Press Pass: Chip Kelly

the um in the offseason program. So during OTAs and in mini camp he did a little bit of seven on seven, but obviously you have time as a quarterback and seven on to kind of set your feet and work yourself through progressions in terms of where you're going with the football. So, um, it's just good to see him back out in eleven on with a rush around him having to adjust to move up in the pocket.

Actually took off and ran I think yesterday in the or two days ago in the link you know, on a one where everybody was covered and made a good decision there. So it's it's just a process of him getting a lot more, just getting more familiar with the speed and tempo with things mechanic standpoint. Trust, he's been fine in terms of the way he's delivering the football and stepping and throwing. He's been fine from that sampoint

six weeks. They had a plan for him from a rehabilitation standpoint, which um, he was all on board with. So it was everything. You know, he's the one that, obviously because of the CBA, that he determines what he's gonna do for those six weeks. But UM, I think he felt really comfortable with our training staff and um, how the rehabilitation had gone since he got here in April. So he just continued that how we see those situations. It was the first time we saw it. So he's

a pretty athletic guy. I mean, I think I don't think people forget about that in terms of the same was very athletic coming out of college. It's a real good AU basketball player coming out of Oklahoma. Actually played on the same team with Blake Griffin. Um, he's a scratch golfer. He's a hell of an athlete. So um, you know, I don't think that's a question in terms of him being from an athletic standpoint. It's just a matter of him just getting back up to speed and

getting used to how every how we're doing everything. I think he's really sharp with it. You know, I think he feels confident, especially because of the work he put in over the last six weeks from when we broke on June eighteenth, and now he felt great in terms of what he did over the summer. And I don't see him. We don't see him when when you're watching film or doing anything that he's favoring that leg at all.

What do you look for when you watching out here and on the film to see just how comfortable he is in terms of what we're doing offensively and how he fits into it. And um, I think each day he's progressed and gotten better. So it's right on track for where we thought he would be. After three days being on the roster. You see someone that you can

use in a creative, creative ways on the game days. Yeah, Tim obviously has a lot of skills that other quarterbacks don't have because of his ability to run the football. So um, but we haven't delved into any of that right now. We're just competing getting reps. You know, guys are with the ones. Guys it was twos, guys with the threes that saw Salmon with the threes. I've seen Mark with the threes. I've seen Tim with the twos

and the ones. So we're just rolling guys, but we haven't spent any time as an offensive staff, you know, looking at hey, how do we do this or what can we do in terms of working out how the final roster is going to express itself while we're on quarter Matt Barkley, I thought he had a really good, uh, really really good um April to June for us. You know, I thought there was a big improvement in terms of where he was. UM. It was interesting when we got

into the beginning of the offseason program. He was the quarterback with the most experience in our offense. You know, it was here longer than Mark, obviously longer than both Tim and and Sam. So UM. I think he's progressed at times, it's it's it's difficult for all those guys because they're not really getting into a rhythm because we're just getting reps right now. But I think Matt's really made a lot of really good strides and we're excited

to see what he is. And the big performance for Matt and all those other guys are when we finally get a chance to go against the Colts in that first preseason game, and then the Ravens and then the Packers and then the Jets because, um, for any quarterback, you're still wearing a red jersey and they're still even when the rush comes clean, they're gonna pull up and kind of get away from me. But it's it's not gonna be like that when we get into those preseason games.

So that'll be the that'll be the test for all those guys. He's tough, hard, physical runner, you know, and that's what we've really when when this when we had it rolling at Oregon, we had guys like Jonathan Stewart was playing for Carolina, like Garrett Blunt. You know, we're looking for downhill guys that can that can really kind

of trade a defense. And um, you know, and Ryan fit that mold and the difference I think between Ryan and a lot of backs and the reason he was the first round draft pick is that a lot of guys that are that size don't have that home run speed. You know, he ran four three seven at the combine. You know you saw him just you guys had a first opportunity I think to see him, um two days ago returning kickoffs. You know, I think that's a big, explosive body of two hundred and thirty pounds that can

run that fast. There's it's kind of a unique combination to have. There aren't many guys that are that big, that are that fast. So you know, when we had the opportunity to get him, he was always in our plans in free agency running back, he was one of the guys a target. Very early, Bill Davis were saying, you guys get like two to three times more reps in practice than other teams. How do you think that helps, Like young guys like you know, Eric Row to Corey Nelson,

aglare depth. I think that's what it does help. And I think one of the misconceptions is our ones get the same around of reps as every other team's ones across the league. It's just the way we format our training sessions are twos and threes get to get more reps and everybody else, you know, in a lot of places, the ones get you know, twelve reps, the twos get six reps, and the threes may get two. For us, it's even across the board, you know, so we're just

rotating and sets of four. So right now in a team period, the ones will get twelve reps, the twos will get twelve reps. And the threes will get twelve reps. We've always felt that it's accelerated the younger guys in terms of not only there, they get experience. You know, they're they're sitting in the classroom, they're learning, they're going

through everything from a drill standpoint. But a lot of those guys just don't get a chance to show it to you in the training session because they only get one or two reps. All of those guys are getting a ton of reps, and it pays off in the end, especially for when you're trying to develop young players like

Coy Height. You know, I end up it helps because you know, our educational philosophy is I hear and I forget, I see, and I remember, I do when I understand, So you can talk about it and show it to him on tape as much as you know that that's that's all good and great, but they got to do it, and then our decisions in terms of our evaluations of them as players has to be based on demonstrated evidence. It just can't be like, I think he's a good player.

You know, he's only been in there for a couple of snaps, but I think he's going to be able to do it. You know, we're trying to put him in as many situations as we can where it can reveal itself. So now that it was the same exactly thing, I don't do anything. But I didn't take over a player personnel. The only difference is I have final say in terms of are we going to take you John? Are we going to take Zack? I mean, I'm like the final decision on that. But my day to day

hasn't changed. Ed runs a personnel department. He's done a fantastic job with that. But I don't. I don't. My day hasn't changed, nor will it change. What have you seen from Nelson since the first day at three practice? You know, I think he's um getting better every day. I think he's he catch the ball away from his body. It's always seems like he even though he's six foot maybe six foot and a half inch, he plays bigger

and taller and longer. Made a great catch on the sideline because he can extend, he can put his body in a lot of different situations. Um, he's got an extra gear that a lot of guys don't have. I think when he beats press coverage and takes off. Um. You know, you you got to make sure you're you understand how fast he is. And I think sometimes we've underthrown him a couple of times just because we know

how well he can accelerate. Uh. Does a great job of catching the ball and getting north and south and getting up field. And he's also in presses as a returner in the first three days, just as an apartment returner and kick returner. So UM been really pleased with him in the last three days. Go back and watch the papers. Same thing when we drafted him. A very, very athletic linebacker that has the potential to be a three down linebacker in the Michael Kendricks Um Keiko Alonzo mole.

You know he can he can cover. Uh, He's got a lot of skills from that standpoint. He's really stood out in the last couple of days on special teams. So UM, a real athletic three down linebackers what we've seen in the last couple of days. You know, I don't know he was a guy we had targeted high. Um. We didn't have a seventh round pick, so we were kind of we did have a seventh round pick, but we took a defensive linement at that situation. But he was a guy we were very very high on, spent

a lot of time within the offseason. Um, it seems to happen every year. Malcolm Butler was a guy last year for the Patriots that no one drafted and ended up, you know, making the key play in the Super Bowl. But it happens all the time. Why, I don't know. Maybe he was at a little bit smaller school. Um, but you know, we was a guy we were very excited about when we got the evaluation presents. He just keeps showing up. You know, you look at the play Timmy.

Timmy kept it and ran and has a big gainer about ten yards and then Denzel comes up and a cous fumble picked up, scooped up in fumble recovery. At the same time, he seems to be he seems to have a unique knact, always being around the ball. So there are parallel now with Jeremy not being here in Nelson. Now it's not a parallel. I mean, we wanted to

keep Jeremy. We just we just got outbid, you know, from a pricing standpoint, But we always wanted to keep Jeremy, and that wasn't a plan of ours that you know, we're just gonna let Jeremy walk and then we'll replace them with this. It was just and again, the draft. You can't predict how the draft is going to go and where you're gonna go to to say hey, when free agency starts, because it's so much before the draft, to say hey, it's okay, we'll let him walk because

we know we're gonna get Nelson. You know, you have no idea where they're going to go or when they're gonna go. But um, obviously, I think he bolstered our receiver corps. You know, when we've added to to Hof and Coop and um, adding Miles in in Uh in the off season, adding two in the off season, and then already having Jordan here. But we felt like he was just too good a play at that position for

us to pass ups. They were a parallel between what Jersey now and I think everybody's reaching with the whole parallels between guys. I mean, he's still a rookie and he's gonna play inside, gonna play outside, gonna return kicks. We're just gonna find, you know, where he fits best. But we're not we didn't target Nelson when we drafted him to say he's our replacement for Jeremy, just another versatile player. And as we you know, we sat in

the offseason, it's it's year two for him. So I think he feels real comfortable in terms of what our running backs are doing. So we're just kind of cross training him like we do some other guys in terms of how do we get our best players on the field and put him in a different situations. So the four of your rookie corners have had more than twenty pass break ups over the last two years. Obviously you want players that can get their hands on the ball, but do you guys have uh, you know, an added

focus on bringing those kind of guys in. Yeah, I mean that's a it's a great stat and obviously you want a deep well. And it's also a misleading stat because there are some of the best defensive backs that don't have pass breakups because no one throws the ball at him. You know. C's say, well, statistically he's not

a very good corner. He's a really good corner because when the offense looks out to they go, well, I'm not even gonna throw it over there, so he doesn't get a pass breakup, he doesn't get an interception, doesn't do anything. He can have a in a quote unquote statistical, very quiet year, but coaching wise, everybody knows what a great talented corner he is. But obviously that's what you're looking for. And I think in the last three days we feel as a staff we're a lot closer in

coverage and we've been. I think our guys are closer and routes. I think it's more challenging for our receivers, more challenging for our quarterbacks in terms of seven on seven, one on ones and things like that, because we've added depth and I think we've got some players right now. But we'll continue to work on that. Thanks guys,