Dan Quinn — Opening statement

Dan Quinn: “What's going on, everybody? It's good to see you guys. I'll do a little bit of training camp recap and then kick it over to Adam. He can hit some things and then we'll get rolling. But I thought, from a team standpoint, we threw a really productive and tough camp. We set out to do that and we certainly did. Some of what I liked most from camp: the competitions every day that we hit. We hit situations every day. I liked the long-drive drills that we did. We hadn't done that previously. The calls. It was good to see the systems come to life offensively and defensively. I was very impressed with Daronte and David, the communication with the players. And that may seem simple, but I'm telling you it's not, and having the ability to teach, get the information exactly how you want it and then get to it. It was excellent. I liked the speed of the front seven on defense. I saw that with OA and KC and DA and Sonny and Luvu and Leo and others. I love the leadership I saw with some of the vets like Terry and Revo. And I love Jayden's readiness. We took over 500 snaps in this training camp. That's almost like a half-season's worth of reps, and his timing with Stef and Terry is invaluable with a new system, so to put that kind of work in. He's elite with the ball in his hand. He's been decisive in this system. So, it's good to get into that. I'm also excited to say a couple guys are back at practice today. So, that'll be Allegretti and Mariota and Payne and Magee and Sinnott, to name a few. So, it's good to have them back with it. And we'll practice three days this week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we're excited to get rolling back on the field today. So, I'll kick it to AP and then we'll get started with you guys.”

Adam Peters — Opening statement

Adam Peters: “Thanks, Q. And, yeah, I want to second that. Really good camp. Really pleased with where we are, how we competed in camp and then ended up. But coming off a tough weekend, and really it's the worst weekend of our year for sure, having to have these conversations and moving on from some guys. And just want to thank and show appreciation for those players that worked their ass off — excuse me, their tails off — really throughout the offseason, some for a couple years, and really throughout this training camp. We made some tough decisions, and it's never easy, and I want to just show appreciation for those guys. I want to thank our pro department. They did a great job getting us ready for this weekend and seeing what's out there and what's available out in the league. And we're able to add some guys on other teams, which will come across here pretty soon. But really happy where we are. Looking forward to getting, like DQ said, some of the guys back that we were missing throughout the second half of camp, getting those guys back and ready for Philly. And that said, though, we're still far from done. We're always looking to improve our team and we'll keep doing that. We still have another 13 days until we play there, so some more stuff can happen. But happy with who we have and where we're at right now.”

How would you assess the offensive line at this point, and are there concerns about the interior?

Dan Quinn: “I loved the amount of work that Sam and Josh on the right side have gotten, and I love the amount of work that Chris and BC have gotten. And with Brandon, obviously, Laremy going down, that sucks. And so we're still working through where we're at at center. We're excited to get Nick back into the fold today, John. So, we'll have a good sense of them working this week and then the next week with Matt as well. But I don't want lost the battery of the right side and the left side. They've gotten a lot of good work in together. So, I'm excited to see what this week and then into next week bring with Nick and kind of roll in with him and get going from there.”

Adam Peters: “Yeah, Sean didn't prepare us for that question, so we had no idea that was coming, but I'll just wing it. I echo what DQ says. First, losing LT was a big deal, but very fortunate to have Brandon, who's played a lot of snaps out there at left tackle, and then having Chris to play a lot of snaps there at left guard, like DQ was alluding to, and then the right side. Those two guys have played a lot of football together. So, not having Nick for most of camp was something we had to work through, but we have a ton of confidence in him. He's played, I think, 3,000-some-odd snaps in this league, and he's played good football for us before. He went through the whole offseason, so we're really confident. He's not a guy that needs a ton of reps, especially from a mental standpoint. And then working to Matt, we're very confident in Matt. That's why we drafted him, and he's really passed all those tests that we thought he would and really see a bright future in him. And then we've brought Julian back on the practice squad, who played a lot of snaps for us throughout the offseason and preseason too. So, we like that group. And like I said, if there's somebody else that we feel would add to it, we're not afraid to do that.”

Do you feel like there's enough time for the offensive line to come together before the season?

Dan Quinn: “Certainly do. Yes. And kind of referring back to what AP said, a number have played a lot of snaps. Talking about Nick, it's been nice to get Sam and Josh all this time together. If you remember last year in training camp, Sam wasn't here. And so, to have these combinations of guys going that way, yeah, a lot of confidence.”

What went into the thinking at center this offseason and the decision to move forward with Nick Allegretti?

Adam Peters: “Yeah, I mean, that's something we've already covered a little bit, I think, Nikki, in terms of I don't want to go back and talk about Tyler and all that. But certainly we feel very confident in Nick, and we have. And that's where we went into this offseason feeling that Nick could be our starter and still do feel that way. And who we went for and who we did or didn't get, I don't think we want to get into rewriting history talking about six months ago. But those are the guys that we're really excited to see go play here in a couple Sundays.”

What's your confidence level in the cornerback room with Trey Amos beginning the season on injured reserve?

Adam Peters: “Obviously, not having Trey — he hasn't played really since midseason last year. So, we wanted to take it slow with him. That's why we put him on IR. Could he have come back right around in a few weeks? Maybe. But with the advances in sports science and understanding what it will take for him to get ready to play from not having played since midseason last year, we wanted to take that a little bit slower. So, we're confident he'll be ready when it's time for him to come out. In terms of the rest of the position, really happy that we added the guys that we did with Rasul and Fabian late in this training camp, and they're going to really help us early on in this year. And then we'll grab a couple other guys here on the practice squad that have played a lot of NFL ball, too, that'll help us. But certainly feel a lot better when Trey's back.”

What have you seen from Matt Gulbin and Julian Good-Jones that gives you confidence they could step into a game at center if needed?

Dan Quinn: “Yeah, start with Matt first. I thought sometimes with the rookies, you see this progress take place. I think I saw — Adam and I were talking about it just over the weekend — like Antonio, and you feel a lift that goes on with it. We're seeing it with Matt in the same way. I love, I feel his strength, Dave, in the pocket. He's not somebody that repeats a lot of mistakes. And so, is he going to make some? Hell yeah. That was part of training camp and learning and digging in for it. Same with Sonny or anybody else. To see him not repeat those, that's the sign of a mature player who's making a lot of progress. Almost like Jayden a couple years ago, you sometimes can see a player's experience out on the practice field. Here's a situation. Here's why I called it to here. He has good upper-level football smarts to him. And then with Julian playing as much as he did this training camp, it will pay dividends for us to have that much experience. Here's a guy we signed on the practice squad. We love him here. He works his ass off going through it. So, that's why there are dividends. Even though sometimes it's hard, there are silver linings in that as well. And so, seeing Matt take an extra look over the last, I don't know, let's call it 10 days or so was definitely something that we had planned to do. And we're pleased with what we've seen and like the progress that he's making. He's a tough competitor, baby.”

Is there an update on Odafe Oweh?

Dan Quinn: “Yeah, we're feeling good. He won't be practicing with us today, but he's making a lot of progress. And as we're getting into next week, we're thrilled that he's making this kind of progress to get ready.”

How much did the team's poor performances in the final two preseason games factor into your roster evaluations?

Adam Peters: “Yeah, I think both of us sitting up here would wish we would have performed a little bit better in those last two games. From my seat, obviously you want to look and see how the whole team's performing and how they're playing together, but also you're looking at the individual performances and who stood out and really separated themselves. So, in terms of evaluating, you can single out guys and say, ‘All right, maybe we didn't perform well as a team in these certain areas, but certain players really performed really well.’ You guys saw it with Craig Reynolds, really did an incredible job this last game as one example of a guy who was really going for it and who's going to help us this year, and signing him to the practice squad. And those are the things you can pull out of those and like, all right, who are the guys that are really going for it and really want to be Commanders and that are going to help us? Obviously you want to perform well and win those games, but you also are trying to get a lot out of these games, too, that don't really count in the end.”

How much does being a draft pick factor into how long a player gets to prove himself?

Adam Peters: “None.”

Dan Quinn: “Yeah. You got to earn everything in this league.”

With Trey Amos out, how do you envision the cornerback alignments with Mike Sainristil, Amik Robertson, Rasul Douglas and Fabian Moreau?

Dan Quinn: “Yeah. And Rasul's got a lot of experience outside, too. So, you probably saw last week we also did Amik inside. And we thought that's also valuable, to have different guys in different locations to see what to do. It also comes up when you sometimes match on some people — right side, left side, I'm inside, I'm outside. But Rasul and Fabian have been really good additions to our team. I've known of Rasul and Fabian, but then getting a chance to coach them, see their football knowledge, their awareness, that's a big deal. And so, the competitiveness that Amik and Mike have, ones that set it, and then Rasul and Fabian are kind of like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I got it.’ It's a good yin and yang, honestly. I love the ball skills of both the guys, and that's something that obviously you've heard us talk through the training camp. I think we're significantly improved in that area of attacking it, and Rasul and Fabian and Mikey and Meek and others, that part of it is a big deal. So, we're excited they're here.”

What stood out about Athan Kaliakmanis, and why was it important to keep three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster?

Adam Peters: “Yeah, you do see teams keep two, some teams keep three, some keep four. So, I think a lot of it's a function of who you have in that room across the league. But Athan, we really just loved his arm talent, his moxie, his competitiveness. That's what we saw on tape, and those are a lot of things you saw on the preseason tape. And just the way he could extend plays and made some plays under pressure, also standing in the pocket, making big-time throws. He made a lot of really big-time throws in the preseason, and that was something that we were really pleased to see. And he's not afraid to rip it. A lot of times you see that in the preseason where guys get in the game and they'll go straight to their checkdown because that's more comfortable and you get an easy completion, but he wasn't afraid to make mistakes. He wasn't afraid to rip it. And certainly it wasn't all perfect. There's a lot of different things that he's got a lot of room to grow in, a lot of different ways, but really liked his progress. And he's a guy we definitely want to work with in the future. Really, all four guys that we have are guys we really like and want to work with in the future. But Athan certainly earned that.”

What do you want David Blough and Daronte Jones to take away from the preseason, particularly the loss to Baltimore?

Dan Quinn: “Yeah, I would say the things that I did not like, and they would agree with you. We had a lot of missed tackles in that game, and that's unacceptable. To play good defense, you've got to tackle well. Our league has a lot of space-generating plays, and oftentimes that's where the explosive comes. And so, on defense and on special teams, our ability to make tackles, that's a really big deal. I love the run-and-hit factor of some of the guys, but to see those missed tackles in the game, that was disappointing for sure. On the offensive side, honestly, the biggest one was not being able to sustain third downs and continue on drives, and all of a sudden get out of whack, time of possession and others. So, sometimes in a game like that, people press too much. And I'm not talking about the entire team or entire unit, but there were definitely examples that AP and I said it felt you wanted it so badly that you're out of whack. And I've seen that before through the years. But we came in and had a practice the next day, I guess that would have been Saturday, and I loved what I saw from the group on that day. I certainly was not pleased the night prior, but seeing that day, the communication, the speed of what I was looking for, they threw a great practice. And into this one, I'm looking for execution, decisiveness and really skill work. That's my main focus on these three days. And then they need a minute. They need to take a beat, and then we'll come back and get into the game week and the flow of that. But it was by design to throw a tough-ass camp, work the skills into this space. Yesterday, as Adam was kind of referring to earlier, it's a heavy weekend, and it's never lost on us the weight of that and what goes into it. And as we get into today and tomorrow and the next day, we'll even add a few guys that are going to be part of our crew, practice squad or otherwise. So, it's really about leveling up and setting us up as we're getting into the regular season. But the tough camp was part of that. Not part of the game. That was just pissed — there's a lot I was pissed about. We'd have all day. But we're moving on. We're on to Cincinnati.”

What went into the decision to keep seven wide receivers on the 53-man roster?

Adam Peters: “Yeah, that's a good question. And really, I thought there were probably a couple other guys that could have made it, too. That ended up being a really deep room. And all those guys have a little bit different skill set and little different ways they can help our team. Some of them are better on special teams. Some of them are better inside, outside. And so, we wanted to keep a mix of all those guys. And we thought more than who we kept were NFL players. And so, really wanted to keep all the guys that we thought could help us this year. And so, seven is — you usually keep maybe six, five, six or seven. You can keep any of those numbers, and whatever you do, you're taking away from another position. And so, you try to balance that out, but you try to get the best 53 that you can get. And so, we certainly felt we had seven really capable NFL players at that position.”

Where do you feel like the defense is right now?

Dan Quinn: “Yeah, I would say from the practices you've been at, I like that we utilize different fronts. In Daronte's package, there's some that are five and six guys down by the line, four guys down by the line. Certainly by no means did we like what we saw, but I would also say there's a lot that we did not show in that space. And so, kind of what Adam was referring to earlier, there's so many evaluations that are taking place, and sometimes it's of the really good play, but also it's of the things that you don't like quite as well. And so, I would not say it's indicative of a scheme issue that came through. We're excited about where we're headed with the group. But I would say you could almost look into too many things too much in a preseason game — how much rushing yards you had versus how much you didn't allow. It's less complicated, but I wasn't pleased with it. But I would say you saw a fraction of what I think we'll do.”

You mentioned Jayden Daniels' readiness. What specifically stands out about him entering Year 3?

Dan Quinn: “Yeah, I feel his command in a lot of ways. You've always felt Jayden's presence, playmaking ability, and being on the defensive side against him in practice, it's incredibly difficult. He gets outside the pocket, he can use his legs, he can throw on the run. But I would say the decisiveness that he has, the location that he puts the ball in for the receivers, he makes it incredibly difficult to go against. So, having all the extra time with the receivers, the tight ends, you see those dividends paying forward. So, it's been excellent for him. New system, but his call, his command, his ability to get in and out of things, it's impressive.”

There's been concern from the fan base after the preseason. What gives you confidence that this team is going to be all right?

Adam Peters: “Yeah, I have a ton of confidence in this team. I have a ton of confidence in the coaching staff. And DQ alluded to it, we haven't done a whole lot in terms of showing what we're going to be doing offensively and defensively. And there's been a lot of times where we haven't had our players out there, whether it's been in the games or even at practice. So, I look back to how we did against the Dolphins and just seeing when we had the full arsenal of players up front, offensively, defensively, to seeing what we're capable of, and very confident in that. Like DQ just talked about with Jayden, where he's at and what he's going to be, and having him back. Just the overall character of the men in that room and the coaching and level of coaching that we have, I'm very confident. Obviously, the fans are passionate, and you love to have passionate fans, and that's great. But there's a lot of stuff that we're doing here that maybe they don't see, and there's a lot of things that I'm really excited to see in a couple of weeks. We couldn't be more thrilled to start our season when we're starting it, and it's going to be a great challenge, and we're looking forward to it.”

You mentioned Jayden Daniels taking more than 500 snaps during camp. What's the impact of virtually all of those coming without Nick Allegretti at center?

Dan Quinn: “It's not ideal, obviously, JP. But I would say Nick being there through the spring into camp, he's not away from our building. So, you don't love it, JP, but you can only kind of control what you can. And so, Jayden's response was, ‘Hey man, I'm going to attack it and get into that space.’ Nick is one of our smartest players. So, that's a position that you rely on that. He was making calls, where am I setting things? And so, that's a good piece. But, yeah, I would say it's not a part of why he had so many plays or decisiveness. But we're excited he's back to work today. I can tell you that.”

How do you envision the role of the practice squad? Is it primarily developmental, or is it an extension of the active roster?

Adam Peters: “Yeah, I think it's both of those, JP. One, they're an extension of your 53. We look at the 17 on the practice squad as part of the team. Essentially, we have a team of 70. And so, within that 17, there's players that are guys that can come up and play right away when you have an injury or when you need somebody to come in if you're doing something personnel-wise that's different. So, you do bring guys back that have played in the system, that you have seen play in games and can help you get out of a game or two or start for an extended period of time. And then there's a handful of those guys that maybe aren't quite ready to play just yet, and those guys are developmental. The guys that you scouted in college or signed, or you saw on other teams that our pro guys have identified on other teams that you really want to work with and help them develop into a player for you down the road. So, yeah, it's a mix of both. And certainly that's why they allow the veterans on it now. With the roster limits and the amount of games we're playing, you're going to have injuries and you need guys ready to step into that role. And so, we do have a handful of guys that can do that and that have done that, and we feel confident in those guys, and then excited about developing the younger guys. A guy like Jaden Bradley or something that did a great job at the local pro day and preseason, and we think he has a future in this league. So, continuing to develop him and others like that.”

With Julian Good-Jones not making the 53-man roster and Matt Gulbin making it, why didn't Julian get more opportunities to take snaps with Jayden Daniels during camp?

Dan Quinn: “Yeah. Well, first I'd say Julian definitely deserved the shot to go compete for it. That was first and foremost, of being here, going through it. And so, although he may not have got practice reps as well with Jayden, we got a chance to see that and evaluate him into that and who he was going against. So, I understand your question. But Nick, Julian, Matt, they're all going to get their looks at it to go, but you do have to give a shot to go do it, too.”

Looking back at the roster-building process, what do you think you got right, especially considering injuries altered some of the original plans?

Adam Peters: “Yeah, I think the thing that you can never predict — and you hit the nail on the head, Ben — is just the injuries, right? And how can you fortify yourself to have depth through those injuries? And it's hard to do that. It's hard to have depth at every single position and have great depth at every single position. So, you try to do that as best you can. But if I'm just touching on, we have the right types of guys throughout the whole building, and we have really good competitors. We have really good people in the building, and I think that I'm very proud of that, just having the right types of guys in the building. I don't want to single out any position or any position group as where we're stronger or weaker or anything like that. But I know the guys that we have that are able to step up now that we have had injuries, like a Brandon Coleman, is up to the task. And so, I'm happy about that. And I'm happy that our staff's always continuing to look for more guys that can help us down the line, and we'll continue to do that throughout this week and throughout the year to make sure we give these guys the right types of guys that go out and play on Sundays.”

What from the preseason do you need to make sure doesn't carry over into the regular season?

Dan Quinn: “Ball security. You've heard me talk about that, how important that is. And so, finishing the plus in other games, in this last one to finish at even, not acceptable, not good enough for what I'd like. So, I wouldn't say it's like needed to change, but I want to make sure that emphasis stays up at the top of the list. And I like that Jayden, for instance, he's been elite with the ball, decision-making, where to go, and the defense has made it hard on him. They've done a nice job disguising when they're blitzing, how to do certain looks. So, that would be number one, top of the pile, creating the takeaways, being excellent with our ball security. If we do that at the highest level that we can, then I know that ensures us the best opportunity. So, that would be at the top of my list. And then we're going to certainly have the ability to space tackle, break tackles. We've got people that can do that, and so to continue to work hard at that. Finding space, explosive plays, getting the ball down the field. There's a number of guys that can do that. And so, that's why it's been exciting to have some of the guys in the room. And also now that we're getting some guys back, even into practice, to see them into that space, I'm pumped to see that.”

With new coordinators on both sides of the ball, how fluid are the players in operating the systems now compared with earlier in camp?

Dan Quinn: “Yeah, it's a great question, Donna, and one that has been on the front of my mind. You want to go through the whole process, and by that I mean installing everything. And two parts. One, this is your system and the things that you want to do. The second part of that is how do you feature the players within the system? And so, for David and Daronte to learn what some of the guys can do, how would they feature them, now you start to think ahead into game planning and how we do match up because you don't do any of that during the season. You're just back and forth practicing and going against it. I like now to trim that down. That started into today, to say these are the things that the team can be exceptional at. There could be things that you're continuing to work on, but they're not what I would call game-ready yet. But both packages are extensive. And I've been really impressed by David and Daronte going back, refining what needs more attention, what needs more work. But the way I can best tell is I can hear it on the field. I can hear it coming out of the huddle. You can hear Jayden in the huddle calling a protection, looking at the offensive line, to receiver, to a certain call. That's the execution that you're looking from the quarterback. On the defensive side, I am hearing the communication before the offense even gets to the line. That's what I saw Saturday. Those are the things you want to see ahead of the snap. When you don't hear that, okay, we've got too much. There's too much thinking going on because they're still thinking about a different call that happened last play, and I'm working on the next one. So, that's what I like to hear. It's nice to see that refinement coming back down together as we're starting to get ready to work into a game plan. So, think of, like, I've got a giant book and these are the only things I'm putting in for this game. I've got a giant book and I'll put into these. So, it's nice for the players. Okay, I don't have this much to remember for practice. It's down to this much. And that stress that we put them under during camp, it was okay with me. I like putting them under the stress. I like making the coaches feel the stress. I like myself feeling under that because it really tests your readiness. When you pare it down, it is much easier. But the tests are what we need, and the stress of training camp is what this team needed, to go against each other, put them in difficult spots. And so, that's why it was a successful camp to me, to make it hard on one another. That's what we intended to do going in, and that's what we did. There should be mistakes in training camp with the amount of things that you do, and now you start paring it down.”

Watch Dan Quinn and Adam Peters' full Monday press conference below.

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