COURTESY OF NEW YORK JETS MEDIA RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
Opening Statement… Alright, I’ll start off here. Today we will start our virtual offseason program. We will have a four hour window where really we have to get two hours of meeting time done. Obviously, we have guys kind of spread out all over the country, so we’ve had to stagger some of our meeting times as far as our positional stuff. It is very similar to what we were doing when we were here, obviously a little different since we are doing it online. We will still be able to go four days a week, be able to get two hours of work done in that time frame per day, still voluntary. We will only be doing meetings instead of having the workouts in the meetings. We are just going to be doing the meetings and we will start out positionally these first two weeks and then we will kind of adjust into some bigger groups to give guys opportunities to get used to using the program that we are using and us being able to work out any kind of bugs and just anything and any complications that we have before we start anything in the big meeting group. With that, that is really the offseason program. I know you guys are going to have questions on the draft and anything else moving forward, so go ahead.
Brian Costello, New York Post: Adam, I am not sure if you are going to address the team as a whole like you normally would in the beginning of an offseason program, but if you do, what is going to be your message to the team going into this virtual offseason?
We will, I will. One of the reasons why I wanted to really take these first two weeks to do it positionally was, just to give our guys chances, just so we can minimize some of the issues I’m sure we will have here in these first couple days of guys trying to figure out how to get on, it’s really not that complicated, we were able to do this with the college guys, but just try to minimize any of that and when we get going, really It is going to be about how we can move forward with everything that is going on and the unknown going forward. Just how we can stay focused on what we are doing and find ways to get better.
Rich Cimini, ESPN: Adam, two more questions on this program. During that two hour window with the players, are you personally going to do x’s and o’s type stuff, installation, if you can just talk about that? Also don’t the players have some home video, how to do workouts at home, suggestions, recommendations on actual physical workouts?
The workout stuff, everybody has kind of been doing a little bit of a different thing. I do think there have been some instructional things that these guys had before they even left that they have been using for a long time. A lot of guys are on their own, they have their own trainers and things like that that they’ve been working with, so I feel pretty good about with where we are it with how guys are going about working out. As far as the virtual online things, I am going to be very hands on in this, whether it will be meeting with certain positions, quarterback, any of the offensive positions. The best thing about this program is that I can jump in and out of a lot of different meetings. The video stuff that we are able to do, it’s pretty cool how we can share our screen and watch the film with players and be able to diagram and talk through some stuff. It is a unique way that we are doing things, but I think it is going to be very beneficial for us.
Manish Mehta, New York Daily News: Adam a couple of questions. First, can you speak to the overhaul of the offensive line, specifically (George) Fant and Connor (McGovern). How challenging will it be for you to get a whole entire group up front up to speed, given that you won’t be on the field? Secondly, along those same lines you have mentioned that you want to spend this offseason getting a better understanding of what works for Le’Veon (Bell). Obviously not being on the field would make that more challenging, so what are you plans to work him specifically?
We will see how the offseason program goes with this being virtually with Le’Veon. There’s been texting back and forth, I never know how, until we get going with this of who’s going to be there. There just has to be a lot of communication, that really has to be the big thing this offseason, make sure we are all good to go there. As far as the O-line, it is interesting to see when guys get moved in. I don’t think I’ve really been a part of the amount of guys we have brought in, the change out that we’ve had and guys signing with other teams, but I really think it is going to come down to how quickly we can come together chemistry wise on the field. Obviously, all teams are in the same boat here where who knows when we are going to get back on the field, but it is going to be about how fast that we can gel together as a group and play well together. Really when it comes down to it, last year I’d look at where things kind of started out rocky for us and then once that group of O-line got together then all of a sudden those guys gelled together pretty quickly and we had success.
Bruce Beck, NBC: Adam, what are the challenges of this unique offseason program and how will you know if you are connecting with your guys because they are not right next to you and the second part is, does this require more preparation by you?
Really, a lot of the stuff preparation wise is really kind of done, it’s really not that hard. I am sharing out my screen to them and the coaching staff, everybody is on the same page. The defense, they are always way ahead of schedule and offensively we have had our stuff ready to go. We got a huge jump on it once the offseason started this year, to where we were ready to go before the building closed down. So as far as preparation goes, I feel like we are in a really good place and the challenges are going to be, I’m sure things will come up and we will have to adjust. The good thing is I feel like the players are anxious to get going on something. There is not a lot of contact with people outside of Facetime and I think that is a good opportunity for guys to actually see each other on these Microsoft Teams meetings that we are having, where you can see your teammates and you can interact, have discussions. I think guys are excited to be a part of that.
Neil Best, Newsday: During this period here where you can’t see people, what is your communication been like with Sam (Darnold). What is you sense of how he is handling the situation in terms of making it a positive and getting up to speed, improving, all the things that he would normally be doing now starting in person?
Really any communication I have with any players, it is all about making sure guys are alright. It cannot be football related, that is just how the CBA rules are. I know coaches are being very smart about how they go about things to where they know that we can check on guys, we just have to be careful about what we talk about, we don’t want to put ourselves in a bad position because of the rules but we have been trying to make sure that we check on our players, make sure everybody’s health’s okay and making sure if something is going wrong, that they do something about it right away. Thankfully, we haven’t had to deal with anything like that as for right now and hopefully we can keep all of our guys healthy.
Al Iannazzone, Newsday: Adam, I was wondering if you can talk about whether you think you guys got enough weapons for Sam (Darnold) this offseason and what you think Breshad Perriman will be able to add for you guys?
Yeah, I feel really good about where we are at right now. I know everyone keeps focusing on wide receiver, which I think is going to be a pretty good group, but I look at our tight ends, I look at our running backs. I feel like we are in a good spot and who knows what will be added from here on out. I think Joe (Douglas) has been fairly aggressive as far as when it ever comes to trading guys and trading for guys or having to make some kind of move where he has to pick somebody up because they get waived. We have a long way to go before we actually start the season, so you never know what kind of opportunities are going to come about. As far as Perriman goes, I am excited to see what he can do in this offense. His skill set, it fits in well with what we do, we feel like he can do multiple things for us. I think he can create explosive plays for us, I think he can do some good stuff run after the catch, go, it’s just going to be really about just getting him caught up to speed as fast as possible and making sure whenever that time comes when we get on grass, he will be ready to go and he’ll be able to play fast.
Otis Livingston, CBS: Adam, you talked about how anxious and excited the players are to see one another literally for a change, how about yourself? How excited are you to get back to what I guess is going to have to be the new normal for the present, talking about football?
Yeah, I’m excited because we’ve been basically doing this with the personnel guys and the coaches, when we have meetings and that’s really kind of what our life has been. It is going to fun to see the players, who I haven’t seen in a long time and being able to talk to some of these guys and some of the other position groups, see the defensive guys. I mean it does, it feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen these guys because at least, you know a lot of times leading up to the offseason, you at least kind of see guys passing the hallways because guys start kind of filtering in, getting their things lined up ready to go for the offseason and we haven’t had that opportunity this year.
Connor Hughes, The Athletic: Hey Adam, kind of a two part two totally different questions here. Can you talk a little bit to Jamal Adams and his decision to skip the virtual offseason program and if that is going to have any impact here? And also, you kind of mentioned a little bit about the tight end position, so Chris Herndon missed the vast majority of last year, what are your expectations for him this season assuming he can play a full 16-games and not have any holdups or hiccups?
Yeah as far as with Jamal (Adams), I mean this is voluntary. That is just what it is. It is one of those things where guys have the choice if they want to do this they can, if they don’t, it just is what it is, that’s the CBA rules and there’s nothing that we can really do about that. As far as Chris Herndon goes, I think everybody can agree, we were all excited to see what he could do going into last year, felt good about so many things and then you know it just didn’t work out, with the suspension, the injury, then we finally get up on the field and he played like eight plays. I think he is a guy we are excited to get back and can’t really wait to get going and see how he will fit in with everything and we expected him to be a big part of the offense last year and we didn’t even get that opportunity. I think we are adding a guy that is a very good player that is finally going to be able to get back in the mix of this thing.
Brian Costello, New York Post: Adam, what do you feel like the next step is for Sam (Darnold) and do you worry about that being slowed down at all by this current setup by being virtual?
No, I am not worried about it with kind of how we are going to be doing things and what we are going to be talking through. I know that he has the ability to do some things on his own out west. I know we kind of had discussions before he left at the end of the year of kind of some things that we wanted to work on, but really it is grab a hold of this offense and really learn from and studying the film, which he’s gone through a lot on his own and this is kind of going to be one of those things we are going to be revisiting here as we start this offseason program. I know that he watches last year’s stuff and it gets him fired up because he knows “I can do this better, I know how this is supposed to look.” His brain’s working so much faster when you go into year two of these things because you know all of the little tiny details of what the offense is about. Now it is more about playing faster, adjusting to things maybe you didn’t talk about, adjusting the things that you have never seen before and being able to do those kind of little tiny details things so much quicker just because of experience and studying the film and learning from your mistakes.
Rich Cimini, ESPN: Adam, I am going to follow up on Brian’s (Costello) question. So, Joe (Douglas) has made it no secret throughout this entire offseason that a lot of these moves were made with Sam (Darnold) in mind. Clearly the offensive line looks better on paper and you have some real speed at wide receiver with (Breshad) Perriman and (Denzel) Mims, so shouldn’t this be a big step now for Sam in year three? How big of a step do you expect him to make?
I feel like things are moving in the right direction. It’s hard for me to talk about these mythical steps that everybody is talking about. All I know is that we need to find ways to win games and put ourselves in position to where we can make the tournament. That’s what the goal is and I know that’s what every team in the NFL is trying to do. Sam (Darnold) is trying to do the right thing in terms of making sure he knows this offense cold, he knows all of the little details that he needs to do day in and day out and he has to help all of these guys that are new get caught up to speed as fast as possible. He’s really an extension of the coaching staff in that aspect because he has more experience in this offense than most of the guys that are here, and he is going to have to do a good job of making sure that he is on point.
Manish Mehta, New York Daily News: Adam a couple of things, just to piggyback on what you just said about making the tournament. What kind of shape do you think the roster is in now after free agency and the draft and do you think that the expectations should be that the team makes the playoffs? And secondly, with the fact that you don’t get your hands on these guys, both you and Gregg (Williams), what kind of realistic expectations should you guys have or the impact the rookie class will make?
Yeah, I think roster wise I think Joe (Douglas) and the personnel department has done a great job as far as lining this thing up the right way and finding the right type of guys and really the right fit for what we are trying to do. I feel like our locker room is going to be a tight locker, felt like that was one of the reasons we were able to flip things around midway through the season was the locker was tight, we had the right type of guys in there, they were focused on doing the right things and finding ways to win games and all the little tiny details they did right and that is why we are able to go 6-2 on the back half. Expectations, I am not really worried about what everybody else thinks our expectations should be, I know that anything we talk about in-house stay in-house and we are going to focus on getting better in this offseason and once we kind of get the opportunity to hit the field in the fall, then we will worry about getting better into the training camp and kind of see where the season goes, we have to take it one week at a time. I mean we found that out last year, we tried to look a little too far ahead and would make things difficult on ourselves.
Ralph Vacchiano, SNY: Hey Adam, you talked earlier about the weapons you got for Sam (Darnold), the receivers and the tight ends, I am curious about the running back you guys grabbed in the fourth round, Lamical Perine. What about his skill set fits into your offense, what are your thoughts on how ideally you would like to use him this season?
Yeah, we will kind of see how the flow of any kind of rotation would go. It is hard to anticipate that right now considering everything is on paper and we haven’t seen anybody practice, but I will say this, we all like the skill set, he’s one of those guys that’s able to do all three phases that you look for in a running back, to be able to run the football, to be able to be involved in the passing game and be able to protect and I think he can do all three of those things. I think we are getting a guy too that is very hungry, that is going to be playing with a chip on his shoulder. I mean he obviously was surprised that he lasted to the pick he lasted and anytime that we can get guys that are coming in like that, that is a good thing for us.
Kim Jones, NFL Network: Hey Adam, I am wondering with Mekhi Becton what your expectations are for him? And with Ashtyn Davis, is part of the drafting of him given your safety position, the idea that Gregg Williams can be maybe as creative as he can be and as exotic as he can be and Davis fits in that way in terms of his role on defense?
As far as Mekhi (Becton) goes, we are at the beginning stages of everything right now. When we get an opportunity and that rookie time kind of starts up, get him caught up with the offense as fast as possible and get him to learn all of the techniques and the verbiage and it is a big jump from college to pro and just get him caught up with that as fast as possible. The good thing is he’s very sharp, very sharp and it will take a second, but I think he is going to get caught up pretty quick especially the way Frank (Pollack) implements a lot of these offensive line, the terminology and the techniques and things like that. We will see how things play out when we get on the grass. As far as Ashtyn (Davis) goes, he brings a lot to the table with the multiplicity that he plays, with all the positions that he plays, his ability on special teams. You are looking at a guy that can do a lot of things for us. It seems like it comes up all the time where all of sudden whether a third safety gets thrown in there and you are looking to make sure that there is not a lot of drop off when you got to bring a guy in there. Plus with Gregg (Williams), the amount of packages he has, we are able to put him in a lot of different spots and move some of these guys around. I mean Marcus (Maye) and Jamal (Adams) are so versatile and all the things they can do, so all of a sudden you have three guys that can do the same thing where they are all moving all over the place. It makes it difficult for an offense to really kind of know what’s going on and for us to have the ability to be able to do that, how much we do it, time will tell, but just being able to have that option for Gregg (Williams) is a good thing for us.