Q: Seems like Keith Rivers can do a couple of things for you?
A: He’s played multiple positions at Cincinnati. They sub-packaged him at the Mike. Their base package he’s an outside linebacker. We’ll pretty much do the same. Right now, he’s learning the spot. It’s very similar to what he did at Cincinnati. Little differences here and there.
Q: You had Chase Blackburn at middle linebacker. Is that job up for grabs or is that his job to lose?
A: The good thing is that we have competition. The young guys are good, young players. Mark Herzlich is out there. Jake [Muasau], he’s doing good. We’re experimenting with Greg Jones on the outside and inside. We do have some good young players. It’s good competition. Just keep competing and the best player will play.
Q: What prompted moving Greg Jones to outside linebacker?
A: We’re down a guy because Clint [Sintim] is not practicing. We need to put three out there, so the first three practices were Jake on the inside, the Mike, Jones on the outside, the Sam, and we’ll switch here. We’ll try a couple of different guys.
Q: What prompted the team to give a guy from a small program like Jake Muasau an opportunity?
A: I know he came from a small program, but he probably should’ve played at a higher level of college ball. He’s a big-body guy, very intelligent for a guy coming in trying out. He was able to come out and improve every day and understand the concepts and he has really good movement. When you have a guy like that that’s a bonus… He’s going to have a legitimate chance to make the team.
Q: He played a lot of outside linebacker in college…
A: I think at his college he played outside, he was on the line of scrimmage. This is the first time he’s been on top of the ball, and it’s been natural for him. Sometimes that’s a hard transition.