Narduzzi on the spring game, the draft and more

On Thursday, Pat Narduzzi talked about the spring game draft, injuries and a preview of Saturday. Here’s a full rundown of everything he said.

Narduzzi: 2019 draft - I always think it’s interesting. I love to see the kids draft them. We’ve got some characters over here on this Gold squad…we’ve got some characters and I think it was a fun draft. I think you guys can analyze where some things were picked; to me, there were some questions about where guys get picked and some of them I kind of see what they see. But I think it’s important where guys get picked and why they get picked where they do. I think, when you look at the order - and I say this every year - the ones that are picked late means that there’s probably some depth there and they weren’t worried about those guys.

It was interesting to see Kenny picked, maybe eighth round, so quarterbacks, they feel like - I guess the second pick was Nick Patti, they feel like there’s some competition there, they feel like there’s a guy they can win with. They weren’t worried about getting Kenny early. I thought Kenny might be the first pick, but they’ve got some confidence, so I think that’s something you can notice, too.

Do you see what they see in V’Lique, being the first running back taken?
Narduzzi: You know, again, I can kind of give you my thoughts on that one. I think they saw tow bigger backs and one electric back and thought the other two guys are really good, is my thoughts, that’s how I’d take it, and they said, ‘Let’s get the other guy and we’ll…’

I think they feel like they can play with Sibley or AJ Davis. To me, it’s a good thing. It means they think there’s a different speed back than these two other backs that are really solid. That’s how I took it.

Do you find yourself, ‘I think they’re going to go in this direction’ and maybe they throw a surprise at you?
Narduzzi: A lot of the picks weren’t surprising, as far as the draft order, I don’t think. But some of the positions they opened up means they took some thought. And these guys didn’t know until about 10:30 today that they were picking, so they didn’t have a whole lot of time to think either. So hopefully they were studying through spring ball.

The way the offensive line is developing this spring, when you spilt up the units like that, do you think they’re better equipped to run block well or protect well?
Narduzzi: I’m not sure they’re prepared to do either well. I think the O-line is the toughest spot to play. I think the D-line can mix it up and go; they do in practice. But I would say this: with the way Coach Borbely has moved those O-linemen around, if you saw every practice, he’s shuffled them in and out. They’ve all played right, left, guard, center. He’s gotten a great base as far as an offensive line and we’ve been happy with where they are.

So they’ve moved around and played different positions. I think this will be the best that they’ve played, just because of how much different work they’ve gotten.

Mark Whipple’s a pretty obvious choice; what made Cory Sanders your pick as the other head coach?
Narduzzi: It’s just really mixing it up through the years, just trying to change it up. Other guys have done it on offense and defense, I just try to mix it up.

You’re mixing up your one’s and your two’s; do some teams go one’s against two’s?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I think there’s a lot of teams, especially if they don’t feel like they have the depth to draft like we do. So I think it depends on draft. I like going to the spring game like this because it’s kind of the end of 15 days, the kids have some doing this and they have some fun splitting it up, I think. I think if it was just one’s on two’s, it’d be maybe a little bit harder hitting scrimmage; it becomes more intense, I think. I always tell them as we go into jersey one and jersey two, the last two Saturday’s, that those are the biggest scrimmages because they are going against each other. It becomes a big day.

Now that spring is winding down, your thoughts on the spring session overall.
Narduzzi: Overall, I’m happy with where the spring is. We’ve got one more shorts practice tomorrow, no contact, just getting them ready for Saturday. But I’m happy with where we are after 13 today; the intensity is good, I think the confidence is high on both sides of the ball, I think the defense has confidence in what they’re doing and how they’re doing it and how they’re playing, and I think the offense has confidence, which I think is huge that both of them are coming out of this spring ball with confidence that they can move the ball on offense, they can score TD’s and the defense feels like they can stop people. I think that’s a positive.

How much is it a priority on Saturday to put on a show for fans? Put up points, get people excited, give them a good time.
Narduzzi: Well, maybe we can call up a high school team in the area, maybe we’ll just score points on them.

I don’t think the score of the game is going to matter. It might make you feel better or feel more confident, but I’m not in - I’m in for a good scrimmage. I want to come out of it healthy. I’m not worried about how many points are scored. If it’s 58-52, I’ll be happy; if it’s 7-3, I’ll be happy. It doesn’t matter. I want to come out healthy. The points tomorrow, because the offense is all split up - if I was worried about that, we’d go out there and go one’s-on-two’s or one’s-on-one’s and go.

Who’s not playing?
Narduzzi: Those last guys. Damar Hamlin, Dane Jackson, Jimmy Morrissey, of course, Baldonado and Mychale Salahuddin; the same guys that have been out all spring, really. And they’ll all be ready to go.

How’s Jimmy doing?
Narduzzi: Jimmy’s doing real good. If you guys peek down there afterward, you always see him working out. He gets a post-practice workout. We’re just being smart. He could probably go out there and play, but we know Jimmy can play. We’re not risking anything. Same thing with, really, Dane and Damar; both could go tomorrow, I believe. And I was surprised that Elias Reynolds is going to go tomorrow; I still might DQ him. The Gold squad will be upset.

So Salahuddin will be 100% in August?
Narduzzi: Yes.

Is that why you had the sidebar there when the Reynolds pick came up?
Narduzzi: Yeah, just like, he hasn’t gone in a couple days so he’ll have limited reps, for sure. If he goes.

Might be a trade.
Narduzzi: There might be a late trade.

Weaver was saying earlier that he’s hoping there will be some live quarterbacks so the pass-rushers actually get to hit.
Narduzzi: Weaver’s wrong. I think we’re going to put all the quarterbacks red, just so nobody gets hit and keep it even. It’s not fair to make one guy live and the rest not, so we’ll probably just go all red jerseys for those quarterbacks and make sure they don’t get hit. Maybe make it one-hand tag. With a flag.

We talked to Chase Brown today, a guy who came in last year looking to play and didn’t see the field much, but it seems like he’s getting a lot of work this spring and was the second guard taken. Are you seeing what you hoped to get out of him?
Narduzzi: I am. You know, that guard position was interesting in how they picked that one out. Maybe if there was an interesting position, it was that one, to see how they went. It was good to see Wheeler go high. I think people have got confidence in him. Actually, I think Kenny Pickett was on that side when he got picked. And Chase went high as well. So it’s good for their confidence and we’ll find out what they’ve got. The guard position’s obviously critical.

The receivers can move around, right? From the X to the Z to the Zebra? That’s the slot?
Narduzzi: That’s the slot receiver. They can move around. We’ve got guys that are capable of playing both but we decided to draft them out to certain positions, just so - what I don’t want to see is a guy go out there and try to play a different position Saturday. Talking about scoring points, I don’t want it to be sloppy. I’d rather them be in position. I don’t want to get mad at a guy because he doesn’t know the position. The excuse should not be, ‘I’ve never played that position before.’ I don’t really want that. That’s why we decided to balance it off. If they play in a position, they better know what they’re doing.

Will the format be similar to what you’ve done?
Narduzzi: Yeah, it will be similar. It will be four quarters. I think we have 10-minute quarters and we’ll see how it goes.

You’ve had people come back to be the honorary captains; I’m not sure if you’ve had two guys that are currently in the NFL do it before; what’s it mean to have guys who could be doing other things come back and do that?
Narduzzi: I think the first year we did have Aaron Donald and Larry Fitzgerald, so we’ve had some guys like that come back. It’s awesome to get those guys back. Obviously, Aaron’s here every day so he’s back every day. And then to have LeSean here as well - he doesn’t come back all the time, but to get him back, I think, is outstanding. Our kids will have fun with him in the locker room.