July 31, 2015
Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center – Richmond, Va.
Head Coach Jay Gruden
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| Redskins Coach Jay Gruden James Murphy / CCS |
On signing linebacker Junior Galette:
“Well, he came in for a visit yesterday. My job was to watch him on tape and look at him as a football player and then get a chance to talk to him and find out a little bit about his past and what he went through. Scot [McCloughan] did the same thing, Bruce [Allen] did the same thing and we came up with a group effort to give him an opportunity here and give him a chance here to play for us.”
On cornerback Bashaud Breeland’s suspension and why it took a year for the league to suspend him:
“I have no idea [why it took a year]. We just found out about it here recently and it is unfortunate. Bree is going to learn from this. He loves football and he is going to bounce back in a big way.”
On people saying that “character goes out the window when it comes to talent”:
“That’s not necessarily true. We have a strong locker room, I’ve said that before. We have great leadership. We can talk about all the guys that work very closely with the Redskins Foundation and all the work that they have done. You bring a guy like this in who maybe has a checkered past, so to speak. We feel like the locker room that we have is strong enough that we can help him out. In talking to Junior, he was very thankful for the opportunity that New Orleans gave him. He was very remorseful about what happened. He was disappointed to be in the situation he was in. He was really excited about a second chance and was willing to do whatever he could to get that second chance. He told us that he would do everything in his power to make sure that we wouldn’t regret it. All we can go by is what we think and our gut feeling and that’s what we did.”
On if Galette will start and how his signing will affect Trent Murphy and Preston Smith:
“It doesn’t mean anything right now. We’re going to work with the guys we have here. Junior is going to get an opportunity here shortly. But Trent’s had an excellent OTAs. Junior is a specialized pass rushing person, which we need some more pressure. Last year, when Brian Orakpo got hurt and then Ryan had some issues with some injuries and then Trent Murphy got hurt, Jackson Jeffcoat got some time, some other guys got some time. So we added some more depth to our pass rushing. But as far as who’s going to start, we’ll let camp and preseason games determine that. But I know that Junior has played very good football… He’s got a lot of sacks in his career, a lot of pressure, a very disruptive defensive end, and can only help us in that regard. But he’s still got to go out here and earn his right, earn his stripes.”
On the decision-making process for evaluating players’ character:
“It starts up top with Bruce [Allen] and Scot [McCloughan] and myself. We all three came to the same conclusion. Like I said before, all the decisions we make are as a group. It’s all three of us together. We decided to take a chance and give him an opportunity.”
On if he is concerned about a possible suspension for Galette:
“There’s a concern there, we’ll have to wait and see. The league is going to do their due diligence and make their decision, just like they did with [Bashaud] Breeland. Whatever the punishment is, we’ll live with it, and then we’ll respect that. I know Junior will too, and we’ll have to wait. Right now we signed a very good football player we think is going to help us, and we’ll go from there.”
On if he reached out to others around the league about Galette:
“That’s something you’d have to ask Scot and Bruce. I did not. I basically watched the football side of him.”
On if Galette will practice today:
“No. He’ll start soon... He doesn’t know anything about our system or anything so we’ll give him a couple days.”
On if he can judge the locker room’s response because of the high rate of turnover on the roster:
“Well, we were 4-12 last year. I think the guys we brought back from last year and the guys that we added, I feel very confident in our locker room. I know that there are some guys on our team that know him quite well, and I’ve talked to them about him, and they don’t think there is any issue whatsoever. We have a very good group of guys here. I’m not concerned one iota – from offense, defense, special team type guys – a great group. We’ll be fine.”
On if he plans to shuffle the offensive line around throughout camp:
“Always, yeah. Always. Coach [Bill] Callahan does a great job of getting these guys ready for different situations. We only dress seven linemen on game day, sometimes eight. Guards are going to have to play both guard spots and even center. Josh LeRibeus has been doing a good job at center. Tackles might have to move inside. We have to look at guys at different spots. In order to learn this system to the best of your abilities, you need to know different positions and know exactly the combination blocks and how to do them in different spots. Coach Callahan has been doing a good job of getting these guys ready. It starts early, you can’t just do it a day before a game and say, ‘OK try guard here, you might have to play guard in a game.’ We have to prepare them now and get them ready and we’re doing that now.”
On if he has reached out to Saints Head Coach Sean Payton about Galette:
“I like to draw my own conclusions about people. It’s just the way I am. I don’t like to predetermine anything based on where he’s been or what he’s done. I like to talk to people. I know a brief history about him and then I’ll draw my own conclusions, and that’s the same thing Scot did and Bruce and we’ll just go from there. But I do know Sean a little bit, my brother obviously more so than I do, but I have not talked to him.”
On the first practice:
“Every aspect we need to improve on, obviously, but I thought it was a good first day. You’re looking for your first day to be crisp and not have too many mental mistakes. I thought for the most part we did a good job. You know, it’s good to start out with a walkthrough in the morning so we can kind of preview what’s to come in the afternoon. We limited a lot of the early mistakes that you normally see, so we’ve continued to add to our playbook on both sides of the ball and special teams and hopefully we’ll continue with a good solid rate of getting better. All we’re trying to do is get better every day. That’s our motto around here and we’ve just got to continue to do it.”
On his expectations of running backs Alfred Morris and Matt Jones:
“Well, Alfred’s our No. 1 guy, there’s no doubt about it. He’s proven to be a durable back, that’s the No. 1 criteria for a back. You’ve got to be durable and he’s as durable as they come. Very productive in his years here and he’s the guy, but if you want to run the ball, you want to commit to running the ball, you need more than one back. For 16 games, in the division we play, the games we play, the difficult-ness of our schedule, you need two, sometimes three, sometimes four. Matt is going to a good job of spelling Alfred. When you take out Alfred and you bring in a fresh, big back like that, it is only beneficial to everybody.”
On Galette’s pectoral injury:
“He got an MRI with our doctors yesterday. We feel good in his recovery. We’ll see how quickly he can practice but we think he’ll be ready to go here quick. I think it has recovered pretty well.”
On if Breeland’s suspension will change the number of practice reps he receives:
“No, we’re going to get him ready. It’s a long season, and he’s going to be a big part of our football team. But we also have to understand he is going to miss Week 1, so as we get closer to that game – late in the preseason, maybe – getting ready for Miami, we’ll get the guys ready. But everybody right now is getting pretty much equal reps; some are getting a little bit more than others. But it’s a big loss for us because not only can he play inside at nickel, he can play outside, and he’s a key member of our special teams. But we’ll have to get somebody else ready. Luckily we still have [David] Amerson here who’s going to do a good job. We’ve got [Chris] Culliver. We got D-Hall, obviously. We’ve got Justin Rogers. We’ve got Tevin Mitchel, who we drafted. So we have got some other guys that will have to step up.”
On if he sees a place for Jamison Crowder among the receivers in addition to his role as a returner:
“I’ve seen – he’s caught about 12 balls yesterday. Yeah, I’ve seen a lot. In OTAs, yesterday, he’s done a great job. He’s very smart. He went to Duke and understands the passing game, understands route concepts. He has got good strong hands, very quick in and out of breaks. But he does have a role as a punt returner, for sure. We got Andre Roberts who is a very good slot. Ryan Grant is working in there also. So he’s got to obviously earn the reps that he gets, and when he gets them, he’s taking advantage of them. We’ll see. We’ve got a long time to determine who our third is. Right now, Andre obviously has a firm grasp on it. But he will challenge him.”
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