On Tuesday, July 30, 2013, Redskins HC Mike Shanahan addressed the media following afternoon training camp practice at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center in Richmond, Va.
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On tackle Trent Williams:
"Trent had a little wrist sprain. Right now it's a little bit sore. We'll see how it is tomorrow."
On cornerback DeAngelo Hall:
"They put him in that walking boot. I don't think it's serious, according to [Head Athletic Trainer] Larry [Hess]. He doesn't think he's too far away. You never know with those ankles. Hopefully it's not too serious."
On free agent linebacker Nick Barnett's workout and if the team can sign him:
"Sounded like it was a pretty good workout. Pretty good... I can't tell you. I haven't talked to anybody. I've been concentrating on practice. But it sounds like his workout was pretty good so that's a positive."
On what he looks for when working out a veteran:
"What you do is look at a lot of film and you do your homework on him. Find out what he's done and all the places where he's been and see if he fits into your program. We have a couple coaches that know him well and that's one of the reasons why we brought him in."
On when Williams initially sprained his wrist:
"He's had it sprained since he's been in camp."
On if Williams' wrist injury is more serious than a sprain:
"Hopefully not. He's had it wrapped since he's come into camp. It's been sore. He's been dealing with it for a while but hopefully it's not too serious."
On tight end Fred Davis:
"He's getting back in football shape. I think he's done a great job for missing all of the offseason conditioning program. Sometime this week I'll give him a day off so he can recover a little bit. I was going to give him tomorrow off – just more prevention. He asked if he could go tomorrow, maybe get off Thursday because he feels pretty good, which is a good sign."
On continuity along the offensive line:
"First of all, your offensive line has to work as a group to be effective, even if you change two or three guys in there. We do have more depth than we've had in the past, but you always want that continuity in the offensive line if you can get it, and fortunately we were able to do that last year."
On keeping the team fresh during two-a-days:
"We change things in different situations. Like today, first time we were in the red zone, had a little bit of no-huddle, high-tempo offense. We've been doing second-and-10s, third downs, move the football. So we try to sprinkle in a few things so they don't get stale."
On Hall:
"He's just a little bit sore. Larry [Hess] doesn't feel like it's very serious. Hopefully it doesn't take too long. But they just immobilized it today. He had a walking boot but hopefully it won't be too long. He'll be back. With those ankles you don't know for sure, but knowing D-Hall, he'll be back fairly quick."
On linebacker Jeremy Kimbrough and running back Tristan Davis:
"Kimbrough had a hamstring. Tristan Davis came to my office earlier this morning and said that his heart wasn't in playing football anymore so he retired, so unless he changes his mind, that is where he is at."
On cornerback Chase Minnifield:
"I thoguht Chase has done a good job. For getting a couple of days in there at minicamp right at the end and then for us giving him a day off – we didn't want to overwork him – to look out there at what he has done out there, he feels good, there is no swelling, there's no side effects in the ACL. So far so good."
On what he likes about Minnifield:
"It is early. These guys are just starting to compete. We have just started to get into pads. These guys are starting to get into football shape, especially a guy like Chase. So you do not want to put too much pressure on him too early. It is a process through all four preseason games and all these practices, but I like what I have seen."
On having tight end Fred Davis, wide receiver Pierre Garçon and wide receiver Josh Morgan healthy and what it does for the offense:
"The thing that was interesting last year as everybody said, we had six new starters. Anytime you have six new starters, it takes a while to feel comfortable with your system. I thought they have done a great job. A guy like Pierre, a guy like Fred, Fred goes into a few games and is playing well, he is set back, and he is excited to get back. A guy like Pierre, we all saw what he did in the second half of the season. He has had a great camp. You just want to give these guys enough, where they feel like they're getting back into football shape, enough reps in the preseason where they can feel sharp and hopefully it is full speed ahead."
On running back Chris Thompson:
"Nothing has been wrong with him. He just looked a little sluggish a couple of days ago. We gave him yesterday off and more preventative than anything, I thought we would give him one more day. Hopefully he is back tomorrow and feeling good. When guys are feeling a little bit sore, especially coming off the injury that he has had and the pressure we put on our running backs, I just thought it was wise to slow him up a little bit."
On safety Jordan Pugh:
"Larry [Hess] told me he just wasn't feeling very good, so we just took him out."
On how increased attention to injuries has affected the length of recovery times:
"I think with the concussions, we have experts at practice every day to let you know as a coach if someone does have a concussion, so that makes it pretty easy. They leave it out of our hands and they put it in the experts' hands. But, yeah, I think there's more awareness in a lot of different areas when it comes to injuries over the last few years and rightfully so."
On tackle Tom Compton's performance and progression:
"You can see he's an athlete. He's got speed. He's got quickness. Now he gets a chance to feel comfortable with the offensive system. He picks things up fairly quickly, I like what I've seen, and this preseason will be big for him. We'll get a chance to see what he can do against other football teams, and we'll put him in game-type situations as much as we can."
On Compton and his ability to be a swing tackle:
"If you play the left side, usually you have the quickness to go to the right side – you have that type of athletic ability. Usually the left tackle with a right-handed quarterback, is the better athlete, and, we think he has that type of ability. What we're going to do now is evaluate him and see how he plays."
On the impact of having multiple receiving tight ends on the field simultaneously:
"I think that any time you have depth at the tight end position, I think it it really takes a lot of pressure off the offense. Because if you lose wide receivers, you lose running backs, you have the option to go to a three-tight-end offense. It really puts a lot of pressure on the defense because they don't see it very often. We feel like we do have some depth this year at the tight end position, it's nice. Hopefully we can keep it – all of a sudden, one practice, you can lose it just like that."
On the level of competition at wide receiver and his impression of Skye Dawson:
"The free agents we brought in, we brought in for a reason – everybody's got a special quality. With Skye, you can see his speed, his quickness, his return ability – that's the reason why he's here. I think he feels a lot more comfortable as a wide receiver right now than he did through the OTAs. They [rookies] get that learning experience, that growth, then they go home for about 4–5 weeks and they study up, then they come back and they don't have to think as much. And that's what you want these guys to do is come back here in these types of practices that we have and get a chance to compete and not think… There's a lot of competition any time you have anywhere from 10 to 13 wide receivers on the team, you have to have a lot of wide receivers because when guys go down, you have to practice against the defensive backs. But we've got some quality competition there. We've got a lot of guys that can play in the National Football League, and not everybody's going to make the team. So you want to pick out the best players, and we've got a lot to look at over the next 4–5 weeks."
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