TRANSCRIPT: Ryan Cowden's Press Conference 8/25

Here’s what Ryan Cowden had to say during his press conference on August 25, 2026.

On the organization’s stance on where things are with Christian Gonzalez:

“Well, I think exactly what you just said there. I think the organization has spoke enough here with Coach, with Eliot, with the ownership speaking. So I think for me to stand here and say anything other than what’s already been stated from those three, I don’t think I have— there’s enough been out there already.”

On the fact Eliot Wolf spoke today and said that the offer that the team’s made to Christian would make him the highest paid in the league, and if that would be in terms of fully guaranteed dollars:

“I’m just going to go right back to what I said with Mike [Reiss]. There’s been enough statements and questions through Eliot, through Vrabes [Coach Vrabel], through ownership for me to sit up here and go through on that same line of questions. I’m just, I don’t think there’s any use to that.”

On his thoughts on the movement of the trade for Jaylen Reed:

“Yeah, Kayshon, first of all, all the best to Kayshon. Like, he made some huge plays for us last year. Honestly, I think coming here new and not having past history with Kayshon, I thought he made tremendous strides from OTAs in last year to training camp. He came back with a whole different mindset, really did a great job. I’m sure there were some points in time during this process when your name’s out there, right, wrong, indifferent, I’m sure it’s hard. And with the other additions, it’s difficult, and he did nothing but handle himself like a pro. He made some huge plays for us last year, and we just wish him nothing but the best.”

On Jaylen Reed:

“Yeah, Jaylen, excited to see him come in here and just be part of our program. I texted him last night and just said, ‘Just be ready to insert yourself into how we do things here.’ And that’s not the same everywhere. Obviously, I think Eliot spoke a little bit earlier about our evaluation of Jaylen through the draft process last year. And look, his job is to come here and earn a role and compete. There’s some traits that we liked, and we’re just excited to get him inserted into our program.”

On with Christian’s negotiations, if he feels like the sense of urgency increases as the season opener nears:

“No.”

On how important Christian is to what they do on defense:

“I think, like a lot of players, whether it be Christian, Milt [Milton Williams], Carlton [Davis], Marcus Jones, Dre’Mont [Jones], like there’s all these guys, [Robert] Spillane, I think Defense is truly one of 11, and I think it takes 11 guys. So he’s just equally as important as a lot of the guys across the front.”

On the fact that Vrabel and Eliot have both mentioned adding depth to the roster, and if there’s any position group in particular he looks at that they would like to add depth at:

“All of them, right? No, look, the depth thing is, we’re constantly not happy on the personnel side with – or complacent – with the depth anywhere. That’s just part of our DNA. ‘Are we deep enough at running back, D tackle, edge, corner, all of it?’ We look at it daily. Sometimes players develop faster than you think. Sometimes they take a little bit longer. So while they’re in those development phases, like I think Coach talked about the other day, part of playing these games, seeing them in these situations, part of that’s seeing how can they develop? And honestly, when people talk about depth, I think a lot of times they just rely that depth usually speaks to experience. Like everybody feels more comfortable because it’s experienced. And I think everybody feels more comfortable with depth that way. But a lot of these young guys, I think you just have to, it’s trial by fire a lot.”

On what he hopes to see from Kyle Williams this season:

“I think Kyle had a great offseason. He was one of our offseason award winners and he really put a lot of time in. And I think Kyle, that room, we’ve said it, there’s a lot of talent in that room. Kyle, just what the biggest thing for Kyle is when he gets his opportunities to make the most of them. And he knows that. As a receiver, what you can’t control is when the ball’s thrown to you, but your job’s to get open. And when you get those opportunities, make them. And he knows that. The other night, I know he probably had a couple where he’d want to make maybe a play on, but then his number’s called, and he puts a lot of fear in defenses with his ability to stretch the field.”

On if trading Christian is a consideration at all:

“I think we’re continuing to work on the negotiation side of Christian. And, I think that’s where that stays.”

On the fact he mentioned Jaylen needing to get himself involved in the program quickly, there are some other guys you guys signed midsummer, Hassan Haskins, Greg Van Root, who got involved pretty quickly, and what he’s seen from them in their time here:

“Hassan’s a great guy. Obviously I have some history with him from being in Tennessee with Hassan when we drafted him there. And, just know the kind of person he is. So I had no doubt that even though he’d been out, like he was going to be in shape. He was going to really— Hassan’s an all-in guy. And then with GVR, I was opportunity when I was with New York prior to coming that we had signed Greg and watched what he did over these last few years. And I thought Greg’s been really impressive here towards the back end or age-wise, the back end of his career, but what he’s done is pretty impressive. And in a short period of time, watching him the last 2 days pop in center, both guard spots, 3 days in, like, he’s really done a nice job, really a professional approach and kept himself in shape that way.”

On with Greg, they had him in for a tryout and then didn’t— waited a little bit to sign him, and what was kind of the reasoning for not signing him immediately after the workout:

“Yeah, we didn’t actually have a workout. It was a visit. So sometimes those just get reported maybe the same. Greg was a visit. And I think a visit for Greg was, he’s a veteran player in this league and I think it’s important for him to feel the building out too. ‘What do you guys, what’s the vibe here?’ You want to sit down with Coach? We want to sit across the table from him and just talk about the fit, the situation, the role. So sometimes that’s part of it before, then you say, ‘Hey, we want to make this move.'”

On the fact that they have so many experienced guys in the front office, and who the point person has been during the Christian negotiations:

“That negotiation, like I said, we’re going to talk about, I’m going to repeat and echo here a statement about – The front office is a collective group of people. That’s our front office. And I think Coach mentioned that there’s not a front office, back office, it’s a collective group. And that collective group has been a part of this process.”

On when it comes to their core special teams units, they lost some guys to free agency, some other guys that might be banged up, and how he feels about the depth for those units, and if he’s comfortable maybe having to rely on some of their younger players as they’re waiting for some of those guys to come back:

“Yeah, the trust factor is what it comes down to in the kicking game. Because those when kick returns, punt returns, a blocked punt, those usually, you lose games. If you give up return touchdowns and conversely, if you hit them, those help you win and lose games. And so that’s why it’s such a vital piece of the game. And you do, sometimes you want to rely on guys who’ve been there, done that. But inevitably you have to lean into these young players, and Jeremy [Springer] and Tom [Quinn] do a great job of trying to get guys up to speed. They’re always dealing with the revolving door of people, right? We get injuries, there’s a new guy comes in. Can you get him ready for punt, kickoff? So I think that’s why you see so much emphasis put on, even in the joint practices, putting those guys in situations, see if we can trust them.”

On why Kayshon was avaialble for so long, and it just seemed like the return there, just the interest wasn’t there outside the league:

“I can’t. I don’t know that answer. I can’t speak to the market. Like, we always want to see what that looks like all the time, whether that’s free agency, whether that’s the trade market. Those things are unpredictable and year to year. I can’t speak to that. Like, we made a decision that we thought was best for us. And that was the deal with Houston. So I can’t speak to the marketplace at all, what that looks like all the time.”

When they’re constructing the 53-man roster, is it a consideration at all of like, ‘We might not be able to slip this guy through waivers. We can’t get this guy through waivers,’ and if that’s a consideration for those final spots:

“Absolutely it is. We sit there and we try to look around the league. Our pro staff does a great job of canvassing the league through these preseason, this whole training camp process. Where are teams heavy? Where are they light? Where do we think they’re going to be active at the cutdown? It’s a calculated risk sometimes when you’re at the back end of the waiver claim, that’s a great thing. But it’s also, some good players that become available are going to be gone before you get that opportunity. So certainly when we talk about cutting our team down, we do sometimes, or shouldn’t say sometimes, we always think about, ‘what’s the exposure rate here? How do we feel? Are we comfortable that this guy can get back to us or not?'”

On if he anticipated Harold Landry not getting back at this point and is there still hope he might make it back on the field before Seattle:

“Yeah, anything that guys have going on injury-wise, that’s kind of out of my realm. I’m not going to speak to that here. Harold’s going to do everything he can to get back when he’s healthy and when that is, he’ll be back out there.”

On the two undrafted guys that seem to maybe have elevated up Khalil Jacobs, Tanner Arkin, just from a scouting perspective, that they didn’t get drafted, if he can share how they landed on their radar, and if there was there an area scout that maybe turned them on to them to coach on those two guys:

“Yeah, it sounds repetitive, but we have such a collaborative effort in our post-draft process between the coaches and the area scouts, the nationals, our, myself, Eliot, there’s a lot of people, Alonzo [Highsmith]. So we get our pro staff involved. So guys like that, they really do. And they sit there and go through a bunch of stuff and rank guys, and Tanner was a guy that was up in the top of that from the post-draft process. A lot of what made him attractive to us is his demeanor, the way he plays the game. There’s a play style, you guys have seen it everywhere, the effort and finish, and that’s a real part of what makes Tanner who he is. So I would say that’s something that stood out in the process for us.”

‘Then you mentioned Khalil [Jacobs]. I happened to be at the Alabama-Missouri game. Our area scout Alex Brooks was there at the game. And I mean, he was all over the place. He just wasn’t very heralded as a transfer from South Alabama to Missouri, finding his space. And he was all over the field. And so you kind of leave that game and you’re going, okay, ‘Who’s this guy?’ And that’s why that live exposure is always good for me. But then you start tracking those guys that just make plays. And again, shout out to all our scouts. There’s a number, I think they did a great job. In the post-draft process, with a lot of guys here that are competing for spots now.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This transcript was done based on the available footage and is subject to typographical errors. If you spot anything, please let me know in the comments below.)

About Ian Logue

Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.

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