Sean McDermott Gives An Update On James Cook and Joint Practice with the Bears | Buffalo Bills

Sean McDermott Gives An Update On James Cook and Joint Practice with the Bears | Buffalo Bills

Okay. Uh, good morning first of all. Um, so here’s what we’ve got. Um, uh, James Cook is expected to practice today. I’ll start there. Um, we signed Trey H. Hearnden and released Matt Soal. Appreciate everything Matt did. Really good person, player as well. Um, again, the reminder of the business here, business side of things. Um, from an injury report standpoint, uh, we’ve got Sed Vamp, Max, Alec Anderson, Khalil, Curtis Samuels, Shaq Thompson, Tyler Bass, um, Tyler Greybel, excuse me, Tylen Greyel, all will miss practice today uh, in full. And then, uh, Derek Forest um, will do special teams and individual, and then we’ll see from there what he can do. Same with Daycoin Hardy. Um, special teams an individual. Uh, he will not have contact today. Dealing with a shoulder. Derek Forest dealing with an ankle. Uh, limited will be Cole Taylor Rap and Kaden Prather. I think that should that should cover most of them. To clarify on James, have you had like when you say expected, have you had conversations with him that lead you to think he’s practicing today? Like has anything changed? Um, I would say so. I would say so that that things have changed Elena with uh and yes we’ve had conversations with James um good conversations as I’ve mentioned before and um the information that um that we’re getting is um is uh uh that he is uh moving in the direction of practicing today. So um you know we’ll see in a few minutes here but that’s the information we’ve got. Is that from James himself? Just to clarify that like um I I don’t think it’s necessary to get into the the weeds on it. Um the most important thing is that he is expected to practice and um I’m rather confident that that’s going to happen. Sean, with uh Cole returning today on a limited basis, you you spoke a little bit last week about the challenge of not having Taylor and Cole out there a lot together. Um, where do you where do you assess that, you know, that that position because time on task for those two guys is is pretty important. Yeah, it’s huge. Um, Jay, it really is. I mean, to to be a good defense, you’ve got to have uh, you know, that that component of good safety play and um, not anything against the guys who have been out there. You know, I think they’ve been playing well, quite honestly, Demar um, and and the other guys that have been back there. Um and and let’s not forget Demar, you know, played uh quite extensively last year for us. So, we have a lot of confidence in him. Um that said, you know, when we’re just focusing in on Taylor and and Cole, um you know, that continuity um together is important. Cole’s been out there, uh excuse me, uh Tap’s been out there quite a bit, um just over the last week, he hasn’t, uh or so, and but Cole’s the one who’s missed quite a bit of time again, just like last year. So, um, you know, it remains to be seen what he’s truly able to do and do for us. And, um, you know, that’s a that’s a big, um, position for us, right? So, and then the, like I mentioned, you know, numerous times over, the continuity between the two of them and pairing up, you know, kind of like the Batman and Robin piece, like it’s just experiencing things together. How did you see it? How did I see it? Being in the in the film room together, that’s it’s huge. And um we’re getting short on time with in regards to Cole in particular. You you reference it there. How tough is that as a coaching staff when you’ve made an investment in a player and you you want to see but you haven’t really been able to tell with with the injuries. Yeah, you get a little bit, you know, there is some some level of frustration. Um you know, that’s but it’s not the first time, right? you always deal with, you know, things this time of year or through the course of a season and and you adjust. That’s what that’s what we as coaches do. And um, you know, that’s you can only control what you can control. And in some ways, same for the player. You know, it’s not like Cole’s not wanting to be out there or not trying to be out there or he wants to be injured. That’s not it at all. He’s the exact opposite of that. Um, that said, you know, there is a piece of this that, hey, we don’t know because we haven’t seen enough at this point. So, it’s it’s a little bit of a question mark right now in terms of the the position overall. Um, but it is an important position for a defense. Sean, you had such a unique thing with Micah and Jordan and I know that’s in the past, but has it not specifically to these players or the injuries, but has it had to make you change the way you look at the position for your team just because you had that experience? They were out there seems like all the time and between injuries and youth, it’s different now than it was then. Do you look at the position itself from your total defense differently than you did? Not necessarily, Mike. Think the biggest thing is is you cannot lower your standards, right? And it is such an important position to a defense. I mean, years ago, coaching Brian Dawkins, we had Mike Lewis next to him. We had Tim Hal next to him. We had Blaine Bishop next to him. And you know, that pairing up is is critical probably more than any position um on the field offensively, defensively. Um and I think the important piece is that we don’t lower our standards. If we want to be a good defense, you got to have two safeties that that can play that can play football for you. What did you think about Michael Hoy with what he showed you on his snap Saturday and what have you learned about him since, you know, camp started and the paths have gone on? Yeah, I like him. Um, you know, we talk about being a smart football team on defense in particular in this case and and he is smart, he’s tough, he can set a tone for us. Um and so he’s been a really good addition. Um we’ve had our eyes on him for, you know, a few years. Um and to get him here now, it’s it’s you know, what you see on tape, you really never know until you get a player here and free agency is always a little bit um you some unknown some of the because you just don’t know, you know, coming from a different locker room, culture, what have you. But um I think he’s going to be able to help us and um you know unfortunately he’ll be gone for the first six. So we’ve got to manage that as you guys know. On Tyler um where is he right now Tyler Bass and how do you balance not being able to have that operation take place here in the middle of you know training camp just a couple weeks away? Yeah I mean that’s again um similar to the safety position. Um some level of we got to get going. Um, and and and Tyler knows that, you know, we’ve we’ve talked. I know Coach Tabes and and Tyler have have talked. Um, you know, we got to get going and he’ll be out there today a little bit. A little bit. Um, we’re trying to get him going just I said he wasn’t going to he’s going to be out there in like limited fashionish. I don’t what he’s going to do is yeah it’s he’s on a program and it’s you know crawl walk or run for lack of a better way of saying it and then and then you know the other kicker will be out there too for us. So that’s that’ll help us actually be able to get some things done from an operation standpoint, you know, working on on some things and and u you know it’s you know we’re getting closer like for all these guys who have been out you know a significant amount of time. We’re getting closer and closer to the start of the season and um you know no one’s going to feel sorry for us. We got to get ready to go. So time’s running out. Hey Sean, with with Greyel and said both both sidelines, you’re getting to look at some other guys. Can you give us your thoughts on what you thought of Chase Lunt? I mean, you played him at some tackle, some guard. It’s a guy that, you know, you drafted and you need you need to find a swing offensive lineman. Yeah. Um, I thought he did some good things. Uh, and I would, you know, if Chrome was sitting here, Joe, they they they’d echo the same. um you know to be able to play two positions I think so show shows some level of flexibility um for all these for all these guys that played their first game it was their first game right I’m sure you guys remember the first story you ever wrote right and and where you are now what an adjustment and uh and so it’s no different for me like first game you ever coached compared to now and and it’s for our veteran players even you know you go through your first preseason game and you’re like, “Okay, I’m back in the saddle again.” And doesn’t always go the exactly the way you would would hope, but the adjustment from game one to game two for these players, young players, uh, older players alike, is important. And this is a this week here is a big week for us. um you know from practice the last the next couple of days, two hard practices that we had drawn up and then obviously traveling to Chicago um and practicing against them and then playing on Sunday night. Timeline on Maxwell Haristen in terms of like when he could start getting kind of ramped up again. Yeah, I you know I don’t have any true updates other than he is, you know, off the crutches and and starting to move around a little bit more and and uh you know, starting to move around now, walk through for the first time. So, um you know, it’s a little bit like Cole’s situation last year. when you get when you get injured, unfortunately, as a young player, you’re missing a ton of fill in the blank reps, experience, technique work, fundamentals, all those things. And and so, you know, there’s going to be u you know, a lot of work to to get done here um as he continues to get going from a ramp up standpoint. How about Curtis Samuel? Um you know, we saw him in pregame warm-ups on Saturday before the game, but you mentioned that he won’t practice. Is he relatively close? Whatever relatively is. Yeah, we’re getting close. And and I would say, you know, with some there’s progress in all these names that I read off. Um, you know, it’s it’s just sometimes small progress, you know, or we’ll get, hey, we think we’re making progress. Um, and then all of a sudden it’s well, they we tried to run him. Who? Not Curtis in this case, but we tried to run him and uh he could only get to 75% before he fel felt pain. So, we got to back them off. And so, that’s some of the, you know, the trainers are doing a good job. They’re trying to push it and then they feel the pain. So, we got to come down a little bit, you know. So, it’s it’s kind of the eb and flow of returning a player uh to play, just trying to do it smart, you know, because big picture wise, you never want to get a player out there too early and then they reinjure and now you got a bigger problem on your hands. So like in Cole’s situation or or in this case Curtis’s he’s you know we’ve been waiting some time and we want to continue to be smart although you know it is I’m getting anxious to get them both back and and get him out there. So with Harrison is there any thought of starting the year on injured with who again? Harston uh we have not had those specific conversations. Um, due to the timeline, there may be a conversation that needs to be had at some point. Right now, we have not we have not visited that. With the joint practice coming up at the end of the week, is there a couple of things that you guys go into that looking for specifically from your team? Well, I think it’s really good, Josh, for um Love being back in this room. Love it. um AC. Yeah. And some other things that go on in this room. Um uh but yeah, so one of the things I think is really good about the joint practice experience is, you know, our young players, but same with anyone on our roster. You get a chance to get into a intense, highly competitive environment. It’s not a game, but there it’s it’s about as close to a game as you could you could get. And so that experience is invaluable, right? And seeing how our players, you know, that’ll be the first look for for us to see, okay, here’s, you know, I think someone mentioned Chase, right? Here’s Chase in game one. How did he look how does he look in Friday’s practice against the Bears? And and then how does he look in the game? I mean, that’s two periods of time where we’re going to hopefully see growth and him kind of getting more comfortable. Not that in the first year you ever get too too comfortable, but it’s growth and development opportunities and um getting these guys to like, oh, this is what it is. They have the skill. It’s can they make that adjustment? When you have the skill, it’s really about how how much experience can we get them in a short amount of time. John, the joint practices aren’t new, but it seems like they’re more consistent consistently happening. Is the league getting better at at getting what you want out of them, making them more efficient? Well, you know, I’ve heard some things. It’s it’s a hard answer for for me to say holistically how it’s affecting the league. For us, I feel like it’s been very valuable uh the years that we’ve been able to do it. Um, I heard some things, you know, about some of the joint practices that have gone on and, um, I think that’s where it spills over into some stuff that you really don’t, you know, some excess you really don’t want. Um, but our our goal when we practice together with with a team is to make our team better um, with another environment like I already talked about. Um, the other stuff that goes on, I think, is what the league’s trying to get rid of. And honestly, it’s it’s uh, it’s a waste of time. Sean, what did you see from Cam Lewis and the role you gave him in the game? Cam Lewis. Yeah, I mean, you know, Cam’s an important piece for us. He plays a lot of different positions. Uh, wears a lot of different hats, you know, um, played safety primarily for us in the game the other day. Um, and again I I think like when Cam’s lived the lived a tough football life because of not only his journey, which has been awesome to watch unfold, but also when you’re playing and expected to play more than one position, it takes time to, okay, where do you want me to play this week? You know, and then within the middle of a game, he’s boom, you’re over here. It’s kind of like I guess some in some way like the life of a backup quarterback. you don’t get all the snaps, but you’re expected to perform when your when your number’s called. So, um that’s not easy. Um but he does he’s figured out how to really um kind of carve out a role for himself in that regard. Sean, I know it’s early in the week, but will Josh or the starters play in Sunday night’s game? Uh we’ll see. I’m not there yet on it. Um I just want to We got a big practice today to get through and then tomorrow and then as a staff we’ll talk about it some more at that point in time. talked about you talked about Taylor Rap and Cole Bishop missing out on some of those important snaps, but in your linebacking unit, you’ve got Terrell Bernard and Matt Milano who’ve had some valuable time together. I think they’ve only played less than 10 games together when Matt Milano was healthy. How valuable has it been to see them on the field throughout an entire almost entire training camp? So, yeah, it’s it’s important. I mean TBS though missed I don’t know a week or plus you know so and then Matt missed some time last year. So again contin continuity, consistency, experience together. Um we could use it and we need it. You know we want to be a good defense um and play good football overall as a team. You got to have that. That availability piece is real because it breeds uh trust more than anything and um that’s an important piece for us. same lines as Cam Lewis. Are you getting any closer to to establishing a homebased position for Jordan Hanco? Yeah. Um the answer is no. Um but it’s no in a good way. No from the standpoint of he has shown that um and the reason why we drafted him, you know, that flexibility. Um he has shown that since he’s gotten here. Um a lot of work to do, right? So, um, thought he did some good things in the game and and then the week leading up to the game as well prior to to the game, but right now it’s a new week and, um, he is going to be tasked with balancing more than one position. Um, and that’ll be his his role, at least it as it stands right now. And that’s a challenge, right? So, um, he looks, um, at this point to have the football acumen to be able to balance it. Um, we’ll see as we move forward here. Sean, one more time question on James. Is his situation still kind of dayto-day or is it the holding over? Uh, uh, too early to to go there. Um, right now, um, I’m just focused on, uh, what’s right in front of us, which is the practice, uh, which, uh, would be a step for us here, which, uh, which is what we’re focused on right now. All right. Thank you guys. appreciate.

Buffalo Bills Head Coach Sean McDermott meets with the media Tuesday morning. Topics Include: An update on RB James Cook’s practice status, an injury report, and goals going into the joint practice with the Chicago Bears.

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