Someone had to speak with the press on Thursday.
Given that there would be questions about the trade of wide receiver Jahan Dotson a day earlier, perhaps Adam Peters or Dan Quinn would have been an obvious choice.
So, there was Kliff Kingsbury.
The offensive coordinator, as expected, quickly punted, saying he would defer to Peters and Dan Quinn regarding the trade. Of course he did. That’s not to criticize Kingsbury in any way. He doesn’t make trades, so why should he have to answer questions about them?
He was then asked in a roundabout way about what the coaches are looking for from the wide receivers.
“DQ’s [Quinn’s] style of play. Be physical and play hard without the ball,” Kingsbury said. “I think that’s what we preach is like everybody’s gonna run routes and make catches at this level, but how do you play without the ball?”
After all we have heard over the last week regarding Dotson, that response from Kingsbury lets you know. The coaches just didn’t see Dotson as being physical enough to run his routes or block.
The team could be thin at receiver this season, as only Terry McLaurin has produced significantly. However, Kingsbury knows there are other people to whom quarterback Jayden Daniels can get the ball.
“Austin Ekeler has been fantastic. I think there’s a narrative out there that maybe he lost a step, or something was off, and that couldn’t be further from the truth from what I’ve seen. … Brian Robinson, he’s a No. 1 back in this league, there’s no doubt.”
So, Kingsbury likes his top two backs and is counting on getting both of them the ball often. He also knows that developing a running game will decrease the pressure on Daniels to beat the defense through passing.
Perhaps one of the more interesting things Kingsbury said was about WR Kazmeir Allen.
“So he’s a guy that we could see similar —I’m not comparing — but he has a Deebo-type role to move him around and do different things,” Kingsbury said. “He has that type of explosiveness and ability to play in the slot, or you can hand it to him.”
Compared to Allen, Samuel is much larger and stronger. He is a beast at his position. But the first two preseason games have shown that Allen is someone the coaches like for his explosiveness, and they are looking for ways to get him the ball.