Q. How is Marcus Epps feeling? Seems to be a little concern over the back. Will he get some practice time today?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, he's going to be out there in practice. He's good to go.
Q. How do you view the safety spot, especially the depth? Josiah now seems to be taking more reps, brought in a new guy, K'Von and Chachere in the mix.
JONATHAN GANNON: Uh-huh.
Q. How do you view that?
JONATHAN GANNON: Anthony as well. You'll see us continue to mix guys. I think they're doing a really good job. Excited to see him practice versus some other people now and be in there with different guys.
We talked about the reasons for that. Excited to see what they're doing. I think the DB coaches are doing an excellent job with that room, and look forward to getting out here and having fun with those guys.
Q. What have you seen from Reed that you've liked?
JONATHAN GANNON: Just like all those guys, you know, he's very smart, he's instinctive, and has a unique skillset. When I say unique skillset, he's not a post safety or a box safety. He can do it all. He tackles and he processes fast and he just needs some reps and time on task.
As rookie (audio cut out) -- like some of the older vets I've seen. So I really like though he's a guy that when he makes a mistake he's not a repeat offender.
So from that, you know he's going to continue to progressing. I'm excited about Reed.
Q. Tell us about how you bring along rookies, or if you don't, how do you determine what you give them, how quickly you throw them into things?
JONATHAN GANNON: They get it all. They get a different progression of learning than the vets do, but once they're out here, they have to know that what everyone else has to know.
So that's always -- that's a good question. That's always a case-by-case basis. Normally we have a pretty good feel where they are mentally before they come into the building.
As you go through OTAs you kind of see that, and you see, okay, well, he's ready for the next step; he can move on; Hey we got to retouch this; we got to go back to this; repeat this.
So all our rookie class, Howie has done a great job bringing in guys that are smart. We play some different things, like everybody does. But, those guys have to be able to pick that stuff up to be able to play, and they've done a good job with it.
Q. Among the characteristics you value at safety, what premium do you place on range?
JONATHAN GANNON: That's ball skills and coverage ability. You know, you'd like to be able to see when the ball goes up in the air and they're on that side of field, if athletic make a play on it, to make a play on it.
But range, that comes in a lot of different forms. Depth equals range. You hear me say that. How deep are they? That gives them more range.
Anticipation, timing, what their eyes are seeing and the coaching points of all those things within each coverage to be in the right position to have a chance to make certain plays on balls down the field.
So like I said, I like where those guys are.
Q. Are there certain things you're looking for in the next two days?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah. I want to see us compete against a really good offense that's a very drastically different scheme than we've been playing against for three weeks.
That's and I told our guys. I'm looking for a couple things. I want to see you show up and we're going to run our stuff, and it's awesome that we get to do this. They're obviously very well coached, a lot of talent on that side.
So these two days and the game on Sunday will be a good evaluation piece for us.
Q. There was some concern about Jordan Davis coming out as far as conditioning, how many snaps you might be able to play in games. What did you see from him from a conditioning standpoint, and maybe the progression from the spring until now, and do you see any reason to limit him?
JONATHAN GANNON: No. No, I don't. I mean, when he gets in there he goes full tilt. It's always a thing for bigger guys. The hardest guys, when we grade our effort, is the backside corners and the D-line, because they don't always -- they a lot of times aren't play side.
So the backside pursuit, running out of the stack, finish into the pile, all that stuff, we grade and evaluate that.
He's done a good job of taking to that. Hey, man, just because the ball is over there you got to go run and hit it. I really thought he showed good effort in the game and good stamina, and there is no limitations on him.
Q. When it comes to philosophy, what's usually the last one that rookies tend to pick up on and how are Jordan and Nakobe and Kyron when it comes to that?
JONATHAN GANNON: Intensity, because you don't get to do it. Intensity is kind of that last piece to the puzzle. When we talk about the ways that we measure that, that's full tackle to the ground and hitting.
So, you know, we really made an emphasis on that in the last game and the next two games coming up. That's where that shows up.
So they know how that's measured and what's expected and what the standard of that it, but they don't get to really go do it until game day. It's just a good learning piece for those guys. Hey, here is what we been talking about. That is what it means right there on the game tape.
They'll continue to learn and grow, and they're doing a good job.
Q. Nakobe kind of showed up in the game and made a lot of tackles. Is that what you expected?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, I expect all our linebackers to hit the ball when it's in between the tackles. That's the job of the linebacker, is hit the ball.
So I really thought that -- and in practice you can see that happening, but, again, it's not full go and full tilt. I was not surprised on how Nakobe played at all.
Q. (Regarding Haason.) How much time did you spend this off-season researching ways to get him loose and like other schemes he's been used in?
JONATHAN GANNON: You know, the greatest research tool, in my opinion, when we acquired him was his brain. You know, we had a good talk, sat down with him. Hey, what are you comfortable with, what are you not, what spots do you want to be in, what don't you?
Here is the scheme, how we see you fitting into the scheme. Here is our vision for you of how we're going to deploy you and use you. Are you comfortable with that, are you not?
And we're still figuring that out. You know, all those overhang players, that's always a continuous evaluation of hey, this is why we're doing certain things, this is what this guy is really good at; let's put him in those spots a little bit more.
Haason is so smart. You know, what he says is like, you know, that is a really good point. Just because I want to do something, if he doesn't want to do it we're not going to do it, or if it's not the best thing for the team we're not going to do it.
So just really pleased with Haason and his growth and the maturity that he brings and the football character he has.
Q. Everyone rotates defensive lineman. You don't really see that as much at the linebacker position, but you have four guys that seem to have different skillsets and whatnot at that linebacker position. Can you rotate those guys depending on situation? But also like in terms of just keeping guys fresh and whatnot too.
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, that's a good question. You saw earlier in this the year we did that a little bit and then we kind of calmed down a little bit. Really goes down to who is our best people and what we're trying to do that week, what are our favorable matchups.
Also have to take into consideration who's calling the defense, the green dot, because you don't want that guy subbing out a ton. We've done it, bit you would like to, you know, 80% of the snaps not have to -- like to be able to just say it and that's what gets ripped.
So I think that process will short out in the next couple weeks. But there is value to having multiple guys that can step in and play really good football for us and help us win games.
Q. What's the biggest difference in Marlin this year?
JONATHAN GANNON: I think he came back -- with what we asked him to improve his game on, he came back and improved his game on. I really like where he is in the run and passing game. He's another one that's very smart. With front mechanics he understands why he's aligned in certain places, why his reads are certain ways.
He's doing a good job from a production standpoint and playing the run and the pass game. So excited about Marlin.
Q. Going back to the overhang players, you mentioned Kyron, but what about Patrick Johnson at that same spot?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, he's doing a good job. He's been violent the last couple weeks with playing in the run game. You know, when these guys get singled we expect if the ball comes they need to hit the ball.
He's shown really good rush ability and he's a natural in pass coverage, you know what I mean? So when we ask him to drop a little bit, like he has no issues with dropping.
So it's really the overhang players. You guys hear me talk about. It's rush, crush, and a little bit of -- rush obviously the passer, crush the run game, and a little bit of drop ability.
So when you play those different spacings that's what you got have to those guys do. He's done a good job, and it's all those guys. I'm excited to see them go against a different scheme and different people and this will be a really good week for us to see how we stack up.
Q. Is he behind right now and does he still have a role for you?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, absolutely. He is in there competing just like all those other guys. Yeah, he absolutely still has a role for us, and this will be a big two weeks for him.
But he's not behind. When he had to take a little bit of time off there we basically had everything in anyhow. I'm not worried about him getting caught up. He's caught up.
Q. JG, any emotions coming home? What was the initial reaction when you found out you were coming here?
JONATHAN GANNON: I'm close with a couple guys on their staff, so it was good to go compete versus your buddies. But, you know, it's just this Cleveland is one of 32, man.
Q. Marvin, what can you tell us about his progression from last year to this year?
JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, doing good. He had a little bit -- he had a little bit of an injury when we got him, a little nicked. You saw that kind of show up at times. I don't think that's showing up.
He's done a good job to get himself in a little bit better shape to be able to play hard for a certain amount of plays like we're talking about with the effort there.
And he's another one. He's a big man, he's violent, he plays with good pad level, he's hard to block. That's what you like from your inside guys, that. Are you hard to block? Can they allow one blocker to block you or do they have to put two on you, and when got a one-on-one in the pass game, can you affect the quarterback? He's done a really good job with it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports