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Q. Talk about your offensive linemen and whether they've been productive when they have been out there and how you like the depth.
COACH KELLY: They have. Obviously it's beenbut I thought (T) Denis Kelly has played well, (C) David Molk has really played well for us at center. Really wasn't sure what we had at center when Julian (Vandervelde) went down so having him come in.
And then (G/T) Matt Tobin is a guy we've always been very excited about. He was with us last year on our 53 man roster and now adding (T) Andrew Gardner, I think there are five guys there that have really helped themselves and I think it's giving us some depth and strength of our team. When you have lines like we have, we feel like that's part of what the game is all about what you have up front and we feel good that we have that right now.
Q. How far is Vandervelde away from full strength?
COACH KELLY: He's a ways away.
Q. Is it like Dennis Kelly last year?
COACH KELLY: Similar but I wouldn't say it's exactly. I would say the best guy you would put him close to would be Dennis.
Q. What is it like for you, the rosterhow do you deal with it
COACH KELLY: It hasn't changed. I mean, obviously when every guy that's here is part of the 90 man roster, their lifelong dream is to be an NFL football player and to be the one that tells them that it's not going to happen here is difficult. It's something that is inevitable, you have to go from 90 to 75 and 75 to 53. It's part of the job but it's not a fun part of the job.
We make sure every player meets with me, every player meets with their position coach and every player meets with the coordinator on their side of the ball and you try to be as human as you can be with it. But it's always a difficult time when someone's goaltheir goal is to play in this league.
We told those guys on Day One, I hope that goal one for us is that you make this football team, but then goal two is that you get an opportunity to make another football team with the exposure that you get here and hopefully we prepare you for that.
It was one of the byproducts is four of our guys we cut early got picked up at the 75 and I don't think there are many guys who got picked up. But we had two guys go to Cleveland and a guy go to San Diego and another guy picked up that went to Detroit. Hopefully those guys get a chance to catch on and that's what it's about.
These guys have been with us for a long time. We haven't made many transitions or transactions from when we signed this group in May to the cut down to 75. You're around the guys a lot and you care for them because they are here every day and doing everything you ask them to do but there's still a certain amount of numbers that's just, like Tuesday at four o'clock, everybody in the league has to be at 75.
Q. Because you have the final say in the 53, do you feel extra obligated to tell them to their faces?
COACH KELLY: I don't think it has anything to do with final say. I think it's just part of the process and the way it should be. If you have to release somebody from the organization, I just think it's part of your duties.
Q. Getting a player to get to ...
COACH KELLY: We'll get to that after practice today.
Q. Could you put Vandervelde on IR?
COACH KELLY: We'll get to it after practice today. A million different options you can go through.
Q. In T Lane Johnson's case, what's the approach? Is there anything you need to see?
COACH KELLY: No, Lane is just like everybody else in that two offensive line. We have a couple other guys that will be up depending on how the game goes and whatnot. There's still not a set number of snaps, and we still have two days, we have today and tomorrow to finalize. We never really finalize exactly what we are doing because something could happen today out there or tomorrow running around that maybe you have to adjust it.
We've always waited till the end of the week to make decisions because it doesn't help you to say, all right we are going to do this and someone rolls their ankle in practice, so now you have to visit it again so we wait.
Q. Will you look at some of the kickers that are going to be released?
COACH KELLY: We have always looked at all those guys. There's a list and we have had a list for a while. Anybody that's released from any team right now isn't, whether it be a kicker or d linemanour pro scouts have been scouting every team in the league. We have a list that's updated weekly based upon first preseason game, second preseason game, third preseason game so we are looking at everybody.
Q. How has K Cody Parkey been doing?
COACH KELLY: He's done a nice job since he's been here. It's been a short time but there's also a difference between game reps and practice reps and I think everybody is aware of that. So it will be interesting to see. Hopefully we get into situations on Thursday night where we get a chance to kick those guys.
Q. Would you entertain keeping two kickers on the roster?
COACH KELLY: We would entertain anything.
Q. Is there a benefit to having guys who have practiced at your pace offensively and defensively?
COACH KELLY: Yeah. (Laughter).
Q. Okay. Can you elaborate on that?
COACH KELLY: Yes.
Q. Do you feel more comfortable with those guys?
COACH KELLY: No, that's notyou can delve all you want. That's not the reason. We don't bring guys in here because they know how to practice. We are trying to get the best football team out there and see what happens when we get to 53.
Q. The first half on your own 35 just to mark your area
COACH KELLY: That would be a really long field goal. We set our own 35. That's83 (Laughter). 83 yarder.
Q. Would you consider giving K Cody Parkey the first kick on Thursday?
COACH KELLY: We haven't talked about anything of that. We'll meet like we normally do. We have a set schedule where we will sit down and go through the whole thing in terms of where we are. I don't think I would entertain a field goal on first down from minus 35.
We haven't talked about anything, soyes, noyes or noyes, whatever one you want to write.
Q. You talk about Oregon players like DE Brandon Bair. He's 29 and trying to finally make a roster. What has his journey been like?
COACH KELLY: Brandon is just a unique guy. I think sometimes people look at age, you have to look at what the factors are. He went away on a Mormon mission.
So sometimes when you're looking at a 29 year old football player, how many snaps has he gotten? I think that's what we always look at is the body of work with what he has. I think sometimes as players get older, their skills diminish but Brandon is not in that situation.
I don't think you can look at everybody and see 29 and 30 and say they are on the downside of their career because sometimes it's a unique situation in terms of how they got to the point they're in. He went on a mission. He's a little bit older and I think that happens to a lot of those guys.
He was a very, very productive player for us and was with the Chiefs and with the Raiders, two other organizations in this league, and understands what we are trying to do on the defensive side of the ball and fits in what we are looking for in our defensive ends.
You know, great guy to have around. He's got a great work ethic, understands kind of how you're supposed to train in our system and is really flourishing in what we are doing right now.
Q. You mentioned how you put together the 90-man roster and how there weren't many changes after that. Did you feel more ownership over this group and more comfortable in what you had to do in the offseason in terms of free agency and the draft than you had the first year?
COACH KELLY: No.
Q. You didn't feel ...
COACH KELLY: No. I feel like it's been the same since I've been here.
Q. How are you with your tight end depth? You have four of them and maybe three in the NFL in multiple tight end formations.
COACH KELLY: It is what it is. You can'tif you're going to keep four or five tight ends active on game day, you're going to be short somewhere else. It's just we usually get three guys active on game day and one on the practice squad if we can. We'll look around obviously when they make cuts from 90 to 75, some guys fit out in those situations.
I like our depth at tight end. I don't know if anybody has the three quality guys that we have. All three can play in a game for you. Maybe you're getting a little greedy, trying to get a fourth or a fifth guybecause if you are, then you're going to shortchange yourself at another position I think.
Q. Will G/T Allen Barbre play?
COACH KELLY: Allen is not playing on Thursday night, unless something goes on, like I said, something could happen today in practice or tomorrow in practice but we have not finalized anything. Right now, I wouldn't anticipate Allen playing.
Q. How tough do you think these roster moves are going to be over the next few days? Do you think it's cut and dry?
COACH KELLY: No, there's a lot that will go into the game on Thursday night that will kind of finalize a lot of those spots towards the bottom part of it. It's big for a lot of these guys.
Q. The new technology on the sideline with the tablets, how does it factor into what you do?
COACH KELLY: It's just a picture, whether it's on a surface tablet or paper. The only thing you can do is you don't have to flip sheets of paper and then you can categorize them a little bit but I don't think it's much different.
Q. What do you look for when you evaluate the running backs?
COACH KELLY: What are we looking for? I think in a lot of situations just guys to get out there and play. So some guys we're trying to make some decisions on, we need to get them some quality reps but it's everything.
It's pass protection, ability to catch the ball coming out of the backfield, how well they are in terms of understanding what our schemes are in the run game; are they just kind of running wild out there or are they following kind of what their steps and landmarks are in terms of where they are headed?
It's another heated battle. We are not going to be able to keep them all but I think Thursday night will be will a big deal for all the guys at that position.
Q. You've talked about the importance of having two good quarterbacks on the roster. In the absence of playing in regular season games, is there any way to make that determination with QB Matt Barkley on whether or not he can do that for you?
COACH KELLY: No, but last year we kept threedid you say two or three?
Q. The importance of two
COACH KELLY: Yeah, I think it's two. I think you're greedy. It's the same question I would answer with the tight end. I would love to have three and last year we kept three and last year we played three.
It's one of those deals where you'd better make sure you're a hundred percent certain that someone is going to make it through. You look at Green Bay last year, all of a sudden they are signing guys off the street because (QB) Aaron (Rodgers) went down. It's a tough deal. You look at what St. Louis has right now, hopefully they have confidence in (QB) Shaun (Hill) and (QB) Austin (Davis) behind (QB) Sam (Bradford), but I think in this league if you don't have a quarterback, you're not going to be successful.
I don't think you can ever have too many to be honest with you. That's the one position you'd better make sure you're pretty solid at if you can be.
Q. A guy like RB Henry Josey coming off the injury, he's shown a lot. The depth at running backwhat do you see from him?
COACH KELLY: Henry has done a really nice job when he's had his opportunities to get in there. I think he's productive in our run game. For all those guys that are not (RB) LeSean (McCoy) or (RB) Darren (Sproles), it's going to be contribution to special teams because we can't afford to keep a third or a fourth running back that's not contributing on teams when you only have 46 guys active on game day. They have to be somewhere involved in the kick return, punt return game or the kickoff cover and punt cover game. Been impressed with him as a runner and I think Thursday will be a big night for him in terms of teams.
Q. Is there a part of you that is looking at Jacksonville this week or are you solely focused on New York?
COACH KELLY: No, our ones, the guys that I think right now we've got tentatively scheduled, that could change, as I said earlier, have been kind of working on the Jacksonville aspect of what we are doing, and then our twos are working on the Jet aspect of things.
So we are kind of going back and forth. So if the ones are in, it's a Jacksonville look. If the twos are in, it's a Jets look; and just going back and forth on both sides of the ball and including special teams on that.
The (LB) DeMeco Ryans, I know we have not finalized everybody that's not going to play on Thursday and DeMeco is not going to play. So when DeMeco's group is in, they are working on the Jaguars, and when (QB) Nick (Foles') group is in, they are working on the Jaguars, but the rest of the guys are working on the Jets play.
