No ‘Bad Days’

Deep into the final rounds of draft weekend, Rob Greene, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Texas Tech, found it difficult to remain present in the moment.

Jones AT&T Stadium was buzzing, as country music singer George Strait prepared for the final performance of his two-night residency. The coaches offices, functioning as suites for concerts, overlooked the field on a lively spring evening in Lubbock, Texas.

Greene had made a concerted effort to avoid peppering Cole Wisniewski with messages, as the 2025 honorable mention All-Big 12 selection had yet to hear his name called. Upon reaching the stadium, Greene would eventually cave, firing off a temperature-check text to Wisniewski within five minutes of seeing his name trickle across the ESPN ticker.

“Hey, man,” he said. “Sorry to bug you, just wanted to check in.”

“Yeah, it’s been a long day so far,” Wisniewski replied.

Greene responded with another message, with Wisniewski promptly returning serve with a long-awaited message that elicited collective jubilation.

“Eagles.”

The Eagles quelled the uneasiness, selecting the former Red Raiders safety with the 244th pick in the draft, their first of three seventh-round selections.

“I think it’s a perfect fit,” Greene said in an exclusive with Inside The Birds. “I was really excited that the Eagles were the team he got drafted by. I’ve never worked on coach [Vic] Fangio’s defensive system, but I’ve tried to study it a bit from afar. And I think a lot of the coverage concepts that we utilized here – and especially some of the ones he utilized at North Dakota State – will be pretty similar to what he’s going to be doing there, which is great because I think that fits the strengths of his game.

“I’m fired up, because I think that’s a great organization. They’re a winning organization, and they got guys that have those winning habits that allow them to be so successful, and he’ll fit right into that.”

Can Eagles seventh-round pick Cole Wisniewski defy the odds and make the 53 out of training camp?

Greene and Wisniewski, as fate would have it, forged a connection that originated from their earliest days in Lubbock. Wisnieski, fresh off a five-year run at North Dakota State, arrived at Texas Tech via the transfer portal just two weeks before Greene was hired as the Red Raiders’ safeties coach.

The 6-foot-3, 219-pound Wisniewski actually moved into Lubbock the same day as Greene, and the first order of business was to meet for the first time over lunch.

Wisniewski, who missed the 2024 season due to injury, came in as the centerpiece of the backend, his football intellect and inherent communication skills signaling the importance of his role in coordinator Sheil Wood’s defense. A converted linebacker, Wisniewski showcased toughness and tenacity with regard to wrap-up tackling and physicality, and his instincts safeguarded him from being out of position.

While those crucial qualities are typically indicative of a successful career at the next level, Greene expanded on an invaluable intangible that Wisniewski obsesses over: preparation.

“Obsessive about his film study,” he said. “He probably watched as much film during the week as I did as his coach. We would have a couple player-led meetings during the week, he led those for us. And then, obviously, in meetings that we had, he’s extremely active, kind of going through ‘what if’ scenarios … ‘Hey, I know we’re talking about this call, what do we do if we’re in this?’ He kind of thinks like a coach does.

“He sleeps and breathes it. If he’s not in the film room, he’s in the training room getting his body right. He’s obsessive about getting sleep, eating at the right time. Just consummate professional in his preparation.”

As Greene told it, player-led meetings last season were held twice a week. The meetings were divided by position groups; the cornerback contingent would meet together, and the safeties/”Stars” would assemble.

Monday evenings were reserved for game planning, with the coaching staff putting together cut-ups that introduced the next weekly opponent, focusing on everything from top runs, passes and motions. Greene would create the cut-ups, show Wisniewski where they were, and the veteran safety would run through it with the rest of the safety room.

When it came to Tuesday’s post-practice meeting, Greene would lead the meeting.

On Wednesday, Wisniewski would take the group and look at the red-zone scripts for the next day and review some of practice.

“Coach [Joey] McGuire is on record saying that he thought [Wisniewski] could be our secondary coach,” Greene said. “High-level football IQ and communicator.”

Wisniewski’s preparation behind the scenes kept coaches on their toes, compelling them to ensure their bases were covered, in the event Wisniewski posed a question off the beaten path.

But as Greene noted, if you teach Wisniewski something once, he’s going to attempt to execute the coaching point precisely how he was instructed. Greene added that in the event you do have to correct Wisniewski once, you won’t have to correct him again. He referred to Wisniewski as a “one-timer.”

The Sparta, Wisc., native thrived as an indispensable defender for Texas Tech, tasked with undertaking various roles in the Red Raiders’ defense. That versatility could aid in giving Wisniewski a leg-up in his hunt for a roster spot.

“We primarily played him to the boundary side of the defense,” Greene explained. “And that guy was a really versatile player for us. He would drop into the box and be a fitter, he’d play some deep zone stuff, whether that was a half, quarters, post technique. Played some man-match on tight ends or slots. He did a lot of different stuff.

“For us, we’re a field-boundary defense. I know at the NFL, because the hashes are tighter, a lot of defenses are based off the strengths, so our free safety was the boundary safety, but I would see him being a guy that’s playing to the strong side of the formation a lot at the next level.”

When it comes to identifying commonalities throughout the Eagles roster, toughness and competitiveness are qualities shared throughout. Both are among the hallmarks valued by the organization, and Wisniewski fit the bill. Perhaps the most relevant example occurred in an early November showdown, featured on College GameDay, between No. 9 Texas Tech and No. 8 BYU.

In the days leading up, a nasty stomach virus coarsed through the team, reaching Wisniewski, who had practiced all week, between Thursday evening and Friday morning. Wisniewski was in bad shape, putting his gameday availability in jeopardy.

During Friday’s run-through, Wisniewski stood in the back, behind his position group, and didn’t take any reps. The following morning, he received an IV.

Before the game, when Greene checked in with Wisniewski to gauge how he was feeling, the sixth-year safety was succinct.

“It doesn’t matter,” Greene recalled him saying.

Wisniewski proceeded to play what Greene believed to be his best game of the year. He was in for all but one snap, combining for 10 stops in a resounding 29-7 victory.

As a seventh-round pick with numbers ahead of him, nothing is assured for Wisniewski. His special teams contributions becomes just as critical as his consistency at his position of trade.

With regard to the former, Texas Tech had a unique practice set-up. The special teams drills were drill-based, focused on skill set development. Most of the defensive starters were factored into the special teams equation, albeit as backups, to save most of their reps for defense.

“But if you go look at any drill tape from that special teams segment, his reps are the teach-tape reps,” Greene said. “I think he’ll be an elite special teams player in the NFL because he’s big, he’s fast, he’s strong, he’s smart. He can tackle, he can get off blocks, he can sustain blocks. His skill set, I think, translates phenomenally well to special teams at the NFL level.”

While there’s no disputing Wisniewski’s effectiveness and physicality when streaming downhill around the line of scrimmage and short-area explosiveness, questions remain regarding his viability as a backend coverage player. The outside perception, unfair as it might be without Wisniewski having logged a single practice yet, is that his speed and range could pigeonhole him as a one-dimensional player.

Perhaps fueling the narrative shared by some is that Wisniewski didn’t run the 40-yard dash at Texas Tech’s Pro Day due to what Greene described as hamstring tightness experienced during jumps, and was withheld from running as a precautionary measure.

“He is much more fluid in his movements than what anybody thinks, in terms of his backpedal, his weave, his cross-over run,” he said. “And he is efficient in his breaks, and he takes great angles out of his breaks.

“There’s a clip, I think it’s a clip from our Big 12 Championship game against BYU, where he absolutely obliterates a receiver on a hole shot as a half-player,” Greene said. “And, I mean, to me, that clip shows you why he can play deep safety in the NFL. He’s fluid in his movements, he sees what he needs to see, he sticks his foot in the ground and takes a phenomenal angle and he absolutely strike-zone hits and creates a big pass breakup for us in a big third-down.”

When zooming out for a full-picture view, it’s even more apparent that Wisniewski is equipped to turn some heads this summer in Eagles camp. If his highly regarded football intelligence can handle the bandwidth of Fangio’d defense in relatively short order, enabling Wisniewski to fly around fast and free, the production should follow.

And as Greene will tell you, Wisniewski doesn’t have any bad days.

“[The Eagles] are getting a consummate professional who is extremely smart, tough, dependable and competitive,” he said. “And will be a consistent performer, who has good days and great days. He doesn’t have any bad days. And to me, that consistency level is what will make him a really appreciated player in that organization.”