-- The Damien Williams signing [By the Bears] was a sneaky good under-the-radar move. If Nagy is going to run a little too often with a rookie quarterback behind center, at least there are three diverse options to choose from. Williams has a way of beating expectations.
-- [Bengals LB Jordan] Evans quietly returns with 60 games under his belt and, you could win a trivia contest with this, the most Bengals games of anyone on defense. Put him in and he'll simply produce. Last year he had two sacks, a pick and a fumble on 61 snaps.
John Eisenberg
Baltimore Ravens Columnist (from
The similarities between Marquise Brown and Mark Clayton are impossible to miss.
Both were star wide receivers for the Oklahoma Sooners. Both were drafted in the first round by the Ravens – Clayton at No. 22 overall in 2005 and Brown at No. 25 overall in 2019.
Yup, quite similar.
In his first two seasons in Baltimore, Clayton caught 111 passes for 1,410 yards and seven touchdowns. Brown, in his first two seasons, caught 104 passes for 1,353 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Yup, quite similar.
But now it's an unsettling comparison for the Ravens.
Seemingly poised to take flight after two seasons, Clayton, instead, saw his production decline and never developed into a No. 1-caliber receiver. Although he amassed a respectable 234 receptions in five seasons in Baltimore, he eventually was traded.
Now, similarly, the Ravens believe Brown is poised to take flight and possibly emerge as a No. 1-caliber receiver. They're hoping the parallels to Clayton abruptly end.
A year ago, I zeroed in on Clayton for an episode of my podcast, What Happened to That Guy? Now 38, he is a successful entrepreneur in Texas, focused on enhancing management opportunities at Black-owned businesses.
I interviewed Brian Billick, who coached the Ravens early in Clayton's career. Billick's take was interesting. It didn't help, Billick said, that the Ravens were unsettled at quarterback in Clayton's years; Kyle Boller, Anthony Wright, Steve McNair, Troy Smith and Joe Flacco threw passes to him.
"You really don't develop that relationship" with a quarterback as a result, Billick said.
Billick also said a "lack of other presence at receiver" hindered Clayton's development. Derrick Mason was reliable and productive on the other side of the offense, but otherwise, the cupboard was startlingly bare. Mason and Clayton were the only Baltimore wide receivers with more than 22 receptions in a season from 2005 to 2008.
"That probably made it a little tougher for Mark to have the kind of impact you would expect from a first-round pick," Billick said. "Mark would've fared much better if we'd had a dominant No. 1."
I don't know if the Ravens are reflecting on the arc of Clayton's career as they contemplate how to handle Brown, but it sure seems they're pointedly trying to put Brown in a better situation.
It helps that they're firmly set at quarterback with one of the NFL's top playmakers, Lamar Jackson, instead of sorting through various options. Jackson and Brown are close friends who already have that on-field "relationship" Billick referenced.
It also helps that the NFL has evolved since Clayton played, with teams looking to build larger, more electrifying wide receiver corps. The Ravens are working on it. In 2021, they've signed Sammy Watkins, a veteran with a record of explosiveness, and drafted Rashod Bateman with a first-round pick.
They've also drafted Tylan Wallace, Devin Duvernay, Miles Boykin and James Proche II along with Bateman and Brown in the past three years, creating an entire wave of young receiving talent.
Obviously, they aren't doing it all just to help Brown; they're trying to ramp up a passing game that ranked last in the league in yards per game in 2020.
But Brown stands to benefit tremendously. The Ravens will still likely operate the NFL's most run-oriented offense in 2021, but they've signaled they're going to pass more. And with Watkins and Bateman lined up beside him, Brown figures to receive less attention from defenses.
"I really think it will probably take some pressure off some of the guys who have been here, like Marquise, and free him up," Ravens Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman said last month.
The Ravens didn't draft Clayton or Brown to be complimentary pieces; each was viewed as a potential home-run hitter. With more than twice as many touchdown catches as Clayton in his first two seasons, Brown is exhibiting more of the home-run knack.
But the Ravens have learned not to take his continued development for granted.
One of their priorities is making sure Brown becomes the player they envisioned.
Mark Andrews Makes All-Paid Team of Tomorrow
Tight end Mark Andrews made NFL.com's All-Paid Team of Tomorrow, which lists the top candidate to become the next player to push for the rank of highest paid at each position. [Baker, Zeus, Kyler, CeeDee and Lane also got mentions--not too shabby, but now we need some defenders on that list]
NFL.com's Anthony Holzman-Escareno projects Andrews' next contract to average $14 million-plus per year. Andrews is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
"Lamar Jackson's favorite target through the air, Andrews leads Baltimore in targets (186), receptions (122), receiving yards (1,553) and receiving touchdowns (17) over the last two seasons. That receiving touchdown total also puts him first among tight ends and eighth among all players since 2019," Holzman-Escareno wrote. "The only tight ends with more receiving yards than Andrews over that span are Travis Kelce (2,645), Darren Waller (2,341), and George Kittle (1,687) — and that group includes the two-highest paid players at the position (Kittle and Kelce)."
-- Players like Cody Ford [who will switch to #74 this season] and Zack Moss have been in Buffalo since the offseason began due to rehabbing back from injury. McDermott said Ford and Moss have done a phenomenal job with a not so easy situation.
"The discipline, the commitment, the rehab, especially the lengthy rehab like Cody's had to go through and Zack, that takes a special person be able to do that," McDermott explained. "I'm very proud of the way that everyone that's been here rehabbing has done in terms of following through on their rehab. Cody in this case, the surgeries that he had to go through, just very proud of the way he's handled those as a young player."
Erik Scalavino
Patriots.com Writer
First impressions, it's often said, are lasting ones.
Hired at the end of January 2020, Oklahoma outside linebackers/defensive ends coach Jamar Cain kept hearing reports about the athletic prowess of one of his new charges. So much so that he soon started to question their veracity.
"It was like Sasquatch. You hear stories, but you never see him," Cain laughs today at his naïveté.
Roughly a month after starting his new job at the university, Cain was forced to return to his home in Arizona because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Consequently, he had only a handful of opportunities to meet face-to-face with junior pass rusher Ronnie Perkins, the subject of the glowing reviews he'd been overhearing.
Player and coach eventually reunited briefly for in-person workouts last summer before the start of fall camp later that year. Yet, it wasn't till Halloween, when OU clobbered Texas Tech, that Cain finally got an in-game glimpse of the preternatural Perkins, all 6-3, 253 pounds of him.
https://www.patriots.com/team/players-roster/ronnie-perkins/
"He chased a running back all the way down the field," Cain recalls, "and pushed him out at the 2-yard line. That was his first series of the game, like his third play. That's when I knew we had something special."
Of course, Cain had a clue before that particular play that Perkins was, as he put it, one of the top two or three players he's ever coached at the position. Perkins entered the 2020 season as Oklahoma's most fearsome pass rusher, but had to serve a half-season suspension for reportedly failing a drug test before the prior season's Peach Bowl versus LSU.
As a result, Perkins was allowed to practice with his team, but couldn't suit up for games until the end of October. In the interim, Perkins took out his frustrations on his team's starting offense. Relegated to scout team duty throughout his suspension, Perkins, according to Cain, took full advantage of every snap.
"At first," adds Cain, "he was like, 'Coach, I don't want to do it.' But once he went over there, the competitiveness kicked in. [Head coach Lincoln] Riley would come over and say to me, 'Could you tell Ronnie to calm down. We've got to get some plays off... We can't block Ronnie.' It was like game day for him every day. He'd come to me after and say, 'Coach, I just kicked their ass the whole practice.'"
Because Cain had to devote so much attention to the other defensive ends on his depth chart, in order to prepare them for the games that Perkins had to miss, the position coach spent considerable time after practice working with Perkins one-on-one. In those personal sessions, Cain quickly discovered a player he couldn't help but embrace.
"It was fun to coach him. I tell people this all the time. Ronnie's one of my favorite players to coach," Cain continues. "He was easy to coach because he practiced hard, did everything you asked him to do. He wanted to get better. With me only having him one year, he could have easily said, 'I'm not going to listen to you. It's worked for me the last two years.' He just took my coaching and made it his own."
That included having to accept that Cain and Riley wanted to manage the number of reps he saw in games, down from an average of 70-80 per game in his first two seasons with the Sooners to around 50 last season. His coaches wanted to unleash a motivated Perkins on opposing offenses, and the plan appeared to work like a charm. In just six games, Perkins registered 5.5 sacks, essentially equaling his totals in each of the previous two seasons that he played in their entirety.
"He probably had another three [sacks] that he just missed," maintains Cain. "He made his presence felt as soon as he got back."
Having that year of experience as somewhat of a role player made Perkins a better player, even though, as Cain admits, he was clearly the best defender the Sooners had. It could serve Perkins well here in Foxborough, too.
One of the nation's most coveted high school players before he joined Oklahoma three years ago, Perkins didn't take long to become a regular starter for the Sooners. So, when the Patriots selected Perkins in the third round of this year's NFL Draft, his position coach couldn't have been more thrilled. Not just because his player had made it to the highest level, but also that New England was the club that chose him.
"He's got to continue to study the game, because he's a smart kid, but there's so much more he's got to learn. I'm so happy he's with the Patriots because that was the best team for Ronnie Perkins," Cain contends. "He's going to be forced to learn the game. He's in good hands."
Likewise, Cain believes the Patriots are getting what he calls "the steal of this year's draft." Perkins might have more to learn and on which to improve when it comes to his technical abilities, Cain acknowledges, but this "loveable, smiling, happy guy all the time" can turn on an "alpha dog" mean streak when it's time to suit up for a game.
Like most rookies, Perkins could be asked to contribute on special teams initially, but there's little doubt that his new Patriots coaches will also want to insert Perkins into the pass-rush competition as soon as possible. Cain feels Perkins is more than ready for that challenge after three seasons dominating in the college ranks,
"He'll be a guy," Cain predicts, "that comes in there and just works and doesn't say much… he'll do whatever it takes to get on the field, including running down kicks on special teams. You don't see many guys come in and take over a game from that [defensive end] position, but he's the best player on the field. You can't take your eyes off him."
If that proves to be the case, Perkins could be in position to make yet another great first impression.
The way Jalen Hurts understands his situation in Year 2 of his NFL career with the Eagles, he has to earn everything he gets. If he's good enough to beat out Joe Flacco to become the starting quarterback, hey, he'll move forward in that role.
This is a mindset that Hurts has carried forward since his college days and it applies to his professional career. Four starts last season produced some high highs and some frustrating lows, and in the end, Hurts knows he has a lot of work in front of him to get to where he wants to be.
"I value everything that Coach (Nick Sirianni) has brought here," Hurts said on Wednesday on Day 2 of the team's Phase Two workouts at the NovaCare Complex. "I remember back in my days at Alabama, Coach (Nick) Saban, hearing him talking about discipline, commitment, effort, toughness, and pride; having these core values that he's trying to instill in the team, and in the end, it all worked out for the team. And you see coach Nick Sirianni preaching connection, preaching accountability and competition and fundamentals and football IQ, preaching all these things. I know in all those different avenues, all those different principles and values that we're trying to instill here in Philly, no one is above that and everybody's got to go to work.
"So, for me, rent is due every day. It's always been that way for me, always been a get-better mentality every day, grow every day, be a better leader every day, be a better quarterback every day. And when that rent's due, I don't plan on missing any payments, so it's work."
In 15 games in 2020, four of them starts, Hurts passed for 1,061 yards, six touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. He completed 52 percent of his passes and complemented his passing with 354 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Playing behind an offensive line that changed every week because of injuries, Hurts showed calm and composure and injected an offense that needed a boost with some life and energy.
But that was last year. The Eagles have a new head coach. The offense is going to look different. Nobody in the NFL lives in the past, and that is the approach Hurts is taking.
"I'm very happy that we're able to kind of get in the building now," Hurts said. "One, get acclimated to new coaches, new system, you've got some new faces in the building. I think all of that is important to our growth as a football team.
"I'm happy we're able to do that. You're going to have differences and changes everywhere but ultimately we talk about being committed and I think that's what it comes down to, right? Being committed to what coach is preaching and going out there and playing together and believing in one another."
This has been an offseason of change for the Eagles, as we know. Hurts has worked closely with veteran Joe Flacco in the quarterback room as the two have learned, first in the virtual program and now at the NovaCare Complex. Hurts said he is "not above" having competition at the position, one of Sirianni's core values. So far, then, it's been a great marriage as Hurts works with Quarterbacks Coach Brian Johnson, whom he has known since he was a child. Johnson tried to recruit Hurts to Mississippi State, but Hurts chose Alabama. Now, Hurts says, he wants to "do something special together" with Johnson.
We're still in the very early stages of the on-field work and the Eagles aren't working in an 11-on-11 environment. That comes in Training Camp. Hurts continues to show maturity and poise and professionalism as he goes about his craft, "improving every day." He celebrated the selection of wide receiver DeVonta Smith in the first round of the NFL Draft – "a stoic guy, kind of like myself" – and welcomed back the young receivers room heartily. Hurts wants the entire offense to grow together.
To do that, it requires a steady progression. Progress every day in a new system for new coaches and a new daily routine.
"I feel like it's very important to have the system down, one. Getting the system down, being on the same page with the coaches, and having some consistency," Hurts said when asked what areas he wants to see his most improvement. "I think consistency comes from being fundamentally sound but actually knowing what you are supposed to do and being comfortable with what you're doing. I think that's the biggest thing, being consistent."
At the end of the day, Hurts is going to be himself. He was a rock last season in a most turbulent environment since the day the Eagles selected him in the NFL Draft. One year later, nothing has changed in terms of the way Hurts will approach his job.
"I think my intent doesn't change," Hurts said. "The mentality that I have, it doesn't change. The urge and thirst for growth and being a better leader and being a better quarterback, that doesn't change. I want to obviously impact the people around me in the best way that I can, be somebody that people see as an accountable person and as an accountable quarterback who is going to go out there and do my job. At the end of the day, you earn the respect of your teammates when you go out there and make plays and do those things. I want to continue to do that and bring everybody together."
John Boyle
Seahawks.com Reporter
When Tre Brown lined up across from D'Wayne Eskridge during rookie minicamp, it was the first time Seattle's top two picks in the 2021 draft got a chance to test themselves against each other.
It was not, however, the first time Eskridge, a second-round pick out of Western Michigan, and Brown, a fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma, had gone head-to-head. The two played in different conferences and never crossed paths in college, but they did face each other in the Senior Bowl and both ended up being players who stood out at that pre-draft event and helped their draft stock in Mobile, Alabama.
"We had some reps going against each other," Eskridge said… "He's a competitor, I'm a competitor, so we just go out there and get after it every time we go against each other, so I always like going against him.
The most noteworthy play of the weekend involving those two saw Eskridge beat Brown to get open for a deep reception in seven-on-seven drills. The play showed off Eskridge's explosiveness, to be sure, but it will hardly go down as an indictment of Brown's skills either. Brown had plenty of positive moments over the weekend, and he'll surely have more between now and the start of the season. And even if he got beat deep on that particular play on Saturday, Brown enjoyed testing himself against his new teammate.
"Man, he's quick," Brown said. "He's quick and he's also strong, and he knows how to hold his line just running his routes and everything. And also he's a humble guy, he's one of the most humble guys that I've ever met. And when you have humbleness and competitiveness, man, it's hard to beat those things."
And not to take anything away from Eskridge's play, but Brown also had a slight disadvantage in that he was spending his weekend working on the Seahawks' preferred step-kick technique that, while not entirely new to him, is not something he did often in college. Brown and undrafted free agent corner Bryan Mills spent a significant part of Friday and Saturday's practices working with defensive passing game coordinator Andre Curtis on that technique, and Brown knows he'll have to put in the reps to master the style of play the Seahawks demand of their corners.
"You've got to have repetition," he said. "… I haven't done that (technique) in a while. So it's all about getting back to that, getting used to that and just repping that so I can perfect it."
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who made it clear after the draft that Brown is coming to Seattle to compete for a spot as an outside corner despite his 5-foot-10 stature, liked what he saw early from the rookie out of Oklahoma.
"(Friday) he did a really nice job of demonstrating that he understands how the game works in that he stayed on top on everything," Carroll said Saturday. "He was in the right spots. He looked very comfortable, he looked very fast, very speedy out there staying with everybody that we ran at him. I'm anxious to see (Saturday's film), because we just gave him some more looks and some more things to do, but he looks like he's going to be a real competitive player. He made a couple plays out here today that did catch my eye. He's very burst-y and looks like he's going to take his shots and be an aggressive corner. That's what he showed in college, and he showed it out here in the couple spots I saw today."
As for Eskridge, Carroll has pointed to the receiver's speed and explosiveness on a number of occasions, but what also stood out over the weekend was Eskridge's attitude.
"He's got a got chip on his shoulder," Carroll said. "He's going prove it that he belongs. That's probably as valuable as anything he could bring to our club. He's talented. You can see it already that he's quick and explosive, caught the ball well, he's also got good strong hands. So he's made nothing but good impressions so far, but I'm really fired up about his attitude, because he's here to prove something and that always brings out the best in guys."
The competitiveness Carroll likes in Eskridge is also readily apparent in Brown, and it's a trait that should help both of those 2021 draft picks continue to push each other while also leading to some fun moments in training camp.
"It's what it's all about, it's about competing," Brown said. "He's here for reason just like I'm here for a reason. That guy's really good, he was drafted here. So he's making the best of his opportunities just like I'm making the best of my opportunities. So we're going to make each other better."
-- [Bengals LB Jordan] Evans quietly returns with 60 games under his belt and, you could win a trivia contest with this, the most Bengals games of anyone on defense. Put him in and he'll simply produce. Last year he had two sacks, a pick and a fumble on 61 snaps.
Eisenberg: Ravens Are Helping Marquise Brown Avoid Mark Clayton's Path
May 25, 2021 at 11:08 AMJohn Eisenberg
Baltimore Ravens Columnist (from
The similarities between Marquise Brown and Mark Clayton are impossible to miss.
Both were star wide receivers for the Oklahoma Sooners. Both were drafted in the first round by the Ravens – Clayton at No. 22 overall in 2005 and Brown at No. 25 overall in 2019.
Yup, quite similar.
In his first two seasons in Baltimore, Clayton caught 111 passes for 1,410 yards and seven touchdowns. Brown, in his first two seasons, caught 104 passes for 1,353 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Yup, quite similar.
But now it's an unsettling comparison for the Ravens.
Seemingly poised to take flight after two seasons, Clayton, instead, saw his production decline and never developed into a No. 1-caliber receiver. Although he amassed a respectable 234 receptions in five seasons in Baltimore, he eventually was traded.
Now, similarly, the Ravens believe Brown is poised to take flight and possibly emerge as a No. 1-caliber receiver. They're hoping the parallels to Clayton abruptly end.
A year ago, I zeroed in on Clayton for an episode of my podcast, What Happened to That Guy? Now 38, he is a successful entrepreneur in Texas, focused on enhancing management opportunities at Black-owned businesses.
I interviewed Brian Billick, who coached the Ravens early in Clayton's career. Billick's take was interesting. It didn't help, Billick said, that the Ravens were unsettled at quarterback in Clayton's years; Kyle Boller, Anthony Wright, Steve McNair, Troy Smith and Joe Flacco threw passes to him.
"You really don't develop that relationship" with a quarterback as a result, Billick said.
Billick also said a "lack of other presence at receiver" hindered Clayton's development. Derrick Mason was reliable and productive on the other side of the offense, but otherwise, the cupboard was startlingly bare. Mason and Clayton were the only Baltimore wide receivers with more than 22 receptions in a season from 2005 to 2008.
"That probably made it a little tougher for Mark to have the kind of impact you would expect from a first-round pick," Billick said. "Mark would've fared much better if we'd had a dominant No. 1."
I don't know if the Ravens are reflecting on the arc of Clayton's career as they contemplate how to handle Brown, but it sure seems they're pointedly trying to put Brown in a better situation.
It helps that they're firmly set at quarterback with one of the NFL's top playmakers, Lamar Jackson, instead of sorting through various options. Jackson and Brown are close friends who already have that on-field "relationship" Billick referenced.
It also helps that the NFL has evolved since Clayton played, with teams looking to build larger, more electrifying wide receiver corps. The Ravens are working on it. In 2021, they've signed Sammy Watkins, a veteran with a record of explosiveness, and drafted Rashod Bateman with a first-round pick.
They've also drafted Tylan Wallace, Devin Duvernay, Miles Boykin and James Proche II along with Bateman and Brown in the past three years, creating an entire wave of young receiving talent.
Obviously, they aren't doing it all just to help Brown; they're trying to ramp up a passing game that ranked last in the league in yards per game in 2020.
But Brown stands to benefit tremendously. The Ravens will still likely operate the NFL's most run-oriented offense in 2021, but they've signaled they're going to pass more. And with Watkins and Bateman lined up beside him, Brown figures to receive less attention from defenses.
"I really think it will probably take some pressure off some of the guys who have been here, like Marquise, and free him up," Ravens Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman said last month.
The Ravens didn't draft Clayton or Brown to be complimentary pieces; each was viewed as a potential home-run hitter. With more than twice as many touchdown catches as Clayton in his first two seasons, Brown is exhibiting more of the home-run knack.
But the Ravens have learned not to take his continued development for granted.
One of their priorities is making sure Brown becomes the player they envisioned.
Mark Andrews Makes All-Paid Team of Tomorrow
Tight end Mark Andrews made NFL.com's All-Paid Team of Tomorrow, which lists the top candidate to become the next player to push for the rank of highest paid at each position. [Baker, Zeus, Kyler, CeeDee and Lane also got mentions--not too shabby, but now we need some defenders on that list]
NFL.com's Anthony Holzman-Escareno projects Andrews' next contract to average $14 million-plus per year. Andrews is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
"Lamar Jackson's favorite target through the air, Andrews leads Baltimore in targets (186), receptions (122), receiving yards (1,553) and receiving touchdowns (17) over the last two seasons. That receiving touchdown total also puts him first among tight ends and eighth among all players since 2019," Holzman-Escareno wrote. "The only tight ends with more receiving yards than Andrews over that span are Travis Kelce (2,645), Darren Waller (2,341), and George Kittle (1,687) — and that group includes the two-highest paid players at the position (Kittle and Kelce)."
-- Players like Cody Ford [who will switch to #74 this season] and Zack Moss have been in Buffalo since the offseason began due to rehabbing back from injury. McDermott said Ford and Moss have done a phenomenal job with a not so easy situation.
"The discipline, the commitment, the rehab, especially the lengthy rehab like Cody's had to go through and Zack, that takes a special person be able to do that," McDermott explained. "I'm very proud of the way that everyone that's been here rehabbing has done in terms of following through on their rehab. Cody in this case, the surgeries that he had to go through, just very proud of the way he's handled those as a young player."
'Sooner' or Later: Patriots getting 'alpha dog' pass rusher in Perkins
May 19, 2021 at 10:16 AMErik Scalavino
Patriots.com Writer
First impressions, it's often said, are lasting ones.
Hired at the end of January 2020, Oklahoma outside linebackers/defensive ends coach Jamar Cain kept hearing reports about the athletic prowess of one of his new charges. So much so that he soon started to question their veracity.
"It was like Sasquatch. You hear stories, but you never see him," Cain laughs today at his naïveté.
Roughly a month after starting his new job at the university, Cain was forced to return to his home in Arizona because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Consequently, he had only a handful of opportunities to meet face-to-face with junior pass rusher Ronnie Perkins, the subject of the glowing reviews he'd been overhearing.
Player and coach eventually reunited briefly for in-person workouts last summer before the start of fall camp later that year. Yet, it wasn't till Halloween, when OU clobbered Texas Tech, that Cain finally got an in-game glimpse of the preternatural Perkins, all 6-3, 253 pounds of him.
https://www.patriots.com/team/players-roster/ronnie-perkins/
"He chased a running back all the way down the field," Cain recalls, "and pushed him out at the 2-yard line. That was his first series of the game, like his third play. That's when I knew we had something special."
Of course, Cain had a clue before that particular play that Perkins was, as he put it, one of the top two or three players he's ever coached at the position. Perkins entered the 2020 season as Oklahoma's most fearsome pass rusher, but had to serve a half-season suspension for reportedly failing a drug test before the prior season's Peach Bowl versus LSU.
As a result, Perkins was allowed to practice with his team, but couldn't suit up for games until the end of October. In the interim, Perkins took out his frustrations on his team's starting offense. Relegated to scout team duty throughout his suspension, Perkins, according to Cain, took full advantage of every snap.
"At first," adds Cain, "he was like, 'Coach, I don't want to do it.' But once he went over there, the competitiveness kicked in. [Head coach Lincoln] Riley would come over and say to me, 'Could you tell Ronnie to calm down. We've got to get some plays off... We can't block Ronnie.' It was like game day for him every day. He'd come to me after and say, 'Coach, I just kicked their ass the whole practice.'"
Because Cain had to devote so much attention to the other defensive ends on his depth chart, in order to prepare them for the games that Perkins had to miss, the position coach spent considerable time after practice working with Perkins one-on-one. In those personal sessions, Cain quickly discovered a player he couldn't help but embrace.
"It was fun to coach him. I tell people this all the time. Ronnie's one of my favorite players to coach," Cain continues. "He was easy to coach because he practiced hard, did everything you asked him to do. He wanted to get better. With me only having him one year, he could have easily said, 'I'm not going to listen to you. It's worked for me the last two years.' He just took my coaching and made it his own."
That included having to accept that Cain and Riley wanted to manage the number of reps he saw in games, down from an average of 70-80 per game in his first two seasons with the Sooners to around 50 last season. His coaches wanted to unleash a motivated Perkins on opposing offenses, and the plan appeared to work like a charm. In just six games, Perkins registered 5.5 sacks, essentially equaling his totals in each of the previous two seasons that he played in their entirety.
"He probably had another three [sacks] that he just missed," maintains Cain. "He made his presence felt as soon as he got back."
Having that year of experience as somewhat of a role player made Perkins a better player, even though, as Cain admits, he was clearly the best defender the Sooners had. It could serve Perkins well here in Foxborough, too.
One of the nation's most coveted high school players before he joined Oklahoma three years ago, Perkins didn't take long to become a regular starter for the Sooners. So, when the Patriots selected Perkins in the third round of this year's NFL Draft, his position coach couldn't have been more thrilled. Not just because his player had made it to the highest level, but also that New England was the club that chose him.
"He's got to continue to study the game, because he's a smart kid, but there's so much more he's got to learn. I'm so happy he's with the Patriots because that was the best team for Ronnie Perkins," Cain contends. "He's going to be forced to learn the game. He's in good hands."
Likewise, Cain believes the Patriots are getting what he calls "the steal of this year's draft." Perkins might have more to learn and on which to improve when it comes to his technical abilities, Cain acknowledges, but this "loveable, smiling, happy guy all the time" can turn on an "alpha dog" mean streak when it's time to suit up for a game.
Like most rookies, Perkins could be asked to contribute on special teams initially, but there's little doubt that his new Patriots coaches will also want to insert Perkins into the pass-rush competition as soon as possible. Cain feels Perkins is more than ready for that challenge after three seasons dominating in the college ranks,
"He'll be a guy," Cain predicts, "that comes in there and just works and doesn't say much… he'll do whatever it takes to get on the field, including running down kicks on special teams. You don't see many guys come in and take over a game from that [defensive end] position, but he's the best player on the field. You can't take your eyes off him."
If that proves to be the case, Perkins could be in position to make yet another great first impression.
In Year 2, QB Jalen Hurts embraces process of earning starting job
May 19, 2021 at 05:39 PMThe way Jalen Hurts understands his situation in Year 2 of his NFL career with the Eagles, he has to earn everything he gets. If he's good enough to beat out Joe Flacco to become the starting quarterback, hey, he'll move forward in that role.
This is a mindset that Hurts has carried forward since his college days and it applies to his professional career. Four starts last season produced some high highs and some frustrating lows, and in the end, Hurts knows he has a lot of work in front of him to get to where he wants to be.
"I value everything that Coach (Nick Sirianni) has brought here," Hurts said on Wednesday on Day 2 of the team's Phase Two workouts at the NovaCare Complex. "I remember back in my days at Alabama, Coach (Nick) Saban, hearing him talking about discipline, commitment, effort, toughness, and pride; having these core values that he's trying to instill in the team, and in the end, it all worked out for the team. And you see coach Nick Sirianni preaching connection, preaching accountability and competition and fundamentals and football IQ, preaching all these things. I know in all those different avenues, all those different principles and values that we're trying to instill here in Philly, no one is above that and everybody's got to go to work.
"So, for me, rent is due every day. It's always been that way for me, always been a get-better mentality every day, grow every day, be a better leader every day, be a better quarterback every day. And when that rent's due, I don't plan on missing any payments, so it's work."
In 15 games in 2020, four of them starts, Hurts passed for 1,061 yards, six touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. He completed 52 percent of his passes and complemented his passing with 354 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Playing behind an offensive line that changed every week because of injuries, Hurts showed calm and composure and injected an offense that needed a boost with some life and energy.
But that was last year. The Eagles have a new head coach. The offense is going to look different. Nobody in the NFL lives in the past, and that is the approach Hurts is taking.
"I'm very happy that we're able to kind of get in the building now," Hurts said. "One, get acclimated to new coaches, new system, you've got some new faces in the building. I think all of that is important to our growth as a football team.
"I'm happy we're able to do that. You're going to have differences and changes everywhere but ultimately we talk about being committed and I think that's what it comes down to, right? Being committed to what coach is preaching and going out there and playing together and believing in one another."
This has been an offseason of change for the Eagles, as we know. Hurts has worked closely with veteran Joe Flacco in the quarterback room as the two have learned, first in the virtual program and now at the NovaCare Complex. Hurts said he is "not above" having competition at the position, one of Sirianni's core values. So far, then, it's been a great marriage as Hurts works with Quarterbacks Coach Brian Johnson, whom he has known since he was a child. Johnson tried to recruit Hurts to Mississippi State, but Hurts chose Alabama. Now, Hurts says, he wants to "do something special together" with Johnson.
We're still in the very early stages of the on-field work and the Eagles aren't working in an 11-on-11 environment. That comes in Training Camp. Hurts continues to show maturity and poise and professionalism as he goes about his craft, "improving every day." He celebrated the selection of wide receiver DeVonta Smith in the first round of the NFL Draft – "a stoic guy, kind of like myself" – and welcomed back the young receivers room heartily. Hurts wants the entire offense to grow together.
To do that, it requires a steady progression. Progress every day in a new system for new coaches and a new daily routine.
"I feel like it's very important to have the system down, one. Getting the system down, being on the same page with the coaches, and having some consistency," Hurts said when asked what areas he wants to see his most improvement. "I think consistency comes from being fundamentally sound but actually knowing what you are supposed to do and being comfortable with what you're doing. I think that's the biggest thing, being consistent."
At the end of the day, Hurts is going to be himself. He was a rock last season in a most turbulent environment since the day the Eagles selected him in the NFL Draft. One year later, nothing has changed in terms of the way Hurts will approach his job.
"I think my intent doesn't change," Hurts said. "The mentality that I have, it doesn't change. The urge and thirst for growth and being a better leader and being a better quarterback, that doesn't change. I want to obviously impact the people around me in the best way that I can, be somebody that people see as an accountable person and as an accountable quarterback who is going to go out there and do my job. At the end of the day, you earn the respect of your teammates when you go out there and make plays and do those things. I want to continue to do that and bring everybody together."
D'Wayne Eskridge & Tre Brown Enjoy Competition At Rookie Minicamp: "We're Going To Make Each Other Better"
Receiver D’Wayne Eskridge and cornerback Tre Brown, Seattle's top two picks in this year’s draft, enjoyed competing against each other at rookie minicamp.
May 17, 2021 at 04:31 PMJohn Boyle
Seahawks.com Reporter
When Tre Brown lined up across from D'Wayne Eskridge during rookie minicamp, it was the first time Seattle's top two picks in the 2021 draft got a chance to test themselves against each other.
It was not, however, the first time Eskridge, a second-round pick out of Western Michigan, and Brown, a fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma, had gone head-to-head. The two played in different conferences and never crossed paths in college, but they did face each other in the Senior Bowl and both ended up being players who stood out at that pre-draft event and helped their draft stock in Mobile, Alabama.
"We had some reps going against each other," Eskridge said… "He's a competitor, I'm a competitor, so we just go out there and get after it every time we go against each other, so I always like going against him.
The most noteworthy play of the weekend involving those two saw Eskridge beat Brown to get open for a deep reception in seven-on-seven drills. The play showed off Eskridge's explosiveness, to be sure, but it will hardly go down as an indictment of Brown's skills either. Brown had plenty of positive moments over the weekend, and he'll surely have more between now and the start of the season. And even if he got beat deep on that particular play on Saturday, Brown enjoyed testing himself against his new teammate.
"Man, he's quick," Brown said. "He's quick and he's also strong, and he knows how to hold his line just running his routes and everything. And also he's a humble guy, he's one of the most humble guys that I've ever met. And when you have humbleness and competitiveness, man, it's hard to beat those things."
And not to take anything away from Eskridge's play, but Brown also had a slight disadvantage in that he was spending his weekend working on the Seahawks' preferred step-kick technique that, while not entirely new to him, is not something he did often in college. Brown and undrafted free agent corner Bryan Mills spent a significant part of Friday and Saturday's practices working with defensive passing game coordinator Andre Curtis on that technique, and Brown knows he'll have to put in the reps to master the style of play the Seahawks demand of their corners.
"You've got to have repetition," he said. "… I haven't done that (technique) in a while. So it's all about getting back to that, getting used to that and just repping that so I can perfect it."
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who made it clear after the draft that Brown is coming to Seattle to compete for a spot as an outside corner despite his 5-foot-10 stature, liked what he saw early from the rookie out of Oklahoma.
"(Friday) he did a really nice job of demonstrating that he understands how the game works in that he stayed on top on everything," Carroll said Saturday. "He was in the right spots. He looked very comfortable, he looked very fast, very speedy out there staying with everybody that we ran at him. I'm anxious to see (Saturday's film), because we just gave him some more looks and some more things to do, but he looks like he's going to be a real competitive player. He made a couple plays out here today that did catch my eye. He's very burst-y and looks like he's going to take his shots and be an aggressive corner. That's what he showed in college, and he showed it out here in the couple spots I saw today."
As for Eskridge, Carroll has pointed to the receiver's speed and explosiveness on a number of occasions, but what also stood out over the weekend was Eskridge's attitude.
"He's got a got chip on his shoulder," Carroll said. "He's going prove it that he belongs. That's probably as valuable as anything he could bring to our club. He's talented. You can see it already that he's quick and explosive, caught the ball well, he's also got good strong hands. So he's made nothing but good impressions so far, but I'm really fired up about his attitude, because he's here to prove something and that always brings out the best in guys."
The competitiveness Carroll likes in Eskridge is also readily apparent in Brown, and it's a trait that should help both of those 2021 draft picks continue to push each other while also leading to some fun moments in training camp.
"It's what it's all about, it's about competing," Brown said. "He's here for reason just like I'm here for a reason. That guy's really good, he was drafted here. So he's making the best of his opportunities just like I'm making the best of my opportunities. So we're going to make each other better."
