Speaker 1: When the schedule was released, what were your thoughts they
Speaker 1: considering your background the Jets opening up Monday night football
Speaker 1: against the forty.
Speaker 2: Nine ers, I love it.
Speaker 3: You know, what a great opportunity to play one of
Speaker 3: the best, if not the best team in football right now,
Speaker 3: one of the historic franchises and then obviously one that
Speaker 3: I played at for ten years and I was raised
Speaker 3: in that area, so it was a lifelong forty nine
Speaker 3: fan as well.
Speaker 2: Could not be more excited.
Speaker 3: You know, to be the best, you want to play
Speaker 3: the best, you want to beat the best, and what
Speaker 3: a great test early on.
Speaker 1: So when you think about your career in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: what stands out.
Speaker 3: Oh, just the teammates more than anything. You know, just
Speaker 3: had an amazing group of teammates and friends and created
Speaker 3: lifelong relationships there. And also to be part of such
Speaker 3: a historic franchise was it was a great honor. You know,
Speaker 3: when you walk in that building every day, there's five
Speaker 3: Super Bowl trophies that wait for you and and there's
Speaker 3: a high level expectation, and that's a great thing when
Speaker 3: you when you play there, and something we're trying to
Speaker 3: build here.
Speaker 1: You've always downplayed it, but give me a scout and
Speaker 1: report on what Brick was like as a player after
Speaker 1: in the league and then in the back half.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was a two d and fifty pound first
Speaker 3: and second down linebacker, decent physicality, decent instinct. Was willing
Speaker 3: to play hard and prepare harder than most, I think,
Speaker 3: And it was funny as my as my my journey
Speaker 3: transitioned later in my career. We drafted Patrick Willis towards
Speaker 3: the back end of my career, so I went from
Speaker 3: this big first and second down linebacker to a guy
Speaker 3: that was had to play special teams. And to play
Speaker 3: special teams, I needed to lose a bunch of weight,
Speaker 3: you know, so I could just run. And plus I
Speaker 3: was older at that time, and you don't get faster
Speaker 3: with age, I found, you know, And you know, so
Speaker 3: I became a special team player and more of like
Speaker 3: a third down coverage linebacker at the end of my career.
Speaker 2: So it was.
Speaker 3: Interesting that I got to do a little bit of
Speaker 3: all of it and really fortunate for that, you know,
Speaker 3: and really gained an appreciation for not only.
Speaker 2: Defense, but special teams.
Speaker 3: And I think sometimes guys don't always gain that same
Speaker 3: appreciation unless they've really played it.
Speaker 1: What the funds of systems were you planning?
Speaker 2: Shoot?
Speaker 3: I started with Jim Mora, which was kind of the
Speaker 3: classic forty nine or system back with even the Bill
Speaker 3: Walsh days.
Speaker 2: It was a playbook that had been there a long time.
Speaker 3: I remember the first time I got there and they
Speaker 3: had me the playbook and no exaggeration, the playbook was
Speaker 3: that big and there was a million adjustments. And you
Speaker 3: can only imagine over the course of twenty years how
Speaker 3: many things had been built in that now many. There
Speaker 3: were so many reasons why there were so many checks,
Speaker 3: and when you played in it, you knew that. And
Speaker 3: I remember my first mini camp out there and I
Speaker 3: was backing up Ken Norton Junior. He was the starter
Speaker 3: at linebacker, and I remember, first of all, like there's
Speaker 3: all this communication to start with, and then there is
Speaker 3: the emotion and there's seventeen more communications and I'm and
Speaker 3: I'm looking around like I.
Speaker 2: Got to do that.
Speaker 3: I'm remember to call my wife after one of our
Speaker 3: first practices, like this, this, uh, this journey is going
Speaker 3: to be a short one, I think for real, Yeah
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 2: I did. But then, as with anything.
Speaker 3: You work hard at it and you really, uh you
Speaker 3: grind and you and you study, and you and you
Speaker 3: put the time in and things start to slow down.
Speaker 3: It becomes, you know, the game that you always loved.
Speaker 1: Do you think Jeff Albrick two hundred and fifty pounds
Speaker 1: first and second down specialty could be playing it Today's.
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely not, no way. The game has gotten so
Speaker 3: wide open. There's just something I want.
Speaker 1: To talk to you about as far as how what
Speaker 1: you grew up in from a philosophical standpoint and now
Speaker 1: where we are today and how that has had an
Speaker 1: impact on your coachure.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, this this, uh, the league has evolved in
Speaker 3: so many ways. The biggest part of that evolution is
Speaker 3: the fact that this game has become wide open, and
Speaker 3: it's so based upon speed and creating space, and from
Speaker 3: a defensive perspective, you need guys that can play within
Speaker 3: that space, which takes a lot of speed, a lot
Speaker 3: of range, a lot of athleticism, which was not the
Speaker 3: it was not my forte to say the least. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it's changed a lot in that way, and it's reflected
Speaker 3: in the players that we have. We have a lot
Speaker 3: of really good, cool athletes, you know, and you've also
Speaker 3: seen I think especially the guys on the second and
Speaker 3: third level linebackers, safeties, corners from a defensive perspective, gotten
Speaker 3: smaller in a lot of ways too, you know, so
Speaker 3: they could be faster and more athletic.
Speaker 1: Throughout your coaching career in the National Football League coaching
Speaker 1: college as well, we know that how has that even
Speaker 1: changed as well, not just from your playing career back
Speaker 1: with the Niners in the early two thousands, but maybe
Speaker 1: from your days in Atlanta.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like it was interesting the fact that I got
Speaker 3: to go to college very early on in my coaching career.
Speaker 3: I think it really helped me because college always is
Speaker 3: kind of a preview of where the NFL is going,
Speaker 3: you know, and to be at UCLA those three years
Speaker 3: and really to see that brand of football that was
Speaker 3: it was all four open, five open, you know, these
Speaker 3: big open sets where they create a lot of space
Speaker 3: and there's obviously a huge emphasis in the passing game
Speaker 3: and maybe a little bit less emphasis in the run game.
Speaker 3: It really gave me a preview into what I was
Speaker 3: about to face coming back into the NFL and as
Speaker 3: this game evolves into something similar to that. So definitely
Speaker 3: help from that that that perspective.
Speaker 1: How much is this defense predicated on we do what
Speaker 1: we do as opposed to Okay, you're gonna line up,
Speaker 1: we're making adjustments off the way you're coming at us schematically.
Speaker 3: I would I would say the foundation of who we
Speaker 3: are is we're going to do what we do. We
Speaker 3: take great pride in the fact that we got a
Speaker 3: great coaching staff that really instills technique and based fundamentals
Speaker 3: and principles that we can lean on and that we
Speaker 3: can really rely on to play the brand of defense
Speaker 3: we want to play. The beauty of that is when
Speaker 3: I get to address the group, I'm not sitting there
Speaker 3: talking about seventeen thousand different schematic things. I'm talking about finish,
Speaker 3: I'm talking about toughness, I'm talking about technique. I'm talking about,
Speaker 3: to me, the real essence of football, you know. And
Speaker 3: I think that that's what makes us a little different
Speaker 3: than most. But at the same time, I'd say that
Speaker 3: we're not so stubborn as coaches that we don't provide
Speaker 3: a few wrinkles here and there to keep the offense
Speaker 3: off balance, you know. And I think that we've really
Speaker 3: pushed ourselves this offseason to grow from a schematic standpoint,
Speaker 3: so we'll never lose our essence, and that's being based
Speaker 3: in great technique, great strain, great finish, great toughness, great violence.
Speaker 2: Will never lose that.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, I think our guys have
Speaker 3: really gotten to the point because there is a level
Speaker 3: of mastery that's been gained at this point, being that
Speaker 3: it's the fourth year within the system, that we can
Speaker 3: challenge a little bit more from a schematic standpoint without
Speaker 3: compromising the other stuff.
Speaker 1: How has that playbook changed the one that you've got
Speaker 1: in two thousand now, a playbook that you give a rookie.
Speaker 3: Right before it's first of all, it's digital. There is
Speaker 3: no more paper, it's just it at least ours, and
Speaker 3: this is not necessarily a reflection of the entire league.
Speaker 3: It's definitely smaller, you know. And I think what we've
Speaker 3: done a better job here than most places that I've
Speaker 3: been is especially for the younger guys, you know, speaking
Speaker 3: on that, when we hand them that playbook, we make
Speaker 3: sure it's very simple from the beginning. We want to
Speaker 3: give these guys a great opportunity to really demonstrate who
Speaker 3: they are as players, as humans, as teammates, and sometimes
Speaker 3: when you bog them down with a ton you know,
Speaker 3: especially from a schematic standpoint, you lose the essence of
Speaker 3: who these players really are and you don't gain a
Speaker 3: true evaluation of them. So I think we do a
Speaker 3: better job of you know, that first iPad that we
Speaker 3: give them. It's it's very it's very small as far
Speaker 3: as what we're asking them to learn.
Speaker 1: But the continuity here you mentioned going into year four
Speaker 1: in the defense, I think you guys are so player
Speaker 1: centric that you're about giving these guys credit for what
Speaker 1: happens on the field, where you don't give yourself enough credit.
Speaker 1: That's not the way you go about your business. That's
Speaker 1: not your personality. But like, there's some things that we
Speaker 1: have done in here telestration wise, what Bart's got breaking
Speaker 1: down coverages and the pass offs between the defenders where
Speaker 1: everybody's got to be on a string, and you guys
Speaker 1: have just got it down to a team.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is the essence of having success in the
Speaker 3: in the NFL, in my opinion, is continuity. And it's
Speaker 3: unfortunate that a lot of organizations they don't understand that,
Speaker 3: you know, like to play championship level football, it takes
Speaker 3: great players, number one, and it will never be any
Speaker 3: different than that great players.
Speaker 2: And then.
Speaker 3: On top of that, you need these great players to
Speaker 3: hear the same things over and over and over again
Speaker 3: to the point where it becomes just part of their DNA,
Speaker 3: and unconscious competence kicks in and guys are just reacting.
Speaker 3: They're not thinking anymore. And we're starting to flirt with
Speaker 3: that now in year four with this with this group.
Speaker 3: So it's a it's exciting. We've come a long way,
Speaker 3: but we still got a long way to go, and
Speaker 3: we've got the players that are that are capable of
Speaker 3: taking us to a whole nother space.
Speaker 1: Personal personnel is completely different. But go back to your
Speaker 1: days and Seattle Repete. I think people saw the evolution
Speaker 1: there with the Seahawks and said, well, they're Cover three,
Speaker 1: they're lining up, that's.
Speaker 2: What they're going to do in the back end.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about how you guys approach it in
Speaker 1: the back end compared to maybe what a version of
Speaker 1: this defense wash it when it's started.
Speaker 3: Right, But so yeah, Pete started with the cover three
Speaker 3: and that was what we ran there, and it was
Speaker 3: for all intensive purposes all we ran there, you know,
Speaker 3: and and it was the belief system was we're going
Speaker 3: to give these guys great fundamentals, tools, techniques, and we're
Speaker 3: going to let them make the playbook come to life.
Speaker 3: We're going to really just get out of their way.
Speaker 3: And that has not changed here at all. What we
Speaker 3: play is is much different. But the essence of giving
Speaker 3: these players, these really good players, that we have the
Speaker 3: tools necessary to be successful in getting out of their way,
Speaker 3: that has not changed.
Speaker 1: One thing that Robert has always stressed to me is that, hey,
Speaker 1: if you are defensive back, you got to win and
Speaker 1: mann situations on third down. Can you elaborate on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So at the end of the day, like first
Speaker 3: down is important, second's important, We get that. And you
Speaker 3: don't play good ball on those the early downs, you're
Speaker 3: not going to play good overall defense. But when it's
Speaker 3: all said and done, you're going to get them to
Speaker 3: third and two to six more times than not.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 3: That's that's where this game is won. It's where this
Speaker 3: game is lost. And in those moments, yeah, you can
Speaker 3: throw curve balls and throw a zone in here or there,
Speaker 3: but it's going to come down to your ability to
Speaker 3: win the one on one matchup period and third and
Speaker 3: two to six when it's for all the marbles.
Speaker 2: They know we're playing man.
Speaker 3: We know we're playing man who can win, and to
Speaker 3: do that in those situations, you better have the right
Speaker 3: human beings. You better have the right guys that are
Speaker 3: capable of getting that accomplished.
Speaker 1: And we have that here percentage wise. I don't have
Speaker 1: the numbers in front of me. I know you probably
Speaker 1: have them at the top of your head. More Man
Speaker 1: than twenty three, a lot more Man in twenty three
Speaker 1: than twenty one. Yeah, when this thing was started.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah, I'd agree with that.
Speaker 3: I think we've provided a few more wrinkles that we
Speaker 3: had than twenty one, which is just I think that's
Speaker 3: the nature of you know, have been continuity. But yeah,
Speaker 3: like our ability to play Man in those windows has
Speaker 3: definitely gone up because of the human beings that we have.
Speaker 3: We have, in my opinion, the best trio of corners,
Speaker 3: you know, with Michael Carter and DJ Reid and Sauce
Speaker 3: obviously like those three I'll put against anybody in this league.
Speaker 3: And then we have a guy and Tony Adams that
Speaker 3: when he's got a play man to man, has a
Speaker 3: has a corner skill set, you know, so great confidence
Speaker 3: is hit in his ability to do it as well.
Speaker 3: So in those winning moments, those are the guys that
Speaker 3: we lean on, and those are the guys that they
Speaker 3: win more than they lose, and those are the guys
Speaker 3: that are gonna help us become a championship level defense
Speaker 3: this year.
Speaker 1: You can make the argument that Sauce Garner is the
Speaker 1: best cornerback in the National Football League after two years.
Speaker 1: Robert has discussed or described him as being a weapon,
Speaker 1: that he is a defensive weapon. Can you speak to
Speaker 1: hey potentially him traveling more in twenty four because Roberts said,
Speaker 1: you guys have done that in the past, and you've
Speaker 1: talked about it as well, but maybe we could see
Speaker 1: it more this year. But you have that luxury because
Speaker 1: you do have these other guys you have a lot
Speaker 1: of confidence in starting.
Speaker 2: With DJ Absolutely.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like had we not had DJ Reid, we didn't
Speaker 3: have Michael Carter, even Brandon Echles and and Stickers, the
Speaker 3: young guys and all the guys that we got, which
Speaker 3: we have great confidence in all of them. You know,
Speaker 3: Sauce has some he has some very unique qualities. You know,
Speaker 3: he's he's a guy that's obviously he's super long, and
Speaker 3: he's big, and he's bigger than most corners, but his
Speaker 3: transitions is for quickness. His speed is just so unique
Speaker 3: for a guy so high cut and long legged. It
Speaker 3: doesn't make like physical sense to me most of the
Speaker 3: time when I really watch him, especially the line of
Speaker 3: scrimmage stuff and matching guys in and out of breaks.
Speaker 3: The matching stuff. It's a powerful tool, and it's, like
Speaker 3: you said, we've utilized it, you know, that we need
Speaker 3: to utilize, in my opinion, a little bit more, you know,
Speaker 3: just from the standpoint of like I think him and
Speaker 3: DJ are very comfortable corners, both excellent, both world class
Speaker 3: and what they do. The thing with Sauce is he's
Speaker 3: also got a little bit of a reputation too across
Speaker 3: the league, and I really believe that that gets into
Speaker 3: quarterbacks minds at times, you know. So, no doubt, matching
Speaker 3: is as much about eliminating a great player on offense
Speaker 3: as it is steering the ball somewhere else where you
Speaker 3: want it, you know. So the beauty of our situation is, Okay,
Speaker 3: we'll match Sauce at times on their guy, and we'll
Speaker 3: steer the ball exactly where we want it. We want
Speaker 3: them to throw the DJ. We want to throw them
Speaker 3: to Michael Carter. We want them to throw to Tony Adams,
Speaker 3: and we have great confidence and belief that look at
Speaker 3: the job done.
Speaker 1: It's interesting over the years, isn't it how people have
Speaker 1: viewed the cornerback position, because I was afforded the opportunity
Speaker 1: to cover Revis when he was here, and you always
Speaker 1: had the option of, yeah, you can stick Revis on Megatron,
Speaker 1: or you can put him on the second receiver and
Speaker 1: you can double Megatron.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, yeah, I think you always have that option,
Speaker 3: you know, like, and there's I think there's value to
Speaker 3: both of those mindsets. And I think at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, they always never boxes. You got to
Speaker 3: check and you got to make sure that at times
Speaker 3: you're doing that, but at times you're putting your best
Speaker 3: on their best.
Speaker 1: What do you sense differently from Sauce here heading into
Speaker 1: year three? I can't even believe we're saying that he's
Speaker 1: head into year three. I knew you were high on him,
Speaker 1: but did you think he'd be to this level at
Speaker 1: this point so early?
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody can ever really say that, you know,
Speaker 3: I think we can all hope and we definitely were
Speaker 3: super excited about the potential that we saw on him.
Speaker 3: But to say that he was going to become an
Speaker 3: all pro immediately and have such success so early on,
Speaker 3: I think it's it's just it's so rare, and it's
Speaker 3: it's a testament to the not just the player and
Speaker 3: the athlete.
Speaker 2: That he is, but the human that he is.
Speaker 3: Like he he is grounded in this mindset that the
Speaker 3: only way I get better is working and and and
Speaker 3: putting a time that's necessary. And he's committed to that,
Speaker 3: and that's the reason he's had the success. Aside from
Speaker 3: his physical talent, aside from all the stuff that God
Speaker 3: has given him, he puts the work in. This year,
Speaker 3: I've really felt a concerted effort to to be the
Speaker 3: leader that he's becoming. Like I've heard his voice way
Speaker 3: more vocal on and off the field in the meeting rooms.
Speaker 3: I mean there is there was a unit meeting a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago where like he for all intensive point,
Speaker 3: he took the meeting over, you know, and and had
Speaker 3: a lot of feedback and and he was creating dialogue
Speaker 3: with the safeties, creating dialogues with the other corners, creating
Speaker 3: dialogue with the with the linebackers, and it's one of
Speaker 3: the was like just really proud moments as a coach,
Speaker 3: because you know, as we all know, the best defenses
Speaker 3: are our player run, they really are. Those are the
Speaker 3: guys across the white line. Those are the guys in
Speaker 3: critical moments that got to win. And he's starting to
Speaker 3: emerge as that leader that's necessary for great defense.
Speaker 1: That's such a cool group. Like you said, you'll take
Speaker 1: him against anybody. And then Tony Odin heading up the cornerbacks.
Speaker 1: He such a quality coach in person. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: safety position. Robert has stressed competition there. Chuck Clark. We
Speaker 1: didn't have the opportunity to see him last year. What's
Speaker 1: it been like just having him back on the field
Speaker 1: during OTAs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been awesome.
Speaker 3: A guy that's obviously got a ton of experience, played
Speaker 3: high level football in this league. I just it broke
Speaker 3: my heart last year, not just for us because obviously
Speaker 3: we were relying on him and we all thought he'd
Speaker 3: played a big role in our defense, but for the
Speaker 3: leader and the man that he is. He just stands
Speaker 3: for everything that that we covered in this building. Toughness
Speaker 3: and love for this game and to be a great teammate,
Speaker 3: to be accountable, reliable's he's all of that, and he's
Speaker 3: got a level of maturity to him that's just so unique.
Speaker 3: Last year, he tears his acl and heartbreaking for himself.
Speaker 3: Most guys in those situations they go home, they spend
Speaker 3: time with their family, they rehabit at a local place
Speaker 3: near their family. Chuck, other than a few weeks here
Speaker 3: or there, he stayed with us the entire season, which
Speaker 3: is so rare in this business. Stayed with us because
Speaker 3: although he had never played a game with us, he'd
Speaker 3: built this such strong connection with the players on our
Speaker 3: defense and especially within that secondary, especially within that safety room,
Speaker 3: and just wanted to be a part of it, wanted
Speaker 3: to be around it, and also had great respect and
Speaker 3: trust in our training staff and our in our in
Speaker 3: our weight room guys that that he this was the
Speaker 3: best place that he could be to get better and
Speaker 3: become the player that we all know that he can be.
Speaker 3: So I'm just so excited for him to be with
Speaker 3: us this year. And there's a lot of competition in
Speaker 3: that room, and you know, we'll see who the two
Speaker 3: that emerged, But regardless of who emerges as the two starters,
Speaker 3: they're all have a significant role in our defense.
Speaker 1: You mentioned as athleticism, and what impressed me last year
Speaker 1: in the summer was that he just played with the spark.
Speaker 1: He had this this there's this energy about him. We
Speaker 1: saw him progress last year on the field. What's his
Speaker 1: next step?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not to be discounted. And I probably shouldn't
Speaker 3: have mentioned that first and foremost, that he is the
Speaker 3: ultimate energy giver that I've ever been around. Like really, oh,
Speaker 3: he's just his love for this game, his love for
Speaker 3: his teammates, it's just infectious.
Speaker 2: It's every day. He never turns it off.
Speaker 3: The edge he plays with, you know, the stuff he
Speaker 3: says to the offense on a daily basis, it's very entertaining.
Speaker 3: You know, Like if you don't get juiced up, and
Speaker 3: if you don't get excited about football when you're around him,
Speaker 3: then then you don't belong in this game.
Speaker 2: You really don't.
Speaker 3: And for him, it's just more time on task. The
Speaker 3: more he does this, because he works so hard at it,
Speaker 3: he'll just he'll inevitably just get better and better and better.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I know he would say that he needs to become
Speaker 3: a better tackler and and he will become a better tackler.
Speaker 3: I know that because every day he's out here, he's
Speaker 3: working on his tracking, he's taking the extra step, he's
Speaker 3: putting on bodies on bodies like he's he's doing everything
Speaker 3: necessary to make sure that he's the best tackling safety
Speaker 3: in this league.
Speaker 1: Why is a ball financial Davis It?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I do know, and I don't know.
Speaker 3: He just has amazing instinct and he's got this nose
Speaker 3: for the ball that's just it's uncanny, you know, and
Speaker 3: he has I think there's an element to guys that
Speaker 3: like that are so doing it by the book, doing
Speaker 3: it by the playbook, and then there's guys that got
Speaker 3: a little bit of.
Speaker 2: The censored version.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say, is it like a freelancing within
Speaker 1: the system, a little.
Speaker 3: Bit a little bit of like, you know, he's got
Speaker 3: a little bit of a little bit of effort at
Speaker 3: times in the most positive a voice where it's like, I.
Speaker 2: Know I'm supposed to be here, and I'm here, but
Speaker 2: I know the ball's going here.
Speaker 3: And and he's one of those few guys that allows
Speaker 3: himself to go where he thinks the ball is going,
Speaker 3: you know. And he's been awarded for it a lot
Speaker 3: of times. I mean, he's by far, he's he's demonstrated
Speaker 3: as our best ball guy, you know, on defense. So
Speaker 3: you know when when we thought about the opportunity of
Speaker 3: potentially losing him this offseason, you know that that hurt
Speaker 3: my heart because he's such an integral part of what
Speaker 3: we do. You know, he's he's played so many roles
Speaker 3: for us. He started here at safety, he started here
Speaker 3: at at at a variation of Nickel, He's he's played
Speaker 3: essentially linebacker for us at times. So he's such a
Speaker 3: critical piece to what we do. And at the same time,
Speaker 3: he's a game changer because he does get the ball quietly.
Speaker 1: A lot of changes up front. You're talking about Quinn's there,
Speaker 1: foundational piece. We know that Salmon Thomas resigns, but you
Speaker 1: guys signed Lucky Foto, and then also Javon king Law
Speaker 1: a former Niner yep, and then on the outside, Bryce
Speaker 1: Off signs the Lucer deal with Philadelphia. You trade John
Speaker 1: Franklin Weris to Denver, and Hassan Reddick is here. So
Speaker 1: a lot of different faces. I know the expectations won't change,
Speaker 1: but what do you make of the different landscape there.
Speaker 3: I'm so excited about this group and to get them
Speaker 3: together and to really spend time together.
Speaker 2: It's I was just telling.
Speaker 3: Coach Sla this morning, I just there's a part of
Speaker 3: me once on I just want to fast forward to
Speaker 3: training camp, you know, because I really I want to
Speaker 3: get these guys in pads and I want to I
Speaker 3: want to play real football with them, you know, and
Speaker 3: see what we got it in. But I'm just so
Speaker 3: excited about the entire group, so grateful for all that
Speaker 3: Bryce did for us, because you just it's he's a
Speaker 3: world class pass rusher any any won and critical moments
Speaker 3: and and he'll be missed and and JFM is a
Speaker 3: guy that was really near and dear to my heart.
Speaker 3: I love not just the football player, but I really
Speaker 3: got to see him grow as a human being here,
Speaker 3: you know, and become a different guy and a and
Speaker 3: a leader and just embodied everything that we we uh
Speaker 3: that we love around here about football and uh and
Speaker 3: he'll be missed as well, you know. And but for
Speaker 3: us to get Solomon Thomas back is huge because he
Speaker 3: is our he is our ambassador strain and he lives
Speaker 3: it every day and he's another energy giver in the
Speaker 3: highest level, just like Ta And to bring a guy
Speaker 3: in like Javon Kiinlaw, a big, explosive, violent athlete that,
Speaker 3: in my opinion like has not played his best football
Speaker 3: yet and the NFL does not know who this man
Speaker 3: can be.
Speaker 2: And he's about to show the entire world exactly who
Speaker 2: he is. And in my opinion, that's a top d
Speaker 2: tackle in this league.
Speaker 1: So you like him coming out?
Speaker 3: I did loved him like he was going to be
Speaker 3: our pick in Atlanta. Really he was, and then they
Speaker 3: jumped in front of us and they and they took him.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you the Kyle about him at league meetings.
Speaker 1: It's jumping around to the breakfast tables. I don't see
Speaker 1: coaches breakfast, and he said, frankly, we would have liked
Speaker 1: to get them.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 3: There's been an element of injury and an element of
Speaker 3: opportunity that have just for another reason was it was
Speaker 3: not right, and that's nobody's fault, you know. But he's
Speaker 3: he's going to have good health there and he's going
Speaker 3: to have opportunity. And with the combination of those two things,
Speaker 3: and plus now that he's he's got some experience in
Speaker 3: this League, and the beauty of it is he's staying
Speaker 3: in the same front system, he'd be able to just
Speaker 3: he's uh, like, I don't want to say too much
Speaker 3: because I want him to really demonstrate it with his actions.
Speaker 1: But you're excited, You're clearly excited about super excited.
Speaker 3: Yeah, super excited and Lakey as well, Like he's another
Speaker 3: guy that he's one of those guys that embodies strain, toughness, violence,
Speaker 3: and when you play in a lot of multiple fronts
Speaker 3: and you're playing in a lot of different techniques, it's
Speaker 3: hard sometimes to just demonstrate that all the time. This
Speaker 3: front that we have is made for guys like him
Speaker 3: that just go and they go hard and they're violent,
Speaker 3: all the things that he embodies. So I'm I'm super
Speaker 3: excited about Laky as well. So it's, uh, it's been
Speaker 3: an exciting addition, you know, to this group. Hassan as well,
Speaker 3: Like obviously he's uh, you know, he's a guy that's
Speaker 3: going to change this in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2: His sack production.
Speaker 3: Is it's unreal, you know, and his ability to really
Speaker 3: finish games and winning critical moments. He's he's a guy
Speaker 3: who's going to add a definite another elementary.
Speaker 1: We're taping this during LTAS. What makes him a unique
Speaker 1: pass rusher? Why, like you just talked about his production,
Speaker 1: it's got fifty and a half sacks the last four years,
Speaker 1: I mean lyeing them up. He's going double digits, right.
Speaker 1: Why does he constantly get there? And also he takes
Speaker 1: the ball away?
Speaker 2: He does It's unreal. Yes, it's a it's combination a
Speaker 2: lot of things. You know.
Speaker 3: Coming from Temple, he did a little bit of everything there.
Speaker 3: He played off the ball, he played all on the ball,
Speaker 3: and I think when he was he was coming out,
Speaker 3: nobody knew really what he was going to be or
Speaker 3: could be, or what position he should necessarily play the
Speaker 3: majority of the time. And then obviously Arizona drafts him,
Speaker 3: and Arizona initially they try to utilize him the same
Speaker 3: way that Temple did, where he was off the ball,
Speaker 3: on the ball, doing a little bit of everything, not
Speaker 3: really becoming a master of anything at the time. And
Speaker 3: then finally they started to transition him to more of
Speaker 3: a d N you know, DPR pass rushing mode. And
Speaker 3: at first all you saw was speed, and you saw
Speaker 3: a guy just run around tackles, and when he got there,
Speaker 3: He's a guy that was so cognizant of the ball that,
Speaker 3: like you said, he took the ball off a lot
Speaker 3: of people.
Speaker 2: But as we all know, like.
Speaker 3: In time, when people really learn your game, speed isn't
Speaker 3: going to be enough, you know. And to really see
Speaker 3: him evolve of these last couple of years and really
Speaker 3: create an arsenal of moves, he's a guy now that
Speaker 3: he can counter inside, he can beat you outside with speed.
Speaker 3: He's got an element of power that he's developed, which
Speaker 3: you have to have to have to be a successful
Speaker 3: pass rusher. And at the same time, his ability and
Speaker 3: knack for the ball has never changed.
Speaker 2: So he's just.
Speaker 3: A growing, evolving player that And I know this sounds
Speaker 3: crazy with the guy that's got fifty sacks in his resume,
Speaker 3: but I don't think anyone's seen the best version of him.
Speaker 2: I think last year he played good football.
Speaker 3: I think you get this guy seven eight more opportunities
Speaker 3: to go forward in a game. You'll see that on
Speaker 3: the stat sheet and we'll feel that in the game.
Speaker 1: Fair enough, Jermaine Johnson, you mentioned saus Gardner before stepping
Speaker 1: up as a leader. Yep, kind of sense the same
Speaker 1: thing from him now entering year three as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like he's a you know, to be a leader,
Speaker 3: you got to walk the walk, and you got to
Speaker 3: demonstrate with your actions before you say anything, you know,
Speaker 3: because I see way better than I hear.
Speaker 2: And he's a guy that.
Speaker 3: I don't say this lightly, you know, especially with a
Speaker 3: guy like Sally on our roster, who is as hard
Speaker 3: working as anybody I've ever been around. That he is
Speaker 3: we call stack monsters. When the balls thrown the defensive
Speaker 3: line's out of the stack. I would challenge any coach
Speaker 3: in this league or player in this league to say
Speaker 3: that you can't find a better stack monster than Jamie Johnson.
Speaker 3: So here's a guy that he's got crazy talent because
Speaker 3: he's long, he's fast, he's powerful, he's violent, he's really
Speaker 3: starting to understand how to rush. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: he's earned the right to be a leader because of
Speaker 3: his work, ethic and the stuff that takes no talent.
Speaker 3: His effort is strained, his ability to come out of
Speaker 3: the stack every time. That's what's really earned the stripes
Speaker 3: to stand up and demand things of his teammates and
Speaker 3: hold them accountable. And it's going to be fun this
Speaker 3: year to watch him continue to grow in that role.
Speaker 1: I think you kind of have to have this. You're
Speaker 1: going to be playing between the white lines every Sunday.
Speaker 1: But he's got kind of f you mentality out there.
Speaker 3: And it's unique because in this setting you would say
Speaker 3: he's very docile. In this setting, you'd say he's got
Speaker 3: like some cool casualness to him, you know, because he is.
Speaker 2: He's cooler than me. You know, it's not very hard
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 3: But he's got some like as they say, he's got
Speaker 3: some swag to him, the way he carries himself. And
Speaker 3: in my experience, typically those guys that are casual and
Speaker 3: cool and swaggy, they might not always demonstrate that high
Speaker 3: level strain and toughness and grit. But he plays like
Speaker 3: a guy with no swag. You know, he plays like
Speaker 3: a guy that's got no casualness, no coolness to him.
Speaker 3: You know, he plays like the I.
Speaker 1: Told him this multiple times last year that we broke
Speaker 1: this down. We had bart break this down in here.
Speaker 1: Telestration Wise, it was a game that you guys lost.
Speaker 1: He didn't play up to your standards, but it was
Speaker 1: by the goal line you probably remember to play. Is
Speaker 1: that Zach Martin, perhaps the best guard in the National
Speaker 1: Football He's pulling and Jermaine took him on and it's set.
Speaker 1: I don't remember who made the tackle, but the play
Speaker 1: that just stands out is there's Jermaine saying, yeah, I
Speaker 1: know he's coming, I'm meeting him and they're not getting in.
Speaker 2: And that's every play. That's every play.
Speaker 3: Like we play nine techniques, as everybody knows, and that
Speaker 3: means that a lot of times tight ends have to
Speaker 3: try to block our ends. And I've seen him make
Speaker 3: tight ends tapping games, you know, definitely cringing, definitely flinching,
Speaker 3: definitely closing their eyes by the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: All right, let's go back.
Speaker 1: To the linebacker position.
Speaker 2: CJ.
Speaker 1: Moseley, heart of the defense. He takes a restructure, wants
Speaker 1: to be here. That's awesome. Let's talk about the team
Speaker 1: MVP twenty twenty three. Quincy Williams, you go ways back
Speaker 1: with him, yep. Can you talk about this linebacker defender
Speaker 1: coming out of Murray State and perhaps you're scouting evaluation
Speaker 1: of him.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Before I talk about Quincy, just really quick about Quinnen
Speaker 3: and CJ. Like, yep, Just so that everyone understands, none
Speaker 3: of this works without the.
Speaker 2: Two of those human beings the heart.
Speaker 3: They are the absolute heart and more than where they're
Speaker 3: located in our defense, just all they embody, all they
Speaker 3: stand for, the standard and the level of play each
Speaker 3: week that they they come with and they're the way
Speaker 3: they prepare.
Speaker 2: Really the way they.
Speaker 3: Operate within our building is just so unique and uncommon,
Speaker 3: and we would not be the defense without those two
Speaker 3: human beings.
Speaker 1: All right, So if you want us go there? Do
Speaker 1: you think quinnin takes note of Aaron Donald retiring because
Speaker 1: he's all team. He wants to win. He was drafted
Speaker 1: here and that's the number one thing for Quinn Williams,
Speaker 1: no doubt. But with that being said, if you're a
Speaker 1: competitor too and you want to be thought of on
Speaker 1: a different level, I think it would be natural to say, listen, man,
Speaker 1: I want to be known as the best defensive tackle
Speaker 1: in national.
Speaker 3: Footballer, No, without a doubt, and I think that he's
Speaker 3: capable of that, and I think he's very close to that.
Speaker 3: I think whether he'd admit this or not, I think that,
Speaker 3: like an Aaron Donald retiring might piss him off a
Speaker 3: little bit from the standpoint, like I want to be
Speaker 3: I want to be the best et with that guy playing,
Speaker 3: you know, and and that's he's definitely capable of that,
Speaker 3: and he's close to it, and it's going to be
Speaker 3: really fun to watch him become that, you know, and
Speaker 3: and there's no doubt in my mind that at the
Speaker 3: end of this next season that there's nobody in the
Speaker 3: in the NFL that will be able to say differently
Speaker 3: that he is going to be the best d tackle
Speaker 3: in all the NFL this year.
Speaker 1: So let's go back to Quincy.
Speaker 2: Quincy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he is a I've loved him since Murray State.
Speaker 3: Like I'm in Atlanta and uh I got an opportunity
Speaker 3: to work him out at University of of UAB in Birmingham,
Speaker 3: his hometown, and uh spent a day with him out there.
Speaker 3: First of all, he almost broke my arm in a
Speaker 3: as he hit me with a blocking shield and tore
Speaker 3: the ligaments off of my forearm. Because like he's he's
Speaker 3: a very unique guy. And it's funny when these young
Speaker 3: guys get around him outside that maybe maybe guys that
Speaker 3: aren't completely familiar with the NFL game, but you see
Speaker 3: Quincy and he's and he's short statued and and.
Speaker 2: He might not look like.
Speaker 3: The prototypical like linebacker from the NFL. But don't get
Speaker 3: it twisted. There's not a more explosive linebacker in the
Speaker 3: NFL right now playing, you know. And I definitely felt
Speaker 3: it that day when I worked him out. He made
Speaker 3: me very sore. But I still remember I was also
Speaker 3: working him out with another player that was at UAB,
Speaker 3: and we got in the classroom as we always do
Speaker 3: when we work these guys out, and to you know,
Speaker 3: get an idea about their level of their ability to
Speaker 3: learn and uh articulate the defense they were playing, but
Speaker 3: also help us see if they can absorb and articulate
Speaker 3: the defense that that that we play. And uh, I
Speaker 3: remember it was like yesterday, the way he got up
Speaker 3: on the board and the UAB linebacker was struggling a
Speaker 3: little bit with learning it, and the way he took
Speaker 3: the meeting over and kind of started to teach him
Speaker 3: and put in his own words and and so I
Speaker 3: was blown away by the athlete. But I also became
Speaker 3: blown away with the mind, his love for this game.
Speaker 3: And now that I've got an opportunity to really be
Speaker 3: around him, he's a guy that just.
Speaker 2: He's he could be the.
Speaker 3: Best linebacker in the NFL right now, you know, and
Speaker 3: and and it's funny because a lot of guys they
Speaker 3: get paid when they become that when they become pro bowlers,
Speaker 3: they become all pros and their level of work and
Speaker 3: dedication still good, but it might not be great. Like
Speaker 3: I've seen this guy go the other way, like he
Speaker 3: got a taste of success and he wants more, like
Speaker 3: we've we've talked about all the time, Like he got
Speaker 3: a good bag of money, but he's in store to
Speaker 3: get a really big bag of money now because he
Speaker 3: is really he pulled apart from the group last year
Speaker 3: as far as the entire NFL's linebackers, you know, and
Speaker 3: I think he's going to take another step this year.
Speaker 1: Speak to that. Why did he pull apart?
Speaker 2: Why is he different?
Speaker 3: Because just so willing to work. It's just so rare
Speaker 3: when you got a guy with his athletic skill set.
Speaker 3: He's explosive, he's fast, he has the profile that I love.
Speaker 3: We're a little bit short stature because you're changing direction
Speaker 3: and your natural leverage for striking, but he's got extremely
Speaker 3: long levers, which a lot of people don't know that.
Speaker 3: He's you know, thirty three plus inch arms, so the
Speaker 3: combination of the athleticism, the body that he has, and
Speaker 3: now the brain that he has on top of the desire,
Speaker 3: the love and the ability to and you know, the
Speaker 3: work ethic. He's just going to continue to grow and
Speaker 3: keeps on.
Speaker 1: What are you saying to the files out here in
Speaker 1: the spring when Rogers is looking down the right sideline
Speaker 1: coming back throwing a no look across the medal, or
Speaker 1: he's rolling right on a boot coming back throwing sixty
Speaker 1: five yards down the field.
Speaker 3: I love it, you know, because it just makes you
Speaker 3: so tight from the back ends perspective. When you're not
Speaker 3: playing against a quarterback of his caliber, you can get
Speaker 3: loose with your details at time. I'd like to say
Speaker 3: that as coaches, we see everything all the time. We
Speaker 3: make sure every detail is just perfect all the time,
Speaker 3: and we try our best to do that. But there
Speaker 3: is nothing better than instant feedback of a quarterback getting
Speaker 3: you on something because your details were just a little
Speaker 3: bit off, you know, So to have him test us
Speaker 3: on a daily basis, it just makes us that much better.
Speaker 1: How much fun are you having? This is center year
Speaker 1: four for you? Like you said, the continuity, yep, you
Speaker 1: took some lamps I'll never forget that New England game.
Speaker 1: I don't remember the score, but you said we could
Speaker 1: do some quick fixes here and it might help in
Speaker 1: the short run. It's not going to help in the
Speaker 1: long run. Yep, you stuck to your guns. And now
Speaker 1: here you have this unit and the potential. You got
Speaker 1: to be talking inside that meeting room that we should
Speaker 1: be the top defense in the National Football League.
Speaker 2: That's got to be the expectation run without a doubt.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm speaking on them, whether I'm having fun
Speaker 3: or not, Like I don't know if I've ever had
Speaker 3: more fun coaching this game.
Speaker 2: It's just it's just so rare.
Speaker 3: And I've said this before but I'll say it again,
Speaker 3: is the character of that room is unlike anyone I've
Speaker 3: ever been around, from top to bottom. Like you cannot
Speaker 3: be you can't be in it. Can I say, asshole?
Speaker 2: You can't. You can't be an asshole on this defense.
Speaker 3: You can't. You can't be a self promoter. You can't
Speaker 3: be a guy that's all about yourself. You can't be selfish.
Speaker 3: You can't. If you are, you'll stand out like such
Speaker 3: a sword thumb. You'll get ostracized very quickly. Life will
Speaker 3: not be fun for you, you know, because the guys
Speaker 3: won't won't allow it. They won't, they won't put up
Speaker 3: with it. The fact that we have this group that
Speaker 3: is just we have such good human beings the DNA.
Speaker 3: These guys are so right, they're so committed to the process.
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter what we're doing, it doesn't matter meetings, walkthroughs, practice,
Speaker 3: like I got to go out there and coach. I
Speaker 3: don't have to know them, I don't have to push them,
Speaker 3: I don't have to like Their level of self motivation
Speaker 3: and the way they hold each other accountable is from
Speaker 3: a collective unit is unlike anything I've ever been around.
Speaker 3: So because of that, it just makes it. It's such
Speaker 3: a joy to coach these guys.
Speaker 2: It really is.
Speaker 1: Well, it's such a joy to always talk to you.
Speaker 1: Thanks for coming up here. Enjoy your trips coming up here.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: This summer man get away, I will get away and
Speaker 1: then we'll see you back here at training camp.
Speaker 2: Time to go. Thanks brother, Thank you.