Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? Sean Merriman A one hand effect.
Speaker 1: Boom boom boom out go to light this his Lights
Speaker 1: Out with Sean Merriman. What's up? Guys, were back again
Speaker 1: with another Lights out podcast Me Sean Merriman, and we
Speaker 1: are going with my charges today. UM, exciting here for him.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's a lot of talk about Justin Herbert and
Speaker 1: you know some of the stars Keenan Allen, um. But
Speaker 1: we got one of my favorite guys I love to
Speaker 1: watch man. It's it's uh, Drew Tranquil. And this is
Speaker 1: what I love about Drew the most. And you know,
Speaker 1: obviously he's a tremendous athlete whatever, but you know his
Speaker 1: mentality and come back from the injuries and always stand positive.
Speaker 1: You know his his faith. Um, a lot of these
Speaker 1: things that I've just got a chance to watch. And
Speaker 1: I didn't meet him until not too long ago during
Speaker 1: this offseason. Um, but just a hell of a person
Speaker 1: um to meet. Uh if he says healthy a s year,
Speaker 1: expecting big things out of them. So we go on
Speaker 1: my charges today, talk about the season Drew Tranquil, drill,
Speaker 1: what's up, my dude? Are you doing? I'm great man?
Speaker 1: How about you. I'm I'm great dude, um, you know,
Speaker 1: just trying to keep all the ass and shade. When
Speaker 1: I was talking to you this morning and I look
Speaker 1: at you now and I'm like, these dudes young, they
Speaker 1: can move, their hips, are still good knees and even
Speaker 1: though you have some injuries, I'm like you still, you know,
Speaker 1: in in great shape. You always kept up with it. Man.
Speaker 1: How you how's your body filling? Overall? It's good man.
Speaker 1: We uh we had a good leg day yesterday and
Speaker 1: uh yeah, we're doing all the hips and stuff, all
Speaker 1: the mobility. I feel like a lot of trainers have
Speaker 1: really got on top of the functional side of things
Speaker 1: in terms of body maintenance and uh and keeping the
Speaker 1: important things like your hips, your low back, all those
Speaker 1: things moving. So it's been good man. What were you
Speaker 1: hitting in the gym when I hit you up yesterday? Man?
Speaker 1: But you just pumping some boys and tries. Man, are
Speaker 1: you getting the full body? Listen? All I do stuff
Speaker 1: now for it looks that's it, huh body. I'm a
Speaker 1: Ferrari on the outside, but in the nineteen seventy two
Speaker 1: oldsmobiling inside. Man, So I just tried. You know, what's
Speaker 1: different now? Is it. My mentality had to change when
Speaker 1: you retired, Right, So when you're playing, like obviously you
Speaker 1: gotta go against three hundred some pound lineman is coming
Speaker 1: up and and and leading up on you guys, and UM,
Speaker 1: so you need your body needs to be a little
Speaker 1: bit different from that. But man, what you just said,
Speaker 1: I wish that I learned a lot early in my
Speaker 1: career where you don't have to you know, squat six
Speaker 1: seven hundred pounds, You don't have to put four plates
Speaker 1: on the bench in order to go out there and
Speaker 1: have success on the field. I wish I learned that
Speaker 1: a lot earlier. Yeah, I haven't. I haven't backsquadded UH
Speaker 1: heavy and a really really long time really since college.
Speaker 1: Every since I've gotten the pro it's it's been pitch shark,
Speaker 1: it's been leg pressed, it's been explosive movements on the field, uh,
Speaker 1: because you don't necessarily need all that load, you know,
Speaker 1: transferring down your spine lifting heavy three four or five
Speaker 1: times a week. Um. And So I think the science
Speaker 1: and the data just continues to show that, you know,
Speaker 1: the sports performance side of things just continues to involve
Speaker 1: in terms of UH, in terms of health, the health
Speaker 1: and well being of the athletes, and so it's exciting.
Speaker 1: We can certainly use it on our team this year. Man,
Speaker 1: we're gonna trying to be healthy. That's that's the key.
Speaker 1: And I say that every for at least for the
Speaker 1: last couple of yearsws you guys that if you stayed healthy,
Speaker 1: you you're gonna compete with anybody in the National Football
Speaker 1: League period. And sometimes what happens is and you know,
Speaker 1: when the first string guys or the you know, the
Speaker 1: first round of guys get hurt, you got second or
Speaker 1: third whoever, there can be a drop off. You get
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like, that's that was that was always
Speaker 1: my thing. I said, Look, you're gonna have some injuries.
Speaker 1: Guys gonna get banged up, gonna have a hamstring, hip, ankle, shoulder,
Speaker 1: something like that during the season where they might miss
Speaker 1: some time, even if for a game or two. You
Speaker 1: have to have really readily available guys to go in
Speaker 1: the step up where it's not a drop off. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you it's tough too, because we had It's one
Speaker 1: thing to have a guy get hurt and you've got
Speaker 1: ten guys around him that can kind of pick up
Speaker 1: his slack. But when you have guys hurt at each level.
Speaker 1: You talk about Joey Boast of Melvin Ingram missing time
Speaker 1: last year, then me at the second level, and then
Speaker 1: Derwin James in the back end. I guess I'm speaking
Speaker 1: specifically for the defense. Uh, but it's tough when you
Speaker 1: have guys at each level hurt and you're trying to
Speaker 1: compete and be a great defense in the National Football League,
Speaker 1: and so uh. You know, coach Staley has made made
Speaker 1: an emphasis that his his number one jobs to give
Speaker 1: us to the season healthy, UM, And so you know,
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to what this training camp might look like.
Speaker 1: Has your mentality changed because me, I had some little
Speaker 1: injury things in college like nicks and stuff where I
Speaker 1: missed a little bit of time, but nothing serious. My
Speaker 1: first big injury came in the NFL when I missed
Speaker 1: uh time because of my knee. I told my PC
Speaker 1: L and l c O. And so that was the
Speaker 1: first time I actually had to sit out for a
Speaker 1: real course of time. Like, how was that time for you?
Speaker 1: Because for me, UM, I was stressed out. I was
Speaker 1: I got into a small state of depression and it
Speaker 1: was mainly because not even just injury, is this I
Speaker 1: used to watch guys go out to the practice field
Speaker 1: and like had to be sitting in the training room.
Speaker 1: What I used on my knee or whatever was was
Speaker 1: I was recuperating from we're covering from. Just to see
Speaker 1: that alone, man, was tough for me. So what what
Speaker 1: part of that was hard? Um? And one of your injuries.
Speaker 1: One thing, it's it's really hard because you train three days,
Speaker 1: three or forty five days a year for an opportunity
Speaker 1: to compete in sixteen now seventeen games, and there's no
Speaker 1: there's nothing, nothing given to you. And so you're just
Speaker 1: you're training your tail off mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, you're
Speaker 1: doing all these things to put yourself in the in
Speaker 1: the greatest position. Uh. And so to do all of
Speaker 1: that for a year and have high expectations for yourself
Speaker 1: and and see that come to an end on the
Speaker 1: fifth play of the season for me, Uh, it was
Speaker 1: really really difficult. Uh. I guess I shouldn't say luckily
Speaker 1: for me, But I went through to a c LS
Speaker 1: in college, so this process was it was not new
Speaker 1: to me in terms of missing time. But you talk
Speaker 1: about the mental side of the things with the depression
Speaker 1: and stuff, it's really hard when you're so close with
Speaker 1: these guys to to watch them go out, to watch
Speaker 1: them travel, travel to Kansas City, you know, travel to
Speaker 1: foxbro wherever they're going, and not be able to join
Speaker 1: them and not be able to take the fuel with them.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's two elements of that. It's one
Speaker 1: you just want to be out there to compete with
Speaker 1: those guys, and then too, it's just your love for
Speaker 1: the game. And when you miss those two elements, you
Speaker 1: feel like you're letting your brothers down and you're just
Speaker 1: missing that just desire and passion to compete. You know,
Speaker 1: it can get hard. You're real hard. Fox Sports Radio
Speaker 1: has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
Speaker 1: all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
Speaker 1: and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s
Speaker 1: R to listen live. I know you you talk a
Speaker 1: lot about like your religion and stuff like that. Did
Speaker 1: that happen at a younger age or kind of when
Speaker 1: the injuries and stuff happened when you had to get stronger,
Speaker 1: you know, with your with your religion met me and
Speaker 1: other hand man, I'm leaders like my family a strong
Speaker 1: Southern Baptist, but I I wasn't as religious. I didn't.
Speaker 1: That part of me didn't click into like later on
Speaker 1: in life when Andrew started happening, when you relying more
Speaker 1: on that. Yeah. So I gave my life to Christ
Speaker 1: when I was around ten years old. And I remember, Sean,
Speaker 1: I was sitting on my bedroom floor when I was twelve,
Speaker 1: and I took this poster off my wall, and I'll
Speaker 1: never forget sitting on that floor twelve years old. I'm
Speaker 1: just twelve, and I write, Lord, you know the plans
Speaker 1: you have for me. If you give me the platform
Speaker 1: to make it there, I'll give you all the honor
Speaker 1: and glory back in full. And it's crazy to see
Speaker 1: that prayer come to manifestation because I really shouldn't. You
Speaker 1: look at the odds, shouldn't be where I'm at today,
Speaker 1: to a c l S in college, didn't really go
Speaker 1: to a big high school, didn't really wasn't a big recruit.
Speaker 1: And then certainly the ankle dislocation last year. It just
Speaker 1: it's it's amazing. Uh. You know, when your faith is
Speaker 1: in something outside of where your job is, when you
Speaker 1: find yourself worth and something that's uh that's not relying
Speaker 1: on your performance. Uh what that can do to your
Speaker 1: hope and what that can do you on a daily basis,
Speaker 1: and just the hope and the resiliency you can give
Speaker 1: you to just continue to bounce back. So for me,
Speaker 1: it was certainly at a younger age for me. No,
Speaker 1: that's that's dope, man. That was one of the one
Speaker 1: of the things that I saw. And and also to man,
Speaker 1: just you know, get a chance to watch you around
Speaker 1: the other guys. Y'all, y'all, you guys got a type group.
Speaker 1: I mean, y'all, y'all are you guys are pretty damn close.
Speaker 1: And you know, I remember at the times that we
Speaker 1: wanted stuff that we had a really close knit team
Speaker 1: and talk about that Mexican you know, Darrel Went is back.
Speaker 1: You know, you're back, all your whole squad, Joey's healthy.
Speaker 1: I mean, people are coming back, man. And what what
Speaker 1: do you guys expect this upcoming getting out that everyone's
Speaker 1: gonna be on the field. Well, we're excited. I think
Speaker 1: we have a lot of of expectation and hope for
Speaker 1: what we can do. Um. What I love about our
Speaker 1: team is there's no really, there's no hierarchy system. It's
Speaker 1: not justin Herbert's the face of the franchise and doesn't
Speaker 1: talk to anybody or Derwin James and Joey Bows a
Speaker 1: big contract guys. You know, they they're cooler than everybody else.
Speaker 1: It's not really like that. It's a real familiesque environment
Speaker 1: where it doesn't matter where you're at, free agent, first
Speaker 1: round draft pick, big time quarterback. Everybody is just kind
Speaker 1: of out there to play ball, and they love to
Speaker 1: play ball and love to get after it, love to compete,
Speaker 1: and so, uh, you know, Coach Dailey keep saying we're
Speaker 1: gonna do things our way, and I think that's gonna
Speaker 1: be that's gonna be the matra, Right, We're gonna be healthy,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna do things our way, and that's compete
Speaker 1: and build relationships. And so I think if we continue
Speaker 1: to foster that environment, we're gonna be a good place.
Speaker 1: You know. What's you know, it's crazy about Cole Staley.
Speaker 1: So he caught me on the night that they brought
Speaker 1: him in and we talked on the phone for about
Speaker 1: twenty minutes. He was in a car and uh, he said, look,
Speaker 1: I wanted you to be one of the first guys
Speaker 1: I've reached out to because of obviously you know me
Speaker 1: being an organization and still being around you guys and
Speaker 1: being a ball with the team. But what I heard
Speaker 1: in his voice, man, was like excitement and motivation. You
Speaker 1: get what I'm saying. And it wasn't like, um, you know,
Speaker 1: some of these coaches gave you the whole hype speech
Speaker 1: to raw role, We're gonna go out there and kick
Speaker 1: everybody ass. And it wasn't one of ooth. It was like,
Speaker 1: you know, we're coming to here to change things around.
Speaker 1: I realized what I have. You know, I gotta adjust
Speaker 1: to her. But he would start naming the guys and
Speaker 1: so it was it the you know, we're gonna come
Speaker 1: and start kicking down doors. I'm changing everything and run
Speaker 1: into my way. It was a more of a technical
Speaker 1: slash like work smarter, not harder type of deal. Have
Speaker 1: you have you seen that from him being around him
Speaker 1: so far? I do? I think uh, I think just
Speaker 1: his the young energy, right, it just brings about this
Speaker 1: excitement that you know, changes on the horizon and we're
Speaker 1: gonna be in a good position. But I think, uh,
Speaker 1: you kind of hit on the nail on the head
Speaker 1: when you said, like some coaches coming there and it's
Speaker 1: just fake it's hur rah, and it's not really backed
Speaker 1: up by anything. I think with him, when you actually
Speaker 1: get in the film room and you start talking the
Speaker 1: xs and ols, you go, this guy is for real,
Speaker 1: Like he knows what he's talking about. He knows how
Speaker 1: to attack, you know, offenses. He knows how to attack
Speaker 1: defenses even from the offensive perspective. And so I'm really
Speaker 1: excited in terms of what he's gonna be able to do,
Speaker 1: putting game plans into place and and really putting us
Speaker 1: in good positions to be successful. It just seems like
Speaker 1: a brilliant football mind. No for sure. I mean just
Speaker 1: they were smart, and I was in how can I
Speaker 1: say that? I was hoping they were bringing in a
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator, right because you know, you got you got
Speaker 1: hurt Me there, and you got you know, Keenan, and
Speaker 1: you got some stells in the offense side of the ball.
Speaker 1: You guys doing on defense too. But I was always
Speaker 1: looking for them too, you know what, what with to
Speaker 1: lesk on those guys over there there, bringing the defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator that was going to take the guys they have
Speaker 1: on his defense, because it's a it's a ton of y'all.
Speaker 1: Y'all got a squad if you want to look at,
Speaker 1: you know, per position basis to have a coach there
Speaker 1: that was gonna let you do what you're great at doing.
Speaker 1: Because all the great coaches that I got a chance
Speaker 1: to play for, they said, Okay, this guy's great at
Speaker 1: doing that, this guy's greater doing that, he's not so
Speaker 1: great at doing that, and they put guys in position
Speaker 1: to win. Have you seen kind of him coming in
Speaker 1: and letting guys especially like you know, uh Murray and
Speaker 1: the guys around who I don't want to use this
Speaker 1: and a wrong way, but kind of been leashed a
Speaker 1: little bit and and not let go, you know, let
Speaker 1: them go and make plays. Have you seen that so far?
Speaker 1: I mean, I think with him, he he tries to
Speaker 1: find the each guy's strength and he doesn't want a system,
Speaker 1: uh the system to override or preceed his players. He
Speaker 1: wants the players to make the system. And so I
Speaker 1: think when he looks at his roster, he's looking at
Speaker 1: what can these guys do, what are they best at,
Speaker 1: and let's put them in those positions to make those plays.
Speaker 1: I'm interested. I wanted to ask you. I guess I
Speaker 1: think that maybe when you when you were playing or
Speaker 1: maybe even a while back. The mantra has always been
Speaker 1: defense wins championships. Defense wins championships. And you said, you
Speaker 1: want to see a defensive guy come in with the
Speaker 1: way that the league is going and these teams scoring
Speaker 1: thirty points a game, do you still you still feel
Speaker 1: that way as a defensive player. I mean, as the
Speaker 1: defensive player, my ego is kind of like defense wins championships.
Speaker 1: What's your what are your thoughts on that? Yeah? But
Speaker 1: you know, more so now when when I even I
Speaker 1: look at you guys, you got a bunch of studds
Speaker 1: and stuff. On defense, It's more about the players, right,
Speaker 1: It's less about the coach that the great teams, the
Speaker 1: players take over. The players make things happen. And so
Speaker 1: when you start looking at the presence, you know, the
Speaker 1: Derwin James and you're coming back healthy and obviously you
Speaker 1: know mel Melbourne Le's that was that was a little
Speaker 1: bit of a hit to see how it sound with
Speaker 1: the Steelers. But you know, I'm sure they're gonna take
Speaker 1: care him over there. Um. But yeah, just on the
Speaker 1: defense side of the ball, man, it's it's you guys
Speaker 1: really making a big place. And I do think even
Speaker 1: though this is a offensive league like oriented style game. Now,
Speaker 1: I do believe that the defense are the ones that
Speaker 1: are finally gonna gonna close out the big games. Right.
Speaker 1: So the offense, because of the rules set up and
Speaker 1: how things change, they're going to get their twenty one
Speaker 1: plus points. They're going to It's it's hard not to
Speaker 1: score twenty one points in today's game. You're not gonna
Speaker 1: see like old school back when I play, we will
Speaker 1: win games with thirteen to ten, seventeen to ten. You
Speaker 1: know you're seeing you know the eight. Uh, those are
Speaker 1: the games we're starting to see a lot now. But ultimately,
Speaker 1: man like, I think the defense because of mentality that
Speaker 1: you guys have. Mind you, those offensive linemen they're they're
Speaker 1: not like, um, they're not very vocal. Then a lot
Speaker 1: of the guys aren't super mean guys. It's really the
Speaker 1: defensive players. You look at the caliber the defensive players.
Speaker 1: It shows how the team's attitude is. That's the one
Speaker 1: that kind of rub off on everybody, even on the
Speaker 1: offense side of the ball. The defensive guys make the
Speaker 1: organization go and they feed off each other's mentality. It
Speaker 1: gives the coaches um and that you know, kind of
Speaker 1: a chip on their shoulder. I'm always gonna say defense
Speaker 1: wins championships because I really do believe the DNA of
Speaker 1: a great team comes from great defenses. You look at
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl last year, right with the Bucks
Speaker 1: in the Chiefs like the Bucks defense won them that game.
Speaker 1: How to present in their ability to put pressure on
Speaker 1: my Homes forced turnovers and just get after it. I
Speaker 1: mean the Homes was running for his life and they were.
Speaker 1: They really seemed like, you know, you got the the
Speaker 1: greatest player ever in Brady orchestrating the offense. But when
Speaker 1: you look at this nacity and the culture of that team,
Speaker 1: it seems like it was said specifically those two guys
Speaker 1: in the middle, David and uh Devin White, you know
Speaker 1: now percent and and that's that's the DNA of this
Speaker 1: team when they're even when they're running the ball in
Speaker 1: offense and they're establishing a run game. You look at
Speaker 1: any one of these great teams that's one in the
Speaker 1: last five of teen years, and look at some of
Speaker 1: their defensive stars, Guys who break down the huddle, um,
Speaker 1: guys who are vocal, who was getting on the other
Speaker 1: guys to step up and played better. It all comes
Speaker 1: from the defense side of the ball. And I don't
Speaker 1: care what the offense driven league that that that today's
Speaker 1: game is and it really comes down to the defense
Speaker 1: side of the ball. Always agree. So fans the last question, man,
Speaker 1: fans are back this year, right, you guys are plannings
Speaker 1: and so far stadium. What what can you expect? Man?
Speaker 1: Because I had the the the terrible luxury and now
Speaker 1: I want to say that I love Kua kom um,
Speaker 1: but you guys are playing in the state of the art,
Speaker 1: the best stadium in football. Now, fans that back the issue?
Speaker 1: What can the guys? What can everybody expect? Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: did you watch the NBA Finals Deer District, Man, The
Speaker 1: thing was popping off. It was energy, the energy that
Speaker 1: that fans can bring in. And we talk about as
Speaker 1: players like you shouldn't need the fans to get up.
Speaker 1: You know, you should be internally motivated enough. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the love for your brothers should be enough. But it
Speaker 1: adds an element and it gives you that juice sometimes
Speaker 1: when you're down in the fourth quarter and you need
Speaker 1: that little pick me up to to see those fans
Speaker 1: and the and the love they have for the organization
Speaker 1: of the game of football. It just brings something out
Speaker 1: in you and it's special. It's special to look up
Speaker 1: in the in the stands and see your family, see
Speaker 1: your wife and your kids, and and see him in
Speaker 1: your jersey. It does something. It does something with the mentality,
Speaker 1: and I know you know that. And so to be
Speaker 1: playing in this in the best stadium in football, my
Speaker 1: at you, it's just a terry on top. And so
Speaker 1: it's gonna be an exciting ride. And we've got a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of awesome games on the slate
Speaker 1: and uh, and we're certainly gonna get things rolling here
Speaker 1: next Tuesday. Man, it's gonna be a ride. Hey man,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see what you guys do this year.
Speaker 1: Please ball out because I got a lot of trash
Speaker 1: to talk on social media, because look that's all I
Speaker 1: can do now, Like I could just be a troll.
Speaker 1: I could be a troll to other people of fans,
Speaker 1: because you know I'm going and I talked to anybody
Speaker 1: because I especially when I know it's the Raiders fans
Speaker 1: or somebody who's gonna clap back at me on on
Speaker 1: social media. But um, I wish you the best this year, man,
Speaker 1: stay healthy and dude, honestly, just watching you and you
Speaker 1: know some of the injuries you battle because I've been
Speaker 1: through it and to see how strong mentally you are
Speaker 1: to come back from all that. Man, I wish you
Speaker 1: all the best this year. I appreciate that. Man, Let's
Speaker 1: ball out this year and I'll come back on the
Speaker 1: pod and we'll ruin this on the year. Absolutely. Man,
Speaker 1: you gotta appreciate you. Bro. Thanks guys for listening to
Speaker 1: another lights Out podcast Me Sean Merriment uh and that
Speaker 1: was dope for me on many levels. The reason why
Speaker 1: I brought up the injury part of it because it
Speaker 1: is tough, man. It is tough when you have those
Speaker 1: injuries back to back and like I did, I got
Speaker 1: bit by the injury buff and so I know the
Speaker 1: feeling of that, not only the physical part of it,
Speaker 1: but the mental part of it. Um to try to
Speaker 1: bounce back to that. Um. Also to get a chance
Speaker 1: to talk about coach daley Um. I got an opportunity
Speaker 1: to talk to him right when they brought him in
Speaker 1: and we had a great conversation. Also met him in person,
Speaker 1: and just the energy around the charges art is different
Speaker 1: this year, being around the facility myself, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: talking to the players, there's a different feeling around the building,
Speaker 1: so we're expect him huge things out of my charges
Speaker 1: this year. Can't wait to see them at so Far Stadium.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be mega. Um. Thank you guys for listening
Speaker 1: to another lights Out podcast for me, Shawn Merriman. Those
Speaker 1: reviews that support, the retweets, the repost on social media,
Speaker 1: love all of it. I tried to get to you
Speaker 1: guys as much as possible. When I see it, we're
Speaker 1: growing like hell and it's all because of you guys.
Speaker 1: Thank you.