I’m very comfortable. I’ve always been around a deep group of guys at receiver back when I was at [University of] Miami. It’s going to be fun. We’re all competing for a couple spots. We’re all having fun. We all communicate to each other in the film room, talking, having fun, stuff like that and it’s going to be a fun year.”;
On if the receiving corps is stronger this year:
“Not to knock off anyone or anything like that – it’s a younger group, but players are going to always come to compete with each other. I don’t really know. You can say it is, but who’s going to know? We’re not going to know until down the line, Sept. 9 or whenever the first game is when we’re all out there making plays and stuff.”;
On looking forward to the first preseason game:
“I’m looking forward to it a whole lot. Right now I am just focused on today. I’m just trying to go out there today and just have fun, compete, getting forward to make it through camp and doing what we got to do to have competition.”;
On if he wants to practice in full pads:
“I feel good. Why wouldn’t I? If I feel good then put me out there and let me see how it goes. And then if I would have a setback or anything like that, take me off.”;
On why he should be a starter:
“It’s not about if I should be a starter. It’s about coming here and putting in work. If I come in here put in work, bust my tail everyday and win the competition, then I guess that’s why. We’re all out here having fun. We all compete with each other. It’s an open competition and who ever comes out on top, comes out on top. ”;
On things he does better than the other receivers:
“Everybody has stuff that they know they do good. For me, I’m not saying I do it better than anybody else. I just know what I can do. Whatever I do out here and practice each and every day, that’s what I’m going to do in the game and that’s what it’s going to be.”;
On not being scared of setbacks:
“I guess that is what everything is about. I am totally confident right now. I’ve been working, busting my tail the whole offseason, ever since I had the surgery. I feel good. I am not focusing on that. I’m not worried about that. I’m having fun.”;
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