PHILADELPHIA – It’s the kind of unfiltered honesty only a 40-year coaching veteran with the reputation of Vic Fangio could deliver with little fear of blowback.
“I like to throw a lot at [the players] early because I think one of the worst things you can do is come Week 3, Week 5, ‘Man, we could really use this scheme,’ but it hadn’t been introduced to the players yet,” the veteran defensive mind said.
That’s not the typical way things go for coaches around the NFL, according to veteran linebacker Devin White, who excelled in his introduction to the Fangio way this spring.
“I was in one place [Tampa Bay] for a long time and I think we kinda learned little by little, mastered it, then moved on and worked off what we learned,” White said. “But doing it this way is fine as well. It just makes you study more outside the building and meet with your coaches a little more in your free time.
“I like what he’s doing. It makes everybody accountable to their job.”
White has played in 84 NFL games, including deep playoff runs and a Super Bowl championship with the Bucs. How about the young players like rookie cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, who have to not only acclimate from the college level to the pro ranks but do it while the kitchen sink of one of the most complicated defenses in the NFL is being thrown at them?
Mitchell and DeJean have played multiple positions in the spring as Fangio started installing his defense, the former at outside cornerback and pseudo-linebacker in a dime package. And the latter as a slot and outside CB.
“It’s good. I want the challenge,” Mitchell said. “I want him to challenge me and challenge Cooper to see how much we can take on. I feel like it’s been good and getting everything down pat early.
“I feel good about it.”
In the case of DeJean, who came in with the reputation of versatility, he will also likely see that dime LB look and perhaps even safety down the road when the roster shrinks from 90 to 53.
“It’s been good. I’m just trying to take in and learn different things right now, inside and outside,” DeJean said. “I don’t have a problem with having a lot on my plate. I’m here to play football and learn football. The more positions I can learn I feel like it helps me out on the field when I’m at one of those positions. You know, knowing what those other positions are doing and where I can get my help.”
For DeJean, playing multiple positions seems to be his default setting, and he arrives with almost the need to understand the other positions around him to better prepare him for the job he’s tasked with on any snap.
“Just kind of understanding how it all works together, the whole defense. No matter what position I’m at, just sort of understanding how the whole defense works,” he said “Even the positions that I’m not playing. Linebackers and the safeties, you know, understanding how those fit into where I’m playing on the field.”
“It definitely helps. Understanding how the whole defense works. It allows you to learn more and play faster when you understand those things.”
The true test will be the communication of the back seven come September.
“We’ll throw a lot at them in training camp [as well] to see what best fits for them, what they’re good at, and then try and whittle it down,” Fangio explained. “But always keeping some stuff in the bank in case we need it at some point during the season.”
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