Speaker 1: Five minutes early. Right, how's everyone doing? Welcome? This is.
Speaker 2: This to me, there's nothing like watching our guys compete
Speaker 2: on Sundays or Thursdays or Mondays. We play a lot
Speaker 2: of different days now, but nothing like watching our guys compete.
Speaker 2: But to me, this is really my favorite time of
Speaker 2: year as an organization, because, you know, I think it
Speaker 2: represents our organization coming together and working for a common goal.
Speaker 1: As much as anything we do.
Speaker 2: When you look at you know, the guys I call
Speaker 2: our unsung heroes, our scouts, our R and D department,
Speaker 2: our salary cap people, our medical our player engagement, our
Speaker 2: video people. Everyone is involved, our coaches, our personnel. Everyone
Speaker 2: is involved, everyone has heard. Everyone comes together, and I'm
Speaker 2: really proud of the process and proud. I do want
Speaker 2: to mention some of those scouts because they, like I said,
Speaker 2: they often go unnoticed behind the scenes. And we've got
Speaker 2: a tremendous college scouting staff. So we'll start with the
Speaker 2: guy who now is our director player personnel. But tarka Maud,
Speaker 2: you know, for this draft class, has really been the
Speaker 2: director of college scouting, and Tark does a tremendous job.
Speaker 2: Or Jay Gillen has really contributed in a big way
Speaker 2: to this. Our assistant director of College Scouting, Justin Chabbott,
Speaker 2: has been with the Niners forever. Our national Scouts, Chip Flanagan,
Speaker 2: Josh Williams, and Dom DeCicco Area Scout starting on the
Speaker 2: West Coast, Crowley Hanlin our Southwest Scout, Hayden Fry Midlands,
Speaker 2: Ryan Kessenich Midwest, Warren Ball Southeast, Steve Rubio our Northeast Scout,
Speaker 2: Eric Thatcher and our national our NFS Scout, Mike Zakowski
Speaker 2: scouting assistants. They're too young to get a shout out,
Speaker 2: but they do a tremendous job. And Jesse Sayamalu, our
Speaker 2: scouting coordinator. You know, we really have a great group
Speaker 2: and our docst I do want to mention them, Timmick Adams,
Speaker 2: Nino doc Nino.
Speaker 1: Uh. They they work tirelessly on this.
Speaker 2: And you know the reason being, you know, when I
Speaker 2: used to work at Fox and broadcasting, John the holy
Speaker 2: Grail was John Madden, and everybody talks about like, you know,
Speaker 2: when you're in broadcasting, all the things you want to
Speaker 2: get into a broadcast producing and Madden used to say, well,
Speaker 2: what happens if a game breaks out and that's the
Speaker 2: same thing as the draft. You've got to be nimble,
Speaker 2: you've got to be flexible so that you can react
Speaker 2: to whatever comes your way.
Speaker 1: And that's why you have to be prepared.
Speaker 2: And we're extremely prepared and ready and looking forward to
Speaker 2: the opportunity. You know, to me, what the draft signifies,
Speaker 2: it's an opportunity to improve your organization, to infuse youth,
Speaker 2: to infuse competition, to infuse speed, to infuse toughness, dependability,
Speaker 2: all the things that we really covet. This is an
Speaker 2: opportunity to do at and so I just I can't wait.
Speaker 2: And uh with that, you know, I'll open up questions
Speaker 2: and before you know, questions, you know, I know a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago, there was a lot of talk
Speaker 2: about another receiver debo, and I said the same thing,
Speaker 2: but with b A. You know b A, I've I've
Speaker 2: communicated on a couple occasions, on many occasions, our wish
Speaker 2: and our wish is that he's here and part of
Speaker 2: the Niners for the rest of his career. You know,
Speaker 2: we're working through that. And you know as such, you know,
Speaker 2: I was a player once and I never liked my
Speaker 2: business being out in the public, and so I'm going
Speaker 2: to respect that. I'm not going to speak for their side.
Speaker 2: Can say we're having good talks and I'm just going
Speaker 2: to leave it at that and we'll focus on.
Speaker 1: The draft here today.
Speaker 2: But that's that's just want to understand you guys have
Speaker 2: a job to do and respect that. But that's kind
Speaker 2: of the tone I'm going to take there. So uh,
Speaker 2: with that, open up for questions.
Speaker 3: Communic did you use emojis?
Speaker 1: There you go the first question.
Speaker 2: We communicate well, and we love the guy, so thank you.
Speaker 1: He is not Yeah, he's not here right now now.
Speaker 4: At all.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sure, we received calls about a lot of players.
Speaker 4: Yeah, give permission to his side.
Speaker 2: To I'm not I'm not going to get in all
Speaker 2: those details. We're we're really focused on BA being part
Speaker 2: of us. He's under contract and we're we're looking forward
Speaker 2: to that.
Speaker 4: Said years of our contract.
Speaker 5: They went into the summer later, they impacted the way
Speaker 5: they played that season, impacted the way they played that
Speaker 5: knowing that does that just in terms of the timeline
Speaker 5: of trying to.
Speaker 2: Get something done with that, Yeah, I think that's important.
Speaker 2: I think there is you know, human nature is that
Speaker 2: deadlines force these things. But you know, I think you
Speaker 2: can always learn from situations, and you'd be a fool
Speaker 2: not to.
Speaker 1: I'd like to.
Speaker 2: I'd like to have our business tidied up at a little uh,
Speaker 2: you know, those those things, they ran the course they
Speaker 2: needed to. And I'm proud of our record of getting
Speaker 2: the guys we want to get done done. But I'm
Speaker 2: right there with everyone else. I'd sure like it to
Speaker 2: happen sooner.
Speaker 1: So those guys said that, you know, it kind of
Speaker 1: affected them going into.
Speaker 5: The season, you know, not having a normal routine and
Speaker 5: you know that stuff lingering.
Speaker 3: Is that a concern for you guys if it does linger?
Speaker 2: We both those guys had fantastic seasons, but and they're
Speaker 2: fantastic players. But of course, you know, I just I
Speaker 2: just you know, alluded to it. You you always want
Speaker 2: to learn and and you know, if we can get
Speaker 2: it done sooner, I'm always for that where we all
Speaker 2: are for the.
Speaker 4: Guys that are back in the building.
Speaker 6: And you guys being back, you're not that far removed
Speaker 6: from the Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: Do you feel a sense of excitement? Is there any
Speaker 4: lingering bad taste from how it all ended?
Speaker 2: No, And that's that's important. Tracy of the We've got
Speaker 2: We always have great participation and we have that right now,
Speaker 2: and the guys are out there working and that's kind
Speaker 2: of symbolic of turning that page.
Speaker 1: And that's so important.
Speaker 2: You know, our our organization was heartbroken, but like I
Speaker 2: think of our coaches, I failed to mention them in
Speaker 2: our in our scouting process. After a long, hard season,
Speaker 2: they had to turn around really quick. And our coaches
Speaker 2: are very involved in our scouting process. And so while
Speaker 2: they're taking some off time, they're watching players for this draft.
Speaker 2: And the players, you know, they they went through the
Speaker 2: same thing and so well. For some teams it's been
Speaker 2: three months since they've been on the field. We've been
Speaker 2: on the field a lot sooner. But that comes with
Speaker 2: the territory. It's a lot better than the alternative. So
Speaker 2: but yeah, now you start forging. Every season is a
Speaker 2: new one, every group's a new one. You got to
Speaker 2: forge your identity. We've got a bunch of new players
Speaker 2: that we've you know, put onto our team with free agency,
Speaker 2: and those guys are all coming together and it's about
Speaker 2: the work now and it's about becoming a team, this
Speaker 2: year's team, and you know, those guys are working really
Speaker 2: hard and right now it's just you know, Phase one
Speaker 2: is with our with our strength coaches, and they're doing
Speaker 2: a really nice job. But the guys are working and
Speaker 2: we're happy for that.
Speaker 6: Spot at thirty one where sometimes teams try to trade
Speaker 6: back into the first round, maybe to get a quarterback.
Speaker 6: Have you had any sort of ground laying the groundwork
Speaker 6: type discussion with other teams about hey, if this comes up,
Speaker 6: maybe we're interested in being at thirty one.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: My experience, Matt is that that happened some owners meetings,
Speaker 2: but really this week is kind of the week those
Speaker 2: calls start to say, hey, just so you know, we
Speaker 2: have some interest and potentially coming up, and you kind
Speaker 2: of take note of that, and so I anticipate that
Speaker 2: some of that will come. You know, it's going to
Speaker 2: be an interesting year. I think it's an interesting draft class.
Speaker 2: I was just looking at my notes and you know,
Speaker 2: like one interesting thing to me dynamic and the way
Speaker 2: the world right now. We put a grade on players
Speaker 2: in the fall if we think there's a chance they're
Speaker 2: going to be more than fifty percent chance that they're
Speaker 2: going to be in this draft. So eighty three players
Speaker 2: from this year's class that we put grades on, So
Speaker 2: thinking there's more than a fifty percent chance thinking they're
Speaker 2: entering the draft are back in college because of NIL
Speaker 2: and things like that, there's now a different route these
Speaker 2: kids can take and some as you know, thirty five
Speaker 2: of those with starter grades. So that's a significant amount.
Speaker 2: And how that affects this draft, it's it's going to
Speaker 2: be interesting. I think the later rounds probably going to
Speaker 2: be lacking, you know. So it's a new dynamic, that
Speaker 2: one that I imagine we're going to be faced with
Speaker 2: each year. I mean, you can go back and make
Speaker 2: a million dollars. I don't know if that's the going rate,
Speaker 2: but it is providing competition, and you know, that's that's
Speaker 2: a significant amount of players eighty three, eighty three that
Speaker 2: we put grades on grades on USh one hundred and
Speaker 2: I think one hundred and seventy draftable grades, so eighty.
Speaker 1: Three in addition to that, you know.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, but you know, it's a it's a different dynamic,
Speaker 2: and it's it's something the whole league's going to deal with.
Speaker 4: What's your philosophy on trading down in the draft, particularly early?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think you know we've shown, you know,
Speaker 2: in our time here, you know, the very first move
Speaker 2: we made in the draft was trading back a spot,
Speaker 2: and so we've traded back, we've traded up, and I
Speaker 2: just think you have to be flexible, I think, you know,
Speaker 2: having said what I just said, you know, sometimes trading
Speaker 2: back gets you later round picks, so I think the
Speaker 2: or mid round picks, and I think maybe your thought
Speaker 2: process if that then that pick you gain allows you
Speaker 2: to move back up someplace else, then maybe that's a
Speaker 2: good thought. But those are the things you got to
Speaker 2: prepare for all these scenarios, and we'll see where that goes.
Speaker 2: I think thirty one is an interesting spot kind of
Speaker 2: where Matt was going. I think the end of day one,
Speaker 2: teams are eager to go get someone, so I would
Speaker 2: imagine there'll be some calls and we'll be open and flexible.
Speaker 2: We've done it, you know, both ways, in a variety
Speaker 2: of ways, and been successful doing some And the big
Speaker 2: thing is just be prepared for every every scenario, you know,
Speaker 2: I think, yet you have to be flexible. Human nature
Speaker 2: is to underestimate the uncertainty of a draft, and I
Speaker 2: think we try to account for that, ye And the
Speaker 2: only way you do that is being prepared for everything.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Nick.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you guys always say you don't have thirty two
Speaker 7: guys with first round grades.
Speaker 4: How many guys do you have with first round grades
Speaker 4: this year?
Speaker 8: And does that the fact that you're unlikely to have
Speaker 8: thirty one of them make you is there a sweet spot?
Speaker 4: I guess is what I'm meaning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're not at thirty two this year.
Speaker 2: We're slightly more than the last couple of years. I mean,
Speaker 2: so that's a good thing. But you know, I think
Speaker 2: that just speaks more to our we have a high
Speaker 2: standard that we don't you know, we don't change, you know,
Speaker 2: blow with the wind to try to put first round grades.
Speaker 2: But still, I mean, when you know, when we like players,
Speaker 2: you know, we we draft them, and I think we
Speaker 2: don't get beholding too well. The league sees them here,
Speaker 2: you know. And so twenty two is is kind of
Speaker 2: where we're at twenty two first round grades. We do
Speaker 2: have a high standard there that is up from the
Speaker 2: last couple of years, and so I think that's a
Speaker 2: good thing.
Speaker 9: There's a points of really good tackles in this draft.
Speaker 9: I don't know if you share that measurables. Yeah, there's
Speaker 9: guys there, hard question you probably won't want to answer, is,
Speaker 9: given what you have, would you say in a draft
Speaker 9: that has a lot of good tackles, you're going to
Speaker 9: want to get one.
Speaker 2: I think it's good tackles, it's good linemen, and I
Speaker 2: you know, the interesting thing with those linemen in this draft,
Speaker 2: we think a lot of them have flexibility to be
Speaker 2: tackles and or guards.
Speaker 1: And so that's nice that you take somebody with some versatility, you.
Speaker 2: Know, I think so that's uh, I think there are
Speaker 2: some options, and you know, part of the draft is
Speaker 2: not always for this you know, you're not always drafting
Speaker 2: for the immediate. You know, sometimes it's drafting for future needs,
Speaker 2: and so we have to be cognizant of that. We've
Speaker 2: got to be smart with that in terms of how
Speaker 2: we allocate our resources. We have ten picks, you know,
Speaker 2: you start asking yourself how many of those can make
Speaker 2: our team and how do we want to approach that?
Speaker 2: And that's that's part of what makes this whole thing
Speaker 2: so fun and enjoyable. And you know, but yeah, I
Speaker 2: do think a strength of this draft to me, a
Speaker 2: lot of premium positions are strong, and so that's that's exciting.
Speaker 8: You know, every draft's different. What would you say, is
Speaker 8: the deepest position in this Hue's draft. And also, you
Speaker 8: guys all have a few gold helmet designations.
Speaker 4: How many do you have this year without obviously, yeah.
Speaker 2: I believe when we you know, this weekend we kind
Speaker 2: of went through those again. I believe we were about
Speaker 2: sixteen gold helmets, and we like keeping that standard. Eye
Speaker 2: you always want to give more because our hit rate
Speaker 2: with those guys, But then you start, you know, let's
Speaker 2: let's stick to our standards because of the reason our
Speaker 2: hit rights EGH is because it is such a high standard.
Speaker 2: So we're at about sixteen gold helmets, and you know,
Speaker 2: we do well with those guys because it takes into
Speaker 2: account everything we believe in and you know, that's that's talent,
Speaker 2: that's spirit, and you know, playing like a forty nine er,
Speaker 2: and it's that's always a fun part of the process, guys,
Speaker 2: lobbying for a guy be a gold helmet and say,
Speaker 2: now he's not making the standard, and you know, we've
Speaker 2: got to hold true to that.
Speaker 4: So you drafted Brandon, I you can twenty twenty. It
Speaker 4: was the pandemic draft.
Speaker 10: Can you compare that war room, those memories to just
Speaker 10: a normal war room.
Speaker 2: Oh, gosh, that was so strange, like it was for everybody.
Speaker 2: But you know, first of all, think in no way
Speaker 2: we were going to be able to pull this off
Speaker 2: as a league, you know, doing this remotely, and what
Speaker 2: happens if my I have terrible internet where I live here,
Speaker 2: we are in the heart of Silicon Valley and I
Speaker 2: can't get I drop phone calls left and right, you know,
Speaker 2: And so I'm sure a lot of people have experienced that,
Speaker 2: how are we going to put on a draft? But
Speaker 2: the league pulled it off. We were able to pull
Speaker 2: it off. Our video guys, our tech, our I T
Speaker 2: people did a tremendous job. It was strange, but it
Speaker 2: was fun. It was it was something different. And I
Speaker 2: remember trading for Trent Williams in my backyard and getting
Speaker 2: the word that that it had come through because it
Speaker 2: wasn't looking good that, you know, two days prior.
Speaker 1: So a lot of memories from that time. I prefer,
Speaker 1: uh and enjoy it.
Speaker 2: I'm sure, like everybody much more doing it up here
Speaker 2: in our draft room, a lot more comfortable and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, I think much better situation.
Speaker 1: Those were.
Speaker 2: Those are strange times, though, and I give the credit
Speaker 2: the league a lot of credit for forging on and
Speaker 2: and pulling off something as monumental as that.
Speaker 1: The way they did there was one up there approach
Speaker 1: changed or evolved since you started doing this a few
Speaker 1: years back. How is our approach? Well, I think with continuity.
Speaker 1: You you know, the way we look at things.
Speaker 2: You you know, there's John Gruden used to talk all
Speaker 2: the time, you never stay the same.
Speaker 1: You're either getting better or you're getting worse.
Speaker 2: So we evaluate really hard, you know, when it's fresh
Speaker 2: each year, and then over time when you can see
Speaker 2: how things pan out. But we look at our process
Speaker 2: in every way, and so I think you're always trying
Speaker 2: to make improvements.
Speaker 1: Then there you're.
Speaker 2: Also looking at what what's worked, and not just from
Speaker 2: a gut feeling, from data, and we're probably much more
Speaker 2: data driven. We have a tremendous R and D department
Speaker 2: led by Matt Plonsky, does a great job and and
Speaker 2: you know, here's here's what we think, but here's the reality.
Speaker 2: Here's here's what the numbers show as to what translates
Speaker 2: to success.
Speaker 1: So we take a hard.
Speaker 2: Look at that, and I think every year we try
Speaker 2: to attempt to tweak our process to make it even better.
Speaker 2: But The great thing that I think, you know, I
Speaker 2: think that I'm very proud of is the way we
Speaker 2: work together. Our coaches are scouting, our r and d
Speaker 2: are medical. We all are working together. Our player engagement.
Speaker 2: Austin Moss is very involved with getting to know the
Speaker 2: players because he deals with our players once they're here,
Speaker 2: and he's got a great experience, So I think with
Speaker 2: experience knowing what you're looking for, I think we're really
Speaker 2: good there in terms of knowing what we like in players.
Speaker 2: And it may be different from what the league sees things,
Speaker 2: and we're.
Speaker 1: Okay with that because we've studied that. We've gone to great.
Speaker 2: Lengths to define who we want on this football team
Speaker 2: and that's served us well.
Speaker 3: Obviously, every draft is important. Does this feel any different
Speaker 3: parties last year on the rookie deal, big contracts, veteran players.
Speaker 3: Does this feel any more loaded to you because of that?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: I think the only you know, you're always thinking about
Speaker 2: that position and to know we have an answer there
Speaker 2: and a really good one that's company and it allows
Speaker 2: us just to go in and build around him and
Speaker 2: make our team stronger. And you know, I think very
Speaker 2: highly of our roster what we have I think it's
Speaker 2: going to be hard for these you know, for young
Speaker 2: kids to come in and.
Speaker 1: Make a mark. But there's there's good players.
Speaker 2: And that's our job to find that because you have
Speaker 2: to have that as many of our players as we've paid,
Speaker 2: you have to rely on rookie contracts, and so we
Speaker 2: need to infuse all those things that I said earlier.
Speaker 2: And we need some players to come out of this
Speaker 2: draft because they're going to be playing next year and
Speaker 2: into the future, and that opportunities there.
Speaker 7: Your first first round pick since twenty twenty one when
Speaker 7: you made that trade.
Speaker 4: I mean, what do you reflect on?
Speaker 7: And I just remember the talk then was you guys
Speaker 7: are pushing all your you know, tips to the center
Speaker 7: and if Trey Lance doesn't work out, you know, you're
Speaker 7: going to be looking for a new job.
Speaker 4: Can you kind of reflect on how how that decision.
Speaker 7: Was made and you know, a few years removed from
Speaker 7: it now, how do you view it?
Speaker 2: You know, I think first of all, I want to
Speaker 2: you know, we have an ownership that's very supportive and
Speaker 2: they support us greatly, uh Jed John, Denise Jennamara.
Speaker 1: They believe in in.
Speaker 2: Kyle and I and our leadership, and they believe in
Speaker 2: our our you know, when when we think something's gonna
Speaker 2: make us better, they say, go for it, and they
Speaker 2: don't give us a lot of restrictions there. And you
Speaker 2: know that's comforting to know we can go be bold
Speaker 2: and do things like that. And yeah, we gave up
Speaker 2: a lot. We we did it for you know, reasons
Speaker 2: that that we had and motivations and and you know
Speaker 2: it didn't work out, but thank God for mister irrelevant.
Speaker 1: He helped us.
Speaker 2: And uh, you know, and then you know, I always
Speaker 2: am careful of this because you know, Trey Lance's story
Speaker 2: hasn't been written yet. You know, he's he's in Dallas
Speaker 2: right now, and I still think Trey's got good football
Speaker 2: in them.
Speaker 1: You know, we'll see that will play out.
Speaker 2: But I think also the freedom that you know when
Speaker 2: when you've done something and you know, you you feel
Speaker 2: like maybe it can improve us to move on, you know,
Speaker 2: we aren't beholden to well we drafted the guy. We
Speaker 2: just got to stick it out. You know, we can
Speaker 2: we can do the things we want to do. And
Speaker 2: I think that served us well as you know, and
Speaker 2: and people can comment on, you know, the thought process
Speaker 2: that went into it. We certainly study it say what
Speaker 2: went right, what went wrong, and we do that with
Speaker 2: all our picks. But I think we're in a real
Speaker 2: good place as a as a football team, as an organization,
Speaker 2: and we got to find a way to get a
Speaker 2: little bit better. And that's the focus of this whole offseason,
Speaker 2: and this draft is an awesome opportunity to do just that.
Speaker 2: On your defense and de free agency, do you feel
Speaker 2: your biggest needs hitting into.
Speaker 4: The draft on offense or where do you feel your
Speaker 4: biggest needs are?
Speaker 2: You know, well, we've identified where we think, you know,
Speaker 2: we want to we want to add some people in
Speaker 2: the draft. But you know, needs is an interesting There's
Speaker 2: not a lot of needs on this team. There's but
Speaker 2: but there's things like a couple of years out. There's
Speaker 2: things a year out, and then there's got there's opportunities
Speaker 2: where guys can come in.
Speaker 1: And so I think and and while the the glaring.
Speaker 2: You know, spot that a guy can come in and
Speaker 2: be the starter right away may not be there, there's
Speaker 2: a number of spots that we see, probably more than
Speaker 2: people might think, where there is opportunity and we've you know.
Speaker 1: We were very thoughtful of that.
Speaker 2: But then you also have to be flexible and nimble
Speaker 2: to see how the draft breaks and then who's who
Speaker 2: do you have? Not being beholden like we are drafting
Speaker 2: this position at thirty one. Now we'll draft Okay, we
Speaker 2: got three or four needs that we see, you know,
Speaker 2: which which way are we going to go with it?
Speaker 2: And that that is when we've done our best work,
Speaker 2: and I think when most teams do.
Speaker 10: Forrester has said that, I think when he brought in
Speaker 10: Feliciano that with the way they deploy the linemen here
Speaker 10: that you didn't even wasn't even sure whether John could.
Speaker 4: Do it until he got here.
Speaker 10: Yeah, And if that's the case with the guy that
Speaker 10: you scouted this in the league, how hard is it
Speaker 10: to project an offensive lineman for what you ask.
Speaker 4: Them to do?
Speaker 2: That's a good question, And you know, John, I think
Speaker 2: it was just stylistically a little different, and not a
Speaker 2: lot of people play like we do now. I will
Speaker 2: say there's more of that throughout the league right now
Speaker 2: because a lot of people coaches that have left here
Speaker 2: are offensive systems in a lot of places now. So
Speaker 2: we basically we get out and run and we ask
Speaker 2: our guys we don't want any hesitation. We want you
Speaker 2: going and being the initiators. And that's not a lot
Speaker 2: of what you're seeing in college football. So you're absolutely right.
Speaker 2: There is a lot of projection when it comes to
Speaker 2: a line play. And so, yeah, identify the traits that
Speaker 2: we want. You identify the spirit of the players that
Speaker 2: are the guys that we want. But offensive line, I think,
Speaker 2: league wide, not just with us, it's becoming tougher. I
Speaker 2: think the tempo with which teams play, it's not a
Speaker 2: lot about finishing the.
Speaker 1: Play they're on.
Speaker 2: It's about let's get back to the line of scrimmage
Speaker 2: so we can look over and read this card they're
Speaker 2: holding up to see what play we're running next. It's
Speaker 2: not a lot of beautiful football being played there. And
Speaker 2: and so you know that that is tough. And John Feliciano,
Speaker 2: what we did know is that he every place he went,
Speaker 2: he seemed to make that organization a little bit better.
Speaker 2: Offensive line is a group where it takes a special breed,
Speaker 2: a human being, and John is is that guy, and
Speaker 2: he connects people at that spot and he's got a
Speaker 2: lot of versatility. He's been a real good player for us.
Speaker 11: There was kind of a trend in football where the
Speaker 11: defensive line athleticism. There was outpitcing what was happening on
Speaker 11: the offensive line. But do you see kind of a
Speaker 11: reversion now with offensive linemen. You've mentioned you liked a
Speaker 11: lot of offensive linemen now.
Speaker 2: Is there Yeah, I hope so, because it's a real,
Speaker 2: you know issue, it did. It did feel for a
Speaker 2: long time man, the guys on the defensive side of
Speaker 2: the ball, and I think a lot of it was
Speaker 2: just the way we train our old lineman now, you know,
Speaker 2: they because I think developing offensive linement helps with a
Speaker 2: lot of grassroot fundamentals, you know, physicality in the youth
Speaker 2: is we're probably getting smarter and taking a lot of
Speaker 2: contact and a lot of the old school drills that
Speaker 2: build offensive line play and the running game and playing
Speaker 2: not the spread out game that you see so much
Speaker 2: and everything being about how many plays you can run
Speaker 2: instead of how well you can run those plays. I
Speaker 2: think offensive line play did take take its lumps. I
Speaker 2: do feel like there's a little bit of a comeback happening,
Speaker 2: and it's probably survival.
Speaker 1: We're paying these guys that much. We understand the quarterback.
Speaker 1: We can't.
Speaker 2: This isn't sustainable, and you know, I think you always
Speaker 2: follow the money to an offensive linemen are getting played
Speaker 2: paid pretty well, and kids kind of gravitate towards the
Speaker 2: position where that happens. And maybe we're getting some basketball
Speaker 2: players starting to do that and a bunch of different vehicles.
Speaker 2: But I hope that's the case, because it did feel
Speaker 2: for a while like we're not gonna be to do this.
Speaker 1: And us.
Speaker 9: Outside of all of us feeling very old with all
Speaker 9: the legacy guys coming out, what is your thought on
Speaker 9: guys like Jerry Rice's.
Speaker 4: Son, Yeah, and at MacCaffrey son coming out.
Speaker 1: Well, I believe in bloodlines, I really do.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think there's uh, I think there's evidence
Speaker 2: that you should now that can't then you've got to
Speaker 2: step away from that and you gotta, uh, you got
Speaker 2: to evaluate it.
Speaker 1: And that's sometimes difficult to do.
Speaker 2: And that's why a lot of different eyes, a lot
Speaker 2: of different uh perspectives, And that's that's what we try
Speaker 2: to do when we when we have our R and
Speaker 2: D look at it, we have our coaches look at it,
Speaker 2: we have our scouting look at it.
Speaker 1: You know, we try to hit it from a variety.
Speaker 2: Of of of measuring points and inflection points as to
Speaker 2: how you grade these guys because you don't want to
Speaker 2: do it just off that that that wouldn't be smart.
Speaker 2: But you know, these guys, you know that, Yeah, there's
Speaker 2: some inherent pressure on who their dad is, but there's
Speaker 2: also some good genes and and uh, you know, and
Speaker 2: I think that matters. And so, uh, it's exciting that
Speaker 2: you have all these great I mean, we're talking Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame players and great players and you know, brothers
Speaker 2: of players, and it's it's really fun.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 2: T O was out here at the local pro day
Speaker 2: and his son Tarika, you know, performed really well and
Speaker 2: that was that was pretty cool. And you could I
Speaker 2: saw him running at me and I played against t
Speaker 2: O a lot, and there was some in that stride.
Speaker 1: That was very familiar, you know.
Speaker 2: It was it was something about the gate and it's
Speaker 2: crazy how those things translate.
Speaker 1: You know. It's is that just gene pool?
Speaker 2: Is that modeling that they watched their dad? You know,
Speaker 2: it's just it's interesting to me and uh, but it's
Speaker 2: a fun element to this year's draft that I that
Speaker 2: I think is it's going to be interesting to watch
Speaker 2: to see how it unfolds.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's up?
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, contract questions, I was going to ask wrong.
Speaker 4: Any chance he is not on this roster of.
Speaker 2: Friday, I wouldn't anticipate that. You know, Yeah, Larry.
Speaker 8: You were a big hitter as a player, and I'm
Speaker 8: just kind of wonder safeties evolved. When you're watching film,
Speaker 8: are you looking for a guy that detonates and blows
Speaker 8: people up like you were? Or's the game now changed
Speaker 8: where you're looking for coverage guys?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I might be in jail if you know if
Speaker 2: with today's rules, so like you have to change. But
Speaker 2: I always believe, you know, people say oftentimes like you
Speaker 2: couldn't play in today's Well that goes for a lot
Speaker 2: of players, and I think players that are good players,
Speaker 2: they adjust to the rules. That's how we played then,
Speaker 2: so is phyl Physicality is still part of that absolutely,
Speaker 2: and you know kind of an are who we are
Speaker 2: as a team. We're a physical team, and so you
Speaker 2: stay out like a sore thumb when you're not physical
Speaker 2: and you don't play physical, And so I think there
Speaker 2: has to be now there's a proper way and a
Speaker 2: proper technique that guys have gotten a lot better.
Speaker 1: Now you're seeing this hip drop.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's physical, I think it's actually
Speaker 2: because they've taken so many different elements. If you can't
Speaker 2: hit them from the front, people are going to come
Speaker 2: up with different ways. They started selling and teaching rugby
Speaker 2: style technique. Well a lot of that rugby style technique
Speaker 2: that the league was trumpeting has led to this technique
Speaker 2: called the hip drop. That is it's a real thing.
Speaker 2: It's happening, and so you know the you know the
Speaker 2: I understand it. There are some players that play extremely
Speaker 2: physical physically and are big players, and it's been a
Speaker 2: challenge for him in today's football, so you have to
Speaker 2: factor that in. But I think the best players find
Speaker 2: ways to play within the rules and still make their
Speaker 2: presence known on that field. And that's part of being
Speaker 2: a good player.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so thank you, Alfred.
Speaker 3: Yeah,