Daboll: How are we doing? Day two. Rolling along. We did low red zone yesterday, we’ll do some high red zone today. Do some one-on-ones today and good first day. Good to get started. A lot of things to correct. A lot of good things too. So go to day two.
Q: Quarterback Jaxson Dart threw a pick early in his first training camp. How did he respond to that? Did you like the way he responded and did you talk about that play on the field afterwards or was that later on for you?
Daboll: You talk about it right after it. I mean, the defense made a good play. He threw it into (cornerback Nic) Jones there, made a nice play and move on to the next play. That’s what these practices are for, for everybody. There’ll be some good, there’ll be some things we need to correct and make sure you correct them and move on.
Q: Did you like the way he responded?
Daboll: Absolutely, yeah. I mean, we’re talking about practice here, so that’s what those are for. He’s going to make those mistakes. Everybody’s going to make them. There’s plenty of other mistakes that happened and there’s plenty of good things. He did a good job coming back. You don’t want to throw picks, but that’s why we’re practicing.
Q: When you talked about correcting mistakes yesterday, that’s what the rookies and young players have to do, right?
Q: When you’re talking about correcting mistakes for Dart, what do you say to him that we need to do differently on a pick like that?
Daboll: Every play, you have something to teach a player, correct a player on – most every play. So, to get into every detail of every play, ‘You should have done this. You should have done this.’ It happens for every position. It happens on defense and the kicking game, on offense, you go to the meeting room, you watch the tape, coach up, ‘Hey, this is what you could have done differently,’ and then you go on to the next play.
Q: Wide receiver Malik (Nabers) mentioned yesterday you stayed in touch with him in the off season in terms of moves you guys were making. What do you value about his opinion on the moves you guys make on offense?
Daboll: Well, I stay in touch with a lot of players in the off season. I try to have good communication with the guys on our football team, build relationships with them. That’s what’s important to me.
Q: Nabers made it sound like you were consulting him on personnel moves. That seems unusual for a first-year player. How did you get to that point with him?
Daboll: I’d say we have a good relationship. Early on, in camp, if you remember one of the competitive periods we were talking about a play over there and it was his first training camp and he’s got good vision on the field. [He’s a] smart player. I’m close with him. I think those relationships with all your players are important and particularly ones that play like Malik, but (wide receiver Darius) Slayton, I’ve talked to a bunch, (wide receiver) Wan’Dale (Robinson), (tight end) Theo Johnson, GVR (offensive lineman Greg Van Roten), (outside linebacker Brian) Burns, (defensive linemen) Dexter (Lawrence) – I mean a lot of guys.
Q: How much do you think you’ll have to manage Nabers with the toe during the summer?
Daboll: We’ll see as it goes. We’ll go through practice, see how it feels. If we have to pull back, we’ll pull back some. It looked pretty good yesterday.
Q: Was surgery ever a discussion for Nabers?
Daboll: I’m not going to get into injuries and conversations of that. He’s working through it and like I said, I think you all saw, he looks pretty good out there.
Q: Is there a threat of that surgery being talked about for now or was Nabers just alluding to down the road?
Daboll: Again, I’m not going to get into the conversations about injuries. You guys see him out there, he looks pretty good. We’ll do what we need to do to keep him as fresh as we can keep him. If he has any type of setback or is extra sore, then we have a discussion with the training staff, with the doctors, the medical team and decide what’s best, but he’s good to go. Three days – who knows in three days, how’s it feel? If we need to pull back a little bit – that’s kind of the day-by-day plan as we go.
Q: This is defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence’s first time being back out there. What did you see from him?
Daboll: Dex is Dex. Good player for us. He’s big, explosive, quick. (They have) no pads on, so you have to pull back a little bit because he can be a problem.
Q: I know tackle Andrew Thomas is on PUP. Do you have a rough idea of when you want the offensive line finalized so that they have enough time to work together?
Daboll: Yeah, our guys have worked together. We’ve talked about this ad nauseum each year. Guys have to do different things. There’ll be five starters and then there’s guys that have to be flexible. We had, I think, the most offensive line combinations in the league last year playing, so this is a time to practice it.
Q: What is your plan with when you’re going to have padded practices?
Daboll: As soon as we can. As soon as we can. Now, you got to ease into it and soon as we can, we’ll be in pads.
Q: By soon for padded practices, do you mean Sunday?
Daboll: Yeah, the first day we can be in pads, we’ll be in pads.
Q: You had a slow start the last couple of years. Do you change your approach to training camp in regards to putting guys in pads, the amount you make them work, etc?
Daboll: I think that you asked that question yesterday, so not much different than I answered you. We make changes every year and we’ll do what we think is best for the team.
Q: What have you seen from cornerback Deonte Banks? We saw him rotating with Cor’Dale Flott yesterday.
Daboll: Again, it’s so early and I understand we’re looking at guys right now. It was the first day. Tae’s working hard and we’ll evaluate him throughout camp like we will everybody else.
Q: Are you planning on being in pads more this year?
Daboll: Yeah, we have our plan of what we’re going to do. You’ll see it out there when the pads come on, but we’ll be in pads a pretty good amount.
Q: What do you think of the year that safety Tyler Nubin had last year as a rookie? What are you looking for him to do?
Daboll: Nubin is a pro. I think he’s a very young player. He’s got tremendous leadership skills. He’s very, very smart. He’s vocal, not just on the field but in the team meeting and I think it’s good to add (safety Jevon) Holland next to him, who’s another vocal guy who’s done it for a while. The combination of those two guys since OTAs has been very encouraging for me and I know for the defensive staff, in terms of the communication, the adjustments you need to make when you get into a different formation. The safeties are kind of the quarterbacks of the defense, particularly in the back end to make sure everything is aligned and good to go. Nubin is not just a good player, he’s is a good person, he’s a good leader. He’s got a lot of good traits. I’m a big Nubin fan.
Q: Why did you move practice to the opposite field for the second half yesterday?
Daboll: There was a little turf deal, so I moved it over. Some grass came up so instead of – I saw a guy slip, I moved it over. It’ll be okay now. We fixed it.
Q: Coach, you bring up being smart a lot. Is that the gap between going from college to the pros and how valuable is being football smart at this level?
Daboll: Yeah, it’s important. It’s important in college too. When I was there, you need smart players that can execute under pressure, be able to communicate, be able to adjust on defense, be able to handle multiple things that you do on offense – formation, motion, shifts, route adjustments, blocking schemes, pressures. There’s so many different things and it’s all tied together because it’s the ultimate team sport. You’ve got 10 guys doing the right thing and one guy doing it wrong, it could look like a bad play or give up a big play. Teamwork and communication and being on the same page and doing things the way you need to do them collectively as a unit, that’s a big point of emphasis.
Q: Is there anybody who won’t practice today?
Daboll: No, same thing. We’re good.