Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Friday's morning rookie minicamp practice:
First off, I don't think there was quite the excitement of this rookie camp as last year's rookie camp for some reason. Maybe it's the quarterback, I'm not sure.
First off, just addressing the way our guys looked. I thought Joe McKnight looked good when he wasn't throwing up [laughter]. It's funny, a little anxiety kicked in. Probably hadn't worked out as much as you normally should and those things happen. He did look good running the football, but he had some drops. Kyle Wilson looked great. I think you're excited when you draft a corner. You want to see him go out there 1-on-1 and he looked pretty good over there.
Another guy that jumped out at me, a couple guys that were tryout guys or free agent guys, let me tell you who they were. No. 86, [Jeff] Cumberland from Illinois. This is a young man, 6'4", 250 pounds and was clocked at a 4.4-something, so maybe he can't block but he looked good today receiving the ball. No. 47 here from Alabama, Cory Reamer, we're thinking about replacing [Mike] Pettine with him because this guy is sharp. He's calling out everything. Unfortunately, when he wasn't in there our defense was creative. You guys have always talked about it, but we played some coverages today that I've never seen before [laughter]. That was interesting. I think Summit High School beats us by two touchdowns today. We've got a long way to go.
We had a center that we thought we were going to have in camp, [Michael] Parenton. He's got a back so he couldn't practice. We had nobody that has ever snapped the ball before in their life, so we had a few issues there with quarterback-center exchanges. The young man was trying, but hopefully that will get a little better as each practice goes on.
It's interesting. You get 56 players or so out there and two kickers, but you're sitting back there like 'Wow. These guys don't know anything for our offense and defense.' It's kind of a humbling thing as a coach. You've got to just sit back. They don't know what to do offense, they don't know what to do on defense, but you're still watching the athleticism and guys running around.
I think the best drill we had all day was [Mike] Westhoff's drill. It really shows when you run down, you've got guys trying to leverage the football on the kickoff thing and there's some guys that really jumped out to me. The kid from Nevada, [Kevin] Basped, he looked good, he was impressive. Quite honestly when I went out there I said, 'It looks like I know five guys out there and that's about it.' Kevin Basped, it looks like he's got a shot. That's a great drill. You can see a football player in that drill and he jumped out to me. John Conner did. Then Kyle Wilson really was impressive in that drill. Brian Jackson looked pretty good from Oklahoma. You could tell he hurt a hamstring. That's basically where we're at.
On the reports on Santonio Holmes…
I don't know all the facts. I know what has been told to me. It kind of got blown out of proportion it sounds like in some of the media outlets. I can tell what Santonio has been around here, when I've been around him. He's been tremendous. He's at the voluntary workouts, doing a great job, competes in all the drills. He's been outstanding.
The thing that's really jumped out to me is how he's been in the classroom with Mark Sanchez, Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer]. The guy takes great notes. What I've seen of him, he's been tremendous in the building. I don't really know this incident. I don't think it's as big as what's been out there.
On if he's concerned he will be answering more questions about Holmes in the future…
I certainly hope I don't have to. Let's face it. He should turn off his iPod. OK, that's what he should do. He should do that. I haven't had a chance to talk to Santonio, but he certainly should do that.
On if Holmes' behavior is cause for concern…
I think for me to comment on a case where none of us know exactly what happened, I mean the version I got is much different that the version you got or that was on the Internet, so to comment on that is probably not right.
On if he will talk to Holmes today…
Yes, absolutely. He's on a flight. A bunch of our guys are going to watch the fight and he's one of them, so he's on a flight right now as we speak. I'll definitely try to get a hold of him.
On if Holmes realizes the microscope is under in the New York market…
Things have happened to me that I don't think you really appreciate until you're here. Maybe this will open his eyes to that a little bit. We'll see.
On how a guy like Donovan Warren doesn't get drafted…
I'm not sure. Only certain guys get drafted. It's a selective group. Every year you'll have free agents that can play in the league a long time. Somebody told me once that I thought was an incredible statement was there are actually more free agents than first-round picks that have 10 year careers or more. That blew me away. That just goes to show you that it's not about necessarily where you get drafted. It's about going in there and competing. I'm not saying he's going to have that kind of career, but that would be nice. He's a smart kid. We're playing him in both spots, corner and safety, but I think his best shot will be as a safety.
On if he thought Warren would get drafted…
He was on what we call the front board, which is your drafted players. He was definitely on there. Most of the guys we've had, almost all of them get taken off of that front board. He was probably the highest-rated player that was still left.
On Joe McKnight's role…
The first thing is we've got to settle him down a little bit, but I think he can do some of the things that Leon [Washington] did. Even though he dropped a bunch of balls today it seemed like, I think he's got good hands. He can use them, flex him out as a receiver or put him in the backfield, run routes and when you put the ball in his hands, today, he was impressive. It was like "Whoa." I'm like, "You don't need to have six moves, just use four or five at this level." He's got plenty of wiggle and he's got a lot of talent.
I wouldn't compare him to Leon 100 percent right now, but I think he could definitely help us on offense. The challenge to Joe is going to be helping us on special teams because he's got loads of talent. Somebody told me the day he hit the campus at SC [Southern California] he was their best receiver and best corner. I thought that was interesting. I said, 'Yes. Let's go ahead and draft him.'
On why McKnight was given No. 25 when he has been compared to Reggie Bush during his collegiate career…
I certainly never gave him that number, but wow, maybe we'll change it, I guess if it's that issue [smiling]. I guarantee nobody thought about that. Just give him a number and let him go. It's what you make of that number. It doesn't matter. He's not compared to anybody else. Let's just go play. He's a New York Jet and let's see how he does. Hopefully he'll be compared to Matt Snell one day, totally different type, but who cares?
On if he was surprised McKnight was still available in the fourth round…
I have strict orders not to say that I was surprised that this guy was available at that spot [laughter], so I won't make that comment. I know we had him rated very highly. Anthony Lynn really had a lot of positive things to say about him and we were able to get Joe where we got him. I guess to some people, it was a surprise that he was there.
On people saying the chemistry of the team will be broken up…
I think every year is a different team anyway. The chemistry issue is what it is. When I look at our offensive chemistry, I look at the fact that basically we're replacing two starters, Thomas Jones and Alan Faneca. Last year, for instance, on defense we replaced four starters and nine players overall. How'd that chemistry work? Best in the league. In fact, I'm expecting our offense to improve. Twentieth in the league is not acceptable in total offense. I want to get better on offense and get better on defense, more turnovers. Maybe that's why we made the move.
On the reactions of the players to the recent moves…
I never talked to that many of the guys. People are never going to be happy when you let a friend and teammate go. That's understandable. My role as the head football coach is I'll make those tough decisions. I'll make the decisions where I think we need to improve this football team. Me and Mike Tannenbaum will make those decisions. If I think we can improve our team, regardless of the positions, then we're going to try to improve it.
Am I worried about team chemistry? Absolutely not. I don't worry. My teams are always going to play hard. I'll have got is my history to go back on. There were a lot of things last year when I came in that everybody was "Oh, you're going to have a great defense." Well, we were number one in the league. It'll be a ground-and-pound offense and I think that worked out. The only thing that never worked out was that we were going to compete for that Super Bowl and we never had that opportunity. That's our mission right now. That was the mission I told our players in the offseason, for everybody try to get a little bit better. That's what we were. Our job in the offseason is to try to get our football team better and that's why we made some of the moves we made.
You can't get two better guys, for me personally, than Thomas Jones and Alan Faneca. They were huge. When you look at it with our situation, we replaced those guys. We replaced some of the other parts on this football team, but I expect it to come together. I really do. If I was just wanting to stay status quo and have a team that's easy to coach and bringing that team together, you'd never get rid of those kind of players. When you look at the overall picture, there were opportunities for our team to get better and maybe not exactly those areas, but maybe there were some other areas.
Quite honestly, there are a lot of factors going into things when you bring people in. That's what we did. I came here to win. I never came here to be average. Again, I know when it's all said and done, I'm going to be held to those standards. Did you win? Did you deliver a championship? I'm man enough to go for it where a lot of guys aren't. We'll see what happens.
On changing the offensive philosophy with the players they have acquired…
We're always going to be ground and pound, but we'll also have the ability to do some things in the passing game. When we get all of those guys out there, it should be tough on any defense. I look at it from that side when we bring guys in. Look at the record Santonio Holmes had against me [in Baltimore] — it was ugly. Take away a shutout we had against them [Pittsburgh] and I think he scored in five straight games against me in Baltimore. Maybe nobody else did that day, but he scored. I know he's an awfully talented guy.
LaDainian Tomlinson, he's only one of the greatest backs to play this game. I think LT Is going to give us everything he's got. If he does that, which we believe he will, we'll see how that thing works out. I think he's a special player. He always has been and I think he has something left. Jason Taylor gives us that chance to close out games. [He's] a guy that can rush the passer in the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter sacks are huge. When you can get those sacks in the fourth quarter, you win games. That's why he was brought here.
On if they are interested in Adalius Thomas…
We'll always listen to anything. Can I talk about him? [laughter] I'm not sure. We'll see. We'll definitely consider him. I know the biggest years he had were with me in Baltimore a few years ago. He did almost win the Super Bowl game or helped contribute to winning the game when he had a strip sack and almost another one when he couldn't quite get the guy on the ground at the end. If you're just going to take a defensive end or an inside linebacker or an outside linebacker, then he's not going to be quite as effective. If you can use him all over the place as a defensive end, an inside backer, an outside backer, a safety, he's special. We'll see.
On it sounding like they want to let the market establish itself before going after Thomas…
Yes, I'd say that's safe to say.
On how much better Thomas would make the defense…
We're pretty good. I think with him we'll end up first in the league in defense and without him we'll end up first in the league in defense [laughter]. If we get him, great. I'm not worried about him. He's not on our team.
On what he saw from Vladimir Ducasse today…
He's big. I don't if that jersey was real flattering on him. He looked good. I saw him in the drills with Bill Callahan. I walked over there and watched him. He's a big powerful man. He knocked somebody off the ball about eight yards on one running play. It was like "Oh, this kid looks pretty good." He did jump one time. We never really had a good rhythm over there because we had some quarterback center exchanges. The cadences are a little different. He's got to calm down a little bit too.
He was excited and that's good to see. That's not surprising to see that, but the thing I was disappointed about was there weren't enough smiles on their faces. It's not just work. It's fun. Get out there, relax, let's enjoy it and have at it. I know their heads are spinning. It's new plays, new verbiage, new everything, and it's a new stance for him and actually a new position, left guard. There are some things bouncing around in these young men's heads right now.
On if drafted players hugging Roger Goodell shows that the relationship between the commissioner and players has changed…
I'm not sure. He's a good guy. I haven't hugged him yet [laughter], but I've thought about it. That was kind of funny. He's a personable guy. Whenever I've needed him, he'll return phone calls. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully, everybody, the players and management, are hugging before too long.
