Wade Phillips Rookie Minicamp Press Conference (vid, transcript)

Rams Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips – May 12, 2017

(On what he’s looking for in players during rookie minicamp)
“We’re looking for football players first. We’re looking to see athletic skills, how they can correlate to what we’re looking for. These guys are running around like crazy, but that’s a good thing. They’re enthusiastic – some of them are tryouts, trying to make the team, other ones are draft choices, and other ones are guys that we’ve signed already. I’m pleased with all of them. Their effort is really good. They’re running around like a chicken with its head cut-off some, but that’s a good thing. That’s what we want, that kind of movement.”

(On what saw from OLB Samson Ebukam and if he can contribute right away)
“We drafted (OLB) Samson (Ebukam) because we think he’s a football player. We think he’s a good player. What shows pretty quickly is he’s a physical player and he’s tremendously fast. He’s got a couple of skills that we really like.”

(On how it’s been working with Head Coach Sean McVay)
“It’s been great. He’s got a clear purpose of how he wants to handle the team, what he wants to do with them. He’s teaching them, trying to change the culture. He’s got a way that he wants it done and he also has ways that can help him get it done. I think you can talk to the players – I know I’ve been impressed with him, I know they have too.”

(On if Coach McVay has called on him for advice)
“He already knows what he wants. I’m there, obviously, for him I do have experience obviously. Most of my experiences were bad things, so I know if he does anything wrong, I can tell him, ‘Hey, I did that and it didn’t work.’”

(On his impressions of the veterans on the roster after getting to work with them this offseason)
“The veterans, we couldn’t be more pleased with. Their intention, they really want to, it’s a group that really wants to do well. They listen really well. We had a minicamp and I couldn’t be more impressed. We did things just like that (snaps fingers). From the classroom to the field, they really picked it up well. Now, we’ve got more things to put in. We’ve got maybe 70 percent of our defense in right now, but I was really pleased with where they are.”

(On how he sees LB Mark Barron fitting in this defense)
“I see any good football player fitting in, and (LB) Mark Barron is a good football player. He made plays as a linebacker before, so I expect him to make plays with us too.”

(On if he sees Barron playing safety at all)
“No, I think he’s a linebacker. He’s really instinctive, of course he’s got great speed. And we can utilize his coverage ability at linebacker, which gives you more options as far as things you want to do defensively if you get a guy like that that can cover people, then we’re going to utilize that.”

(On the talent level currently on the Rams roster)
“I really like the group. I think we’ve got a lot of good players. Again, we’ve got to utilize their talent, but I think we have enough talent to do some really good things. They had a good defense last year, I think they were ninth, but they were 23rd in points given up, so we’ve got to shore that down some. But, I think we have an opportunity to do that with the personnel we have.”

(On his expectation on how long it takes to implement his system)
“It’s just like any coach – it’s what have you done for me lately? We’re going to try to do something right now. We’ve been successful of doing that over the years. We think our teaching progression is very good. Even one year when we went to the Texans, we didn’t even have an offseason because of the strike, and we put in our defense and we did really well – they were 30th the year before and I think we ended up second. We expect to do things well, quickly.”

(On how much pride he takes in quick improvements in the first year of his defense being implemented)
“I’ve had a lot of good players. But, I attribute some of it to the way that we teach them, we don’t make many mistakes. We make sure we don’t make many mental mistakes, as far as alignment and assignment. Then, we work really hard on fundamentals and techniques and try to improve each player.”

(On his book, Son of Bum)
“My book is out there. Son of Bum is out there, you can get it on Amazon, since we’re on TV and media here.”

(On the experience of releasing the book and doing signings)
“It was really a labor of love for me because it’s talking about my experiences with my dad. He was my hero, he was my high school coach, my college coach and I worked with him and for him for 10 years. He really shaped (not only) my football life, but my life general. It was something that I wanted to write really for my family. I think people will like it, but I did it more for my family.”

(On where his inspiration to do Son of Bum now came from)
“We’d been working on it for about a year and a half, so it took a little while to get it done because coaches don’t have much time off, especially during the year. During the offseason Vic Carucci and I worked on it. I think it came out well, at least it got over what I wanted to get over, which is how great my dad was and how he influenced a lot of positive things in me and a lot of people. It’s a great Father’s Day present.”