Chargers DBs coach Steve Clinkscale prioritizing versatility in the secondary
Chargers defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale had his first media availability of the offseason. Clinkscale laid out some of Jesse Minter’s defensive vision as well as his expectations for the secondary.
First, he spoke about Minter’s system:
The beauty with Jesse is that he’s a defensive back guy himself. We speak the same language. I can anticipate the issues that he wants, his pet peeves, my pet peeves. It’s been an easy transition to teach those guys what Coach Minter is looking for. With him being a back end guy, we do put a lot of responsibility on the secondary. We put a lot of work into those guys. We want to make sure that they’re going to do things right. That’s a reflection of him and I, right away, the secondary. His vision on the defense is that we’re going to communicate. We’re going to destroy blocks. We’re going to disrupt the ball. We’re going to have great effort and angles. We’re going to finish and make tackles. That’s what we want to put on film week-in and week-out. If you do those fundamental things, whatever he calls, we should be able to work. Sometimes, they’re going to give us something that’s going to be an issue for the coverage, but as long as what our guys know what to go to when in doubt with the check, then when the ball is snapped to enforce our separators, our fundamental approach to the game, we’ll be fine.
Clinkscale also spoke at length about newly signed cornerback Kristian Fulton and what he’s seen from him so far:
I’ll be honest with you, he’s got kind of the rookie mentality. ‘Coach, teach me. Whatever it is, I want to learn. I want to learn. I want to get better at this.’ This is a new lease on life for him. You see it out there. He moves very fluid. You can tell he’s experienced. He’s able to adjust. He’s able to put it in our language fast. He’s a pro. When I got here, you think, ‘Oh, college is different.’ The pros want to learn just like [S] Derwin James [Jr.]. They want to learn. [S] Alohi [Gilman], they all want to get better and look at things a little different way so they can be successful. It’s been great because we all meet together. That’s what we do. We’re all DB coaches. [Safeties] Coach [Chris] O’Leary coaches the nickels, corners, safeties. We’re all together in the room. Just bringing those guys together, getting them on one page — it’s been special. I believe in the mentality has to be right. Working with Kristian and anybody in there, it’s just been special for those guys to come in and know that we’re going to work, I’m going to hold them accountable, now. I’m going to get on them if they’re not doing things right, but they’re going to go out there and they have the ability to execute for our defense to be special.
Clinkscale was asked about what specific roles he envisions for both Fulton as well as Asante Samuel Jr. Regarding slot and outside corner distinction, the former Michigan coach made it clear that everyone in the secondary has to be prepared to do both. “They are all going to rotate in there…I’ve rotated them at corner and at nickel, like I said, so that they have that versatility.”
Clinkscale hit on theme of versatility several times in his preser. Another quote on that subject that drove the point across: “All of the corners have to know nickel and all of the safeties have to know nickel and dime as well as the safety position.” The issue of potential injuries and preparing for that by having secondary players cross-trained for those potential circumstances was also a clear motivating factor for this coaching staff’s approach.
When it came to Derwin James, Clinkscale also mentioned his versatility and potentially putting him at weakside linebacker and slot corner at times. He mentioned the usage of the safeties at Michigan in that context.
It’s still too early to tell who the starters will be in the secondary and at which spots, but it’s clear that this defensive staff wants to be able to move their defensive backs around while not pigeonholing themselves in regards to depth.
