Reich answered questions on the coaching staff, defensive schemes and play calling.
Here we go Okay well good afternoon welcome I'm Excited to kind of have a quick check in Here after two weeks of being on the job Just give a little update on where we're At I'm very excited about the the Process of hiring a coaching staff and Great support and encouragement from Mr Tepper from Scott fitter it's been Pretty Dynamic you know Mr tepper's Been Outstanding you know made it very clear That this is my decision but there's Been constant communication with he and Scott on every coach on every position Vetting it out in every way so it's been Really Dynamic and really fun Really excited about the coordinators All the coaches but really excited about All three coordinators who have great Leadership men of High character men of The highest competency that you can have And then men who I think can lead and Connect with our players to bring out The best in them so I'll open it up from There Three coaches on your staff who Interviewed for head coaching jobs two Of them interviewed for the same job you Have I'm just curious what was the Discussion like when you were kind of Recruiting them maybe pre-process or Pre-hire actually no really not any talk Of that I mean it's I think in this Profession we all understand the
Business that we're in and how the Process goes so Um again going back to hiring men of Good character and how we approach it as A head coach sure you're in charge but It's really a collaboration so it's Always about getting the best people Into the fold so we can get guys who are Interviewing for head coaching jobs and Get them on the staff that's just a plus For us Is so important for you to bring in guys With so much experience couple guys with That coaching experience You know what was your thinking behind All that just a diversity of thought you Know guys guys that have with that kind Of experience have been in a bunch of Different systems they've been through The wars they've been through the ups And downs they've learned how to solve Problems they've learned how to work With players of all types work through Issues it's a long season Guys who know how to collaborate Together Work through issues as a staff as a team Strong conviction but no egos I think experience brings that sometimes I think that's a little undervalued Sometimes I think it gets a little Undervalued but really happy to have Great experience on their staff Experience you also have pressure faces
On on the staff as well was it important For you to have that juxtaposition among Your staff yeah absolutely Um kind of tried to do that on every Front in every way one of the I think It's important I think it builds the Right chemistry I think it helps us all Grow none of us have it figured out we All have we all have weaknesses we all Have strengths so you know let's if you Get the right character in the room and Then you get that diversity of thought And approach but with the mindset of Working together I just think it we Elevate each other and you know because Really at the end of the day the whole Point is about the players so in the Player group it's a diverse player group So you get that on your coaching staff It allows us to serve the players even Better help them in every way we can set Them up to win because that's what it's All about David Tepper say before that there's no Salary cap on on coaches how beneficial And I think you alluded to at your press Conference that he was behind you on That regard how beneficial was that that Financial backing as you like especially And Giro's case where Minnesota was but but Really across the board yeah and to Mr Tepper's credit he never flinched on That statement
Um you know it's just not that doesn't You know he he or he's been around the Block a few times in a few ways that Doesn't mean it's open checkbook that Just means we're willing to do what it Takes to get the right coaches and put The right team together so Um it was a good checks and balance but Uh he backed up he backed up what he Said I can tell you that and Um you know we were able to you know we Were able to compete against other teams Who were vying for similar candidates You know where we came out on top Because of because of that backing right The junior introduction you know David Tucker said that one of the things that Stood you up from the others was your Detailed list of potential coaching Candidates and how you went like three Four deep or whatever how close did that List did you come it was pretty close I Mean I mean the interviews were all Pretty close there were a few new names There were a few new names Um as you know when I got here you know Talking to guys in the building here Talking to Scott and some other guys in The building Have suggestions talking to other Coaches So again you have to shut it off Somewhere because there's a lot you get A lot of names
But um Yeah I mean it served as a good Framework to start what do you see in Josh as your quarterback's coach and do You see a little similarities between Yourself when you were starting as a Coach and him giving your playing Backgrounds I think there is similar Similarities in that I think Josh is Probably uh you know played Seven you Know a few more years longer 17 years a Long time but what I like about what Josh is He was in completely not completely but Significantly different offenses than I Was in so his exposure to offensive Football even though we have very Similar careers in some ways he was Exposed to a lot of different styles of Offenses that I wasn't or you know as a Player so that's gonna so although we Might have a similar philosophy and Approach to how to get the best out of a Quarterback the actual uh what he'll Bring to the table systematically as far As our scheme and how we teach and Approach what the quarterback I think is Going to be a great benefit I kind of Touched on it there in a little bit Elsewhere how important is it to you to Not have a bunch of Yes Men on your Staff but that diversity of thought to Tell you I don't think this is the right Way a hundred percent and everybody
Knows that right away I mean that's if There's one thing that I would despise As a head coach it would be that now we All respect one another and I certainly Expect them to respect me I will respect Them but when we get in that when we get In that we're staff room and we start Talking about scheme or players you know It is we want to hear conviction you Know I want to hear conviction I want to Hear uh you know opinions about what is Best for our team to put our players in Position to win so you can do that in a Respectful way it goes both ways so very Important Dom Capers and sort of that full circle Moment you're having with him but also You mentioned That at your first press conference I Think that you were going to decide Whether you're going to call plays after You hired the offensive coordinator so Are you going to call place so first in Respect to Dom I mean wow you know this Is pretty cool right Um and I think I mentioned that my first Press conference I'm not overly Sentimental but that is kind of special To me but let me just say this anybody Who knows Dom Capers knows it this is Not a Sentimental hire this is not a Sentimental heart not even close this Guy is still vibrant with football Passion and experience and knowledge he
And he and agero have a unbelievable Relationship and Trust so that's just Going to benefit our team Um you know I always I went into the Process of you know thinking about calm Plays not calm plays you know there is Going to be some point that I'm going to Pass it off Um you know I know that's going to be Hard and I've been laughing I've laughed With Thomas about that already I said I'm going to pass it off at some point I Don't know when but um You know and I think there will be a Time and a place and I think it'll Become apparent when that is but um You know I think the right thing for me To do for our team and for our offense Right now is for me to continue to kind Of use my experience there but draw on I'll lean heavy on Thomas I'll lean Heavy on I can already tell it's been a Couple days and I'm already I've already Leaned on him hard on a couple things You know I had a long meeting with him This morning and I felt wisdom Conviction strength so that relationship Is going to be really good to follow up On that um when Thomas was interviewing You guys haven't worked together before But he is a former player you hired a Lot of former players on offense why is It important to have those four player Voices and what stood out about Thomas
In that interview it has to be the right Former player and I did want a mix of Some former players and and guys who Have just have been lifetime coaches Because I think there's pros and cons to Both but Um hey the players that we're looking For I'm not looking for guys to kind of come In and tell their stories all the time Hey when I played here's how we did it You know I'm looking for guys who come In and talk about the players that we Have you know let's talk about the Players we have our careers are over Right but I want to use your experience We want to use your experience as a Player to connect have credibility and You know there are some things you learn As a player that I think it's hard to Learn any other way so I think that it Goes back to the diversity question you Know we've got that diversity in there As well I think it's a good mix I think In terms of you know there's a lot of People saying that you have to put Together one of the best coaching staffs You know maybe in the NFL right now How much of this team's success is Related to the coaching staff and how Much is related to The Players that's Funny you asked that question I have a Couple good friends in the coaching Business and you know we like to throw
Numbers on this right we like to throw Numbers on this and because we as Coaches know this is a player's game so I have typically always said that this Game is 80 to 90 percent about the Players it's 80 to 90 about the players 10 to 20 percent of his coaching but When you consider the number of games And the percentage of games that are one By one score 10 or 20 percent is a very Significant difference so if you can Compete and quote unquote out coach your Opponent by 10 or 20 percent and you win 10 or 20 more games that's three games a Year maybe right so that's that's a huge Difference but at the end of the day It's a players game and uh so what we as A coaching staff what I said are Coaching is that I don't know if it's 10 Or 20 but we got to get a hundred Percent of our 10 percent or we got to Get a hundred percent of our 20 every Ounce of energy that we have to get Whatever it is that we contribute we got To get it right defensively are you Committed to a 3-4 then scheme yeah Agero's been three four it'll be a base Three four scheme but when we get in sub It's really multiple you know it's Really multiple this four down three Down five down it'll all depend on how Gero and the defensive staff want to put Our player you know take advantage of Our players strengths we'll be very
Multiple but in our base defense will be Three four specifically Yourself was important to have you uh Jim was a huge hire you know just a Wealth of experience obviously he was Tony Dungy and Jim Caldwell were the First kind of coaches who hired me Gave me my start and I got so I worked For Jim so I saw firsthand his Brilliance and offensive as a mind he's An elite leader he's got great wisdom so He's a very experienced and successful Person in everything he's done so I'll Lean on him as a former head coach as a Former offensive kind of quote unquote Guru in a lot of ways I already have I Mean it's been a short time and already Have but really the role with Coach Caldwell it's going to be a little Different because I really he and I have Talked about this and think the best Value is that if he is intertwined in Every almost like I am as a head coach He has some he's intertwined in the game Management stuff with George Lee our Game management coordinator with with Chris Tabor on special teams with the Gero on defense and certainly with us on Offense so we even talked about it this Morning just developing a plan for how That's going to play out how he can add Value in each of those areas right Because you hired two guys who were in The head coaching mix this year as
Coordinators what did you also form as You were forming your staff did you Bring in guys thinking they could be the Successors at those coordinator spots Yes I mean you know I you know I think You're always thinking that you know who Is because you believe you're going to Have success uh I know both of all all Three of our coordinators all three of Our coordinators are legit Are are and are going to be legit head Coaching candidates So you have to think that um it would be Foolish not to think that so yeah we and Then I wanted to follow up to Um we asked you about quarterbacks a Couple weeks ago since that time Derek Carr is available will you guys bring Him in on a visit You know interesting question you know We're really literally sitting down with The guys today for Staff first staff Meeting will be tomorrow but I've kind Of met with guys individually saying Okay here's what we're doing first step One let's evaluate our roster you know So we're really just starting that Process so step two evaluate the free Agents you know we everybody got their List okay step three now you know going To the college guys so that process has Literally begun so really not ready to Address the specifics of that because We're really just beginning about the
Decision to keep James camp and Chris Tabor and Robert puebler Um yeah I mean these guys are You know camping is Proven to be one of the top o line Coaches that has been consistent for a Long time I watched the film Sat down for a long meeting with him Called a lot of other people about that Was a no-brainer to be honest with you And then listen to him talk about Coogler that connection is just so Important so that just made a lot of Sense and then Chris Tabor same way this Guy's a you know I mean he's one of the Best and he has been for a long time so Um it was a great Opportunity for me to keep those quality Coaches and Todd would come from Detroit Have similar roles I was just curious How did that come about and also how Does deuce compliment you kind of in the In the coaching realm yeah um you know I'm even keeled I'm going to be more I'm Just more killed Deuce is not even Keeled no he's not even killed I don't Think he has an even Keel bone in his Body and so that's what I love about him I mean he's a hammer and But if you're that kind of personality It has to be authentic and genuine and This guy And I I mean he's not just a hammer now This is one of the this guy is a quality
Football coach in every way he's going To offer a lot to us offensively in our Scheme we had a meeting we had a long Meeting yesterday it was already Apparent the connection between him and Thomas and the whole offensive staff Deuces contribution there is going to be Significant but Deuce is a leader of Meant you know and so his role as the Assistant head coach that's not just Going to be a title you know he'll I'll Have him talk to the team he'll be out On you know he will have a role like you Will feel him as the assistant head Coach but great coach great person and He and I you know he and I got really Close in Philly and have maintained that Relationship I want to follow up one Thing in the uh the play calling you Said eventually you'd want to hand it Off like is there a timetable in your Mind like this season next season middle Of the Season preseason yes all of those You know I mean I I don't know you know What I mean I do know it's going to be Hard to let it go but I do know that I Do want to let it go and I I don't know I talked to Thomas you know just couple Times and I think okay it's going to be Pretty easy to let go to a guy like this If you know just feeling his presence Already feeling his Poise Um And as we work together you know we've
Not worked together I mean I didn't You know I didn't know Thomas very well At all I mean it was it was a great Process to get to know him you know we Went into this I mean it was kind of Crazy that normally you go in and just Like we were looting too early you got a Small search of guys that you know or at Least know a friend of Friend Thomas was Not in that category you know I I every Year try to broaden the search at every Position I try okay who are the guys I Know who's outside that Circle and uh Thomas was outside that Circle and but The more I looked into it it was like Wow this everywhere I checked he's Impressive then you get him on a zoom It's even more on the phone get them on Zoom it's even more impressive get them In person it's even more impressive so I think that's how it's supposed to work You know take your time don't rush Hire the best coach at the end of the Day all I'm looking to do at every Position is I'm going to broaden the Search but I'm only gonna there's Mr Tepper is giving me one assignment get The best coaches to help these players Win About reaching out to Steve Caldwell he Said just call them how did that Conversation go when you called Steve Caldwell about this opportunity Yeah I mean it was great because we're
Close and because we maintained a Friendship You know it was kind of like I'm calling Him out with great respect because of What he's done and who who he is to me As a mentor in many ways and it was like Coach I want to you know I mean kind of Want to talk to you about a scenario That you know maybe neither of us could Have thought ever could happen but How would you feel you know there's an Opportunity here for us to work together I'm not sure if that would interest you But you know then I expressed to him How much I would value that what role I Could see him play and how he could help Me how he could help our team so um you Know and if you know Jim he's such a Class person it was it was an easy Conversation things were going down last Year between that getting fire and then Christian being traded The Narrative on The outside was this is a breakdown Scenario I'm curious what the kind of The general theme was that you heard From the guys you brought in that were Focused on their team and didn't know Anything about this roster what was the Theme you kind of heard over and over Again You know I think When you come in everybody's just kind Of coming in with a fresh start you know Hey let's just swipe the Slate clean you
Don't want to ignore what you're walking Into or the context of that but I think Really our mindset has been What I've heard what I feel is What's done is done let's just hit the Reset button get the best people Together and um let's let's create Something special and we do that by Getting the right people having the Right processes demand excellence in Everything that we do just demand Excellence in everything that we do that Will create a consistently a consistency That will produce the results that we Want and we're looking for not just Flashing the pan we're looking for Consistency winning you know weekend and Week out year in and year out is Ultimately the goal right as far as Those guys who were outside of your Circle as you said Thomas Maybe agero How much of a voice did Dave have in Suggesting those guys He was involved in everything he's been Involved in everything from day one have You thought about this guy or or even if It's been a guy what I've Loved about How Mr Tepper has approached it whether It was a guy who he might have mentioned Or if it was a guy He didn't mention He's doing his own vetting you know he's Doing his own vetting and then we're Talking about it and so is Scott so
When I tell you it was Dynamic and when It was there were many conversations Like It was a lot it was a lot we were it was On the phone multiple times a day and Every day talking about every position And every hire A really good question about Quarterbacks Frank to evaluate your Current quarterbacks under the contract Doesn't take very long because you don't Have many so I know one of them so I mean just speaking I know you don't Want to speak specifically about Derek Carr or something but in a big picture Sense I mean do you have to dip into Free agency and the draft do you think Ultimately You know I think we're going to sit down Here in fact I talked with a couple guys In fact last night you know Josh McCown Came into my office late and we were Sitting in my office From two hours you know late late Talking about quarterbacks quarterback Play Just he and I can two x Court you know It's just talking ball you know what I Mean talking about our vision for the Quarterback position how you know so We're just at the beginning of that Process you know and I'm going to Respect that process and don't want to Jump to any conclusions and
You know because it's not going to be Just Josh and I mean obviously Scott as He composes the roster and as he and I Get together for the vision about how We're going to build the roster Um You know that's going to be multiple Layers so we just have to take our time In that process right in terms of from a Personal standpoint because your Familiarity with Charlotte and you know Your family and everything else being Here already Did it make the transition to being a Head coach much easier and smoother than Maybe going to Indianapolis for a first Time when you weren't sure when you Weren't as familiar with Indianapolis as It was here were you able to do things Maybe quicker or faster because your Familiarity with Charlotte Obviously You know there were advantages because Of the familiarity with Charlotte but it Was more about the experience as a head Coach you know so having been a head Coach you know this would be going into My sixth year And having done it in Indy and having Started in Indy it just there's nothing Easy about it it's hard work but like it Felt more natural It felt more natural it didn't feel as It doesn't feel as overwhelming as the
First time it did you know when you go In and you just got out of the Super Bowl and then you're going in you're Thrown into the fire I just feel you Know and it was kind of a blessing to Have half the last half of the year off You know so feel refreshed feel Energized feel clear-minded Clear Vision It's just seemed more natural and not Easy is not the right word but probably More natural Frank you mentioned having a game Management coach I think tight ends Coach is the only position coach you Guys haven't announced yet is there any Update on that Probably probably close to announcing That you know probably early probably 24 48 hours away from announcing that so You just shared the difference this time Around in terms of coaching or finding Yourself I should say what's an example Of something you might have done Differently this time around and Searching for your staff Well that's a great question Um You know I just think in the process of You know Mr tepper's involvement was You know not intrusive but was Strong in the right way and so Um You know that was that was a that's been A pretty cool experience you know
Um Was able to also one other thing that Was different was Um You know in interviewing uh some of the Coaches it wasn't just me there were Times I was able to put a coach that I Was interviewing in front of other People the staff you know which you like To do when you can so I wasn't able to Do that the first time around as much This time I was able to do that a little Bit so that would be two examples that I Can think of When you and your coaches are breaking Down this roster is there anything that Jumps out that you weren't expecting Good bad Um Really just in that process in fact I Was sitting down with the gyro this Morning talking about it okay let's you Know here we've got to be on task you're Going to be with your guys evaluate you Know they were they are they've already Started offensively they've started We'll get together later this week to Start to write one-liners about each of The guys see how the fit see how the see How we see the fit see how you know and We'll everybody will get excited right Because there's a lot to be excited About when you look at the roster and so Um
We're just getting these guys in the Building Formalizing kind of writing up those Reviews as we look at the roster and Then hey where are the needs you know Where are the needs how are we going to Build this but really encouraged Um at the outset by what is already on The roster It's wonderful one quick uh the three Four thing that I asked you about what Why was it you decided to go to that and Who does like who does it benefit on This defensive side of the ball Burns or You know other guys it'll you know so The reason we decided to go because of a Gerald you know like I was hiring the Man not the scheme I was hiring the man I was hiring the leader Um that's what I was hiring I I it Wasn't as much about this scheme you Know he could he could coach any scheme He wanted he's going to be good at it so That that was my take on that and then You know you're You're in base defense You know most teams are only in base Defense about 20 percent of the time so You're really in other multiple fronts 75 to 80 percent of the time so I think it benefits good players because I think it benefits versatile players Because we're going to be in multiple Fronts and multiple Personnel groups on
Defense and on offense to accentuate What our guys do well and that's one of The things I liked about what a Gerald Brought us to brings to the table that He he knows how to do that on the Defensive side Thank you
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