Speaker 1: You're listening to the Ravens Press Pass podcast. Is Thursday,
Speaker 1: June sixth, and the Ravens wrapped up another session of
Speaker 1: organized team activities. After practice, we had a chance to
Speaker 1: hear from head coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 2: DJ Thompson can't see Chiefs defensive lineman. We want to
Speaker 2: say that our prayers are with them. I think he
Speaker 2: had an issue and health issue today over there with
Speaker 2: the Chiefs at their practice. So we just wanted to tell,
Speaker 2: you know, to tell the world that the Ravens are
Speaker 2: thinking of him and his family were praying for his health.
Speaker 3: The other thing we mentioned to the guys.
Speaker 2: Is D Day, eighty year anniversary of Normandy, the invasion
Speaker 2: of Normandy to begin the year long domination of the
Speaker 2: American Armed Forces to win World War Two.
Speaker 3: Very proud of that and to all.
Speaker 2: The military families all over the world sacrifices they make
Speaker 2: for us, and specifically to the families of those who
Speaker 2: participated in World War Two. Couldn't be more grateful. Never
Speaker 2: take we never take that for granted. Okay, what question
Speaker 2: do you have?
Speaker 4: Kind of I think it's some reps with that you
Speaker 4: kick off for the Aligned anybody think, uh, is it
Speaker 4: still kind of what you're going.
Speaker 5: Do you think it's going to be successful with how
Speaker 5: they have designed it and.
Speaker 2: So far in Uh yeah, I mean I think it's
Speaker 2: gonna be an interesting play, a fun play. You know,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's you can kind of look at it
Speaker 2: philosophically any way you want.
Speaker 3: You know, there's things that takes away.
Speaker 2: You know, you don't have a you don't have a
Speaker 2: line of scrimmage anymore or whatever, but you don't have
Speaker 2: an on side kick surprise anymore. But it does add
Speaker 2: things to the game, and the main thing it adds
Speaker 2: to positive I mean, I'm I thought there was other
Speaker 2: options and just be clear about that, but I was
Speaker 2: for doing something and this is this is something and
Speaker 2: basically at this point we're committed to it. So you know,
Speaker 2: we see that, we see the good of it, the
Speaker 2: excitement in it.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a lot.
Speaker 2: More returns out there, and we're just trying to figure
Speaker 2: out how to be successful with the play, both covering
Speaker 2: the kick and returning the kick. So we're we're looking
Speaker 2: at it from every end that we possibly can and
Speaker 2: hopefully that hopefully we'll be good at it next year.
Speaker 6: John, there's some talk of teams not using their their
Speaker 6: primary kicker to do kickoffs and when view the system,
Speaker 6: is that something that you've thought about at all or
Speaker 6: do you expect us?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I would say we've thought about everything.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 2: It's it's just a matter of do you have a
Speaker 2: guy that can kick it in there consistently? And and uh,
Speaker 2: if you do, probably is an advantage because you get
Speaker 2: an extra tackleer in there and you'll put your kicker
Speaker 2: at risks. So I'd say we're looking at every aspect
Speaker 2: we can think of.
Speaker 8: John as a head coach, former special teams coach. When
Speaker 8: this rule is implemented, do you immediately like how do
Speaker 8: you think about it initially? Like do you go to,
Speaker 8: oh man, they're just changing everything, you know, it's a whole,
Speaker 8: entirely new rule. Or are you excited about the challenge
Speaker 8: as a coach of beating the other teams as far
Speaker 8: as schematically and kind of new stuff you can implement.
Speaker 3: The ladder for sure?
Speaker 2: I mean it's it's it's uh, you just get right
Speaker 2: to work on how we gonna teach it, how do
Speaker 2: we want to coach it. We couldn't wait to get
Speaker 2: out here and get out here even in this type
Speaker 2: of practice and run plays and see what the angles
Speaker 2: look like, and so we can kind of we can
Speaker 2: kind of clean our coaching points. What do we want
Speaker 2: to tell the guys, And we told the guys this
Speaker 2: is a collaboration.
Speaker 3: We're learning this together.
Speaker 2: You know, where do we want to drop, what's our targets,
Speaker 2: what's our landmarks are, what's our leverages in the kickoff?
Speaker 2: What are angles? Tell us what you think when you're
Speaker 2: out there. So we're trying to make sure we do
Speaker 2: the best we can to ender the season understanding the
Speaker 2: play as well as we can, and then I'm sure
Speaker 2: we'll learn a lot once it starts happening for real.
Speaker 5: What have you kind of learned in the process.
Speaker 9: Obviously, I know you're not going to hit munching the
Speaker 9: strategy here now, but if you can make.
Speaker 5: Sure the examples.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we've learned about the spacing and the
Speaker 2: time in the angles a little bit.
Speaker 3: We think we have.
Speaker 2: I don't think you really know until you play real
Speaker 2: games preseason practice to once we get in pads, we'll
Speaker 2: be able to practice at almost full speed, so that'll help.
Speaker 7: Also, we've seen devantees Walker and TG Tampa mashed up
Speaker 7: a number of times.
Speaker 5: What are you seeing out of the foot discuss?
Speaker 2: I think they're both TJ and UH and Tez are
Speaker 2: both doing a great job of of taking one step
Speaker 2: at a time and getting better every single day. You know,
Speaker 2: it's not it's not competitive in the sense. You know,
Speaker 2: if there's a deep ball thrown down the field, you
Speaker 2: know the DB's not trying to take the ball away.
Speaker 2: So you got to understand that. So we expect those
Speaker 2: catches to be made, but we want made, you know,
Speaker 2: and we want.
Speaker 3: To dB right there in position with his eyes on
Speaker 3: the football.
Speaker 2: I think both those guys have gotten better every day
Speaker 2: with technique and assignment, probably all the rookies ahead of
Speaker 2: where we would have expected in those two areas.
Speaker 10: Pretty dominant. Unsure any effects jury you're encouraging is that.
Speaker 3: I haven't seen any effects from that. He looks good.
Speaker 2: Uh, he looks He looked better this week than last
Speaker 2: week even and I came back in great shape. So
Speaker 2: exciting to see him out there.
Speaker 11: A couple of bets of the olon, both Morgan and John.
Speaker 11: What do you see him from this current group that's
Speaker 11: really impressed so far?
Speaker 2: I've seen a lot of big guys that can move,
Speaker 2: you know, and uh and work hard, pick things up quickly.
Speaker 2: Is the nice thing is is nobody is the there's
Speaker 2: nobody's going out here and say I don't think he's
Speaker 2: gonna be able to do it. I mean, so far,
Speaker 2: every single guy looks like he could be the starter.
Speaker 2: So now we get into pads, we get into preseason games.
Speaker 2: Let the guys compete against one another and see who
Speaker 2: wins the jobs. But all of them are still in
Speaker 2: contention at this point, which is very good.
Speaker 6: John, What is the best thing that a rookie offensive
Speaker 6: lineman can do to get your attention in a positive
Speaker 6: way during ye.
Speaker 2: Well, he should know what he's doing. You know, if
Speaker 2: the play goes to the right, we don't want him
Speaker 2: going left. You know, we don't want to see two
Speaker 2: guards clunking heads, both of them pull in opposite directions.
Speaker 2: I think those are the That's where it starts is
Speaker 2: you should be able to pick up your assignments, and
Speaker 2: then you want to see a good a good foundation, footwork, hands,
Speaker 2: those kind of things. See him in the weight room
Speaker 2: working hard and getting stronger. That's really as much.
Speaker 3: As you can do. We're just teaching him right now.
Speaker 3: You know they're learning right now.
Speaker 12: Sorry.
Speaker 5: We've seen Devin Larry pick some great throads. You've also
Speaker 5: seen some picks do the interceptions that really bother you
Speaker 5: because you kind of want guys on a fraid to
Speaker 5: any figure thing about at this level compared to the
Speaker 5: college An.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think you're gonna there's gonna be
Speaker 2: times out there. Hopefully our defense is creating some tough
Speaker 2: situations for a quarterback, you know, and I hope our
Speaker 2: defense puts the quarterbacks in the toughest situations we'll see
Speaker 2: all year.
Speaker 3: That'd be the goal.
Speaker 2: So you want to see some of that out there
Speaker 2: and just see the guys grow through it and get better.
Speaker 7: John's good.
Speaker 13: You've got out wanted from the os Gays as you competitive,
Speaker 13: and you can.
Speaker 3: As much as you can.
Speaker 2: We have another day, so I'm really not I'm not
Speaker 2: really counting anything yet till tomorrow. You know, no assessments
Speaker 2: as much as you kind of look at the next
Speaker 2: day and you say, we want to be intentional about
Speaker 2: what we want to accomplish today. You know, like every coach,
Speaker 2: what's your main thing you want to see? Make sure
Speaker 2: the players understand it, make sure every player has an
Speaker 2: intentionality about what they want to go out there and accomplish.
Speaker 2: I think if we all do that collectively, we're gonna
Speaker 2: look back and say we've you know, we're as far
Speaker 2: along as we can be.
Speaker 3: And that's really kind of how we measure it.
Speaker 4: John with Justin, as we know it be so accurate
Speaker 4: and so attention to detailed a lot of things. How
Speaker 4: important do you think that will be as far as
Speaker 4: the new kickoff fool and where I mean? I guess
Speaker 4: Hank Kong really doesn't mean anything anymore. It's more about placement.
Speaker 2: When you would you say, yeah, you know, I'm not
Speaker 2: ready to make any pronouncements like that, you know, I
Speaker 2: think I think having a kicker that can put the
Speaker 2: ball in spots with various types of hangtimes will be
Speaker 2: in advantage. And Justin definitely is a guy that can
Speaker 2: do that. But I don't know if hanktime' is gonna
Speaker 2: not matter or not. You know, We're just gonna have
Speaker 2: to see how how it all plays out. That way,
Speaker 2: we have a lot to learn about the play.
Speaker 14: When Mentory Mini Camps starts next week, do you expect
Speaker 14: Moreland to.
Speaker 5: Be full go see, completely healthy and ready to practice.
Speaker 2: I expect them to be ready to practice next week. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we'll see, you know how, whether it's full go or not,
Speaker 2: or whether we choose to put them out there full go,
Speaker 2: I don't know yet.
Speaker 3: It's a good question.
Speaker 5: Any other guys, we shouldn't expect to see how any camps.
Speaker 15: You know.
Speaker 2: I just didn't bring my list out, you know, darn it,
Speaker 2: forgot my list. They're guys, the guys that are out
Speaker 2: that you know are out, you know you definitely won't
Speaker 2: see we might see a Disa back, for instance. I'm
Speaker 2: hopeful we might see bow back hopefully next week. Off
Speaker 2: the top of my head. Guys like that a job,
Speaker 2: you know, a job will start getting individual today, right,
Speaker 2: David did that was really good to see.
Speaker 3: So it's kind of working through it.
Speaker 13: Your thoughts on my brother's tattoo and what would it
Speaker 13: take you to get the tattoo on the way he
Speaker 13: did it.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not afraid of get in the tattoo,
Speaker 3: you know. I want to make it clear.
Speaker 2: And if we win a Super Bowl, I probably could
Speaker 2: be talked into something, but it's probably gonna have it's
Speaker 2: gonna have an eye in an a And I can
Speaker 2: tell you. Any tattoo I have is gonna start with
Speaker 2: Ingrid Nelison family first.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm pretty sure Jim probably got that dictate
Speaker 2: too if I look that tattoo closely. But there's something
Speaker 2: in there that says Sarah on it. But you know,
Speaker 2: I did read an article recently. You see it where
Speaker 2: they say tattoos or it's a health thing, health risk.
Speaker 3: Anybody see that article? No, you got tattoo? You might
Speaker 3: want to check that article. I saw that. No, We're good,
Speaker 3: all right. Thanks seeing.
Speaker 1: We also heard from the Goat kicker Justin Tucker. He
Speaker 1: discussed some of the rule changes in the NFL that
Speaker 1: went to place over the course of this offseason, and
Speaker 1: also his thoughts going into this upcoming season.
Speaker 12: Hey guys, how are you all doing? Good to see you?
Speaker 12: See you all right? Fire and ready?
Speaker 4: So what was you when you kind of learned about
Speaker 4: it and kind the changes to it?
Speaker 12: Yeah?
Speaker 15: I think initial reaction was you've got to be positive
Speaker 15: about it and think about it in terms of, uh,
Speaker 15: this is going to keep the play in the game,
Speaker 15: and this is not just going to keep the playing
Speaker 15: the game, It's going to make it much more exciting.
Speaker 15: I think there's going to be a lot more action
Speaker 15: as far as UH kicks that will be returned. You know,
Speaker 15: in the last several years, the trend has been for
Speaker 15: UH most teams to send the ball into the end zone,
Speaker 15: UH give up the twenty five yard line, U and
Speaker 15: the play was essentially not happening as it was designed
Speaker 15: to happen. But now but in all likelihood, we're gonna
Speaker 15: see a lot more returns and it'll give a lot
Speaker 15: more guy's opportunity to you know, take that play and
Speaker 15: make it a big play.
Speaker 12: So I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be really exciting.
Speaker 7: So many years in the lead with this kind of
Speaker 7: big rule change is they're kind of exciting to get
Speaker 7: back into the lab and get creative with what.
Speaker 5: You can do.
Speaker 12: Yeah, it is.
Speaker 15: You know, just like a pitcher tries to develop his stuff.
Speaker 15: I'm doing the same thing out here, trying to figure
Speaker 15: out whichever way we can, in our minds, gain an advantage,
Speaker 15: gain an edge, you know, and whether that means you know,
Speaker 15: putting the ball in different spots, making it challenging for
Speaker 15: a returner to you know, scoop up the ball easily.
Speaker 15: You know, all of those things we're looking at right now.
Speaker 15: You know, granted, we are kind of in the fledgling
Speaker 15: stages of what we're trying to you know, accomplish here,
Speaker 15: what we're trying to figure out. So you know, like
Speaker 15: you said, we are in the lab, and you know,
Speaker 15: more more recently, my lab has actually been the weight room.
Speaker 15: This might be really surprising to uh a lot of
Speaker 15: a lot of you guys and a lot of my
Speaker 15: teammates because I don't spend to hang out in the
Speaker 15: weight room too frequently. But after watching a lot of
Speaker 15: these uh xfl plays over the last couple of years,
Speaker 15: the kicker seems to be like involved in like like
Speaker 15: twenty five percent of the tackles. So, I mean, like
Speaker 15: I've been, I've mixed it up a couple of times,
Speaker 15: you know, I've gotten in there, you know, But now
Speaker 15: I gotta you know, get some more shrugs, get the
Speaker 15: traps going a little bit, you know, just to make
Speaker 15: sure I'm prepared to uh uh you know, prepared for
Speaker 15: a little bit more contact. But in uh, in all seriousness,
Speaker 15: it will be a lot of fun to uh, you know,
Speaker 15: see what we come up with, and then see what
Speaker 15: other teams come up with, and then uh, you know
Speaker 15: see how we can gain an advantage on the player.
Speaker 4: Are do you plan to because of that? The you know,
Speaker 4: it sounds like the kickers are gonna be involved little
Speaker 4: bit more. Yeah, I mean do you will you add
Speaker 4: more muscle because of that?
Speaker 15: I have put on like three point eight pounds, So
Speaker 15: can you guys tell Probably not?
Speaker 12: But uh yeah, I'll leave it at that, I asked John.
Speaker 6: I mean there has been talked to that some teams
Speaker 6: may not use their their kicker to do the kick. Ill,
Speaker 6: do you want to be out there? Do you want
Speaker 6: to be the guy doing it?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 12: Hell yeah, I want to be out there.
Speaker 15: I mean, like any chance I get to be on
Speaker 15: the field, I'm living out my childhood dream, you know. So, uh, wherever, whenever,
Speaker 15: wherever that is, I'm going to make sure I'm ready
Speaker 15: to go and put the best product on the field
Speaker 15: that I possibly can. You know, at the same time,
Speaker 15: and in fairness to you know, the idea that you know,
Speaker 15: a safety or a linebacker or somebody that has you know,
Speaker 15: a little bit more practice, a little bit more training
Speaker 15: as a as a.
Speaker 12: Coverage athlete, as a tackler.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I think it's totally fair to you know, turn
Speaker 15: over every stone and see what you got. I mean,
Speaker 15: who knows there's there might be a hidden gem in
Speaker 15: our locker rooms. And guy that can you know, pinpoint
Speaker 15: drop the ball, you know, off the tee, you know,
Speaker 15: on the five yard line at the red fade line,
Speaker 15: just dropping on a dime and then just go down
Speaker 15: there and smoke the ball carrier. So I'd like to
Speaker 15: I'd like to think I would be that guy. But
Speaker 15: you know, just like any and all positions out here,
Speaker 15: evaluations are comprehensive and ongoing. So I'm just gonna do
Speaker 15: everything I can to make sure I have every kick
Speaker 15: available and everything else that I need to have available,
Speaker 15: every every other way that I.
Speaker 12: Need to be prepared. I'm gonna make sure that I
Speaker 12: do that for the you know, for this team.
Speaker 3: I can't imagine what.
Speaker 10: You making tacklest value horse a kicker. They talked me
Speaker 10: about that because you're getting injured.
Speaker 15: I think it probably would make the most sense that
Speaker 15: you don't want any of your specialists getting hurt throughout
Speaker 15: the course of a game. But this is this is
Speaker 15: still football in the National Football League, you know, so
Speaker 15: you know it is what it is. I mean, we're
Speaker 15: just gonna have to you know, we're gonna have to
Speaker 15: see what happens.
Speaker 14: You've gone back and watch the XFL film and how
Speaker 14: much how much of that if you kind of consume.
Speaker 15: We have, Yeah, we've I know, Randy, Chris Sam, those
Speaker 15: guys have watched probably every XFL kickoff that has happened
Speaker 15: with these you know, with the similar rules. There are
Speaker 15: a couple of things that are a couple of nuances
Speaker 15: that are a little bit different between their rule and
Speaker 15: the NFL's rule. But they have studied it thoroughly. I've
Speaker 15: I've studied clips that they've sent me. I've seen clips
Speaker 15: on my own, you know, just and that's just part
Speaker 15: of being a pro just doing everything we can to
Speaker 15: be prepared to you know, or just just to you know,
Speaker 15: gay just to develop our own ideas for how we're
Speaker 15: going to attack the play as well.
Speaker 13: We're attack and drill or we live with the last
Speaker 13: time before attacking.
Speaker 12: That's a really good question.
Speaker 15: There's probably in high school at this point, but I
Speaker 15: think it's one of those things it just comes natural,
Speaker 15: you know, if you're a ballplayer like you just you
Speaker 15: stick your nose in there and you know, hopefully, you know,
Speaker 15: hopefully you take hopefully you're giving out more of a
Speaker 15: hit than you're receiving. So that's that's a plan, at
Speaker 15: least at least right now. We'll see how that all
Speaker 15: works out.
Speaker 5: A chance to ask Charbot because he can't look for you.
Speaker 5: But don't they discourage that from meresponing for you to
Speaker 5: h to avoid contact.
Speaker 15: I don't think it's necessarily something that is encouraged, but
Speaker 15: it's not discouraged either, you know, It's just it kind
Speaker 15: of just comes with the territory.
Speaker 12: It's a football play.
Speaker 15: We're all football players out there, and ultimately, if a
Speaker 15: returner is uh, you know, b lining towards the end
Speaker 15: zone and I'm the last you know, I'm the I'm
Speaker 15: the last guy there to stop him. It is part
Speaker 15: of my job description. It's not necessarily you know, a
Speaker 15: priority A. You know, Priority A is make kicks and
Speaker 15: then you know, as far as kickoffs go, you know,
Speaker 15: be able to put the ball wherever coaches want me
Speaker 15: to put the ball, and then you know, somewhere in
Speaker 15: there is be ready to make the play on the
Speaker 15: ball carry if you have to. So you know, maybe
Speaker 15: maybe we will start doing some tackling drills over there
Speaker 15: in training camp it'll it'll probably be really bad TV,
Speaker 15: but we'll have fun doing it.
Speaker 5: Are thirteen.
Speaker 11: You're talking about even extra waves that you want to
Speaker 11: improve your own game team wide. Giving you guys finished
Speaker 11: last year. Have you seen the focus Brilli enhanced going.
Speaker 5: Into this season.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I you know, I think this this team, the
Speaker 15: core of this team has done a really good job
Speaker 15: of coming into this offseason program with the right attitude
Speaker 15: that we're going to pick up right where we left off.
Speaker 15: We were, you know, we were doing some really really
Speaker 15: good things. Uh, especially at the end of the year
Speaker 15: when you want to be performing at your best. We
Speaker 15: were doing a lot of really good things and just
Speaker 15: you know, focusing in on those things and then also
Speaker 15: just ruthlessly attacking our deficiencies, you know, whatever they may be.
Speaker 15: Always talk about the idea of around here. You don't
Speaker 15: you don't attack the person, You attack the issue. You
Speaker 15: confront the issue. You know, you kind of have to
Speaker 15: have a little bit thicker skin for that and realize
Speaker 15: it's not about you know, anything I have going on personally,
Speaker 15: but how can I help my team improve? How can
Speaker 15: I improve so I'm a better I'm more of an
Speaker 15: asset to my team and that's something that you know,
Speaker 15: this the core, this group, the leadership of this team
Speaker 15: has done a really good job of carrying over from
Speaker 15: last year, in years prior when we've had a lot
Speaker 15: of success carrying over from prior seasons to this time
Speaker 15: right now. And it's something that I know, you know
Speaker 15: Rokwan Lamar, even young guys like Tyler Linderbaum, Kyle Hamilton,
Speaker 15: you know, really leaning into that idea and finding ways
Speaker 15: that we can all step up our individual and collective games.
Speaker 12: This team's doing a good job of that.
Speaker 13: Photograph just uh ils think more looking after recovering late
Speaker 13: injury and back to a fluid operation.
Speaker 15: Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't say back to a fluid operation.
Speaker 15: Tyler did an excellent job for us last year, and
Speaker 15: uh we appreciate his hard work. He did a he
Speaker 15: did a great job stepping in kind of you know,
Speaker 15: last minute, if you will, was like right right at
Speaker 15: the start of training camp. And you know, you guys
Speaker 15: that know me well know that I like our operation
Speaker 15: to be air tight. I like it to be hermetically sealed,
Speaker 15: and nothing can penetrate what you know, nothing can disrupt
Speaker 15: what we've got going. And the more we wrap it
Speaker 15: out the longer we have to work together, you know,
Speaker 15: the the tighter our operation becomes, the more efficient we become. So,
Speaker 15: you know, losing out on realistically several months last season
Speaker 15: was tough.
Speaker 12: But Tyler did a great job stepping up.
Speaker 15: And uh, as far as Nick goes, Nick's doing an
Speaker 15: excellent job picking up right where he left off. He
Speaker 15: you know, he was coming off of a you know,
Speaker 15: a Pro Bowl caliber season. In my mind, I thought
Speaker 15: he should have been a Pro Bowler. He was, he
Speaker 15: was coming off of an all Pro caliber season. Uh
Speaker 15: So it's not just us that recognize how good of
Speaker 15: a job.
Speaker 12: He he can do.
Speaker 15: It's you know, he's he's being recognized by his peers
Speaker 15: across the league as well. Uh So, it has been
Speaker 15: really good to see him step right back up and
Speaker 15: come out out of the field ready to go just
Speaker 15: like he said he was going to. And you know,
Speaker 15: a lot of a lot of y'all don't don't know
Speaker 15: this about about Nick or really like any of the
Speaker 15: guys that battle season ending injuries. You know, what they
Speaker 15: have to go through is uh you know, it's pretty grueling,
Speaker 15: not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, spiritually, It challenges you
Speaker 15: and Nick was Nick was grinding, you know, he was
Speaker 15: grinding all last season. As soon as he got hurt,
Speaker 15: he you know, he went right to work, much like
Speaker 15: many of the other you know, injured guys have done
Speaker 15: before him and will do after him. So, you know,
Speaker 15: credit to him, Credit to the staff that works works
Speaker 15: with all the guys you know, and then the folks
Speaker 15: that you know whoever else, and Nick is working with,
Speaker 15: like everybody was doing a really really good job to
Speaker 15: get him back to a place where he's gonna play
Speaker 15: high level football.
Speaker 1: Game on the offensive line, we heard from some of
Speaker 1: the guys who were competing for starting jobs. Let's go
Speaker 1: to rookie right tackle Roger rosen Garden.
Speaker 9: Roger, what's uh, you know, from going through rookie camp
Speaker 9: until now having just about finished ots, what's been the
Speaker 9: biggest adjustment, What's stood out that maybe you didn't fully
Speaker 9: expect going into him.
Speaker 14: Yeah, you know, going from rookie many camp to OTA's
Speaker 14: there's quite a bit of differences because he getting all
Speaker 14: the bets coming in and I'd say the biggest difference is,
Speaker 14: you know, there's been a lot of guys, especially on
Speaker 14: the defense, that played in this league a long time
Speaker 14: and they know the ways, ins and outs of each
Speaker 14: play in and they get a lot of experience. So
Speaker 14: having those guys having those early experiences, they know all
Speaker 14: the tips and tricks to their defensive schemes and whatnot.
Speaker 14: Same thing of the offense. Uh, I'd say that's probably
Speaker 14: one of the biggest adjustments from rookie minicamp to OTA
Speaker 14: is just the little little details that all the veterans know.
Speaker 14: And uh, you know that's just gonna get come with time,
Speaker 14: then get acclimated to it.
Speaker 10: What's been like playing with Lamar Closer.
Speaker 14: Clo Yeah, great athlete, I mean as advertised, you know,
Speaker 14: and mv m VP caliber quarterback. You know, leader in
Speaker 14: the huddle, makes great plays, extends plays. Uh, everything expected
Speaker 14: when I got drafted.
Speaker 1: So then you'd be driving anyway.
Speaker 8: But how exciting is if it like legitimate as opportunity
Speaker 8: maybe get start or hasn't work.
Speaker 14: Yeah, you know, it's it's a great opportunity for sure.
Speaker 14: You know, I don't try to focus on the end
Speaker 14: goal too much, but you know, every day, like you said,
Speaker 14: grinding in and out. I just want to play hard
Speaker 14: and you know, compete with the best of the best.
Speaker 14: So you know, I just come every day ready to
Speaker 14: work and keep stacking days.
Speaker 3: Would be saying.
Speaker 5: About jolly alsandras.
Speaker 13: It's you know, talk about a lot to Rayle Vance,
Speaker 13: Cirt goals and just in media.
Speaker 5: Just what's been your experience working with them?
Speaker 14: Yeah, very experienced coach. He's been around the league a
Speaker 14: long time, been around a lot of great players, especially
Speaker 14: when we're in meetings. He's got a lot of great
Speaker 14: stories about players he's coached and and whatnot. So he
Speaker 14: knows the ins and outs of this league and the
Speaker 14: tips and tricks kind of like I was talking about before.
Speaker 14: But yeah, great coach.
Speaker 3: I know you're pretty limited.
Speaker 5: And contact, but who've been some of the tough guys
Speaker 5: to go up against them?
Speaker 14: Yeah? I think obviously Dafe he's a really good player.
Speaker 14: Malie Ham really good player as well, and then big
Speaker 14: travel the middle and Brody. Those guys are holding it
Speaker 14: down for sure. So those are just list a few,
Speaker 14: you know, as advertise, those guys are high caliber players.
Speaker 14: So yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, a lot of it
Speaker 14: is mainly just getting stronger for me, you know, I
Speaker 14: feel like every football player can get stronger in their game,
Speaker 14: and especially coming here. Coach Elliott and staff have done
Speaker 14: a really great job. And I put on a few
Speaker 14: pounds and it's not it's not fat, So thankful for that.
Speaker 14: So yeah, and uh, that's my main thing is gain
Speaker 14: weight if so they like me where I'm at and
Speaker 14: get stronger.
Speaker 5: Remember talking to you on.
Speaker 8: That Zoo draft night and like you were so excited
Speaker 8: to play with Lamar, right, and so like you come
Speaker 8: in here, is there anything that as far as Lamar
Speaker 8: the way he carries himself off the field on the field,
Speaker 8: that's kind of surprised you. You didn't expect, uh, you know,
Speaker 8: coming here and working with it.
Speaker 14: Yeah, I mean you guys seeing it out there, a
Speaker 14: little bit very charismatic, especially he's very animated when it
Speaker 14: comes to celebrating with teammates. You know, he's very positive,
Speaker 14: give given guys uh criticism whenever they need it. And
Speaker 14: you know, Lamar's that leader that this team has, and
Speaker 14: you know he definitely displays it on and off the field.
Speaker 14: In the locker room, he's.
Speaker 12: The same guy, the same guy every day.
Speaker 11: So yeah, you going one championship Gallip program down to Baltimore,
Speaker 11: Ravens has been anything different. Maybe that's impressed you in
Speaker 11: the way that you watch this organization as a whole
Speaker 11: go about its business.
Speaker 14: Yeah, I mean very detailed. I remember the last staff
Speaker 14: I was just with and at school, everything was super
Speaker 14: nitpicky with the details when it came to practice off
Speaker 14: the field stuff, weight room stuff, and everything translated to
Speaker 14: the exact same as what I expected from coming to
Speaker 14: do an organization like this, you know, and everything's not
Speaker 14: much has changed when it comes to that kind of
Speaker 14: stuff and those small details, but uh yeah, it's it's
Speaker 14: it's been great in very smooth transition.
Speaker 1: Another intriguing and important player on this offensive line is
Speaker 1: Andrew Vorhees. He was a seventh round draft pick out
Speaker 1: of USC a year ago. He did not play at
Speaker 1: all as a rookie because of a knee injury that
Speaker 1: he actually suffered at the combine during the pre draft process.
Speaker 1: But now he's competing for a chance to start on
Speaker 1: this offensive line at left guard, and he talked about
Speaker 1: that today.
Speaker 16: I start this off just say hello, oh yes, first time. Yeah,
Speaker 16: any questions.
Speaker 9: Andrew, just after going through the process last year of recovering.
Speaker 5: From the Edian dreamal not being.
Speaker 9: Able to play, how good has it just felt to
Speaker 9: be back on the field, and I guess, for lack
Speaker 9: of a better description, just being a football player again.
Speaker 16: Yeah, first time I get to be a football player
Speaker 16: and quite some time. So last time I stepped on
Speaker 16: the field was back in the fall of twenty twenty two,
Speaker 16: so as you could imagine, right.
Speaker 12: Just.
Speaker 16: A lot of time coming. So super thrilled to be
Speaker 16: back out there, and it's just been so much fun
Speaker 16: to just be a part of the team atmosphere. That's
Speaker 16: really what it's such a privilege of playing a team
Speaker 16: sport like this is you just get to go out
Speaker 16: there and be a part of something that's way bigger
Speaker 16: than yourself, and you just get the count on other
Speaker 16: guys and rely on other guys to put in the
Speaker 16: effort at the time, the discipline that it takes to
Speaker 16: be a great football player, so all that combined, it
Speaker 16: just can't can't state enough how how much of a
Speaker 16: privilege it is to be back out there again. Just
Speaker 16: how thankful I am for everyone who kind of helped
Speaker 16: give me back to being back out on the field.
Speaker 5: Did the I know it was a couple of months ago,
Speaker 5: but did the one year anniversary of your entry you
Speaker 5: kind of passed without you were knowing it or remarking
Speaker 5: upon it. Did you is that date kind of seared
Speaker 5: into your brain?
Speaker 16: I think it was just another day. I think I
Speaker 16: was in the weight room, honestly, which I know Coach
Speaker 16: Arboss talked about that that was that was my year
Speaker 16: last year, A lot of a lot of time in
Speaker 16: the weight room, So I mean it was definitely something
Speaker 16: I thought about, but nothing, nothing that really, I mean,
Speaker 16: just another day. Just trying to put that day behind
Speaker 16: me and just kind of close that chapter and move on.
Speaker 16: And uh, I'm just so thankful to to be where
Speaker 16: I'm at now in terms of my health and stuff.
Speaker 16: So part of the work that I've put in and
Speaker 16: and uh that all of our staff is poured in
Speaker 16: and uh yeah, I was just looking forward now it's
Speaker 16: uh to what lies beyond us.
Speaker 15: It's really getting the wait room.
Speaker 10: I know you talked about how.
Speaker 5: You just study film and study of study systems. What
Speaker 5: is it like actually putting you know that you've actual
Speaker 5: knowledge into.
Speaker 10: Play out here And do you feel like maybe you're
Speaker 10: a little ahead.
Speaker 5: Because of how much you've studied.
Speaker 16: Unique in the fact that it's such a repetitious uh
Speaker 16: position beaming offensive line and again not being out on
Speaker 16: the field and uh since the fall of two thousand
Speaker 16: and twenty two, and then making the jump from right
Speaker 16: the collegiate level to the National Football League kind of
Speaker 16: a double edged sword, right, So at first it was
Speaker 16: a little fast, but just over time, over these OTA
Speaker 16: days and football school days, it definitely has slowed down
Speaker 16: a ton. And I'm just thankful for the guys that
Speaker 16: are around me in the offensive line room and they
Speaker 16: just help help me and just make it easy for a.
Speaker 8: Guy like you who hasn't been able to practice your
Speaker 8: craft in the field. When will you know that, like
Speaker 8: you're getting better at what you do? I mean, or
Speaker 8: have you gotten better in this year in other ways?
Speaker 8: Like kind of walk us through that. I mean, when
Speaker 8: will you know as a player, I'm making improvements, I'm
Speaker 8: better than I was.
Speaker 16: I think it's just going out there daily, and I
Speaker 16: mean being a good offensive lineman, right, I really truly
Speaker 16: believe that it's it's selfish and boring. Right, You just
Speaker 16: have to put in so much time because it is
Speaker 16: such a technical position. So just knowing that I'm continuing
Speaker 16: to do that and just let these guys pour into
Speaker 16: me that are in the room and our coaching staff
Speaker 16: and my position coach specifically. It's more of a process really,
Speaker 16: more than an outcome ideology that I have in regards
Speaker 16: to like being an offensive lineman. Right, so just every
Speaker 16: day just trying to get better at something and over
Speaker 16: time being molded into a great football player.
Speaker 3: What was the you know, going.
Speaker 5: Through that process?
Speaker 3: Was it difficult or most difficult?
Speaker 5: Physically? Mentally frustrating?
Speaker 13: What was I guess the how would you sort of
Speaker 13: set up the experience of you know, getting the injury
Speaker 13: and trying to hurry.
Speaker 5: Away all the way back like that?
Speaker 16: I think it kind of changed over time. So at
Speaker 16: first it was just a why with a big question
Speaker 16: mark at the end, and then slowly over time, right,
Speaker 16: the the question changed, or the the kind of the
Speaker 16: response changed and it was kind of why not, right, like,
Speaker 16: just go attack it. Attack the rehab controls you can control.
Speaker 12: Right.
Speaker 16: The the event happened on what day was in March
Speaker 16: sixth I think of of last year when I got injured,
Speaker 16: and so I think it was just tough mentally at first,
Speaker 16: but then once I kind of changed that mindset and
Speaker 16: just said, hey, I'm just gonna tak this head on
Speaker 16: and and just kind of like get after it it. Uh,
Speaker 16: it definitely just became a lot easier.
Speaker 7: I think Ronnie Stanley about his experience recovering from the injury,
Speaker 7: did he give you any advice on that front?
Speaker 16: Yeah, I definitely had a lot of conversations with Ronnie
Speaker 16: in regards to his injury that he had and just
Speaker 16: kind of more so like what it was like coming
Speaker 16: back and just things to focus on. Again. He is
Speaker 16: a more of a a process overallcome guy, so that
Speaker 16: that definitely helped shape that that mentality as well.
Speaker 10: Grown to a fire pigs was for a starting job.
Speaker 10: How's that sort of effect your focus as far as
Speaker 10: going camping?
Speaker 16: Yeah, I just think to go out the practice every
Speaker 16: day and just try to be the best football player
Speaker 16: that I could become, right, and uh, we'll let everything
Speaker 16: else take care of itself. I know, these these gentlemen
Speaker 16: upstairs have have quite the job to uh to just right,
Speaker 16: who's gonna play at the end of the day. But
Speaker 16: as an individual, right, it's just it's up to us
Speaker 16: to become the best football players we can become, and
Speaker 16: uh just make their jobs easier. I guess with the
Speaker 16: injury and.
Speaker 11: You guys, I guess how did they through this past year, Locome,
Speaker 11: you were to help.
Speaker 16: You become part of being around stuff. Last year, although
Speaker 16: I was injured, I was kind of behind the scenes.
Speaker 16: I was in the classroom every day, so stuff you
Speaker 16: guys wouldn't necessarily see. But I fully integrated with them back.
Speaker 16: Uh at the beginning of ou Ta's when we got
Speaker 16: out there, like like it was nothing had happened, honestly.
Speaker 16: So the guys in that room in the office, line
Speaker 16: room are just so awesome and uh, there's a lot
Speaker 16: of leadership in there, and uh, they really just want
Speaker 16: to see you become the best that you can be.
Speaker 16: And so it really was an easy transition, and uh,
Speaker 16: I'm just thankful to have them as as teammates.
Speaker 9: You have to shoot your high and said through the injury,
Speaker 9: do you see that helping even.
Speaker 5: Translating off the beard.
Speaker 16: I think so in specifically, like my confidence right just
Speaker 16: at first when the injury happened, it was was kind
Speaker 16: of like why and then kind of flipped it into
Speaker 16: why not and just attacked it straight on. And I
Speaker 16: think just at the end of the day, controlling that
Speaker 16: I can control, and my response to what had happened
Speaker 16: was just going to lead to the best outcome possible.
Speaker 16: So that's kind of like what the mindset flip was
Speaker 16: like for me.
Speaker 1: That was Andrew Voorhees And you're listening to the Ravens
Speaker 1: Press Past podcast. If you want a full recap from
Speaker 1: OTA's headed to the Lounge podcast feed and we break
Speaker 1: it all down for you over there. Make sure you
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Speaker 1: Lounge feed as well. Thanks for listening, and we'll be
Speaker 1: back with you again next week.