Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Saturday's morning rookie minicamp practice:
I talked to Santonio [Holmes] yesterday. The facts of the story are Santonio was sleeping. When the flight attendant came by, she said, "Will you please turn off your [iPod]?" There are so many i-things now, I don't know which it was. He said, "Yeah, no problem." Well, he was tired and never took out the ear things. He laid back down. When the lady came back and asked again, he said, "I did. I can hear every word you're saying. I have it off." He literally handed the ear things to the lady sitting beside him and she goes, "Yeah, you can't hear anything." They were off. When he landed, [he exited the plane and was asked to wait for] some police officers, they asked him about it and he said exactly what happened.
When Santonio told me, I totally believed him. It's one of those things, but I believe Santonio and I'm looking forward to him being a Jet and playing here. That's the story.
As far as anything else, you guys saw practice today. It's beautiful out there. It's a good thing that's not the Jet team in the fall [laughter]. That's just the way it is. These guys are getting a little better. We're throwing a lot at them, especially on offense. On defense, we're giving them the basic stuff. They're throwing a bunch of runs and all that kind of jazz and the kids are spinning a little bit, but it's still good to see. We have a lot of guys just on tryout basis and some of those guys we want to bring to camp with us and give them a longer look. The guy that's really standing out to me is the kid from Alabama [Cory Reamer]. Like I said, we're going to replace [Mike] Pettine [laughs]. There's no question we can do that with this young man.
On what happened to Joe McKnight today…
The same thing that happened yesterday. He's fighting through it. It's funny. Every time I look around, he's got a wet towel around his neck and he's got Anthony [Lynn] barking all over him. He's making one mistake after another and then you put the ball in his hands and he looks pretty good. Just go right, Joe. He's fighting through it. I don't know exactly what it is, but he's fighting through it. Sometimes it takes a player a little longer to play like a Jet. Maybe the tempo is different. I don't know.
On if he's upset that McKnight didn't show up in the best shape…
No. Just go back to last year. Remember when you guys were telling me, "Shonn looks terrible." I'm like, "No, just play the deflection." Remember he couldn't catch anything. Shonn Greene pulls up in the first special teams part of practice and I think he ended up working out really well. I don't think we need to overreact with this. He still does some great things out there. I don't know if it's so much his physical conditioning. It may be a bug. The thing I appreciate about him is he is trying to fight through it, albeit on a knee most of the time [laughter], but he's fighting through it.
On if there are a set number of spots in his head for players the team can bring to camp…
That's about it. Once you get to your number, you have to take somebody off to bring somebody in. You have to balance that out. That's it. Jim Leonhard came to us in the same kind of camp. Some of these guys are free agents and some of them came here on a weekly tryout. Jim Leonhard was one of those guys in Baltimore. I remember going to Ozzie [Newsome], "We've got to have this guy." He wasn't just going to give me the one-for-one swap. He said, "You're going to have to cut three of your guys," and I'm like OK, so we did. It worked out pretty well for us.
On what he enjoys about undrafted free agents…
It's funny because last year one of you guys brought it up that, "Rex, everyone one of the guys you signed were undrafted free agents." I never realized that, but maybe that's it. Maybe I know that the sacrifices that some of these guys have to make are maybe greater than some of the other ones who have had it made and maybe had a reputation. You see it here that these guys are not going to fail.
Like the kid from Alabama, he wants to stay. That's obvious. He's here competing and he wants to stay. [Jamaal] Westerman last year. Every year there are a few guys that are like that. Marques Douglas, 11 years he played. He wasn't there to make friends. He was there to make your team. He went on and had that career.
Like I said before, more free agents have a 10-year career than draft picks. If you're drafted in the first round, you're going to start off higher than the free agent guy. He's the guy that doesn't get the good equipment and the good shoes, but he finds his way to make it. Maybe because I was that kind of player. I wasn't that good. I was down [at the bottom]. Maybe that's what it is. There's something about the underdog that I can appreciate his struggles. Then when they do make it, they're really something.
On Kevin Basped…
He looks good. He's a little raw in his techniques. The way they [Nevada] play defense is a little different than the way we play defense. I'll give you just a particular. When the ball goes away from you and you're playing a defensive end, our terms are wind-back, quarterback, reverse. You play the wind-back run first, then the quarterback, then the reverse. A lot of these colleges will get up field and they'll go deep, so they'll go quarterback, reverse and then they'll worry about the wind-back. That's not how we play. We'll play the wind-back run first, then the quarterback, then the reverse.
Like I said, he's all over the place. He's chasing the reverse, but we'll get him to calm down and play things our way. He's got a lot of ability [and] really looks the part. He's one of those all-bus team guys. [He's] the first guy off the bus. You guys notice him, I'm sure. It's like "Wow, look at that kid." Long arms, he's a talented guy. His technique, [Jeff] Weeks will get him right. I'm excited to see how he develops.
On how hard it is to project how Vladimir Ducasse will play since he comes from a smaller college…
You have to look at the physical skills, no question. The guy's got to have movement skills. The size obviously jumps out at you. He's got the long arms. He's got great body control. They did play against some Division I competition. He also went to the Senior Bowl, [which] I think is good. If you watched that game, I thought he did an outstanding job in the game. Him and that guy from Idaho [Mike Iupati]. They were together and they both looked pretty good. You look at Joe Flacco in Baltimore. He was a quarterback so that made it even worse. My first thought was, "We're going to take him from where? You've got to be kidding me. Take a defensive player. Don't worry about it." [smiling].
On if it's harder for Ducasse since he's an offensive lineman…
No, it's going to be hard at any position. You're making quite a leap as far as talent is concerned. He's a lineman. These guys are bigger [and] stronger, but he can match up physically with any of these guys from any college.
On if Ducasse is better at pass-blocking or run-blocking…
I'll tell you what, he's got great feet. All of that's kind of new to him right from a stance because we're moving him inside. He's always played tackle. His pass sets, he's got to learn to short set more where he would have more of a kick step playing tackle. That's all going to be new, but the kid is loaded in talent. Today we ran a blitz and I watched him. He just takes this linebacker and just grabs him and throws him on the ground. I'm like "All right, kid. You did that OK." I don't know everything, but I can tell you this, he's plenty strong. He's big. He's smart. His head is spinning a little bit just like all those guys, but I think he's got a chance. He's got a chance to be a really good player.
On Ducasse not being a talker…
It definitely bothers me [smiling]. Him, Brick [D'Brickashaw Ferguson] and Brandon [Moore] never say anything, so he'll fit right in over there.
On the trust he has in Bill Callahan…
I've been around a long time and he's the best I've ever seen. The other thing too, when you talk about how much trust I have [in him]. I have a lot more trust in Bill Callahan not just about being an offensive line coach and coaching guys, but the other thing he does for me in being an assistant head coach. This is a guy that I lean on probably more than anybody in making head coaching decisions. I lean on Bob Sutton as well. Both of those guys have been there and done that.
He's got more experience than I do. He took a team to the Super Bowl as a rookie head coach. He's a great sounding board. I can honestly say there are some things that I would have done differently had I not spoken to Bill first. I think he's really helped me in that, so when you talk about how much faith and trust I have, it goes far beyond just the kind of position coach he is. In that, he's outstanding.
On the expectations of Kyle Wilson…
I was a rookie and my expectations were pretty high last year and my expectations for him are that high. He's coming in here to be a starting nickel on the best defense in football. I think he's going to be great. I watched him today. Dennis Thurman is talking noise, which is what Dennis does [smiling], to all the offensive guys: "You'd better leave that guy alone. You'd better leave him alone." He says the same thing about [Darrelle] Revis.
We're not going to compare Kyle to Revis, but he's a tremendous player. There is somebody that I've really known well for a long time that basically said that he was their guy and they picked a lot earlier than us. You can probably figure it out. That's who he wanted and then after practice, I'm like "Yep. I guarantee you were right because this guy is the real deal." You're obviously a little nervous because you want to see him, but it's like "Oh my gosh. He really could be special." Look at the combination of the top-four guys [cornerbacks] we have. It's going to be phenomenal.
On Wilson's best skill…
His man cover skills. There's a lot of corners that are "Hey, this guy is a zone corner." That means he can't play corner a lot of times [laughter].
On if it's a nice feeling that the team is building depth…
We drafted a franchise last year. This was great because Mike Tannenbaum and [the personnel staff] put us in a position to where we can go into the draft and just really take the best guys and we thought we did that. These guys are going to play a ton. All of our draft picks are going to play.
John Conner had a couple nice catches out there today. That's what's funny. Everybody knows he's a bulldozer back there, but this guy can catch the football, too. You put him in there with T-Rich [Tony Richardson] and that's a nice combination, so we've got depth like crazy. With Joe [McKnight] and LaDainian [Tomlinson] obviously and Shonn [Greene], we're loaded. You look at our secondary, but Kyle Wilson is going to be a huge contributor. Vlad [Ducasse], we'll see what happens. You know he's going to play probably a big role.
I think our draft was great. It just added to what we already had. A guy to save the franchise, you're right. We don't need that. We just need to get a little bit better and I think we did on draft day.
On scouting reports saying Conner was a little stiff…
I think the thing is that you've got to get over the fact he has no neck [laughter]. That's probably the thing you've got to get over because he does look kind of funny. We always kid him: "Son. Nobody has shoulder pads on and now you're going to come out here with your shoulder pads." He's a fullback, there's no question.
He could have played in any era. Let's compare him. I threw out the Matt Snell thing, but that's the comparison right there. Jim Nance maybe is who he kind of reminds me of, without the ballcarrying skills. As a blocker and receiver, he's kind of got that build, a no-neck, knock-you-on-your-butt type guy.
On if Mark Sanchez will participate in OTAs and minicamp…
We're certainly not going to rush him all the way back, but he's doing everything. He's itching to go. He can't stand it. He's thrown the ball some. He looks great. He's doing everything that we ask him to do and he's going to be just fine. It's really going to be disappointing to him if he can't come back and do some of those mini camps or OTAs. I'd love to see him do that last minicamp if at all possible.
On if he is concerned that Sanchez might not be ready to go until training camp…
It just gives opportunity to the other guys — step up, maybe we can figure that out, how to rank those other guys. There will be some good competition there.
On where the Jets fit into the New York sports world…
I don't know. Right now, obviously the Yankees are number one.
On being the brash team in a button-down city…
Maybe that's a little bit of the New Jersey in us. I don't know [laughter].
On if the Jets are still interested in QB Mark Brunell…
We can't pick up anybody else right now. For us to get any free agent out there, until somebody signs Marques Douglas or somebody, then we can't get another free agent.
On if he likes Brunell…
The only problem I had with Brunell is that I thought Dave Szott [director, player development] got to him and was leading his family, if they did come in, away from Summit. That bothered me a little bit. That was the sticking point, I think [smiles].
He's a class act. I've gone against him a bunch. He's smart. He wants to go into coaching when he's done playing. That's a good thing. If he came here, it's not like he's coming here to be our starting quarterback, but we were interested in him because I think he would have been a good mentor to our guys. Again, right now, I don't know if he's going back to New Orleans or not, but we'll see what happens to him.
On Brunell saying that he would wait until July 22 to see if he can sign with the Jets…
If that's the case, we may consider him.
On if he could have ever envisioned the additions during the offseason…
No, not really. Mike Tannenbaum, I think is a guy that really deserves all the credit and really all the guys, [senior personal executive] Terry [Bradway], [assistant general manager] Scott [Cohen] and [vice president, college scouting] Joey [Clinkscales]. They did a great job. Acquiring [Antonio] Cromartie, I think that was huge for us because we needed a corner when we never re-signed Lito [Sheppard]. The fact that we were able to get LaDainian [Tomlinson] here, he took a sizable pay cut to come here. That speaks volumes of what the rest of the league thinks about the Jets. We had an unusual situation pop up where you were able to add a talent like Santonio [Holmes] and oh, by the way, Jason Taylor, Brodney Pool.
We talked about this a little yesterday about how last year was that year when how many different players were actually on our roster that we had to make moves? This year, we've made a lot of moves but it's actually a lot less than what it was last year. Now, some of those guys we lost, Thomas Jones, Alan Faneca, were really great people, great team guys. But I think we are bringing in that kind of person as well. We'll see what happens, but I believe we're going to have great chemistry, I really do. The team knows how serious we are about wanting to win a Super Bowl. These are moves that quite honestly are because we want to get a little bit better and we have the guts to do it, so we'll see what happens.
