Matt Feiler, Troy Reeder and Ryan Ficken On Training Camp Day 6 | LA Chargers

mentioned to us that you know maybe you've played very tactical before there's a possibility about you moving there but obviously you're playing darkness i'm nice to keep that left side exactly for sean considering the success you guys had last year it's always good if you can keep consistency along the line um whether you know i mean there's always gonna be moving parts and stuff uh with injuries and whatnot but uh just to kind of keep that consistency on the left side is uh it's gonna be good for a young group having another year under under his belt um especially in his offense kind of in the same system so uh yeah it's just um just maturing and growing every day um you know just yeah he's progressing well what have you been your initial i never met him though but uh not until he was brought in here um but yeah he fits right in with our room um you know it's a lot of the same terminology uh that we used last year so i wasn't much turn around with that so it's it's been uh pretty easy going and just having sean around still in this room how much does that help sort of transition it's been good like i said same terminology and stuff so um it was it wasn't very hard of a transition at all but it's it's been nice to have him in the room just to kind of um you know kind of keep things within the terms that we know it definitely helps you know getting guys like that with some uh some of the best pass rushers in the league um lining up against our guys you know it's it definitely makes us um we we have to be on our best uh you know technique and stuff like that so um any time someone gets a rep against them it's gonna help us out how much up evil is a third different line coach in three years or does shawn coming with you from pittsburgh and kind of being being the constant help out um well it definitely helped having sean here with me but you know being being here in the nfl for so long it's kind of um i don't say all the systems are the same but a lot of the a lot of the techniques the same um just kind of different verbs you know terminology and stuff like that it's just uh um just a little different but like you can catch on pretty quick let's say it jumped out to a big big guy uh he's strong he uses his size well uh he's another one of those guys that has the uh you know hard work ethic and uh you know he's gonna be good it seems too it seemed like the intensity kind of picked up on yesterday and a little bit more today but how do you describe that like out in the 11 11 and also one on ones as well uh i think it's just getting the pads on for the first time in a while just finally being able to uh you know hit and make and get contact against each other um and plus with the fans you know coming out yesterday um yeah you kind of have that ex that excitement in the air um so yeah i think the intensity turned up a little bit yesterday a little bit more today just knowing that we're we're getting that much closer to uh games yeah you're going one on one against austin johnson too uh what are your questions about him coming in here he's on the team uh he's a strong guy too you know he's gonna be he's gonna be one of his power guys um but he i mean he also mixes in hands as well so he's definitely uh he's definitely one of those guys that wants to keep it on your toes and he's gonna uh use both of his abilities to keep doing that how has your relationship with corey grown since you guys team first teamed up last month uh you know we've uh we've gotten a little bit more comfortable with each other over the year um just kind of you know we're able to be on the same page with a lot of other things and uh just kind of keep that consistency that's good thanks man thank you thanks appreciate it i was already in her speech he's your commute nice nice what's up guys uh troy what has it been like for you um first few practices of training camp and pads uh it's been cool um you know getting used to playing with a new group uh there's a lot of us that are new so i think it's been kind of cool to see everybody coming together pretty quickly i got to admire the offense from a distance last year so it's been really cool to be able to compete with them uh compete with these backs and uh you know just just right now is all about coming together seeing what seeing what we're made of becoming a tough and competitive football team so that's hard to do until you put the pads on from a super bowl winning team what did you learn last season that you can maybe bring with you and guys ask for any advice or wisdom pass on yeah um you know the biggest thing is like you got to be built to go all the way and that that really starts right now and it seems kind of crazy being that it just turned into august right now but um you know the habits that we're creating right now are stuff that's going to drive us all the way through september october november and then hopefully into mid-february so you know just the little things about what it takes and you know how to stay healthy and do the right things every single day um i was blessed to be around the group that did do it the right way every day and coming out and competing and then uh you know i see so many similarities in that here and uh you know i think i think this team has what it takes and uh you know we just got to put it all together and uh keep competing in uh practice here making each other better troy you mentioned that how many new pieces there are on defense and how quickly it's it's coming together what has allowed that to happen is just having a lot of guys that have been in the scheme before whether it's you and sebastian and khalil or is it something something more than that yeah i mean one we have really really good coaches not just coach staley but at dc and our position coaches too so you know that's been huge but yeah i mean the familiarity helps a lot it's it's allowed guys like me sebastian khalil bryce guys that have played in this system uh at least one year to be able to come in and uh at least know the the general uh scheme and you know we're picking up a little bit of the new stuff that coach staley has implemented through last year that was a little bit different than what i did in 2020 than what khalil did and whatever year that was 2018 and bryce did in denver and um and chicago so you know overall you know uh the language is normally a big uh learning point and learning curve to when you come into a new system we know the language we can speak it and that that's the biggest thing now we're just fine-tuning the details and you know there's every day there's one or two things that i do that's something we did different last year but it's the same call and you know we're learning how to play it a different way so it's been really good and the guys that have been here kind of leading that charge and uh they had a good group and we're happy to be with them i mentioned some of the similarities that the rams super bowl team has to this chargers team what specifically have you seen kind of like some overlapping and with this culture yeah first of all there's leaders on both sides of the ball and special teams you have a quarterback that can compete and put up any number of points in any given game and you got a defense that could potentially shut out any team so you know the pieces are there it's about doing it week in and week out and you know staying healthy and peaking at the right time so you know those are things that some are out of your control some are in your control and they're down the line but what we're doing right now is building a team that's capable of peaking at the right time and grinding through a long season that hopefully we're playing 21 games this year leaders on special teams it is a lot of young guys and new guys on special teams so who who is emerging sort of as those leaders on special teams yeah i mean right now there's a lot of guys that are kind of showing up um you know overall like our specialists have been really good it's been cool for me i play punk guard i've done that for every year in my career no matter if i've been the number one guy on a linebacker or number three guy and not playing much on defense i've always kind of settled in at that guard position and it's been really really fun to work with josh harris and you know he's a pro bowl guy that's been doing it for 10 years and you know he attacks in the weight room he's he's a leader kind of no matter what offense defense or special teams he's a guy you kind of look to and admire um you know jk was coming in and hit some insane balls yesterday and obviously dustin's been doing it a long time and as good as anybody so i think those three are leading the way i'm trying to be one of the guys in that group to bring everything together i've been able to do it for a long time and you know it's a big part of my game and being a part of this league and making my name has been a special team so just trying to get everybody on the same page and uh doing all the right stuff what have you been your initial impressions of coach ficken he is he's awesome um and it's cool because we got to game plan then when he was in minnesota last year and uh man i thought they had one of the best units uh in the nfl and uh he was really tough to prepare for they're super multiple he had a great returner some good specialists and just the way they attacked and you could tell that their guys were bought in and that's generally like a pretty good way of telling how good a special teams coach is is if they can get guys to buy in and they had a lot of guys that were starter starting caliber guys on their special teams units that were contributing and uh you know when you have that and guys are bought in you can tell it's a guy that people love to play for and have enjoyed it and and i certainly have so far and i'm i've played for a different special teams coach every year and i'm still learning a lot and uh he's been great for me him and coach beep as well this defense all these new pieces between now and start of the season what has to happen for this thing to all come together yeah i mean first of all just a little bit of getting to know each other um you know so i've never known jc jackson you know and like we're just in the locker room trying to get to know each other a little bit uh kyle van noy uh i'm getting to know the guys that were here joey bosa and all the other guys so um you know i think the best defenses are kind of a group of friends you know guys that all know each other to some capacity outside of the game of football and that's why i love camp and um you know there's some of us that have you know coach staley allows the vets to stay at their own places through camp but there's a big group of us that have opted to stay at the hotel just to you know that that camp feel and to grind together and you know we're hitting snack like late night together and doing all that that i think those are little things and then uh just on the field there's there's certain things that guys like to do that are different than the guys you've played with before and you're just kind of learning how to play with each other and some of that is drill work some of that is just being able to throw us out there and team and then um you know i love these two minute periods where stuff starts kind of going fast and all of a sudden like guys are reverting to what's natural to them and not just thinking so much and then uh you know you're learning how to play as a group what has it been like reuniting with last year yeah from delaware and it kind of made a nice couple plays for last couple days yeah he had a great pick today in a competitive third down period um you know i got to we talk about all the time it's cool because you know we started playing together when we were you know 19 years old and uh being able to see how far we've come and uh you know it it's it's not by accident like that's one of the hardest working dudes i've i've been around and he and i were super competitive when we were in college and i think it brought the best out of each other and i know it's going to do the same here cool thanks all right oh good afternoon i'm glad you guys are here it's great uh you know being out here another good days of work i think these uh specialists are doing a great job in terms of trying to find their niche in terms of being consistent uh putting a good day's work each and every day continuing to get better um i'm really impressed with uh the core guys and how they've been working how they bought in uh really worked with the technique fundamentals things we're trying to get lay the foundation and get off the ground but um other than that i think it's been a good camp so far we're just trying to continue to build on each day and move forward from your kicker so far the kickers yeah yeah uh the kickers i think that and they got strong legs um they do a great job they're professionals they know their craft uh i think the operation has been going really well uh with those guys uh the thing that we'll always continue to try and build on is the consistency you know making sure we uh we're staying at our rhythm up to the ball our operation we just gotta make sure we're consistent all the way through the kick and then not finish our kicks but i'm very impressed with both of them is consistency what you're uh emphasizing the most towards your players for special teams or whatever other things are happening i mean absolutely but it's uh you know just the urgency you know playing technique fundamentals right now we're trying to lay that foundation that's going to allow us to be successful in all these situations as we continue to move further in camp we'll make sure we go ahead and get any situationals uh um parts of the game you know full operations full punt kickoff and all that as we continue to move forward but right now we gotta make sure we have a good foundation uh before we can go ahead and get to the second level was saying that he's noticed a lot of buy-in from the players on special teams how do you ultimately take that message and get it across to your players so that so they do that i think it's a lot about the players in that you know the head coach and how he approaches them so they really they believe that i mean these guys are some good players they're really good around on this roster i mean um telesco and his staff they've done a great job building this roster and uh you know obviously head coach staley done a great job targeting the guys that they want but we got great guys on this roster and they want to be great and that's what they work hard they're professionals um so they wanted more and more each day and now we got to make sure we continue to work with them on that and get them better deandre carter is obviously the guy that was brought in to do the returns has he been pretty much you know everything that you thought he was or what have you seen you know i've uh you know working with him i mean i haven't been around him as much obviously seeing him around you know watching him and studying them around the league but i've been really impressed the way he is in terms of being a professional the way he approaches the game the way he goes ahead and steps on the field he means business every time but his acceleration and his burst um i think is better than what you see on tape i mean i'm really pleased with where he's at i'm pleased with all the other returners they're working hard out there to try and win those spots too because it's not we're not solidified but we know who we got but uh you know we got to make sure we continue to improve in those situations in that position oh yeah brandon mentioned yesterday about uh that jk's got one of his biggest hang time can you talk a little bit about what having him back there means for like special teams unit absolutely i mean it allows us to flip the field um i mean it goes with everything in terms of our operation you know our protection in order for us to have a successful kick we got to do great in operation in terms of our snap starts with him starts within our protection and giving him a good pocket but he's been doing a great job with his operation in terms of getting that ball off quickly um great job with our directional punch when we ask whatever we're asking of him and then i hang time i mean he had several kicks yesterday at 11 punts where they were above five second hang time and so that's what we need from but again we need to make sure we continue to do that on a consistent basis and allow our team to flip the field um and give our defense that long field so we can go ahead and do what we do on defense and get the ball back to our offense thanks coach all right you