Speaker 1: Welcome into Ravens Press Pass. The NFL world has gathered
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis for the twenty twenty three NFL Scouting Combine.
Speaker 1: But before on field drill start, there's the media sessions.
Speaker 1: Both John Harbaugh and Eric da Costa have now taken
Speaker 1: the stage and answered questions from the media. Before we
Speaker 1: jump into General manager Eric da Costa's press conference, make
Speaker 1: sure you check out the Ravens Lounge feed soon as
Speaker 1: Garrett Downing and Ryan Mink will be sharing their takeaways
Speaker 1: from these press conferences and giving their thoughts on what
Speaker 1: else they've seen at the combine. You can also find
Speaker 1: head coach John Harbaugh's press conference from the combine in
Speaker 1: the Ravens Press Pass feed. So now here's Eric da
Speaker 1: Costa at the twenty twenty three NFL Combine. Right, everybody, welcome.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite books. I'll quote Let the Wild
Speaker 1: Rumpus begin. Guy in questions, you guys go ahead and ask. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know. Lamar and I are talking. We met recently.
Speaker 1: It's an ongoing discussion. We both understand the urgency of
Speaker 1: the situation. Has been a good dialogue, a good discussion.
Speaker 1: I'm optimistic as I continue to be optimistic and we'll
Speaker 1: see where it goes. Yeah. Well, I mean you have
Speaker 1: a lot of regard for the player first and foremost.
Speaker 1: I think when you deal with an agent, sometimes you're
Speaker 1: able to speak, you know, very freely, you know, position
Speaker 1: yourself a certain way. You have different arguments that you
Speaker 1: can use that maybe you wouldn't say to a player
Speaker 1: or you know. So I think that's part of it.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of respect, tremendous respect. Because I'm with
Speaker 1: a player like Lamar, a player like Roquan Smith who
Speaker 1: also represents himself every day. You see the commitment, you
Speaker 1: understand where they're coming from. So it's definitely a different dynamic.
Speaker 1: It can be challenging, but it's doable, as we've proven,
Speaker 1: and we continue to be optimistic about it. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: that's a question that I appreciate, and what I've kind
Speaker 1: of said for the last two years is I'm not
Speaker 1: going to talk specifically about any discussions about the contract.
Speaker 1: And Lamar and I had that agreement. Actually we forged
Speaker 1: that agreement probably two years ago down in West Palm
Speaker 1: and I think we've both tried to live up to that.
Speaker 1: So to appreciate the understanding in that regard the specifics
Speaker 1: of it. We can talk about the process, but I'm
Speaker 1: not going to go into all those things. So Rashad
Speaker 1: is doing really well. Obviously, you know, it was a
Speaker 1: pretty serious injury. I think we got out ahead of
Speaker 1: it to a degree. You know, Rashade and the club,
Speaker 1: we decided to do the surgery, and I think it
Speaker 1: was probably we did it at that point because the
Speaker 1: injury could have gotten worse. He's doing well. We text
Speaker 1: quite a bit. I know he's very, very excited, chomping
Speaker 1: at the bit to get into the offseason program. We're
Speaker 1: very excited about him as a player, can't wait to
Speaker 1: see what he can do this year. Well, the Senior
Speaker 1: Bowl is invaluable to us. It's always been that way,
Speaker 1: you know. I think you know that goes back to
Speaker 1: Ozzie Newsome and Phil Savage. You know, Ozzie playing in Alabama,
Speaker 1: Phil Savage with his Alabama roots, we have a strong
Speaker 1: appreciation for you know, the SEC being down there. Well,
Speaker 1: we've seen the very best players in the country typically
Speaker 1: show up. We have a chance to watch these guys
Speaker 1: practice every single day. The access we get is incredible.
Speaker 1: You know, Jim does an amazing job. Phil Savage before him.
Speaker 1: The interview process. They've done a wonderful job of streamlining
Speaker 1: that and for us to get that type of unfettered
Speaker 1: access is really incredible. We feel like it gives us
Speaker 1: the best chance to know the guys and it helps
Speaker 1: us very well with the evaluation process. Well, we're always
Speaker 1: preparing for every contingency. You know, we look at every
Speaker 1: situation free agency, the TRYFF. We're talking about any possible
Speaker 1: situation that might arise with players. In this business, you
Speaker 1: get surprised daily, and so you have to be prepared
Speaker 1: for any situation. What that means, what your cap looks like,
Speaker 1: what your cap might look like, what players are available,
Speaker 1: what playces aren't available. Oftentimes we look at guys in
Speaker 1: free agency that we're excited about, and they get franchised,
Speaker 1: they're off the market. Sometimes you'd say, oh, there's nobody
Speaker 1: at this position that we're looking for. Next thing, you know,
Speaker 1: there's four or five cap casualties that hit the market,
Speaker 1: and so it's an ongoing process. What we try to
Speaker 1: do is strategize and plan. Going back to January, we
Speaker 1: go down to Jupiter with Steve Bischotti, our owner, kind
Speaker 1: of go through all the different contingency plans that we
Speaker 1: can risk management. Looking at all the different opportunities that
Speaker 1: might arise, you figure out what's gonna happen. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: there's a couple of different situations where that can go.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a couple of different franchise tags. We're
Speaker 1: hopeful that we'll get a deal done with Lamar before
Speaker 1: that happens. But sure, they're big numbers where we've known
Speaker 1: their big numbers. We're prepared for that, and we've got
Speaker 1: four or five or six different plans based on what
Speaker 1: happens over the next ten days. We have not Oh,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. Well, you can't win in this league
Speaker 1: without a strong quarterback. I mean that's been proven. So
Speaker 1: we want Lamar here. We think he's one of the
Speaker 1: best quarterbacks in the league. He's certainly one of our
Speaker 1: best players. Uh, and we want them back. And so, yeah,
Speaker 1: we understand that living in a world without a quarterback
Speaker 1: is a is a bad world to live in. And
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of GMS and coaches who
Speaker 1: would probably say that who are living in that world
Speaker 1: right now. We're aware of that. Um. I think we've
Speaker 1: been blessed since two thousand and eight to have Joe
Speaker 1: Flacco and Lamar Jackson, and uh, my goal is to
Speaker 1: continue that. Yeah, well, you know, I was trained as
Speaker 1: a scout. I started out as a scout. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: kind of what you know, my development was asked, So
Speaker 1: I scout everybody anyways. You know, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: really short change. I love football. I love the the
Speaker 1: art of evaluation. I'm gonna look at all the top players.
Speaker 1: I'm want to do the top you know, one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty players in every single draft class. I've done that.
Speaker 1: I look at the top guys in free agency. M
Speaker 1: I enjoy it. And so for me, that's it's not
Speaker 1: something that changes year to year. That's just a part
Speaker 1: of the process to build a draft board. You have
Speaker 1: to look at the players, you have to evaluate the players.
Speaker 1: Someone's got to do it, and so I would rather
Speaker 1: have it be me than somebody else. You know, that's
Speaker 1: a that's an X. I could talk, you know, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think you guys want me to talk about that,
Speaker 1: because I'll talk for fifteen or twenty minutes on that alone.
Speaker 1: But I will say this, You've got to have a
Speaker 1: lot of draft picks every year. You've got to draft
Speaker 1: a lot of players because guys do get hurt um
Speaker 1: and there's an element in the draft. We're just having
Speaker 1: more picks proves over the long time to be to
Speaker 1: be a good thing. It's like investing in the stock market.
Speaker 1: You might have some up and down years, but if
Speaker 1: you continue to invest, eventually you're gonna see you come
Speaker 1: out ahead. And so that's kind of how I look
Speaker 1: at the draft. The other thing you have to have,
Speaker 1: I think, is a really strong performance department, a wellness department.
Speaker 1: That's training room, that's wellness, that's mental health, that's diet, nutrition, strength,
Speaker 1: coach performance people. Dave got to be the very best
Speaker 1: as well, because players are going to get hurt and
Speaker 1: you can get incremental value by having the very best
Speaker 1: people working for you to get your players back on
Speaker 1: the field. Excuse me, no, Marcus is a free agent.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that I hold him very, very high regard.
Speaker 1: I've had a few conversations with Marcus's agent, who's a
Speaker 1: good friend, and Marcus is a great friend. He and
Speaker 1: I have communicated that will be ongoing. But that's a
Speaker 1: guy that when you talk about two Ravens, guys that
Speaker 1: have done a lot for your team, for me, for
Speaker 1: the Ravens over the last four years, Marcus is on
Speaker 1: that list. Expect Yeah, JK finished strong. Really really impressed
Speaker 1: with his passion, his work ethic, the way that he
Speaker 1: battled back from a very very serious knee injury. It
Speaker 1: was very impressive to me to see how, you know,
Speaker 1: he really kind of matured over the course of the season.
Speaker 1: He came back from that second procedure surgery that he
Speaker 1: had and he started to really look like the old JK,
Speaker 1: which is extremely exciting for the organization. And we fully
Speaker 1: expect JK to have a great year this year. No,
Speaker 1: I'm not really concerned about that. Again, the only you know,
Speaker 1: the only camps that I know is me and Lamar,
Speaker 1: and we talk and we text, and so you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not really too concerned with perceptions. I've seen a
Speaker 1: lot of perceptions in the last twenty seven years, and
Speaker 1: a lot of times those perceptions are probably not accurate.
Speaker 1: So Lamar and I continue to talk. I have a
Speaker 1: lot of admiration and respectful Lamar. I think he would
Speaker 1: say the same about me. And like I said, it's
Speaker 1: a tough negotiation. There are some dynamics that make it challenging,
Speaker 1: but I remain optimistic and we remain talking, and I'm
Speaker 1: excited about that. You know, I think it's it's a
Speaker 1: good question, I think, Tony, I would say a lot
Speaker 1: of people would say the same thing. It's a challenging
Speaker 1: position to evaluate in different ways. I don't have If
Speaker 1: I had an answer, that means I would probably have
Speaker 1: some better receivers. I guess we keep trying, you know.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of things that go along
Speaker 1: with that position. Sometimes it is tied to the quarterback,
Speaker 1: and I think it's tied to things like durability, It's
Speaker 1: tied to you know, a lot of things. We're gonna
Speaker 1: keep swinging. You know, there have been some guys that
Speaker 1: you know, have been successful players for us that with
Speaker 1: draft picks, We've never really hit on that all pro
Speaker 1: type of guy, which is disappointing, I would say, but
Speaker 1: it's not for lack of effort. We believe in what
Speaker 1: we do. We believe in our scouting, we believe in
Speaker 1: the system that we have, the scouting system that we have.
Speaker 1: It's one of those anomalies that I really can't explain
Speaker 1: other than to say we're not going to stop trying.
Speaker 1: We're gonna keep trying. That we've drafted I don't know, Chad,
Speaker 1: I would probably know, but probably at least five or
Speaker 1: six receivers in the last four years. Maybe we're gonna
Speaker 1: just keep swinging and hopefully at one of these points
Speaker 1: we'll hit the ball out of the park. But that's
Speaker 1: our goal. We understand the importance of the position, you know,
Speaker 1: so we'll keep we'll keep trying to do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's a good class, you know. I think
Speaker 1: there's probably five or six guys that you look at
Speaker 1: his potential first round type guys, and then a pretty
Speaker 1: strong you know, through the second, third, and fourth round
Speaker 1: as well. Now, well we've seen we saw it last year.
Speaker 1: The dynamic is these guys typically go higher than you
Speaker 1: might have them rated because of the importance of the position.
Speaker 1: We've seen that with the pay scale at that position
Speaker 1: as well. I think the league recognizes the importance of
Speaker 1: that position. That being the case, I think it's strong.
Speaker 1: It's a good class. Hopefully we're a position to get
Speaker 1: a guy that we like at some point, whether that's
Speaker 1: the first round or the third round, or if we
Speaker 1: trade or get a second round pick, whatever it might
Speaker 1: be we're in position, they get a guy that can
Speaker 1: come and help us win football games. Yeah, you know what,
Speaker 1: have a plan. Obviously I'm going to think about everything,
Speaker 1: but I'm not really I don't fear a lot of
Speaker 1: different things. If you think about it, then you're planned
Speaker 1: for it, you discuss it, you talk about it, then
Speaker 1: what's the point of fear. So, I mean it's not
Speaker 1: like we didn't know what I mean, might be in
Speaker 1: this position last year at this time. We talked about it.
Speaker 1: So we've had a full year to really discuss all
Speaker 1: the different plans. We'll make the right decision. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I think we just we talked that that question
Speaker 1: was already asked. I think it's difficult. It's challenging. You're
Speaker 1: dealing with a player, so of course it's different. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a personal relationship. You win that guy every single
Speaker 1: day and you have a great appreciation for who he
Speaker 1: is and what he does, and so yeah, it is challenging.
Speaker 1: You love Justin. Justin had a great season for us.
Speaker 1: You know, he's a proven vet. I mean, he's a
Speaker 1: guy that when you talk about the best pass rushes
Speaker 1: of the last couple of decades, you put Justin on
Speaker 1: that list. I had a great season for us, came
Speaker 1: up big in some games. He's a great leader, a
Speaker 1: hard worker. Um, that's gonna probably be you know, the
Speaker 1: last time, the last two times we signed Justin, it
Speaker 1: was later in the process, and I can probably say
Speaker 1: that that'll be the case this time as well, with
Speaker 1: some of the unknowns that we have and that we're
Speaker 1: faced with the roster wise, that I'll probably be you
Speaker 1: know West last year we signed him and I was
Speaker 1: at the beach, literally on the beach, throwing a football
Speaker 1: to my son Jackson, and uh, we got I got
Speaker 1: the call from Joel Siegel and the deal was done.
Speaker 1: But that was probably July tenth, maybe, So I think
Speaker 1: you could expect the same if we go down that road. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is some good corners. In fact, Coach Harbor, I
Speaker 1: gave him about ten guys to look at and he's
Speaker 1: he's been cranking on him and he's excited about this class.
Speaker 1: And I think you've got some some guys that have
Speaker 1: excellent size. Uh, there's a couple of guys that like man,
Speaker 1: they're like old school Chris mccanalist or type guys. Body
Speaker 1: side body type wise, you've got some great athletes. You
Speaker 1: get guys that make players in the ball You've got
Speaker 1: guys at the ball Hawks, you got some physical guys.
Speaker 1: And so basically you're going into a restaurant with a
Speaker 1: lot of different things in the menu and basically what
Speaker 1: do you want? And so the question just is do
Speaker 1: we have enough picks? You know, we have only have
Speaker 1: five draft picks this year, which, as a draft is
Speaker 1: a guy that loves a draft, that's not a lot.
Speaker 1: I have to keep reminding myself that our second round
Speaker 1: pick this year is Roquan Smith, which I can live with,
Speaker 1: but I still I still look at that void and
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I wish I had that pick. You know,
Speaker 1: we'll spend time with Todd. I was really impressed with Todd,
Speaker 1: and I've been able to spend a little time with
Speaker 1: him here and get his vision for what he wants
Speaker 1: to do. You know, anytime you bring in a new coordinator,
Speaker 1: there's going to be some slight changes. I think our
Speaker 1: system is intact. That's not going to change. Our system
Speaker 1: for evaluating and building out a draft boards not going
Speaker 1: to change. And basically, you know, the culture and what
Speaker 1: we look for in most positions will not change the
Speaker 1: fiber of what we believe in players. But toddall have
Speaker 1: his opinions and have a voice, and he'll he'll have
Speaker 1: specific things that maybe he thinks we're lacking or that
Speaker 1: might make his offense more robust, and so we'll look
Speaker 1: at that very closely. We've been through a lot offensive
Speaker 1: coordinators and every time they come in, I look at
Speaker 1: it as a great opportunity for me to learn from
Speaker 1: those guys, and it'll be a better job to do
Speaker 1: a better job of building out a board and being
Speaker 1: a better drafter. Two more sure. So, first of all, uh,
Speaker 1: that was a horrible tragedy. Let me say that. Secondly,
Speaker 1: I don't know a lot about the situation, and so
Speaker 1: you know these things kind of like kind of like
Speaker 1: you guys, I'm just I don't really know. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: want to comment on the specifics of how that would
Speaker 1: affect somebody's draft status because you know, there's a lot
Speaker 1: more information and I'm not I'm not a privy to that.
Speaker 1: I might be by the time the draft rolls around.
Speaker 1: There's a horrible thing that happened down there, and I
Speaker 1: feel horrible for the families, the parents involved. I have children,
Speaker 1: it's a horrible thing. So that's what I would say
Speaker 1: about that. Again, I could probably talk about that for
Speaker 1: six hours, but you know, it's basically a mosaic. So
Speaker 1: imagine a huge board and basically you're taking all these
Speaker 1: different data points and you're trying to mold them all together.
Speaker 1: And certainly there are some positions that quote unquote, you know,
Speaker 1: the PF people of the world would say these positions
Speaker 1: are more valuable than other positions, and we factor that
Speaker 1: into a degree. For us, it's how the guy plays,
Speaker 1: it's the comps, it's the sequence lists that the scouts do,
Speaker 1: which is the rankings of the players by position, but
Speaker 1: also across the board. We'll use some analytics and we'll
Speaker 1: use some some true old school scouting. The views will
Speaker 1: play a factor in that, so we'll background information that
Speaker 1: our scouts get, which I think is probably some of
Speaker 1: the best in the league. And then my job and
Speaker 1: is to come up with a list ranked all positions
Speaker 1: that we think of top to bottom the best, and
Speaker 1: we'll make the decisions based off of that list. Thanks guys.
Speaker 1: So it's obviously good to hear that DaCosta and Lamar
Speaker 1: recently met that the contract discussion is ongoing and that
Speaker 1: Eric is still optimistic about getting a deal done. He
Speaker 1: added the Ravens have about four to six different plans
Speaker 1: depending on what happens with Jackson over the next ten days,
Speaker 1: but he made it clear we want Lamar here. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to Ravens Press Pass. Don't forget Head coach
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh's press conference is also available in the Ravens
Speaker 1: Press Pass feed, and we'll be dropping an episode of
Speaker 1: The Ravens Lounge with Garrett and Mink's combine takeaways and
Speaker 1: that feed soon. If you haven't done so already, make
Speaker 1: sure you subscribe, rate and review, and we'll be back
Speaker 1: with you soon