FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Kevin Stefanski and Ian Cunningham have each said at various points this offseason that they are not in the business of naming starters in insert month of the year here.
Stefanski said it in February at the NFL Scouting Combine. Cunningham echoed the sentiment at the end of the first week of free agency in March. Stefanski reiterated it again when players reported for Phase I of voluntary offseason workouts just last week.
So, the natural next question is simple: When do you start thinking about naming starters?
In a way, Stefanski explained, it's something that never really stops.
"I think you're constantly evaluating your players," Stefanski said. "I had a coach tell me that they're evaluating everything we do, how we walk to the practice field, who we interact with, how we interact. You're constantly under evaluation. That's no secret for our players."
Part of that evaluation comes through competition, specifically how players respond to it and embrace it.
"This is professional football," Stefanski said. "Everybody understands that it's a competitive sport. It's a competitive world that we live in. So, the idea of fighting for jobs, fighting for roles — welcome to professional football. That's nothing new for our players. They understand that. So that's the fun part of our business, the competition that goes into it."
Most of that competition, of course, takes shape during training camp.
"The depth chart type of questions, those really don't factor for me until you get into training camp," Stefanski said. "We'll roll guys through different situations."
For now, the focus is on learning the playbook and establishing a foundation.
"These are the portions of the calendar where you want your guys to come in and work hard and be around their teammates and also foster an environment where they're enjoying coming to work," Stefanski said. "They should enjoy being around each other and push each other and pull each other and share a meal together in the meal room. That's the fun part of this portion of the offseason program."
At the Annual League Meetings a few weeks ago, Stefanski was also asked about calling plays and what he enjoyed most about that time in his career as an offensive coordinator.
"I like game planning. I like putting plans together," he explained. "On game day, the order of which those plays come off the call sheet are not as important to me as what's on that call sheet. When I was (calling plays) I was very reliant on a lot of people on our staff. It wasn't a one-man show."
And if he could offer advice to new play callers?
"Trust your players more than your plays," Stefanski noted.
The unspoken message: Trust your evaluations of those players, too. The evaluations that are constantly happening.
