GREEN BAY – The Packers' offensive assistant and position coaches met with the media on Wednesday. Here's a sampling of their key comments.
Passing game coordinator Jason Vrable
On moving into another year with the young receivers:
I can already tell, they understand coverages more, they understand angles better, maybe the top of the route, how to be cleaner at the top. So that's where I think the growth, and where we look faster and look cleaner right now, is just the lining up part is easy for us. It's second nature now. We've taken a couple next steps.
On whether it's important to have a No. 1 receiver:
Our goal is in the end to win a game. So I would say last year it was random, like Bo (Melton) became the No. 1 in a game, or whoever it was. That was just by chance. They were working hard, they were practicing and getting better throughout the week, and then the ball just went their way. Ideally, my goal for the guys, we want to win games and want to win a Super Bowl, but I also want them to have great careers and extend their careers for a long time. So for me, I do want them to all become No. 1's and when I say that, it's you can go out and start, whether it's here or on your second contract somewhere else. I really try to grow and groom the room so they become complete receivers.
Quarterbacks coach Tom Clements
On Jordan Love in his second season as starter:
From a personal standpoint he's the same. He's the same guy. We're in the process right now of trying to work our way all of the cut-ups from last season. Put together a little tape based on things he did well, and things we'd like to see him improve on. He's worked on those. But as far as his interaction with the coaching staff or the players, he's the same guy. I think he's a little more vocal as the leader now that he has a year under his belt. But he wants to do as well as he can, so he's working on the fundamentals of the game at this point.
On Sean Clifford's growth as a rookie last year:
Sean, he definitely did grow. He's like a game-type gamer. A little bit of Matt Flynn in him. Once the season started, and he was running the scout team, he started to become more familiar with our offense and then running opposing team's offenses. You usually have a lot of similar plays and he ran the scout team very well, ran the huddle well, he's a good leader, and he started to make plays. He developed throughout the year, which is what you'd like to see. He's doing a great job in this offseason. So I think he'll make a big jump from Year 1 to Year 2.
Offensive line coach Luke Butkus
On Sean Rhyan's progress last year:
It was great to see Sean grow. Sean works at it. He loves football. He wants to go out and play, he wants to get a chance. When he had his chance last year, he improved. He is a big, strong kid, man. When you're holding the (blocking) bag for Sean Rhyan, you feel it.
On Elgton Jenkins being the elder statesman on the unit:
Elgton is the ultimate competitor. We've all been around Elgton enough to know that he is one of the most competitive guys. Now, it's his chance to get up and speak and be more vocal. That might not be Elgton's strong suit, wanting to be able to talk in front of the whole group but, in the O-line room, what he's been doing is helping the young guys and he's been more vocal, so he's constantly working on that, just trying to bring that competitive nature and trying to help him become the leader that we all know he is.
Tight ends coach John Dunn
On both Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft being on the field at the same time:
You start getting two on the field and now the defense (asks), how do you match that? How do they defend that? How are you using them? And we talk about it in our room all the time, the more you can do, the better we're going to be as an offense, the better we're going to be as a unit. I think it's exciting. Now, there's a lot of work to get to that stage, right? Just because you had success, there's still a lot of work to be done and that's our goal every day. The more guys we can get on the field, that means the more guys are producing and we're doing our job. So yeah, I think it'll be fun to see that as it goes forward.
On Tyler Davis' recovery from injury:
Tyler's a stud. He is as dedicated an individual as they come. There's not enough good words I can say about Tyler, just him really being one of the veterans in the room, just the guidance. Still being there for those guys, being involved, where they could ask questions or he could help, he could lend guidance. It just speaks to who he is as a man, it speaks to him as a teammate. He loves this game, he loves this team.
Running backs coach Ben Sirmans
On Josh Jacobs:
He's an explosive player. Obviously, he's big, he's physical, he'll be able to break tackles. He'll be able to give us a lot of production in different ways than you can say Aaron (Jones) did, but still at the end of the day, it's going to be productive. I think that he's also coming in with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder because we always have something to prove and I think for him – not speaking for him – but you just get the sense that he wants to prove we made the right decision investing in him and he's ready to assimilate to this team and help us get over the top and get to the next level.
On getting AJ Dillon back:
I think it was big getting him back. When you look at the way we played towards the end of the season, I think that's the guy that you're going to get – a guy that's going to play with that type of urgency, that type of attitude and besides that, I'm glad we have him back because he helps Josh out tremendously, especially in learning some of the different things we do within this offense. He's taken hold of being one of the leaders. I said, now you're one of the older guys on offense. This is as hard as I've seen him work in the offseason.
Wide receivers coach Ryan Mahaffey
On the growth from the receivers last year:
What stood out to me was the energy those guys play with. They care about their teammates. Coach Vrable did a great job with those guys in terms of setting the standard, the way that they practice. I think they have good practice habits, and those guys are coachable. They want to be coached.
They all support one another. They encourage one another. They're constantly talking on the sideline about how they can be better, what they're seeing from each other. Those guys really work together as a unit.
On Alex McGough's transition from QB to WR:
Having Alex in there is great. He has the perspective of playing quarterback, so there are a lot of things in terms of the rhythm and timing of the play that he can add to the conversation. Alex is another one of those guys, when we had look-team periods, he might step in there and play wide receiver at times, and you could see him run, you could see his ball skills, and then obviously he's an intelligent guy. It's been fun to be able to add him into the mix.
