Ron Rivera Presser: Quan Martin’s role really isn’t defined. We’ve had him working at a couple of spots

Ron Rivera speaks to the media after practice

Ron Rivera spoke to the media after today’s training camp practice, which was basically a walkthrough for the team. He said the coaches wanted to give the players a light day, with no pads on, after three intense days of practice. Recovery is important during training camp, and several players have been dealing with injuries. David Bada was placed on IR after tearing his triceps on Wednesday, and Saahdiq Charles has been dealing with a quad injury.

Lighter practice today:

The biggest thing more than anything else, try and change it up for these guys a little bit. Come out. We had a real good week last week, then coming in this week, three hard days in a row, and we thought we’d back it off a little bit today in terms of the tempo, taking the pads off. We’ll have the pads back on tomorrow and we expect them to come back with a little bit more energy and a higher tempo practice for sure.

Players recovering on a lighter day:

The biggest thing more than anything else is really about the recovery. We get the data, we get the analytics of what it takes during practice and how hard they’re going. And when you start seeing the guys getting up in the orange and red areas, there’s concern.

So the timing of this practice worked out very nicely for us. We’ll bring ‘em down a notch. We’ll take the intensity level off ‘em a bit. The retention part there, what they’ve learned, that’s probably the biggest thing that we’re trying to get out of this.

And so to see the things that we did, minimal mistakes today. There were a couple things that EB corrected on the fly that Jack corrected on the fly. But for the most part, I’m really pleased with the way they practiced with minimal.

More intense practices:

The offense progressing through camp:

Yes, and quite honestly, all the plays have been beyond basic. And the reason being is Eric’s throwing a lot at them. He’s not piecemealing it and he’s not starting from the bottom. We’re learning and we’re learning quickly. A big part of it’s what we accomplished during OTAs at minicamp. You know, we had a lot of stuff thrown at him during OTA’s and minicamp. I thought the guys handled it very well now coming into this thing, the big treegest thing was pick up where we left off. What’s the retention? They did a nice job coming back and practicing and playing at full speed.

Hall of Fame Game:

Oh yeah, most certainly. It is kind of fun to have the season starting up in terms of, even though it is the preseason. It is one of those things that right now, this is the time where you come out, you develop, you grow. It’s not where during the season where you got to go out and you got to slay the trick or you get eliminated. I mean this is different. So, this is really just still the growth period that you have during training camp.

Ownership change:

The biggest thing more than anything else is, you know, during the last couple years, we’ve always tried to focus in on what’s important. We try to stay in the moment of practice, in the moment of the game, and we really try to avoid that.

So I think getting to where we are, the guys had a great reaction to everything. I think, but also there’s still a task at hand just because things have changed, we still have to do our job, you know what I’m saying?

It, doesn’t mean you know that it’s going to be any easier. It’s still hard, very, very difficult. So we got to continue to keep our focus on preparation and getting ready for the season.

Little things players have shown that highlight where they think the team is headed:

You know, I think a lot of it too is you see a lot of the communication, and you see it coming from the veteran guys. You see guys like Charles Leno putting his arm around the young guys and explaining some stuff and Nick Gates and Andrew Wylie. I mean, these guys like that. And you see guys stepping up with leadership tones when they’re talking to each other. Sam Cosmi.

Then you look at the defensive side and you see those four guys, the way they’ve worked together already, and it works right into the communications. You watch how they’ve accepted Cody and how Cody stepped into the forefront of that group.

And then the communications aspect of it that you see in the secondary. That’s also been a real big thing and again, a lot of it having Kam, healthy again and he and Darrick working together I think it’s a real good group. It’s a real dynamic bunch.

LG competition:

Saahdiq Charles injury:

Mason Brooks:

I think Mason is one of those solid, solid guys that’s, you know, gets overlooked because he only really had one year in the SEC at Ole Miss and I think he’s a guy that the more he works, the better he’s going to get. I mean, he’s still a ways away, he’s got a lot of work to do, but there is a good toughness, there is a good grit to who he is as a young player.

What it takes for an undrafted player to make a team:

Well, it is to be consistent. I mean, if he gets your attention, he’s got to do it from that point on, he’s gotten a lot of people’s attention, you just got to do it from that point on. It’s the same thing at any position, you know, is he consistent and then when he gets his opportunities to play, how does he play and is he ready to play?

Quan Martin’s role at camp:

Well, first I’ll say, his role really isn’t defined. Yes, we’ve had him working at a couple of spots, primarily not just the one spot, you know, but he’s been doing some stuff with the nickel/buffalo position. He does some stuff at the safety spot. So he’s continuing to work, continuing to get those opportunities.

Um, yeah, but I wouldn’t say we’ve defined it and said, this is who you are and stay there, because he does work with the different groups and you see him with the ones and the twos, and you’ve seen him also with some of the three work as well.

We’re just trying to get him as much work as we can. At the same time, we have a core of guys that we’re trying to get him assimilated to so that he’s now part of that group of guys.

David Bada injury: