Ron Rivera Presser: Jahan Dotson has an opportunity to be an integral part of the offense; not in the plans for returner at this time

Ron Rivera

Vet rest day:

Young players

“There’s still so more new faces, there’s a lot of young guys. Today was a good example, we sat down a few veterans, gave some young guys an opportunity, and quite honestly there were some things that were terrible out there today from the young guys. I told them after practice that some of the things that happened today out on this field, and we’re going to watch it on tape, were not acceptable.”

“It’s a huge opportunity for us to really get in there and evaluate, and see exactly what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. It’s also an opportunity to mix it up because a lot of times when you’re going against a Jonathan, or you’re going against a Charles, you’re talking about top guys at their position. Now it’s an opportunity to go against someone else that needs to step up, and at the same time you should be able to say, “Hey, I’m working against one of the better guys, I should have some success.” So it’s an evaluation for us as well, because I’m going to look at it that way.”

Ryan Kerrigan:

Retirement

“We felt we were obligated to do it because it was the right thing to do. When you have a player that’s going to retire and he’s the all-time sack leader, you most certainly need to, at this point, recognize his contribution to the organization, to the franchise, to the community.”

Consistency

“Well, I mean, when a guy plays with that much consistency for that long, there’s a lot to be said about it, just because of what he meant. He’s a guy you can always count on, he’s a guy that could always help set the example. I mean you only get so many of those guys, and when you get them they most certainly need to be celebrated.”

William Jackson III:

“Well you begin to notice he understood passing coverages. We check coverages and when you lock a man and you get to a certain point when you have to pass him on. He kinda started to understand that, it wasn’t just that hey it’s not this is my guy I’m going to run with him all over the field. What we were trying to get him to understand and it seems that he really seemed to have gotten it right around that point(Tampa Bay game) is that when I lock on a guy and I have to pass him off it gives me an opportunity to play with my eyes. Let’s say he starts to run a slant, I start driving on him and I gotta let him go because I got a guy going to the flat. Stuff like that, little details to it, because again for so long in their career they play so much man. To him it was just, hey this is my guy, I’m going to chase him everywhere.”

“I think you see a better understanding of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it more so than anything else. It’s good to see, it really is because he can be a really integral part just because of his athletic ability and his skillset. He can put himself in position to make plays for us.”

Dealing with disappointing years:

“I think you see the seriousness with which those guys have approached it. We have some guys that did have subpar years. We have some guys that could have better years. For the most part they all came in and it was interesting because one of the things Jack talked about in his opening meeting the players, defensive players, really was about the humility. More so than anything else, coming into this we got a good dose of humble pie. We need a little bit more humility, and let’s just put our nose to the grindstone. When you watch some of the things they’ve done, particularly the guys we’re talking about, you’re pleased. I was pleased with their approach when we got to OTAs and mini-camp.

I really also liked some of the leadership we’ve seen from that group. Jonathan and Daron, you know Daron was in and out of OTAs and mini-camp, but when Daron was out there, and he’s out there today, he steps up. Jon, really just his natural leadership has been really good. And then right up with Cole learning to step in front and be the Mike. Then Kendall and Bobby have been two guys with the secondary that have done a really good job with their leadership, setting the tone and tempo for their groups.”

Mental vs physical:

“I think it’s more about the mental aspect right now, what their approach is more than anything else is what you’re looking for. You’re also looking for body language. There have been a couple of things when you watch William, how close he was to a couple of plays yesterday, and when you watch the entirety of his reaction to it, you can tell he wanted to make that play so bad, and he just missed. Well that’s exciting, that’s hey I’m getting it. I have a chance to do that, and I can do it. That’s kind of a neat thing because he’s challenging himself.”

John Bates:

“He’s working through it”

Roster battles:

“There’s still some guys I think that could step in and push for time. Whether they earn starting opportunities or they earn rotational opportunities I think there’s still some spots that we can get some more clarity on.”

Guard might be one, and who’s going to fill in for Chase?

“Right. I mean we’re keeping an eye on all the positions, but ya there’s some specific that in my mind I’m thinking about.”

Curtis Hodges:

“I like how coachable he’s been. First day he had a couple of technique errors. Coach stepped in, Juan went at him, explained a couple of things to him. He was battling with Montez, Montez beat him a couple of times. Tez pulled him aside and said hey if you do this, this, and this, this could help you. Then the next day he came back and did a couple of those things. So he’s really shown that he is coachable, he is listening, he is fighting to improve and get better. You appreciate that when you see a young man be instructed, when you see a young man have his teammate put his arm around him and say hey you can do this, I’ve seen it from you. That’s pretty cool.”

Returners:

“I think it’s a good competition, because the dual returner, it takes some pressure off you when you don’t have to find another guy. You’ve got to have your 48 guy list for gameday so that’s an important thing for us is to have a dual returner. That could be really big.”

Jahan Dotson returning?:

“A lot will depend on how it goes in the three preseason games with the other guys first before we do anything with Jahan. Jahan has an opportunity to be an integral part of what we do already. He’s shown some flashes of being very impressive, so we’ve got to be very, very diligent, very smart about it as we go through this process.”

Chase Roullier

Ryan Kerrigan:

John Matsko:

Injury recovery:

William Jackson III

Swagger:

2nd year with Washington:

Secondary communication: