Minicamp Observations (Friday Morning)

Early start this year. Prior camps have gotten started right around 10am. This year, I pulled up around 9:40 and the field was already full of players.

First sight I saw when I walked up to the entrance was Claussen running up the sidewalk to the field. Also saw LaFell and others of our new draftees, but Claussen was the only one booking it.

Initial observations: Ed Johnson is round, really round. Similarly, but better, Tank Tyler lives up to his name. Pike is tall, and has a buzz cut. As Kenny Moore was walking up, one of the fans said “Go Independence” and elicited a smile. Also noticed John Kasay walking up talking with trainer Ryan Vermillion. Don’t know that I’d read much into that, but it was noteworthy. The rest of the special teams crew rolled up later. Next to the other players, they look like members of Best Buy’s “Geek Squad”.

Marty Hurney was out early. A little after I got there, new team president Danny Morrison came out and made a real effort to engage the fans who were outside the fences (never recall the prior team pres. even so much as acknowledging the fans). I got the chance to say hello and he made sure I had a copy of the roster sheet (I already had one printed from online, but his was better). He seems to be taking his job seriously and really wants to spark some excitement in the team. Lots of credit to him.

Fair number of people out to watch, and oddly a lot of non-player people were inside the fence today. Someone mentioned they were people who had paid to be part of some special media thing. I don’t know the full deal there.

At the last camp, I remember noting how odd it was to not see Nick Goings out there. That feeling was multiplied this season. No Delhomme, no Peppers, no Hoover, and no Muhammad. Kemo, Lewis and of course, Harris, all gone too, but none of them were as longstanding as those four.

It really hit me just how different things are now the first time I heard Matt Moore call out “52 is the Mike”. That first call was always Delhomme’s voice before. No longer.

It’s worth noting too that I’ve heard Moore calling out the Mike LB before, but he sounded different doing it this year; louder, more authoritative. Perhaps he’s really taken it to heart that this is his team, now. If so, that’s a good thing. He’ll need that mindset if he’s going to succeed as a signal caller.

Speaking of voices, Jeff Davidson sounded gruff today too. Jerry Simmons was loud too, but that’s nothing new.

Last year, one of the first things I heard was Ron Meeks yelling out “Where’s Richard Marshall? Where’s Richard Marshall? Is he running?” Meeks didn’t bother asking where Marshall was today.

From departures to returns. Early on caught sight of Thomas Davis running around with the defense. Just drills, mind you, but he didn’t look like someone who’d suffered a major injury. Gross, Otah, Williams and Stewart were all on the field but not taking part. Stewart didn’t even stretch. Corvey Irvin was taking part in DL drills but had to stop at one point and get stretched out by a trainer.

One new pickup: A receiver named Trent Guy out of Louisville. He wasn’t on the roster I had printed so I had to look him up later. Smallish type, possibly another return option though I didn’t see him get work there. Apparently, he’s a Charlotte kid.

Number reassignments: Sentimentality over Na’il Diggs didn’t last so long. Recent acquisition Jamar Williams got his old #53. Armanti Edwards has Ryne Robinson’s #10. Undrafted guard Noah Franklin is sporting Kris Jenkins’ old 77 (someone had that last year, but I forget who). Newly signed RB Daniel Porter gets Goings’ old #37. Still no 17, 45, 87 or 90.

Speaking of numbers, I heard someone say today that Jerry Richardson won’t allow any player to wear the number “1”. I vaguely remember hearing something like that before. Given that there’s never been a “1” on roster that I can recall, sounds like it’s probably true.

Other changes from last year: Everette Brown’s previously written about increase in size is indeed noticeable. I could swear Tony Fiammetta actually looks thinner. I remember thinking for a second that Hilee Taylor looked really different. Then I remembered Taylor had changed numbers and it was actually Eric Moore I was seeing.

First group on offensive drills: Moore at QB, Sutton at runningback, Smith and Jarrett at receiver. O-Line consisted, right to left, of Garry Williams, Travelle Wharton, Ryan Kalil, Geoff Schwartz and Rob Petitti. Interesting that they’re trying Schwartz at guard, and ahead of Bernadeau. Still, it’s just minicamp. Barnidge was also the first TE in, same as last year, but it didn’t mean anything.

Noted that more than a few times today, the offense practiced an end around to Smitty. Not a new play in the arsenal, mind you, but they seemed to like using it today.

Watching the Quarterbacks: Moore’s first pass of the day was completed to Steve Smith. The throw was just a hair behind, but Smith adjusted well. After that though, I can really only recall seeing one pass I thought was a little off. Overall, Moore looked pretty good. He was clearly in charge, even stopping one drill before it started because he saw the outside guys were lined up wrong. His play action fakes looked good. And when he passes, the football comes out of his hands fast, very fast. Scherer has clearly preached “quick release” to Moore a lot. I noticed it last year, and Moore hasn’t forgotten.

Cantwell ran the second offensive group and was the only QB I saw tossing passes back and forth when others were running drills. Moore spent his spare time helmet off, gabbing with coach Rip Scherer. Claussen was third, Pike fourth. Don’t know how long that rotation order will last. Gantt believes Cantwell has a better chance of sticking than most. He could be right, but with that said, you could probably get away with stashing a Hunter Cantwell on the practice squad. I’m not so sure that’s true of Tony Pike.

Speaking of Pike, it’s really weird to see a #16 out there quarterbacking again. Hope he has better luck than the last guy who wore it. He had an up and down day. Some good moments, some bad. One pass to new receiver Trent Guy was waaaaayyyy off target.

Claussen’s first pass of the day was a perfect throw…right to defensive back Marcus Walker. Could have been a clean pick but I’m not sure Walker saw it coming. The ball hit him right in the bread basket and he dropped it. Welcome to the NFL, young fella.

Does that mean Claussen looked bad? No. It’s been said that he has near-perfect mechanics as a passer, and watching him throw, you’d believe it. He had his fair share of completions, including a pretty nice one to Jeff King later on. Likewise, Pike had his moments. Both, however, were clearly having to adjust to the speed of the NFL. Claussen held the ball too long more than once, as did Pike (one time noticeably so). It’ll take reps to get better, but camp is still a ways away.

Barking out signals, Claussen actually sounded a little quiet at first. Someone likely mentioned it to him, as by the end of practice he was a lot louder and sounded more commanding. Good sign, as it points to his being receptive to suggestion and capable of adjustment. Pike was fairly even from start to finish. Cantwell sounded decent, but not as good as Moore.

Summing it all up: Of the quarterbacks today, Matt Moore easily looked the best. It wasn’t even a contest. Realistically speaking though, anyone who expected it to be one on the first day of minicamp probably wasn’t thinking it through. Moore may be a new starter, but this is his fourth NFL season. Claussen and Pike are rookies at their first minicamp, and when you watched them, they looked like rookies at their first minicamp. Neither Claussen nor Pike can rightly be judged solely by what they did today. Time will tell the tale.

Also on the rookie offense front, Armanti Edwards and Brandon LaFell worked in the third set of receivers (second was Kenny Moore and Charley Martin). Both guys looked decent. For all the talk about LaFell being not as fast as others, his game speed looks pretty good (even for just camp). He’s very long, lean and lanky. Saw him catch a pass from Hunter Cantwell on an outside route. Didn’t notice him as much after that, but my attention was spread around a lot.

As to Edwards, his dreads are so long that you can only make out “Ed” on the back of his jersey. Running routes, he’s fast, and seems to have taken up Steve Smith’s habit of always going full speed no matter what. Saw a few passes thrown his way, and watched him catching punts from Baker. For the record, I didn’t see a football that came his direction hit the ground. If he dropped anything, I missed it.

What to make of Dwayne Jarrett? Saw him make a good catch early in 7 on 7, then later on not even look back for the ball in a passing drill. Once or twice, I remember looking at him and wondering if he really wanted to be there. If he wants to start (or for that matter, stick on the roster) he’ll need to show something that, to this point, he’s not yet known for: that being consistent effort. Not sure I saw that today, but in fairness I didn’t make a special effort to watch him.

General offensive notes: More short passing than long today. Jeff King had a lot of catches and looked good. I saw him pull down passes from Moore, Cantwell and Claussen. He looks a little faster than before. Tyrell Sutton is very elusive when he runs. Mike Goodson less so, despite his reputation (sometimes I wonder how hard he’s trying). New rookie David Gettis also had some nice moves after catching a pass today. Undrafted guy Andrew George runs some nice routes, as he should wearing # 85.

 

On the defensive side of things, aside from noting Thomas Davis running, the guy you notice first on the defense is Jon Beason. Like Smith, there seems to be no such thing as half speed in his repertoire. When the defense was running drills to the corner of the end zone, Beason stood out as running hard. James Anderson, Charles Johnson, Eric Norwood and fellow rookie Jordan Pugh also all looked to be giving it their best effort.

Eric Norwood looks pretty fast on the field. Saw him lined up at DE a time or two in drills, but he worked out with the linebackers, not the D-Line. He had a nice rush on one play that probably would have wound up a sack at game speed.

Speaking of stops, Charles Johnson had a good one early. He sniffed out a screen and stopped it cold. Johnson and Brayton look slotted to be the starting DEs at this point, with Brown working in the second unit. Again, that’s not necessarily an indication of anything, but it makes some sense as a rotation.

This year’s winner of the Marlon Favorite award for being DL Coach Brian Baker’s whipping boy might be Ed Johnson. His last cut from the Colts was for performance reasons, not character concerns. It’s only day one, but from what I’ve seen so far, that cut may have been justified. In drills, Johnson was consistently a half to a full step slower than his defensive line mates. He may get better with time, but today was definitely not his day.

On the flipside, Baker’s (not Marlon) favorite pupil today was second year DE Everette Brown.

Also of note, late year acquisition Derek Landri looked decent in drills and scrimmage.

Rookie DE Greg Hardy looks very tall and strong, but seemed a little tentative in practice. He wasn’t that explosive hitting the sleds for the most part. At one point, he got yelled at by one of the defensive coaches (Baker, I think) for running with his eyes down rather than looking where he was going. Not sure whether he’s still rehabbing injury or maybe just had an iffy first day of his transition to the pros. Either way, hope he gets better.

As expected, Charles Godfrey and Sherrod Martin started at strong and free safety. I noticed Martin close in fast on an early play (probably would have been a solid stop in a game). Both were all over the place in practice. We’ll need that to compete in today’s pass happy NFL. Watching them at camp, you can get an idea of why the team went this route. Hope it pays the dividends they’re looking for.

At corner, Captain Munnerlyn was starting in Richard Marshall’s spot.

Of the various special teamers that signed, the one who looked like he might have the best shot of contributing elsewhere was Marcus Walker. Saw him in on a fair share of defensive plays today.

If I’m being perfectly honest, I thought the defense as a whole looked a tad disorganized today. There was a lot of yelling and complaints from defensive coaches, especially baker and LB coach Richard Smith. This time of year, it’s usually the offense that looks out of synch. And yes, they had their moments, but overall they looked better than the defense did.

Special Teams: Not much of note. Munnerlyn, Dexter Jackson and the previously mentioned Armanti Edwards were the guys fielding punts. Baker was okay, but shanked a few (wind may have caught them; it was strong). Didn’t see anyone drop one that got close to them. Jackson caught one on a bounce.

Coaching Note: Brian Baker and Dave Magazu are both good at what they do, but very different. If being coached by Baker is like being hit upside the head with an alumimum baseball bat, Magazu's style is the wooden bat. It doesn't make as loud a noise, but it can crack you just as hard.

Post Practice:

Duke Robinson walked out with no shoe on his right foot. Don’t know why. It served to distract attention from the enormous melon he carries on his shoulders. I’m amazed they found a helmet to fit him.

Everette Brown walked out with DL coach Brian Baker, still pumping him for info. He’s definitely an eager pupil. I was hoping to see the Mohawk I’d heard mentioned before, but it looks like he’s decided to just go with a conventional buzz cut.

QB coach Rip Scherer was gabbing with someone on the way out. I overheard him saying “Yeah, I tried to change that with Matt. He’s better at it now.” Would love to know what he was talking about.

Smitty actually stopped to sign a few autographs. He got most of the crowd that was there and chatted a bit, but prior to the last few he said “No, I’m done. I’m tired of signing” and trotted off.

In prior years, Jake Delhomme was always the guy who worked the crowd the most, engaging as many as he could. That duty has fallen to Matt Moore now, and he took to it well, being very friendly and courteous to well-wishers.

I had a chance to speak briefly with Moore, and took the opportunity to say one thing: “Just remember, the coach can make you the starter, but it’s up to you to become the leader.” He seemed to like that, as he broke into a broad grin and said “That’s right. That’s absolutely right. Thanks.” Before heading off.

Claussen was one of the last ones out, and had someone hurrying him along the whole time. Even so, he was friendly, courteous and accommodating to autograph seekers. Of all the signers, he was the only one I heard ask for names and personalize his autographs. He doesn’t come off as standoffish at all.

Last guy out was Armanti Edwards. Not sure if he and Claussen were working on something or just talking to the media (probably the latter). He’s a little more clean-shaven now and looks like a high school kid in the face. Some folks asked for him to stop but he was being rushed onto a golf cart to head up to the stadium and told everyone he was running late, but said thanks for the support.

Didn’t get to attend the evening session, but read a tweet from Gantt that said some former players showed up. Planned to look that up as soon as I finished writing this.

(which I now have)

 

And as an add-on, the wit and wisdom of DL Coach Brian Baker...



(during a drill) "I thought you were defensive linemen. What are you doing?"

(watching the guys hit the sled) "Guys, it's a blocking sled. It doesn't hit back."

(to Greg Hardy) "Get your eyes up! Don't run with your eyes down! See what's in front of you!"

(after a badly executed defensive scrimmage play) "Follow the ball! FOLLOW THE BALL!"

(another drill) "This is supposed to be a pass rush drill. Where is the pass rush?"

(in a very exasperated tone) "Can somebody please get off a block?!"

(yet another drill) "Look at the target. See the target. Hit the target!'

(said more than once, loudly) "Go! GO! GOOOOOOOO!!!"

(best of the day) "You're tired, huh? Well, you're tired because you're FAT!!!"

 

Thanks for taking the time to report all this. This is going to be an interesting season.

 

Thanks Mr. Scot.

 

thanks. exceptional write-up! truely greatly appreciated.

 

I would not suggest fucking Brian Baker's wife without prior consent

 

Awesome write up! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into it.

 

TY for posting this, Exp for the out of state fans like me

 

nice... marshall not starting? he hurt?

Brown should be starting and Brayton & Johnson should be fighting it out for the other side