Phil Sheridan, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Jim Schwartz: 'All designed to try to make the most of what you have'

PHILADELPHIA -- Jim Schwartz hasn’t talked to the media much during his five months as defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles. When he does speak, it’s can’t-miss stuff for Eagles fans.

Schwartz talked for nearly a half-hour after Tuesday’s organized team activities practice at the NovaCare Complex. It was a wide-ranging session that touched on various players and issues around the team. The impression he left was the same as the one he left in January. If the hiring of Doug Pederson was meant to recapture the Andy Reid era, then Pederson has his Jim Johnson in Schwartz -- a plainspoken, no-nonsense guy who delights in creating havoc on the football field.

Here’s a sampler.

On whether his scheme with the Eagles will be different from the scheme he ran in Buffalo in 2014: "Every year will be a little bit different," Schwartz said. "Our terminology is a little bit different. Cast of characters is a little different. And if we're on the right track, we'll put the players in the best position to best use their talents. What we did in Buffalo was a little different than what we did in Detroit, which was a little different from what we did in Tennessee.

"But it's all designed to try to make the most of what you have. I had a guy, Jerry Hughes, that was probably 245 pounds that played defensive end. He had to do it a little bit different than a Ziggy Ansah in Detroit or Vinny Curry here."

On rookie cornerback Jalen Mills getting work with the first team Tuesday: "You want to see guys against different competition," Schwartz said. "Jalen had been going mostly against rookies, and we wanted to see him against some of the veteran wide receivers. So this time of year, you're mixing and matching an awful lot. You're trying to put guys in a lot of different situations and trying to sort of see what you have.

"It's a little too early to put anything on him. He's been impressive so far. But we haven't really even started yet, to tell you the truth. He's got a lot to learn, and his head's probably swimming a little bit. But what he has shown is he's a very good athlete. He can play the ball, and he's comfortable being on an island. I think if you were check-marking things for corners, those would be three near or at the top."

On how he envisions Fletcher Cox, who has missed the voluntary workouts so far, fitting into his defense: "Well, I mean, it's voluntary, so you can only do so much," Schwartz said. "Fletch was drafted in a scheme that was similar to this. He'll catch up, but, you know, I'm sure there will be some carry-over for him. I assume he's a fast learner and I assume he'll pick things up quickly.

"I did look at -- as a whole defensive staff, we evaluated last year and what guys did, and he certainly had an impressive year last year. We think that scheme-wise and technique-wise what we do is going to fit him very well."

On his role in offseason personnel moves: "You don't draft guys blind," Schwartz said. "You don't draft guys and say, you know, 'Hey, let's do something with them.' I think our greatest input as coaches came probably before draft meetings, where there was a lot of back and forth and what we were going to ask players to do. What kind of skill sets we were looking for, and what criteria we were going to judge them on. And the scouts could use that lens to be able to see those guys.

"Scouts had a very difficult job, because they spent most of the college season or all of the college season, particularly for defensive players, even a little bit the case for offensive players, scouting for a system that changed. And that's a very difficult situation. So one of the very first things we did when we got here was sit down and go through a couple days and talk about players, not talk about a particular player, but just generalizations, what a player's going to be asked to do. What kind of guys you've had success with. What kind of guys you've had failures with. You know, try to be able to mold a model of what we're looking for."

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