Sunday, July 29, 2018 | Jack Hammett Sports Complex | Costa Mesa, Calif.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS HEAD COACH ANTHONY LYNN
* Opening Statement:*
"Felt a little warm out there today. Felt the guys pushed through and competed well. The intensity was the same even though it got warmer, so that was encouraging. No injuries, just a couple guys that got dehydrated. Everybody made it through just fine."
On what he hopes to see from the young guys in the next two weeks:
"We have a lot of young guys on that defense right now. I just want those guys to learn our system. I thought we did a good job in the offseason with the installs and execution. Now it's time to play fast, and you get to see them physical. You get to see them play real football when we get the pads on tomorrow."
On how he feels about what he's seen so far:
"I feel good about what I'm seeing right now. Absolutely. I don't want to jump the gun. I want to get the pads on. I want to get into some games and if these guys keep progressing the way they are doing, everyone's going to be happy with us."
On WR Dylan Cantrell:
"Out of all the receivers, he's probably improved the most throughout the offseason. He started out slow and got better each and every day. That's kind of how this camp is going so far. Yesterday he started out a little slow and today he looked a little better."
On LB Kyzir White:
"It's hard for me to talk about Kyzir because I get real excited, so like I said, I don't want to jump the gun on him. I want to get him in some games and watch him play, but just watching him run around here and some of the things he did in the offseason, I get real excited talking about him."
On what excites him about White:
"His speed. His attitude. His explosiveness. He just has great instincts as a football player."
On what he expects from White with pads on:
"We had a hammer on him. He's a headhunter. If a guy like that looks good in shorts, I can't wait to see him in pads."
On training camp translating to season:
"Like I said, once we get the pads on tomorrow and the competition that we have in practice every day, you'll see the guys that are developing, the guys that are picking it up and the guys that are going to take it to the field."
On if there's any room for improvement for DE Joey Bosa:
"Joey can improve. He's a young player. I don't think he's reached his peak yet at all, and the better we get on the defensive line and create more one-on-one matchups, that's going to help his success as well. Not just Joey, but all of those defensive linemen."
On TE Austin Roberts:
"Unfortunately, he tore his ACL. We're going to miss him. He's a young prospect that has some speed at the position and was coming along fine, and he had a little setback yesterday."
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS DEFENSIVE END JOEY BOSA
On dealing with the hot weather conditions:
"I live in Florida. It's 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity at 8:00 am, so when you come out here it's beautiful when you actually get a breeze. When there's just warm air blowing on you, you don't get much recovery down there."
On his focus of the first two practices leading up to padded practice:
"I think the basic fundamentals, like staying low and get off. And everybody's going to be rusty pass rush wise and with a lot of stuff they do. It takes a lot. At least me personally, I don't work a lot of football technique and drills during the offseason. I just try to work on becoming a better athlete, to therefore make it easier to do what I want to do out there. So, it takes a week or so to get back in the swing of things. But right now, I'm just focusing on staying low, getting off the ball well, and lining up right — it's a big one."
On the difference of a padded practice:
"It's different. I think it's a more efficient way to practice. It's more realistic obviously, and more pass rush moves that you can use. I feel like it's a little dangerous out here running full speed with nothing on. It's pretty much full speed. But once you get the pads on, you can see where you are with the pass rush technique because all the power moves come into play."
On his thoughts about improving this year:
"I think it's just a year at a time. You could look back to my rookie year, I'm sure there's a huge improvement from that year to year two. I think it's just a confidence thing. We know we have the right guys in the room. And with even more people, obviously, we have chance to add some depth and be even fresher out there. So, I think with more experience out there, it's just going to get better and better."
On his confidence going into this year:
"Confidence is definitely bigger now. Just because, when you first come in as a rookie, you really don't know what to expect. I didn't win a rep of pass rush for, God knows how long, and you get kind of discouraged. But once you start playing well and you know that you can compete at this level and you know it's all about getting better — you definitely get some confidence."
On the feeling of being humbled early on his career during OTAs:
"Yeah, I mean, I was told by a bunch of different coaches that, 'your moves probably won't work when you get in your first couple of weeks. But just keep working at it. Adjust. And eventually you'll get in your groove if you're a good player.' So that's what I did and by the time I played in Week 4, I felt a little more confident out there."
On dealing with the noise of high expectations for the season:
"I mean personally, I don't really pay attention to a lot of the noise out there. I don't think a lot of the guys on this team really pay much mind to it. You obviously know what people are talking about, but when are any of these people right about anything? Don't listen to them. We worry about what we have here, worry about getting better individually, and as a team every single day. And I think with the pieces we have, everything will fall into place."
On the depth of the defense:
"There are so many raw guys that have unbelievable potential, like JJ [DL Justin Jones] and [LB] Uchenna [Nwosu], who come in and don't know what to do with themselves when they're pass rushing. And now, after not long at all, a few months of some technique work you can see the potential is just huge with what they're doing. I mean I saw JJ and knew from the beginning he was going to be a great tackle for us. But we've got [DE] Isaac [Rochell] moving along and making huge strides and obviously, a guy like Uchenna to back us up. So, depth is huge and these guys are going to keep getting better."
On DE Chris Landrum:
"I forgot about Chris. As long as he stays healthy, I think he's going to be a great addition behind [DE] Melvin [Ingram] because, obviously, [DE] Isaac [Rochell] will play more of the end position behind me. To have a guy who will take some reps off of Melvin to have him fresh out there [is important]. And everybody has a huge trust in Chris that he'll go out there, make plays and do what he has to do."
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS CORNERBACK CASEY HAYWARD
On CB Trevor Williams filling in for CB Jason Verrett:
"He's done it for a full season and a half. He started the second half of his rookie season and pretty much all last year. We have faith in all the guys that are here from the safeties to the corners. [CB] Desmond [King] has played a lot of ball for us, so we have a lot of people returning how have played a lot of ball for us."
On Verrett's injury:
"You feel bad for him for all the hard work he's put in. It broke a lot of our hearts to see him go down in a conditioning test. We know how hard he worked to get back here. Everyone put prayers out to him."
On Williams in a starting role:
"He's a starter. He was a starter last year. I see the hard work he puts in. I worked out with him in the offseason — he comes to Atlanta and works out, we workout at the same place. I see the competitive guy that he is. This stage isn't too big for him he has been playing football all his life."
On the best part of Williams' game:
The best part of his game is that he competes. He competes at a high level and he accepts the challenge. No matter who we go up against, he wants those balls thrown at him. Last year, he got an opportunity. We both probably got the same [number] of targets last year. It doesn't matter who he's on, if he gets a target, then he is going to make the best of it."
On his comfort level in year two with Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley:
"I think we are very comfortable. Right now, it is all about us and we are not worried about anybody else. We are better than we were last year at this moment. We have a lot of returning starters on offense and defense, so we better be comfortable."
On what S Derwin James brings to the defense:
"He's been hurt right now, but in OTAs he [showed that he will] bring the swag and be someone who would knock your head off coming across the middle. He is one of those Florida State guys and they come with a lot of swag when they come in. They're used to winning, so why not bring winners around?"
On if James makes the secondary more competitive:
"It was already like that, but to get a guy like him coming from college, a lot of people would say we got a steal. We are glad he is here. He is a good player. Everyone wants to be good and this defense can take off. We were No. 3 last year, but we weren't No. 1, so we can still go up."
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS DEFENSIVE END MELVIN INGRAM
On wearing pads tomorrow:
"It separates the boys from the men. Simple. Man, that's what football is — pads. Grown man football."
On what areas the team is trying to improve on:
"Every area. Every area. That's what we're aiming [for]. You come out here and you get better in every aspect of your game. You can never be too good an athlete. You can get better every single day. Grind, grind, grind. Try to improve at every single aspect and that's what I do, that's what everybody on this team does, that's what coaches do. We all try to get better every day."
On T Joe Barksdale:
"We push each other. That's what it's all about, pushing each other. We're trying to get better. You get better or you get worse every day. You never stay the same. Every day we try to come out here and push each other and get better."
On DE Chris Landrum:
"He brings a lot. He brings a lot of versatility. He's a top-notch player. He's [definitely] going to help us a lot. He's one of us and he can make a lot of plays for this ball club and I think that's what he's going to do this year."
On LB Uchenna Nwosu:
"He's coming along really well, but when you get out there with us, you have to get up to speed, and that's what he did. He stepped right in there ready to go and that's what it's all about. He came here from day one and wanted to learn and wanted to get better. He has a bright future in this league."
On Nwosu's bright future:
"I see a playmaker, really. A person who can help this ball club. He's going to go out there and make plays and that's what it's all about."
On Nwosu's ability to knock down passes:
"That's just being a football player and that's what he is. He's was just being a football player at USC and I think he's going to come here and be a football player. It's just a knack for knowing where the ball is."
