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nowadays. We do plenty of coverage va- riety; it's not that. I think it's [the case that] if you just get three or four more a year – and those are the ones that you should catch that are thrown to you – you're going to like your numbers better. BWI How do you feel about the defen- sive line, and who are some of the guys you expect to do well there this year? PRY Everybody's going to notice A.K. [Arnold Ebiketie]. I think he's been a great addition. He's got a chance to be a starter. Nick Tarburton, coming o5 in- juries, had a nice spring. We're excited about Smith Vilbert and the spring that he had. He's long and talented and is continuing to get better. Inside, we've got a proven commodity in P.J. Mustipher. I liked the addition of Derrick Tangelo. He's a veteran, a lot like P.J. And then obviously you've got some exciting guys in Hakeem [Beamon], Amin Vanover, Coziah Izzard. They're talented guys, they can get on edges and get on their side of the line of scrim- mage. I think Dvon Ellies has a chance. I mean, there are a lot of guys there who get you excited. But again, that group, aFer Tangelo and P.J., has to have a nice summer and a nice preseason camp. If we do that, we're going to feel good about where we're at at that spot. With the addition of [juco defensive tackle Jordan] van den Berg, I'm excited about him. He's a high-motor guy, tough, can run. He's going to make all those guys around him better in there. BWI Does Luketa factor in on the line? PRY Jesse is practicing some at defen- sive end. What that role is going to look like, I don't know yet, but we're cer- tainly going to experiment with it like we did with Micah some, and put him on the line of scrimmage. He's one of those hybrid players, just like Micah. He's one of those guys who's got rush ability but looks pretty good playing from a two-point [stance] and playing at the second level. Jesse's best plays last year were when he was in the box. He's such a physical guy. He's got great strength. And we're going to try to max- imize what he does well, which was the second level in the box and his rush ability. BWI How did you feel coming out of spring practice about the changes you made at linebacker, with Brandon Smith moving to Will and Jesse Luketa to Mike? PRY We always felt like Brandon's best position was going to be Will. It's just a challenging position to learn, and as the season unfolded, those last three or four games, Brandon played a lot more snaps at that spot. He had a really nice spring, so I feel good about that. Curtis Jacobs can operate well in all that space at that Sam position out to the big Geld. He's got a lot of DB quality in him. I'm not so sure that Curtis couldn't play safety here. So I'm excited about him. Charlie Katshir has been banged up and is Gnally getting healthy. That's going to give us great depth at the linebacker position. Ellis Brooks, who had a tremendous spring, he's playing absolutely his best football, and so you've got Ellis or Jesse [at middle linebacker]. One of the two is in the game running the defense for you. I think Tyler Elsdon is a young guy at Mike who is grooming behind Jesse and Ellis. So I think we're in pretty good shape there. We've got some guys who have played, and then we've got some talented younger guys. I think we've got some guys, to be honest, who are setting themselves up for a really nice year. BWI How much do Kalen King and Johnny Dixon shake up what you thought you would do this year at cor- nerback? PRY You've got two top dogs with [Tariq] Castro-Fields and Joey [Porter Jr.]. And they've got to be top dogs. That's what they've got to do. And then you've got Kalen and Dixon and Dae- quan Hardy as the supporting cast right now. I'm excited about all of them. I think you've got a chance to have Gve guys you feel really good about, with two top dogs who have been in a lot of big battles. So I'm excited about that. And then I kind of feel the same way [about the safeties]. [Jaquan] Brisker could play either safety spot, and you've got [Jonathan] Sutherland, who's got ex- perience and has got some strengths in some areas. You've got Ji'Ayir Brown, who really has us excited right now. He can play either safety spot. Tyler Rudolph is a guy with a good skill set who is Gnally turning the corner and has a chance with a good summer and camp to put himself in a position to help us. He's a guy who has the skill set to play either safety spot. And then, obviously, moving Keaton Ellis to the position strengthens it even more. Keaton is a guy who is going to battle for starting time wherever you put him in the back end. We feel really good about that, coming out of there with four guys who we feel we can win with. BWI Do you know what you want to do with Ellis? Does he Gt into one speciGc role, or is he able to play several posi- tions back there? PRY Right now, he's a safety. He's a guy who is learning the Geld safety spot. We know he could go back to corner at any point, but right now the emphasis is on him learning Geld safety. And then aFer that, it's probably learning bound- ary safety. And then he'll probably still get some snaps at corner at some point in preseason camp to make sure he's still honed in there. BWI What are your nickel options? PRY We have several candidates there with Daequan, who played it a lot last year. Keaton Ellis has played it. And then we really feel good about Dixon learning that spot and being able to do that for us. BWI Will Marquis Wilson's move to of- fense stick? PRY I can't answer that. That's a ques- tion for James [Franklin]. He's always welcome on our side of the ball, but I'm excited about him at receiver. To me, he's done some good things. He's got big-play potential every time the ball goes his way. But he's a guy who obvi- ously has some experience. He made a big interception in the Cotton Bowl. I mean, this guy could come back over and slide back in with us pretty quick, whether it's in a signiGcant role or a part-time role. ■

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