Q. Who do you lean on as your core group now with so many changes in the roster?
MICHAEL CLAY: It definitely brings an excitement on who is going to unveil themselves as those core guys. You had Christian Elliss, who played a big part. Patrick Johnson has been here for a few years.
A lot of these young guys, there's a lot of excitement around Sydney Brown. He did a lot of good things in training camp. There are a lot of people we were able to throw in there and see what they can do.
You have Kelee Ringo, Nolan Smith, those freakish athletes that you want to see out there and perform at a high level. I'm excited to see who unveils themselves to be those core guys because it's going to be important for us to lean on those guys.
This group, especially the veterans that play offense and defense, they do a great job in meetings helping these younger guys out, catch them up going forward.
Q. (No microphone.)
MICHAEL CLAY: I mean, I think it's just his love for the game really. He just wants to help the team out any way possible, whether that's on defense or special teams, the willingness to go out there and perform at a high level, which we all appreciate, especially myself.
We are going to have to lean on him to help us out in the special teams aspect of the game. It's always great to have young guys that are willing to go out there and do some of the heavy lifting on special teams.
But the great part, like I said, is on our roster you have guys that had done it before, before they made their splash in offense and defense. For example, Haason Reddick did it in Arizona, Terrell Edmunds. P.G. So guys that are ahead of them, they've kind of paved the way for starting out on special teams and doing offense and defense.
Q. When it comes to punter, how much do you factor in Jake's comfort with the operation? He's gotten comfortable with Arryn as the holder. Not the main part of the job, but it's part of the job.
MICHAEL CLAY: Correct. Like Brian kind of alluded to, getting the input from the guys in terms of some decisions that are made are always taken into consideration.
But after the last couple years, the comfortability from the operation has been pretty good. It showed. We're obviously trying to put the best, competitive guys out there to make an impact on the game. We all know the kicking game is huge. We've been able to get a lot of points out of that operation.
Q. How difficult is it to get everybody in sync early in the season? During the pre-season you have a lot of combinations, third-string guys. Now you have set special teams.
MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, it's more just of everyone being in the communication of the whole thing.
Outside of the games, where guys didn't actual play on special teams, in our practices we kind of molded it with different combinations that may be set for this week. It's them getting in sync on the communication aspect of the whole thing.
Once again, keeping it as simple as possible for them so they can play fast, not think too much going forward in the early weeks of the season.
Q. When you bring in the punters for workouts, what are you evaluating in person versus film?
MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, it's always good to see guys in person. There's just different aspects that you see that you probably can't really see on the film.
Obviously you see on the film a game-like situation. But there's also different aspects. A guy may be coming from a different area where there's no wind. Come out here so you can see low windy on midday, you can kind of see how they're doing into the wind, with the wind. It's just nice to see guys in real life outside of the film.
Then you get to see their hands up close. We're doing some holding, molding, things of that nature.
Q. Bill Belichick teams have always had great special teams units. Why is that?
MICHAEL CLAY: Shoot, good players and good coaches. I mean, they've always been on top of a lot of different situations, trying to find the edge in the special teams. Great respect for Bill, Cam, Joe Judge out there. They've been doing it for a long time at a very high level. Utmost respect for them.
We just got to be able to compete with them in terms of being dialed in on any situation that may occur. Coach Sirianni does a great job of putting us in those situations for us to get familiar and be ready for that.
Q. (No microphone.)
MICHAEL CLAY: I don't think so. There's so many different aspects. I know a lot of guys are trying to see guys returning, guys can block, if they can cover on kickoffs. I don't know if the pre-season was much of a preview on what could happen in the regular season.
We always got to be ready for any situation.
Q. (Question regarding gunners.)
MICHAEL CLAY: You know what, it's tough to say in terms of, because everyone is a different case. I think that's just who Nolan is. He loves football, regardless of defense, special teams. It's always nice to have a young guy that's willing, has all the energy, just wants to learn and get better through the special teams process.
Having him on our side, just asking him to be him, is all we can ask going forward.
Q. When it comes to gunners, you have a big test this week obviously with Marcus. Josh has done it. You mentioned some of the athleticism with Sydney and Ringo. Does it take more than athleticism or do you just try to get those guys on the outside...
MICHAEL CLAY: It helps if you're a super athlete obviously. But there is some tools coming from the college game where everyone is kind of aligned up, free releasing. There are some tools that we try to help these guys out, getting off a double vice, guys stacking left and right, how do you play this, that. We help them with the tools getting out there, defeating it.
Some guys are great technicians. Zech McPhearson was a great technician getting him off the line of scrimmage. Having him around, teaching those young guys, Tyler Brown does a great job during practice, after practice, working techniques, watching film from the peers around the league, what are some things that a dominant gunner is doing, how can we implement that, add it to their toolbox.
A lot of the times if you got a guy that can run fast and is strong, that's going to be great to be out there. There are some technicalities that you can teach these guys get off the line of scrimmage, get off of jams, rules, different things of that nature. Stuff goes into gunner play outside of the height, weight and speed.
Q. A tough finish to last season. What went into the process of having Arryn be the week one punter this year?
MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, there's always competition that was always great. Him coming in day in, day out, trying to get better each day. We're going to feel going into week one, putting him out there, comfortability, comfortable as possible to get out there.
We're all trying to get the best foot forward to help this team out. Week one, New England, going to be a challenge. We're really looking forward to this.
Q. (No microphone.)
MICHAEL CLAY: We're going to try and, don't want to get too much into what our game plan is for those guys. We're going to put as much effort into our game plan to get everyone on cue to make sure that, without getting too much into the game plan, we're going to be on our Ps and Qs, get after it a little bit today in practice obviously and our walk-through tomorrow for special teams.
Q. (Indiscernible) said one of the main things he struggled with last year was rushing, particularly in pressure situations. How do you help him through that? How does he improve?
MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, it's more of the protection on the inside, making sure we have a clear pocket for Arryn to feel comfortable in that.
For him, just his operation time is a little bit above average, for him knowing that he's got a fast operation time, not to be too fast, not to over-stride or stuff of that nature when it comes to his drop or mold, to stay within himself in terms of that.
He's focused on that since the off-season and this training camp thus far, going into week one. So it's just one of those things, just (indiscernible) to his level of fundamentals.
Q. After working out several punters, what made him the best option?
MICHAEL CLAY: A lot goes into it. Howie and Nick do a great job. Always looking over possibilities in terms of getting this team better.
But there's a lot of things that go into it. Operation punting, operation time during punts, all that stuff. It's one of those things where we're going to feel confident going into week one and keeping it simple.
Q. Nakobe was a big part of your special teams last year obviously. Now that he's going to be an every-down linebacker, how do you manage that?
MICHAEL CLAY: Nakobe is great to have, especially in the meeting room. I alluded to Nolan being a rookie. That Georgia connection, him talking about it, his first year, how it was, what to expect as a rookie.
Nakobe is so cerebral that he's going to just help out anybody, whether it's a punt pro, punt return techniques, things of that nature, kickoff coverage. Having Nakobe, glad that he's getting his opportunity on defense, being able to talk to these young guys on special teams.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys.
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