Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five NFL Scouting Combine is now in the books. The
Speaker 1: Ravens had a chance to take a look at the
Speaker 1: incoming class of prospects and put in some work to
Speaker 1: build out the draft board for the upcoming draft in April.
Speaker 1: Now during the week in Indianapolis, we had a chance
Speaker 1: to hear from several of the Ravens executives, including GM
Speaker 1: Eric Costa.
Speaker 2: Hello, everyone, We'll get started with questions. Thanks for coming man,
Speaker 2: that's a that's a that's a deep question. I've been
Speaker 2: blessed to be a part of an organization where we've
Speaker 2: had three head coaches and two gms. I think that that,
Speaker 2: you know, continuity is huge in decision making, having support
Speaker 2: from ownership, putting processes, play systems, feeling good about the process,
Speaker 2: knowing the other people in the room.
Speaker 3: I think that's a big part of it.
Speaker 2: I think shared experience, calling on historical things that have
Speaker 2: happened in the past to help you make decisions. I
Speaker 2: think factors in the biggest thing is really just having
Speaker 2: an owner that believes in you and has put you
Speaker 2: in place to succeed and believes you will succeed, and
Speaker 2: I've been blessed to have Steepashaty in my life for
Speaker 2: a long time. Here. Well, I think you're always you know,
Speaker 2: every smart team is always looking for quarterbacks. It's a
Speaker 2: quarterback league, and whether you're looking for a backup, a
Speaker 2: practice squad quarterback, a starting quarterback, you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: hard to win without one. We're blessed to have Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 2: Before that, we were blessed to have Joe Flacco. You know,
Speaker 2: living in a world without a quarterback is a tough
Speaker 2: world to live in.
Speaker 3: We understand that.
Speaker 2: These guys drive the league, and so you know, it's
Speaker 2: a tough position to be in.
Speaker 3: But I think if you've got to write people and.
Speaker 2: Trust the process, you can find one. Well, I think
Speaker 2: a lot goes into that. First of all, a good question.
Speaker 2: Appreciate the question. The allegations are serious, concerning the amount
Speaker 2: of allegations are serious and concerning. I think we're fortunate
Speaker 2: that the league is doing an investigation. We'll wait as
Speaker 2: patiently as we can for as much information as we can,
Speaker 2: and we'll make a decisions based on that. Well, I think,
Speaker 2: like every position, we're going to evaluate rank the board.
Speaker 2: We've been doing that for the last twenty nine years.
Speaker 2: We're blessed to have a really good kickers coach and
Speaker 2: Randy Brown, who does a phenomenal job evaluating punters and
Speaker 2: kickers and long snappers for us every single season. We'll
Speaker 2: meet with Randy throughout the process. Over the coming weeks,
Speaker 2: he'll travel all over the country looking at these guys,
Speaker 2: and we'll build the best board that we can give it.
Speaker 4: Zero that.
Speaker 3: Well, I think again, it's a good question.
Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing that we have to do
Speaker 2: first of all is look at every single case differently.
Speaker 2: There are no absolutes, and I think in this case,
Speaker 2: we're still a waiting as much information as possible. Again,
Speaker 2: we're fortunate that the league is it's come down to Baltimore.
Speaker 3: I met with the league.
Speaker 2: I believe the league is meeting with other people in
Speaker 2: Baltimore as well. We'll wait for the details of that
Speaker 2: investigation and we'll make a decision based on that. I
Speaker 2: really can't because again, we look at every case differently,
Speaker 2: and the facts in every single case.
Speaker 3: We do this for a living.
Speaker 2: We study players, we look at background, we consider all
Speaker 2: these different things. Every case is entirely different, different facts,
Speaker 2: different situations. So we'll wait for the investigation to take
Speaker 2: place and we'll make a decision based off of that.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: So, we were aware that local media outlet was getting
Speaker 2: prepared to do a story on Justin Tucker, and that
Speaker 2: was the first time that we became aware of those allegations,
Speaker 2: of the potential allegations.
Speaker 3: That might result.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: So, I think, you know, I've answered what four questions
Speaker 2: on this situation. I did meet with Justin. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: keep those comments to myself and personal conversations with Justin.
Speaker 2: I think is probably the smart thing to do. But
Speaker 2: at that point, we did, you know, meet, and that's
Speaker 2: what I'm gonna say about that.
Speaker 3: Don't know, I have no idea.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's a good, you know, a pretty
Speaker 2: good class draft wise, free agency wise as well.
Speaker 3: I think we do a really good job.
Speaker 2: I'm very happy to see the development that our young
Speaker 2: receivers have made the last couple of years. Greg Lewis
Speaker 2: does a great job coaching those guys up. Our players
Speaker 2: really did a good job this year. I feel like
Speaker 2: there's a good opportunity for us to find some good talent,
Speaker 2: either through free agency or the draft.
Speaker 3: Uh, in every round, uh and every.
Speaker 2: Price point and uh, and you know, I think the
Speaker 2: other point is that we've got some really good tight
Speaker 2: ends as well. And I think this year we really
Speaker 2: he did see kind of our vision for the offense
Speaker 2: come together with playmakers across the board, whether it's running back, receiver,
Speaker 2: tight end, backup running back, back up receivers, backup tight ends.
Speaker 2: I think, Uh, it was kind of what we've hoped
Speaker 2: for the last couple of years, and we had a
Speaker 2: chance to see that come to fruition. Well, Ronnie and
Speaker 2: I did a deal the last time, so that's great.
Speaker 3: Uh. He and I have a good friendship. We've known
Speaker 3: each other for a long time.
Speaker 2: He's got a great agent in Kim Miale. You know,
Speaker 2: you know, never want to say one hundred percent, but
Speaker 2: I feel good that we'll have a good, healthy debate,
Speaker 2: a good process. We're going to meet with Kim in
Speaker 2: Indy this week, and Uh, I'm optimistic that we'll be
Speaker 2: able to get a deal done. Well, that's a coaching question.
Speaker 2: I mean, we've seen you know, we think Roger had
Speaker 2: a great year last year. He's a very good athlete.
Speaker 2: He's way mature than a typical young player. I think
Speaker 2: he proved that this year with how he played and
Speaker 2: competed the week in week out, whether it was on
Speaker 2: field performance against good players coming back from injuries and
Speaker 2: things like that. So he's definitely a factor on the
Speaker 2: left side if need be. I think we'll try to
Speaker 2: find the best five guys we can. I think there
Speaker 2: were a lot of questions about the offensive line last year,
Speaker 2: and I think we did a pretty good job of
Speaker 2: putting a pretty competitive offensive line together on the field
Speaker 2: last year, and I would expect the same to be
Speaker 2: whole true this year. Yeah, I mean, I think Cliff
Speaker 2: it really just comes down to the best player at
Speaker 2: the time, and we're always gonna say that. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's something that we've said every single year, he's starting
Speaker 2: back to nineteen ninety six with Ozzie as the GM.
Speaker 2: We're gonna draft best available players. So I think if
Speaker 2: we're picking at you know, twenty seven, and there's an
Speaker 2: edge rusher and he's the best guy, we're probably gonna
Speaker 2: pick him and it's gonna hold through with every round.
Speaker 2: I think it's an important position. I think we were
Speaker 2: maybe second in the league in sacks last year, but
Speaker 2: having a continuous influx of young pass rush talent, guys
Speaker 2: that can set the edge and play the run, guys
Speaker 2: that play like Ravens, physical players who can.
Speaker 3: Get to the quarterback. I think that's a priority for
Speaker 3: us for sure.
Speaker 2: Derrick Henry, I mean, Derek is just a phenomenal worker.
Speaker 2: He's a pro, does everything the right way, the way
Speaker 2: that he practices, the way that he takes care of
Speaker 2: his body, his mentality on the field, his leadership, his talent.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's freakishly talented. I mean his combination of
Speaker 2: size and speed. So he was just the perfect player
Speaker 2: for us. I think last year the right addition, and
Speaker 2: he brought a lot to the table on the field
Speaker 2: and also off the field with intangible qualities. We're blessed
Speaker 2: to have him, and I would expect his successes last
Speaker 2: year to continue this year.
Speaker 3: You know, it's a tough question.
Speaker 2: I mean it's you know, running backs are kind of
Speaker 2: like the stock market. They've been up. When I was
Speaker 2: a kid, running back was was was arguably the most
Speaker 2: important position on the field. You know, I grew up
Speaker 2: a Cowboys fan, and you know, Tony dors said, Emmitt Smith,
Speaker 2: guys like that were my idols. And then we went
Speaker 2: through this period of the last what five ten years,
Speaker 2: the analytics emphasis sort of de emphasized the position. And
Speaker 2: I think last year you saw the impact that some
Speaker 2: of these guys had. And you know, Howie Roseman a
Speaker 2: great GM went out and got Saquon and they won
Speaker 2: a Super Bowl. And you know a lot of credit
Speaker 2: to Howie, and but I think you know, these are
Speaker 2: guys that touched the ball. These are guys that impact games.
Speaker 2: I think they're looked at is probably replaceable by some people,
Speaker 2: but if you've got a great one, if you've got
Speaker 2: a historic one, you can't replace those guys. They impact
Speaker 2: the game in many different ways and they create nightmares
Speaker 2: for defenses. Well, I think that you always want to
Speaker 2: be strong, you know, through your middle, and something that
Speaker 2: I think we've prioritized with Kyle as a safety, Rokwan,
Speaker 2: our defensive tackles, Travers, Nmd, Linderbaum, Lamar, all those guys.
Speaker 2: I mean, I believe in that as well being strong
Speaker 2: up the middle. It's always going to be an allocation
Speaker 2: of resources and where you spend your money every year.
Speaker 2: There's different schools of thought, but you've got to be physical.
Speaker 2: We've always prided ourselves on being a physical football team
Speaker 2: that can stop to run, run the ball, protect the quarterback,
Speaker 2: rush the passer, and win games in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: I think this draft class is pretty strong, you know.
Speaker 2: I think you've got on the defensive line, You've got
Speaker 2: some guys, some defensive ends that when we say defensive end,
Speaker 2: we mean outside linebackers. So that's you might hear me
Speaker 2: reference outside linebackers. Other clubs might calm defensive ends. But
Speaker 2: I think you've got some defensive tackles that are fine prospects.
Speaker 2: And then on the interior, we see a number of
Speaker 2: guards that could get picked in the first and second
Speaker 2: round and probably provide early value and start right away
Speaker 2: for their drafting clubs like to do.
Speaker 3: Well. I see Michelle over here.
Speaker 2: She helps Deck rate my office wall, and I think
Speaker 2: we have a picture of Derek going up on my wall.
Speaker 2: So what does that tell you? Lamar's got a great voice,
Speaker 2: and uh, he's a student of the game. He watches players,
Speaker 2: he knows talent. Now we do does love the Miami
Speaker 2: guys and the Florida guys, but listen, Lamar has a
Speaker 2: he's a stakeholder, he's a partner. He's earned that right
Speaker 2: to be to have that type of input and opinion,
Speaker 2: and a lot of guys haven't earned that right, but
Speaker 2: Lamar has earned that right. It's important, it's necessary, and
Speaker 2: I welcome his input and I'll get texts from him.
Speaker 2: And there have been some years where I've gone down
Speaker 2: and visited visited with him and probably do to do
Speaker 2: to do that again, to take a trip down to
Speaker 2: Florida and spend some time with him. But he's got
Speaker 2: a great command of the offense. He made great strides
Speaker 2: this year in every fact. You know, he's my MVP,
Speaker 2: and uh, I think his impact on our team is
Speaker 2: is impossible to measure.
Speaker 3: I don't know how to answer that. I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: I mean Lamar is Lamar.
Speaker 2: He's a two time MVP, in my opinion, should have
Speaker 2: been a three time MVP, so different status.
Speaker 3: So that's what I would say.
Speaker 2: I think you have to earn those kind of rights.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: I mean, upside is how good can this guy be?
Speaker 2: Position need is like we need a player to play
Speaker 2: right away my opinion. You know, with positional need, it
Speaker 2: sounds great at the time you draft the player, you
Speaker 2: pencil him in, but if he doesn't have the ability
Speaker 2: to play at a high level. Then typically you're gonna
Speaker 2: be disappointed, your fans are gonna be disappointed.
Speaker 3: You're gonna look at.
Speaker 2: As a as A as a bad pick. So you
Speaker 2: want the best player in any given situation. You need
Speaker 2: to change day to day. I mean, We've been in situations.
Speaker 2: I've been on teams where I felt like we had
Speaker 2: great depth at corner, great depth at tight end. In
Speaker 2: the matter of a couple of weeks, we had no depth.
Speaker 2: I go back to the year that in a matter
Speaker 2: of a couple of weeks we lost you know, JK
Speaker 2: Gus Edwards and Justice and had no running backs. Literally
Speaker 2: a Friday afternoon calling agents, trying to find somebody to
Speaker 2: come to Baltimore. And fortunately we're able to get a
Speaker 2: couple of guys that came in and really saved us
Speaker 2: that year in many different ways.
Speaker 3: And so, you know, need changes. But you win with talent,
Speaker 3: you win with players.
Speaker 2: And I always, if I have my choice, I'm always
Speaker 2: going with upside and I'm always going with talent. What
Speaker 2: was that, I mean, you guys know the Ravens. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, right player at the right price. You know,
Speaker 2: we don't have a lot of cap room we have
Speaker 2: Nick Mattio working tirelessly to find some space for us.
Speaker 2: We call it couch cushion coins. You know, like we're
Speaker 2: just we're trying to find fifty grand here, seventy five
Speaker 2: grand there in a couch cushion. But you know, not
Speaker 2: a team that's gonna make a lot of big splashes
Speaker 2: generally speaking, I mean, we're probably gonna have eleven draft
Speaker 2: picks this year. My goal would be to hit on
Speaker 2: a large percentage of those draft picks, to find good, young,
Speaker 2: inexpensive talent to put guys in for the future, because
Speaker 2: the reality of it is, when you're paying guys like
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson and the Marlon Humphreys and the Namdi Mattabeks
Speaker 2: and the Rokwan Smiths and guys like that, and the
Speaker 2: guys like someday probably Tyler Linderbaum and guys like Kyle Hamilton,
Speaker 2: you've got a draft well every single year so that
Speaker 2: you always have an open window. It gives us a
Speaker 2: little bit more, but when you're starting with as few
Speaker 2: dollars as we have, it's it's a savior, but we
Speaker 2: still would like to have more money, and then we're
Speaker 2: a victim of our own success. In some ways because
Speaker 2: you know, when you guys, remember when when I did
Speaker 2: become GM, one of my main priorities was to retain
Speaker 2: as much of our own homegrown talent as possible. And
Speaker 2: we have a lot of homegrown talent, which is a
Speaker 2: good problem to have, but it also means that we
Speaker 2: don't have as much money to go out and go
Speaker 2: after players that are on homegrown talent. So any addition
Speaker 2: of money we can get is very helpful. It still
Speaker 2: doesn't mean that we're going to break the bank and
Speaker 2: free agency. We're still going to be going after those
Speaker 2: Vetri minimum guys, which you know, Joy's Cokeyness and Mark
Speaker 2: Asseveda do a great job finding those type of players.
Speaker 2: We're still going to be trying to find the guys
Speaker 2: that we can get that we think are good value,
Speaker 2: that may be come to us and play better than
Speaker 2: what we expected. And we have a lot of those guys,
Speaker 2: right And you know those guys that come in and
Speaker 2: you're like, man, this guy's really good. I can't believe
Speaker 2: the Raven's got this guy for a million and a
Speaker 2: half dollars. Those guys are critical for us to sustain
Speaker 2: the success that we've had because the reality is we
Speaker 2: just can't go out and spend two hundred million dollars
Speaker 2: then offseason on players like some teams do.
Speaker 3: We're just not gonna be able to do that.
Speaker 5: Obviously.
Speaker 2: Comp Yeah, I mean, I think Mark is a great player.
Speaker 2: We're blessed to have three really good tight ends under
Speaker 2: contract this year.
Speaker 3: They all contributed in different ways.
Speaker 2: Their chemistry, their camaraderie, their impact on the offense, the
Speaker 2: relationship with the other skill guys is great. I mean,
Speaker 2: Mark's gonna go down as one of our great players.
Speaker 2: He'll be in the Ring of Honors someday. I love
Speaker 2: having Mark on the team. He's an awesome player. I
Speaker 2: know he's gonna have an amazing season.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: We'll figure out all the roster machinations over the coming weeks,
Speaker 2: but I can tell you there's no bigger fan of
Speaker 2: Mark Andrews than me.
Speaker 3: And Uh. He's been a blessing to have on the team.
Speaker 2: His leadership, the way he approaches the game, his attention
Speaker 2: to detail.
Speaker 3: He's just one of those guys. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1: We also heard from head coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 6: All right, good seeing everybody appreciate you all being here
Speaker 6: for us.
Speaker 5: What you got you focused on high school age students.
Speaker 3: What draws you in a high school experience and what
Speaker 3: makes it special?
Speaker 6: That's the best question that we're going to have all
Speaker 6: day to day. The best the high school experience. We're
Speaker 6: doing something we all came through high school. We all
Speaker 6: understand how formative that is, right, and the high school experience,
Speaker 6: whether it's uh sports, football or basketball, or band or
Speaker 6: theater or clubs or whatever, make a huge difference in
Speaker 6: young lives, right, you know that? And the impact that
Speaker 6: you have is a coach in any of those areas,
Speaker 6: just like a teacher, can be life transformational. It can
Speaker 6: be transformational for amazing things. It can be transformational for
Speaker 6: not so good things or bad things too. And the
Speaker 6: idea that that we want to help coaches in every
Speaker 6: way we can to be the best they can be
Speaker 6: for the young people that they're responsible for because they
Speaker 6: took on that job of coaching them is something that's
Speaker 6: really important to all of it. It should be important to
Speaker 6: all of us. It's important to the Hardball Coaching Academy
Speaker 6: to us, and we want to help out where we
Speaker 6: can high schools. To take one piece of advice I
Speaker 6: got from my high school coach. We had a coach
Speaker 6: that his name was Pete Palmer. He was called push
Speaker 6: up Pete. And if you did, he was my baseball coach.
Speaker 6: And if you didn't run out of ground ball or
Speaker 6: a fly ball, you got to run around the football stadium,
Speaker 6: which is about a half a mile. You know, baseball
Speaker 6: players don't like running too much sometimes, so hustle, you know, hustle.
Speaker 6: That's probably the best advice I got early on. The
Speaker 6: hustle serves you well in life.
Speaker 5: Thanks.
Speaker 4: You know, NFL investigators on going earlier here when out
Speaker 4: and a little the allegation serious and it's certain has
Speaker 4: had does that sort of some up your reaction to.
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 6: Absolutely, Uh, you know it's uh, it's not what you
Speaker 6: want to wake up and read. You know, you don't
Speaker 6: want to read about it. It's not something you want
Speaker 6: to see. I don't care what it is in terms of,
Speaker 6: you know, things that are are hurtful and harmful to people.
Speaker 6: There's too many headlines like that, too many stories that
Speaker 6: you hear that just make you just just sad, you know,
Speaker 6: and disappointed. And you don't want to ever see a
Speaker 6: circumstance of situation, especially as if it relates to you know,
Speaker 6: your world where you know, anybody's made to feel less
Speaker 6: than great when they come and are involved in a
Speaker 6: work experience somewhere, you know, and as it touches all
Speaker 6: of us in our lives, we want to do everything
Speaker 6: we can to make sure that this is just the
Speaker 6: opposite that everybody feels like they have a great work experience.
Speaker 6: You guys have been in our place every day and
Speaker 6: you know, you know what we try to do with that.
Speaker 6: So that's just really a tough deal. And the NFL
Speaker 6: is looking into it. Uh, they're gonna come up, but
Speaker 6: they're gonna review it. They're gonna try to gather all
Speaker 6: the facts and hopefully we'll have a I'm sure we'll
Speaker 6: have an understanding of it at that time. And then
Speaker 6: once there's an understanding of it, then you have a
Speaker 6: chance to you know, uh make some decisions and determinations
Speaker 6: and things like that.
Speaker 5: And that's where we're at right now.
Speaker 4: That's what you can fail.
Speaker 6: First point of the yeah, and that's that's what we're
Speaker 6: waiting to try to do, is reconcile it.
Speaker 5: You know. It's uh, it's uh, that's what the process
Speaker 5: is for. You know.
Speaker 6: That's why you've got to You've got to come to
Speaker 6: an understanding if you can, about what happened. You know,
Speaker 6: we've all got questions, but nobody knows exactly what happened.
Speaker 5: So let's see where the review takes us.
Speaker 4: When did you first learn deplication? And second when you're
Speaker 4: that confers.
Speaker 6: Sitting there, Chelsea, Yeah, I learned after Eric told me.
Speaker 6: I think right before it came out. Maybe the banner
Speaker 6: had called Eric and told him that there was something
Speaker 6: coming out. We didn't know anything about what it was
Speaker 6: gonna be, so I knew what it was when I
Speaker 6: read it, and then, uh, I don't know.
Speaker 5: A week and a half.
Speaker 6: Two weeks after that, I gave Justin a call on
Speaker 6: a Sunday morning and we had a conversation about it
Speaker 6: and talked about it more about you know, just more
Speaker 6: from a perspective of being together for all these years.
Speaker 6: You know kind of what he was going through and
Speaker 6: you know what he was dealing with with that and
Speaker 6: kind of how he was handled with his family and
Speaker 6: things like that, and that was really what we talked about.
Speaker 5: Can you say it again?
Speaker 4: Assuation likes frien.
Speaker 5: Sa year great question.
Speaker 6: When it rises to a national level, how do you
Speaker 6: approach it Really it's not so much about like what
Speaker 6: level national or what level of attention something gets. It's
Speaker 6: the fact that it's so important to somebody in our program.
Speaker 6: I mean, to me, it's like people walk in the
Speaker 6: door in this job, you know, kind of you know,
Speaker 6: god appointment sometimes we call it, but things come up
Speaker 6: all the time. You could be dug deep in the
Speaker 6: middle of some football related task and someone walks in
Speaker 6: your door with something that's number one important to them
Speaker 6: and they're talking to you know, the boss, so to speaker,
Speaker 6: the head or whatever, and they just they need your
Speaker 6: time and they need your attention.
Speaker 5: So to me, it's exactly the same as any one
Speaker 5: of those conversations that you'd.
Speaker 3: Have lost drafts going on.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well sure it's uh, you know, every position isupport
Speaker 6: and we're gonnaok at every single position, but certainly different
Speaker 6: years you look at different positions. Uh we we we're
Speaker 6: looking at kickers. I mean, we're looking at a lot
Speaker 6: of positions. We're looking at every position. But I'd say
Speaker 6: the kicker position would have been a priority no matter what,
Speaker 6: because you know, our Justin's our kicker.
Speaker 5: We love him and I expect him.
Speaker 6: Would have you know always expected him to keep keep
Speaker 6: going forever, but nobody goes forever. So we've got to
Speaker 6: look at every position like we do, not what you
Speaker 6: all the big picture of the coaching changes. Yeah, that's
Speaker 6: the thing that we found in the last three, four
Speaker 6: or five years, we've had a lot of coaching changes,
Speaker 6: and uh, different reasons for different coaching changes. Guys have
Speaker 6: gotten opportunities. We've had a lot of success, and uh
Speaker 6: that's a good thing, but it's a challenging thing because
Speaker 6: you know, as the from the coaching side, there's nothing
Speaker 6: more important than your staff. And we have a great
Speaker 6: coaching staff. We've had great coaches come through. I'm gonna
Speaker 6: be talking to Anthony Weaver and Mike McDonald later today. Uh,
Speaker 6: and those guys are two of the great coaches that
Speaker 6: kind of have helped us become what we are as
Speaker 6: a program. So I'm excited about Chuck mcgonald. Chuck's been
Speaker 6: there before, he's coming back. He's a great coach, he's
Speaker 6: a great guy. He's he's uh, he started he helped
Speaker 6: start it back in two thousand and eight, in twenty eleven,
Speaker 6: you know, so love Chuck and I think he's gonna
Speaker 6: bring a lot to the table. Then Donald Delacio is
Speaker 6: a young guy who's got a lot of talent, and
Speaker 6: Ty Santucci's gonna do a great job with the linebackers.
Speaker 6: And Matt Peas really happy with all those guys.
Speaker 5: Uh frendick chack.
Speaker 4: Vs go. He's be gravitation was twenty er, you see him.
Speaker 4: It's very sensive, tagular class and the fine.
Speaker 3: Years.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it starts, Cliff, It starts there. You know, it
Speaker 6: starts on the offensive defensive line. So we're gonna be
Speaker 6: looking at both lines really hard. You look at every position.
Speaker 6: It gets a deep running back classroom, I've been told to,
Speaker 6: so we'll be looking at that position too. But yeah,
Speaker 6: game wrecking defensive tackles kind of a big deal, you know,
Speaker 6: you know, past past pressuring defensive ends.
Speaker 5: That's kind of a big deal too.
Speaker 3: Checks down. If you guys had the largest projects down
Speaker 3: with the team last year and at.
Speaker 1: Least your thought process may be halved on a sail legs.
Speaker 5: Flying Yeah, well we we our analysts are in that
Speaker 5: in that list.
Speaker 6: So just so you know, we have about the same
Speaker 6: number of guys on the field and coaches women coaches too.
Speaker 6: On the field, we have the most women coaches in
Speaker 6: the league, which I'm really proud of that. We've got
Speaker 6: a very diverse coaching staff. I'm really proud of that.
Speaker 6: And we have a great coaching staff most importantly, and
Speaker 6: that's the thing I'm most proud of. So many well
Speaker 6: everybody's got them, everybody's got them, but they're just not
Speaker 6: listed under the coaching staff. We just we just give
Speaker 6: them coaching staff credit. You know, I think the Browns
Speaker 6: have twenty four people in their analytics department, so that
Speaker 6: would make them the biggest coaching staff in the league.
Speaker 4: John mentioned coaches gation, you guys have.
Speaker 6: Oh the women's coach are Yeah, yeah, you guys conversation.
Speaker 6: Our women coaches are doing a great job. They're coaching football. Uh,
Speaker 6: they're they're they're contributing to our team. They're learning their
Speaker 6: their younger coaches. Uh, in the weight room, on the
Speaker 6: football side, through the administrative, through the analytic part of it.
Speaker 5: Uh, we have we have some great young people coaching
Speaker 5: for us. I'm excited about that. It's that me check you.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's probably a better Eric quest I've I've I
Speaker 6: personally watched the tackles and guards right now so far
Speaker 6: on offense.
Speaker 5: That's what I've gotten through. And I like a lot
Speaker 5: of those guys, so that's what I can speak to.
Speaker 4: Jim learned about himself in his first year back, and.
Speaker 5: Jim learned about himself.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 5: I don't know, man, he's he seems like the same
Speaker 5: gym to me.
Speaker 6: I you know, I think maybe I think people people
Speaker 6: maybe in uh, but the Chargers learned much how good
Speaker 6: he is, how much funny is to be around.
Speaker 5: Every day. You're around him a lot, you know, and
Speaker 5: he's he's he's Uh.
Speaker 6: I was just talking to Joe Rties in the way
Speaker 6: coming down the hallway here, and he said, we work
Speaker 6: really hard and we have a lot of fun doing it,
Speaker 6: you know. And I think that's something that Jim has
Speaker 6: always been about. He's he's fun to be around. He's
Speaker 6: he's all he's all ball. If you like football, you know,
Speaker 6: you like being you like being a Charger. And I
Speaker 6: feel the same way about the Ravens kind of run
Speaker 6: similar type programs.
Speaker 5: And and uh, you know, it's kind of what it's
Speaker 5: got a ship about. I say, some changes to play
Speaker 5: also the same years taking a step off. I'm talking
Speaker 5: to you, colleague league and trying to express that.
Speaker 4: Your viewpoint, man, I don't know how it goes from
Speaker 4: the idea.
Speaker 5: That's a great question.
Speaker 6: I have been very involved in that, and you can
Speaker 6: ask anybody that and they'll probably tell you that they
Speaker 6: are they yeah, yeah, yeah. He's been a little bit
Speaker 6: of a pain about that. But you know, the thing
Speaker 6: I appreciate about the league is there's a great dialogue
Speaker 6: with that and they do like Roger wants to hear
Speaker 6: everybody's opinion and Troy wants to hear everybody's opinion. And
Speaker 6: those guys are kind of at the top of the
Speaker 6: food chain there and it kind of works from there
Speaker 6: through the competition committee on.
Speaker 5: So they're great.
Speaker 6: You know, No, I haven't always gotten what I've suggested.
Speaker 6: You know, I think most of the time that they
Speaker 6: should be doing what I think is right. But the
Speaker 6: coaches talk a lot too. And as far as replay,
Speaker 6: you know, I'm I'm a I'm about I'm just as
Speaker 6: much replays we can that makes sense, you know, some
Speaker 6: things don't make sense and replay. But to me, the
Speaker 6: idea at the end of the end of the deal
Speaker 6: should be to get it right as much as we can,
Speaker 6: and with technology that allows you more and more to
Speaker 6: get it right through different avenues of replay.
Speaker 4: When you have in your organization.
Speaker 5: Got one vote right. Yeah, you guys ever have to
Speaker 5: kind of come to an agree with.
Speaker 3: You we do.
Speaker 5: You know, Steve is the boss.
Speaker 6: You know, Steve ultimately makes a call, but he listens
Speaker 6: to all of us and then he it's not too
Speaker 6: often we're like, he doesn't.
Speaker 5: We all come to an agreement. I think one of
Speaker 5: our philosophies is that we agree to agree.
Speaker 6: You know, and you've got to come to the you know,
Speaker 6: it might be it's either or a third option or
Speaker 6: a fourth option or some you know, some way of
Speaker 6: looking at that melds all the ideas together.
Speaker 5: But we always try to agree to agree.
Speaker 3: Because of that. Also priding you take it.
Speaker 4: And hid it developing.
Speaker 6: Yeah, thanks, Now, I do you take a lot of
Speaker 6: pride in that, you know, you take a lot of
Speaker 6: pride in the fact that your coaches are going off
Speaker 6: and they're doing well, and you kind of see the
Speaker 6: the personality of the teams that they coach or the
Speaker 6: units they coach, and you feel like.
Speaker 5: Man, that looks familiar to me, you know, and that's
Speaker 5: something that you do.
Speaker 6: You take a lot of pride in that, and especially
Speaker 6: as you get older, you start feeling better and better
Speaker 6: about that. So I love our guys, and you know,
Speaker 6: I don't love playing against him all the time. That's
Speaker 6: not so much fun. But you love what they're building.
Speaker 4: Earlier.
Speaker 5: And you've heard this question as you know, he's a
Speaker 5: good the questions all after you.
Speaker 4: Now, yeah, yea work with a free agency.
Speaker 3: Would you become going to Roger in a.
Speaker 6: Year or two on the web side, absolutely, Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 6: that'd be one of the options we could go to.
Speaker 6: It would depend on the draft and different things like
Speaker 6: that and free agency. You know, I think we'll probably
Speaker 6: keep Ronnie, hopeful that we will, but if we don't,
Speaker 6: we'll have an option and that would be one of
Speaker 6: them for sure.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, boy, he's got a great shot at that.
Speaker 6: He looked really good at the end of the year
Speaker 6: when he played and uh and there's other guys in
Speaker 6: there too in.
Speaker 5: That mix.
Speaker 3: Rotation.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was early in his career, and you know
Speaker 6: it just someone came in there and played really well.
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, Pat went in there and played great,
Speaker 6: and that was a better option. But Andrew was working
Speaker 6: all all the way through and developing then all of
Speaker 6: a sudden boom, he's back on the field. You guys
Speaker 6: don't see the practices. But then he's back on the field,
Speaker 6: and he played really well, you know, and that was
Speaker 6: because of all the work between then and when he
Speaker 6: got his opportunity.
Speaker 5: To push.
Speaker 6: Okay, well, to me, it's okay, you got to take
Speaker 6: all those rules holistically. Okay, what effect is one rule
Speaker 6: change having the next thing? So if you take out
Speaker 6: the touch push, then you've got to take out all pushing. Okay,
Speaker 6: So you can't. Guy can't be downfield and the offensive
Speaker 6: lineman come running in and push the ball carrier five
Speaker 6: more yards.
Speaker 5: You can't take one out and not the other. They're
Speaker 5: they're the same.
Speaker 6: Just like you're not supposed to be able to grab
Speaker 6: a running back and pull them into the end zone.
Speaker 6: That hasn't been officiated. They've allowed that to happen. That's
Speaker 6: already against the rules. How you can officiate that. So
Speaker 6: if we want to say that you can't, like you
Speaker 6: can't you can't help push it back, then you can't.
Speaker 6: Then you can take out the touch push if you
Speaker 6: if you're going to say that that's still allowed.
Speaker 5: In my opinion, you can't take out the touch push.
Speaker 5: So I'm good. I'm good with you. I'm okay with
Speaker 5: the touch push. Yeah.
Speaker 4: How employant is.
Speaker 6: This offseason at the pass rusher and being able to
Speaker 6: get home four or not having.
Speaker 4: The center in the bodies in the way.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we believe in both.
Speaker 6: I think you want to be able to You want
Speaker 6: to be able to get there with three, you know,
Speaker 6: maybe make them hold a little longer. You want to
Speaker 6: be able to get there with stimulated where you bring four,
Speaker 6: but it's not the guy they expect to come and
Speaker 6: make them hold the ball to coverage the guys. You
Speaker 6: want to be able to get there with four rushers,
Speaker 6: like some teams, the teams that have those guys, they
Speaker 6: do a great job.
Speaker 5: And we have those guys too, We've done that a lot.
Speaker 6: You want to be able to get home with zone blitzes,
Speaker 6: with man blitzeres, with all our blitzes, we like to
Speaker 6: keep it moving, We like to keep people guessing. That's
Speaker 6: kind of our format and for man rush, absolutely big
Speaker 6: part of that.
Speaker 4: Four minuts thous two thousand and two of ours, Aaron
Speaker 4: was today humans play in.
Speaker 3: The policy and definitely in your mind where if that
Speaker 3: policy is a paid stuff.
Speaker 6: That's that's to be determined. I think that's to be determined, right,
Speaker 6: you know, that's something we got to find out. That's
Speaker 6: what the reviews for it again, understanding of what we're
Speaker 6: even talking about. You can't make a can't take an
Speaker 6: act without understanding, right. You got to get the facts
Speaker 6: and understand what happened as best you can, and then
Speaker 6: you take the situation for what it is. But the
Speaker 6: principle is the same. How do you define that principle
Speaker 6: that term a little bit? Maybe we will come out
Speaker 6: and make a definition of that at some point in time.
Speaker 6: You know, that's something that you know that would be
Speaker 6: interesting to me. But I think everybody understands the idea there,
Speaker 6: and let's see where the review takes us.
Speaker 5: No, no, absolutely not absolutely not. Okay, great, Thanks, all right.
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