Speaker 1: Welcome into Ravens Press pass. Today you'll hear from general
Speaker 1: manager Eric Dacussa and head coach John Harball as they
Speaker 1: have their combine press conferences. Let's start with General manager
Speaker 1: Eric Tacusta.
Speaker 2: Hello, everyone.
Speaker 3: First, I just want to congratulate Peter King for his retirement.
Speaker 3: Peter is a guy that me growing up in Boston.
Speaker 3: I read his column, I learned a lot of football
Speaker 3: over the years. We've become good friends. Tremendous respect for
Speaker 3: his passion for covering the game, if everything he's done
Speaker 3: for the sport of football, and he will be sorely
Speaker 3: missed by me.
Speaker 2: So questions.
Speaker 3: Things, Well, I think we made a statement on that
Speaker 3: we're aware.
Speaker 2: Of the situation.
Speaker 3: Obviously, domestic violence is something that we're deeply concerned about,
Speaker 3: and we will continue.
Speaker 2: To assess the situation as well.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, we've actually looked at franchises like
Speaker 3: the Steelers over the years and always had an admiration
Speaker 3: for the way that they've conducted business. Obviously bitter rivals,
Speaker 3: but we believe that continuity is critical to success, you know,
Speaker 3: in many different ways. I think just from a coaching staff,
Speaker 3: the systems in place, the offense, the defense, having the
Speaker 3: same schemes, I think, you know players, having the same
Speaker 3: coaches year to year is critical. And then from a
Speaker 3: scouting perspective, building out processes, having a way that you
Speaker 3: scout players, Having the same scouts, scouting players every single year,
Speaker 3: the process of the draft and how that unfolds, we
Speaker 3: believe is critically important to our success. And you know
Speaker 3: that it's great for me to look over and see
Speaker 3: guys next to me. We haven't lost a lot of
Speaker 3: people over the years in scouting. Joe Hortiz this year,
Speaker 3: a great friend of mine just went to become the
Speaker 3: gem of the LA Chargers for or you know, twenty
Speaker 3: five years. Joe is sat to my right, so you
Speaker 3: know I'm gonna miss him this year.
Speaker 2: They'll be a void.
Speaker 3: But having that continuity I think is essential. Yes, Yeah,
Speaker 3: Jeremiah is a very hard charging guy, good on special teams.
Speaker 3: I think he's a developmental outside back or strong and physical,
Speaker 3: great attitude, and I think he's gonna have a great career, definitely.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was nice to see the number. It
Speaker 3: doesn't mean that we're gonna just open up the books
Speaker 3: and go shopping. I think that's not really the Raven's way,
Speaker 3: but to have that buffer, so to speak, and to
Speaker 3: give us a little bit more flexibility along the way.
Speaker 3: It helps us this year, but it also helps us
Speaker 3: in the coming years as we project what we think
Speaker 3: that salary cap is going to be moving out in
Speaker 3: years twenty five and twenty six as well. So it
Speaker 3: does give you a little bit of a picture of
Speaker 3: the landscape of football and what that means salary cap wise.
Speaker 3: My roster building standpoint, I think we're excited about the
Speaker 3: potential that we have to be a good team this year,
Speaker 3: and we think that we'll have some flexibility to remain
Speaker 3: good in the coming years. Well, John did the majority
Speaker 3: of that. You know, I would help him and give
Speaker 3: him advice. Last year I was probably more involved in
Speaker 3: the interview process with the coordinator search than I was
Speaker 3: this year. But I think John does an amazing job
Speaker 3: building out of staff. I think last year's staff was
Speaker 3: really an incredible job of building out and helping our team.
Speaker 3: So we feel really good about the guys that we
Speaker 3: brought in this year. A lot of work was done
Speaker 3: by the assistant coaches, by the coordinators, and by John
Speaker 3: to get that done, and we're excited about the skills
Speaker 3: that they bring to the table. Well, Nelly was a
Speaker 3: guy that we brought in last year.
Speaker 2: We had studied them for years.
Speaker 3: I had studied them coming out of USC and you know,
Speaker 3: I always liked this game. Felt he was a valued
Speaker 3: guy for us. We knew a lot about his personality.
Speaker 3: He bought a lot to the table this year as
Speaker 3: a player, but also as a leader. He was great
Speaker 3: for that receiver room. The way that he conducted his
Speaker 3: business every day, the way that he practiced every day.
Speaker 3: The guys that saw him out there every single day
Speaker 3: know that he had tremendous intangibles and brought a lot
Speaker 3: to the table.
Speaker 2: So for us to talk to.
Speaker 3: Him and get that done, I think he's been a
Speaker 3: lot of different places, understood what it felt like to
Speaker 3: be a Baltimore Raven, and he wanted to come back.
Speaker 3: We knew that and we were excited to have him back. Well,
Speaker 3: we're trying to get a deal done. You know, we've
Speaker 3: had discussions with Justin. He's a guy that obviously has
Speaker 3: put himself in a fortuitous position this year by the
Speaker 3: way that he played, had a great season for us.
Speaker 3: He's a valued player on the team and We're hopeful
Speaker 3: that we can get a long term deal done.
Speaker 2: Oh he'll do great.
Speaker 3: Mike's a guy that you know, people may not know this.
Speaker 3: Back in the day, we interviewed Mike and scouting as
Speaker 3: a player personnel assistant. He didn't get the job, but
Speaker 3: very very thoughtful, very smart guy. We brought him back
Speaker 3: on the coaching staff, very innovative, organized, He's a motivator,
Speaker 3: he's a great person, respectful. Players love him, coaches love him.
Speaker 3: He's a home run hired by the Seahawks. Well, we
Speaker 3: were really happy with this game this year. You know,
Speaker 3: I think sometimes people get really caught up on the
Speaker 3: number of sacks that people get. We prefer to look
Speaker 3: at pressures and disruptions and the ability that they affect
Speaker 3: the game and the dafes. Probably one of the hardest
Speaker 3: working players we have on our defense. He's got a
Speaker 3: great motor, plays with a passion. He's an exciting young prospect.
Speaker 3: He is battled back for some injuries, and we think
Speaker 3: that this is gonna be a great season for him.
Speaker 3: We're very, very excited about what he brings to the
Speaker 3: table this year as one of our primary age rush guys.
Speaker 2: Great position players. Last year we have the doctor.
Speaker 3: Well, we need more than two running backs, so certainly
Speaker 3: I think you'll see us make a couple of acquisitions
Speaker 3: along the way. We think Heaton Mitchell is gonna come
Speaker 3: back from his knee injury. Justice is a player last year,
Speaker 3: probably one of the unsung heroes of our whole team.
Speaker 3: I would say, you know, we're still talking to Gus,
Speaker 3: We'll talk to JK a couple of free agents that
Speaker 3: we had. Hopefully that we can get something done with
Speaker 3: those guys. We've looked at the draft class, probably not
Speaker 3: you know, as deep as some other positions that we'll
Speaker 3: see an this year as draft class. There are some
Speaker 3: UFAs this year in the draft, I mean, a free agency,
Speaker 3: some talented.
Speaker 2: Players that we will look at as well.
Speaker 3: But I think it's probably safe to say that we'll
Speaker 3: have more than two running backs on the roster at
Speaker 3: some point, and we will definitely have a plan for
Speaker 3: that position. Eugene shn So. Eugene was a guy that
Speaker 3: you know, a lot of respect for.
Speaker 2: Eugene.
Speaker 3: We interviewed Eugene probably back in two thousand and eleven
Speaker 3: to run the player personnel analytics department at the time.
Speaker 2: Eugene couldn't.
Speaker 3: We offered Eugene the job, he couldn't take the job
Speaker 3: for some different reasons. He was up in Connecticut and
Speaker 3: he was working on Wall Street. He couldn't take the position.
Speaker 3: And then a few years later we were trying to
Speaker 3: hire somebody in coaching and eugene situation had changed. He
Speaker 3: was more flexible and he was willing to take the
Speaker 3: position in coaching. Very very smart guy, innovative, you know,
Speaker 3: very good with modeling and just building out look at
Speaker 3: using data to analyze. And I think that the commanders
Speaker 3: got themselves a good hire, and I think we'll do
Speaker 3: a great job over there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question, you know. I do.
Speaker 3: I read a lot of history, a lot of military history,
Speaker 3: a lot of value investing stuff, Ben Graham, Warren Buffett,
Speaker 3: Charlie Munger.
Speaker 2: Things like that.
Speaker 3: I'm really interested in that idea as pertains to players.
Speaker 2: I do read a lot, you know.
Speaker 3: I think sometimes the scouts will get sick of me
Speaker 3: talking about things they have no interest in. I've gotten
Speaker 3: some podcasts and stuff too.
Speaker 2: But I do feel that.
Speaker 3: In this business it's easy to do the same things
Speaker 3: the same way every single year. And I think for
Speaker 3: me at least being creative kind of looking and being
Speaker 3: exposed to different things is very helpful, whether that's a podcast,
Speaker 3: a TV show, a movie, books, whatever that might be.
Speaker 3: Sometimes my best idea is kind of germinate from some
Speaker 3: of those different types of things. I think always, I mean,
Speaker 3: I think that's a critical position. I think the data
Speaker 3: supports that. And that's a position too where some of
Speaker 3: these guys are like race cars. They break down at times,
Speaker 3: and so having a depth at that position is critical.
Speaker 3: We saw that this year. We think we built the
Speaker 3: room out pretty well this year, and we're able to
Speaker 3: sustain some injuries along the way, so we will look
Speaker 3: at that. I think it's a very very deep year
Speaker 3: in the draft. This draft class is pretty impressive from
Speaker 3: a receiver standpoint. We'll assess that talent and see what
Speaker 3: kind of falls our way, and then look at the
Speaker 3: free agency crop as well.
Speaker 2: Well. Anthony is a guy that you know.
Speaker 3: When we drafted Anthony back in two thousand and two,
Speaker 3: second round pick Notre Dame, I was the Midwest scout
Speaker 3: back then, so I knew a lot about Anthony back then.
Speaker 3: I always have had back then. He was tony but
Speaker 3: had a tremendous respect for him as a player. We
Speaker 3: drafted Ed Reid that for our first pick, and then
Speaker 3: Anthony Weaver was our second.
Speaker 2: It was our second round pick.
Speaker 3: Mike Nolan was our defensive coordinator, and our defense was
Speaker 3: pretty darn good that year, surprisingly pretty good. I knew
Speaker 3: he would be a great coach because the way he
Speaker 3: carries himself, his ability as a leader. I think his
Speaker 3: mentality is grinder mentality. The way that he carries himself
Speaker 3: every day is work ethic in a way that he would.
Speaker 2: Relate to the players. And so, you know, we brought
Speaker 2: him back.
Speaker 3: It was great to have him in the last couple
Speaker 3: of years as our d line coach and assistant head coach.
Speaker 3: I feel he's gonna be a head coach someday, and
Speaker 3: being it's right there for him, he's gonna do a
Speaker 3: remarkable job.
Speaker 2: I think down in.
Speaker 3: Miami players are gonna love him, the community is gonna
Speaker 3: love him. That defense is gonna be fast and furious,
Speaker 3: and I think he'll be a head coach before you
Speaker 3: know it.
Speaker 2: We've just texted great, great guy. I love.
Speaker 3: Odell has become a great friend of mine and a
Speaker 3: friend to the Ravens, And you know, I think we'll
Speaker 3: just kind of assess and see what happens over in
Speaker 3: the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Well, Gino, I'm very proud of.
Speaker 3: You know, he was a seventh round pick and probably
Speaker 3: I mean, if Jamison is here, he'd probably chime in
Speaker 3: because he's a history you know, he fancies himself a historian.
Speaker 2: But you know, Gino might be the.
Speaker 3: Best seventh round pick that we've ever had. Playmaker, attitude,
Speaker 3: special teams, just an excellent season this.
Speaker 2: Year, been cut, been brought back.
Speaker 3: Just I love his his cerebral nature, I love his
Speaker 3: attitude on the field. He fancies himself an overachiever. I
Speaker 3: love that about him. He's you know, he's put himself
Speaker 3: in an awesome position. We're fortunate that we have some
Speaker 3: good safety depth, and I'm not really sure exactly what
Speaker 3: that means for Gino and the Ravens, but regardless, I
Speaker 3: know he's going to be a great pro. If he
Speaker 3: doesn't come back and play with us, he's going to
Speaker 3: be a great pick for some player, for somebody else,
Speaker 3: and I would expect him to have a great career.
Speaker 3: Right Well, I think we've got a great locker room,
Speaker 3: great coaching staff. We've built the team the right way, tremendous,
Speaker 3: tremendous pride for this team, and just you know, as
Speaker 3: hard as it is, really step back and look at
Speaker 3: this season, I would say it was a resounding success
Speaker 3: in many, many different ways. The locker room was crazy good,
Speaker 3: the personalities, the love that I think was felt every
Speaker 3: single day, the attitude that these guys brought, so that
Speaker 3: gives me great hope that our future is very bright.
Speaker 3: And we try to build this thing out so that
Speaker 3: we don't have windows opening and closing. And that's kind
Speaker 3: of been the Ravens mindset that we want to be
Speaker 3: a competitive, good team every single year.
Speaker 2: That's what we aspire too.
Speaker 3: And I think we have a lot of the types
Speaker 3: of people in that locker room still, and when we
Speaker 3: may have those type of guys to put us in
Speaker 3: a position to win every single year, it's always going
Speaker 3: to be a priority, Garrett.
Speaker 2: I think that's coach Harbaugh from two thousand and eight on.
Speaker 2: We have to have a.
Speaker 3: Big, strong, imposing offensive line, so we'll continue to build
Speaker 3: that out. Obviously, this year we're going to have probably
Speaker 3: some change on the offensive note in different ways to
Speaker 3: be seen exactly what that looks like. We will have
Speaker 3: a plan. Fortunately, this is a deep draft class as well,
Speaker 3: so we'll have a lot of different options in different
Speaker 3: rounds for players that we like at the offensive line position,
Speaker 3: at tackle and also guard. Probably unlikely that we're gonna
Speaker 3: draft a center very high, but I think there's a
Speaker 3: lot of depth along the way, specifically at the tackle
Speaker 3: position in the guard position.
Speaker 2: So that's exciting.
Speaker 3: It really helps me as we look at what that
Speaker 3: offensive line is going to look like.
Speaker 2: It will always have a plan. You know, we're gonna
Speaker 2: always have a plan.
Speaker 3: We're aware of the injuries and the salary cap, and
Speaker 3: we're aware of the talent that we have and the
Speaker 3: talent that's available, and we'll build the best offensive line
Speaker 3: that we can with the best players that we can.
Speaker 3: And you know, there's always gonna be you know, the
Speaker 3: roster is always gonna morph and change year to year.
Speaker 3: You've got to stay young, but you've also got to
Speaker 3: have great veteran presence as well your offensive line in
Speaker 3: every other position.
Speaker 2: So it's really a balance.
Speaker 3: You want to be as young as you can, but
Speaker 3: you also want to have a lot of veteran experience,
Speaker 3: and I think everybody feels that, and so It's really
Speaker 3: a delicate mix because with a salary cap, with a
Speaker 3: salary cap league, it makes it hard to keep every
Speaker 3: single player that you want to keep. We're not like
Speaker 3: the old I grew up a Cowboys fan, and you
Speaker 3: know we're not like the Dallas Cowboys of nineteen ninety,
Speaker 3: ninety two, ninety three. The salary cap changes things and
Speaker 3: that makes a lot more challenging. What was that question, Oh,
Speaker 3: oh man, Well, he's just one of my best friends.
Speaker 2: You know when we started, I think Joe started.
Speaker 3: In ninety eight, maybe ninety nine, and I was an
Speaker 3: office guy and a young scout and took Joe into
Speaker 3: my wing and we did a lot of stuff together.
Speaker 3: Our kids went to school together. He was my pickleball partner,
Speaker 3: sat next to me during the draft, helped me over
Speaker 3: the years, run the meetings, assess talent. Joe's got a
Speaker 3: great eye for talent. He'll do an amazing job as
Speaker 3: an evaluator for the Chargers. He's got good opinions, he's
Speaker 3: a consensus builder. The scouts are gonna love him, the
Speaker 3: coaches are gonna love working with him, and he's gonna
Speaker 3: do a fantastic job. And I think integrity is important
Speaker 3: to me. Passion for the game is important to me. Work, ethic, dependability, growth, mindset, grit,
Speaker 3: all those things factor in.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's something that we really kind of focus on, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean, anyone can watch tape and assess how good
Speaker 3: a player can catch a football or bend his knees,
Speaker 3: or make a tackle in space or block somebody. But
Speaker 3: to me, the secret sauce is really knowing the person
Speaker 3: behind the tape, the personality of the player, how he
Speaker 3: carries himself day to day. What's he gonna do every
Speaker 3: day in the offseason, how is he gonna carry himself
Speaker 3: on the field, in the community.
Speaker 2: All those kinds of things are critically important.
Speaker 3: And really I think those are probably as important those
Speaker 3: factors as how a guy plays the game.
Speaker 2: I probably will yes, thank you.
Speaker 1: Next up, here's head coach John Harwall.
Speaker 4: Okay, good to see everybody. Tough act to.
Speaker 5: Be next to you over there, but appreciate you all
Speaker 5: being here. What questions you have place?
Speaker 4: Buckle up, you know he's he's gonna do great.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: Actually, we've been together the last couple of days and
Speaker 4: and he's fired up and enthusiastic and uh, talking to
Speaker 4: players knows a lot of these guys, I guess. So
Speaker 4: it's it's been fun, he's he's he's wired, ready to go.
Speaker 5: What's that.
Speaker 4: I think he's excited about this. I think he's really
Speaker 4: excited about the Chargers. I think he's excited about the family.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 5: He just goes way back.
Speaker 4: Uh, he's got great relationships there, everybody in the building. Really,
Speaker 4: I think he's starting to build relationships with He's the
Speaker 4: guys he's brought over. He knows, you know, he's got
Speaker 4: comfort with that. Uh, loves the quarterback. So all those.
Speaker 2: Things like.
Speaker 4: Time, Yeah, I mean, I just depends on the person.
Speaker 4: I think most people I I kind of dispute that,
Speaker 4: I guess, but I've known my whole life, you know,
Speaker 4: So I think there's a lot of narratives out there
Speaker 4: and about a lot of people, you know, and uh,
Speaker 4: they just kind of pick up steam and everybody just
Speaker 4: kind of says, well, that's just how somebody is. And
Speaker 4: then you'll meet a person you'll be like a it's
Speaker 4: completely different than that, you know. So I don't know
Speaker 4: where so that stuff comes from. And nobody really cares,
Speaker 4: you know, I know he doesn't care. You get to
Speaker 4: know him I think you'll like him a lot.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: I'm really excited about the coaches that we hired. You know,
Speaker 4: we had a lot of staff turnover. We had a
Speaker 4: we had we might go to be a head coach.
Speaker 4: We had Anthony and Dinard move on to be coordinators.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: We had a lot of inquiries about other coaches, uh,
Speaker 4: head coat coaches and otherwise coordinators. And so we had
Speaker 4: a lot of positions to fill, and I think we
Speaker 4: filled them with guys that are going to be great
Speaker 4: fits for us, that are gonna make us even better.
Speaker 5: What you try to do, we try to hire.
Speaker 4: Acquire the best players you can, hire the best coaches,
Speaker 4: you can, just build the best team that you can.
Speaker 4: And then you know, if it goes well, guys get
Speaker 4: an opportunity to go somewhere else and kind of you know,
Speaker 4: chase their career in advance, or players move on and
Speaker 4: sign for bigger contracts, or they get a new contract
Speaker 4: with you. That's all good stuff. It's not stuff that
Speaker 4: you sit back and you lamet and you say, well,
Speaker 4: how they're going to replace this guy or that guy.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think sixteen years we've had that same
Speaker 4: refrain after every single season and to me, it's a
Speaker 4: positive thing. So the guys coming in are gonna be amazing.
Speaker 4: I mean, Dennis Johnson with a D line from Baylor.
Speaker 4: You're going to see his energy and his fire, his
Speaker 4: attention to detailed guy Doug Mallory's are of the greatest
Speaker 4: secondary coaches in the world right now. I mean he
Speaker 4: fits us because he's been in a similar system for
Speaker 4: the last number of years, so he understands the way
Speaker 4: our system operates. That's gonna be a huge plus for us.
Speaker 4: Mark de Leon a coach's kid. But when you start
Speaker 4: listening to him buck Ball, he just he just blew
Speaker 4: me away with his knowledge and his you know, his
Speaker 4: relationships with players and his relationship with Rokwan. Just those
Speaker 4: three guys on defense, offense. You know we've done We've
Speaker 4: done a little bit there. Uh, assistant offensive line with
Speaker 4: Travelle Wharton coming in, former player. I just loved the
Speaker 4: interview with him and his relationship with players and his
Speaker 4: background with John Matsko and then with Juan Casteele. Uh,
Speaker 4: it makes him uniquely qualified to be with us. So
Speaker 4: just a lot of great coaches. Brian absolutely, Yeah, No,
Speaker 4: I'm just really excited about the guys we've got. I mean,
Speaker 4: every season is a new season, and that's just the
Speaker 4: way it works, you know. And I'm uh the guys
Speaker 4: that we have, our guys are gonna fit in well.
Speaker 4: And and you know, we're not going to change our
Speaker 4: defensive structure. We elevated Zach, so that's continuity there with
Speaker 4: what we're doing on defense. And we've had continuity with
Speaker 4: our defensive coordinator hires. It's two thousand and eight. That's
Speaker 4: that's been a trend. And I think where the where
Speaker 4: where they get to the least points in the leagues,
Speaker 4: it's two thousand and eight by far. So you know,
Speaker 4: we've got a little a little tradition going there. You know,
Speaker 4: we kind of have a pretty good feel for what
Speaker 4: we want to do on defense, and we want to
Speaker 4: just keep building on that, evolving it, getting better with it.
Speaker 4: Zach's the next guy in line to lead that, and
Speaker 4: those other guys are going to do a great job
Speaker 4: about hiring Chuck Smith last year. You know how good
Speaker 4: was that for us? So all those kind of things
Speaker 4: are really a big plus. And I think it's just
Speaker 4: part and parcel of the where it goes. Just think
Speaker 4: now you go, I'm trying to hire and think type
Speaker 4: of right, how Howbut is a competition.
Speaker 5: I think I can look at Church just.
Speaker 4: Right to Narden, Tennessee to add that Anthony and Miami. Uh,
Speaker 4: I don't know. That's a great question, you know. I
Speaker 4: think it's something that kind of happens in the in football,
Speaker 4: especially in the National Football League. It's definitely not something
Speaker 4: to be you know, sad about. I mean, it's definitely
Speaker 4: a good problem to have. But like anything, like one
Speaker 4: of our beliefs is you got you have to keep
Speaker 4: things moving all the time. You're always moving, you're always changing,
Speaker 4: you're always evolving, you're always growing, you're always expanding what
Speaker 4: you do.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: Because the people that you're going against, these guys down
Speaker 4: this road right here, are are doing the same thing.
Speaker 4: And it's it's it's a big it's a high level
Speaker 4: intellectual pursuit, to.
Speaker 5: Be honest with you.
Speaker 4: So that's what we're gonna try to do again this
Speaker 4: year and do the best we can with it.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I think Michael did great. You know, Mike's great. Uh.
Speaker 4: A couple of years ago, everybody was like, why Mike McDonald,
Speaker 4: you know, so now I can go well, that's why,
Speaker 4: you know, you saw it, and he's he's a great guy.
Speaker 4: He's a great coach.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: He's he's he's he's very diligent, you know, Yes, he's
Speaker 4: he's a smart, he's he's a he's a thoughtful but
Speaker 4: he's fundamentally grounded and he's very diligent.
Speaker 5: Every single day.
Speaker 4: All he thinks about is ways to you know, help
Speaker 4: the guys be as good as they can be or
Speaker 4: attack the offense that he's he's going against. And I
Speaker 4: do think he'll expand that into the role, you know,
Speaker 4: being a head coach. I think he'll take those qualities
Speaker 4: and apply him to being a head coach and do
Speaker 4: a great job.
Speaker 5: Yeah, don Donnar was really with us the one year.
Speaker 4: Came in and kind of fit right into with the
Speaker 4: system and and and learned it and added to it,
Speaker 4: you know, those two things that you always want when
Speaker 4: you bring coaches in.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: He's a he's a great communicator, great teacher, very demanding coach,
Speaker 4: uh in a really good way, you know, in a
Speaker 4: way that I think guys respect. I'm sure he'll do
Speaker 4: a great job in Tennessee.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Anthony is Anthony is just an absolute uh star,
Speaker 4: you know, I mean, I think you probably got to
Speaker 4: know him a little bit. Well, you know him really well.
Speaker 4: But uh he's uh yeah, you see that, you see
Speaker 4: you see him. I mean he lights up a room
Speaker 4: just he's he fills up a room too, fills up
Speaker 4: a room and lights up a room.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: And then the way he reacts treats people, the ad
Speaker 4: responds to problems and uh, problem solving type of things.
Speaker 5: The way he coaches.
Speaker 4: The guy's way presents his understanding of defense generally, but
Speaker 4: also he's really good, I mean hig high level, but
Speaker 4: also his leadership ability, you know, and the way he
Speaker 4: manages players and coaches and works with the people. I
Speaker 4: just think he's a great leader, and I think I'll
Speaker 4: do a great job whatever he does. After I said
Speaker 4: it before, I mean, all these guys were talking about
Speaker 4: our potential head coaches John.
Speaker 2: John Olk having continuity on the couch just Capitlso having
Speaker 2: had some.
Speaker 1: Outside tiers and maybe made a splatch of the contents
Speaker 1: that you're doing.
Speaker 2: About out will in general is just about the challenge
Speaker 2: of passing why men, knowing who he's out there and
Speaker 2: knowing what you don't work to win, how it is
Speaker 2: and how easy your.
Speaker 3: Challenge hand that has approach to ron of you.
Speaker 2: Know, where the smart people are and when the plane
Speaker 2: or the league or from out here.
Speaker 4: Big challenge, big challenge. You've got to be very conscientious
Speaker 4: about that. You've got to you got to understand it's
Speaker 4: not really like it's a small world football, but it's
Speaker 4: a very sought after world. There's a lot of people
Speaker 4: trying to get in. There's a lot of talented people
Speaker 4: out there that could really make a difference, and you
Speaker 4: just got to figure out who they are. I had
Speaker 4: a great conversation. I hope coach Saban doesn't get mad
Speaker 4: at me for sharing this, but happened to talk to
Speaker 4: him about two weeks ago, and he was talking about
Speaker 4: all different things, and one of the things you talkalked
Speaker 4: about was all the coaching change he had over the
Speaker 4: last ten years because of their success. I mean, coaches
Speaker 4: would come and be there a year or two, then
Speaker 4: they'd go get a head coaching job, look at Sark,
Speaker 4: you know, and others. So he just felt like the
Speaker 4: challenge of finding new coaches, hiring new coaches, especially as
Speaker 4: you get a little bit older, like when you're young,
Speaker 4: you're thirty five, you kind of know who all the
Speaker 4: thirty five year old coaches are. Now you get to
Speaker 4: be your sixties or seventies in coaches case, you know,
Speaker 4: you probably know the sixties and seventy year old coaches are,
Speaker 4: but you don't know the thirty five year old coaches
Speaker 4: as much. And then he had to train those guys
Speaker 4: every single year. I think that does become a big
Speaker 4: challenge of success. Nobody had at a higher level than him,
Speaker 4: So that's that's a huge part of it. That's such
Speaker 4: a great question. How do you evaluate quarterbacks? I'll tell
Speaker 4: you to me, it's like and I think it's kind
Speaker 4: of just the way the game has gone. We've expanded
Speaker 4: our view of what a quarterback is. So it's most
Speaker 4: obvious with Lamar, Like I think we obviously would anybody
Speaker 4: say we made a bad decision when we drafted him
Speaker 4: back in twenty eight team, but but at the time
Speaker 4: there was a lot of people saying that. So I
Speaker 4: think the view has changed a lot in terms of
Speaker 4: how we how we view athletes or people or whatever.
Speaker 5: In terms of their roles.
Speaker 4: And it's just a it's a it's a the game
Speaker 4: has changed because of that in the last six years,
Speaker 4: the way quarterbacks play, I think if you go back
Speaker 4: and you look at football in sixteen fifteen, sixteen seventeen
Speaker 4: or before that, there's pretty much a model for that position.
Speaker 4: That model has definitely, when you say, expanded tremendously. And
Speaker 4: to me, I would like to say, we were a
Speaker 4: littlehead of the curve on that. You know, but even
Speaker 4: even we're learning as we go and watch guys play,
Speaker 4: and you watch watch all these guys play. I mean
Speaker 4: the way two gets the ball out so fast. You know,
Speaker 4: how can we incorporate some of that stuff into our offense.
Speaker 4: It's just one example. Eric's an avid reader and he
Speaker 4: shares those messages with the team.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Uh, he must do it one on one because I'm
Speaker 4: not getting the messages I want. I want some messages
Speaker 4: from I see the books, but uh, I need to
Speaker 4: get some book book recommendations from Eric. Eric's a super
Speaker 4: uh smart, thoughtful, deep thinking kind of a person, and
Speaker 4: I think he's wide read. Yeah, on a lot of topics.
Speaker 4: When he has time, he's probably a little more. You know,
Speaker 4: after the draft and before the draft, I would saycause
Speaker 4: I'll see him doing too much reading now, not in
Speaker 4: his office. I see him on that tape a lot,
Speaker 4: so Uh, but uh, he's just been unbelievable. Manus Eric
Speaker 4: is a great general manager, well rounded every aspect of it.
Speaker 4: He is involved with the players, he does a great job.
Speaker 4: He's involved with our discipline program, all those different.
Speaker 5: Kind of things.
Speaker 4: I think he's just really special in a lot of ways.
Speaker 4: How important is running backs?
Speaker 5: Running back your guys? Yeah, up in the air, it's up.
Speaker 2: In the air.
Speaker 4: You know, we don't have uh, we don't have uh
Speaker 4: a lot of guys under contract right now. We've got Justice.
Speaker 4: Just love the way Justice played. He was incredible all year,
Speaker 4: took another step. I think he's a great player. Then
Speaker 4: after that, we just got to see him. And we'd
Speaker 4: love to get Gus back, you know, j Case floating
Speaker 4: around out there, just guys have been with us. Uh,
Speaker 4: we'll just have to see how it goes. How important
Speaker 4: is the degree of conflict and personnel A degree? Oh well, yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean you know, if everybody if you don't, I mean,
Speaker 4: if everybody agrees, then you're probably wrong, right, I mean,
Speaker 4: that's that's for sure.
Speaker 5: So uh, we we have a lot of that, but
Speaker 5: it's respectful.
Speaker 4: Our our draft room is uh is uh, you know,
Speaker 4: say what you think or forever hold your piece, you know,
Speaker 4: and everybody says what they think, nobody's ever holding their piece,
Speaker 4: and it's not peaceful, you know, it's not. But the
Speaker 4: conflict is good. We try to We try to confront everything,
Speaker 4: every aspect of our football, of our evaluations, of our scheme,
Speaker 4: of our everything we do football ways. We try to
Speaker 4: confront it together to make it better. We're not confronting
Speaker 4: one another ever, We're confronting the issues, especially the top of.
Speaker 2: That.
Speaker 5: You know, I don't know, I.
Speaker 4: Really wouldn't to be honest with you, because it's just
Speaker 4: like it's nothing. It's nothing that we really As a
Speaker 4: head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, I'm not really doing that.
Speaker 4: I'm not really evaluating the class per se.
Speaker 5: I know c J.
Speaker 4: Strout was really tough to play against. We didn't get
Speaker 4: a chance to play against Carolina, so it's harder for
Speaker 4: me to say.
Speaker 5: But CJ.
Speaker 4: Stroud, you know, I said it after the first game
Speaker 4: we played them in the opener. This team is gonna
Speaker 4: win a lot of games. And I'd like to remind
Speaker 4: everybody of that right now, because they won a lot
Speaker 4: of games, right so, uh, They've got a very talented team.
Speaker 4: I think I think I think their general managers outstanding.
Speaker 4: I think they're head coach is outstanding. Uh They've got
Speaker 4: a great staff and they've built a heck of a
Speaker 4: football team. But the quarterback is really important, right.
Speaker 2: And C J.
Speaker 4: Stroud is a is a is a star. I don't
Speaker 4: have any idea about that. I really don't even try
Speaker 4: to evaluate that because, uh, well, I think it's great.
Speaker 4: I mean, we try to gym and I share like
Speaker 4: a lot of conversations about a lot of things. You know,
Speaker 4: most of it's not football related obviously, just like with
Speaker 4: your family, but a lot of it has been football related.
Speaker 4: Because you know, he's been in Michigan. That's definitely gonna
Speaker 4: be different like it was when he was at San Francisco.
Speaker 4: There's things we'll talk about, you know, and we're definitely
Speaker 4: gonna continue to be brothers. You know, we're gonna try
Speaker 4: to you know, we're just gonna be brothers. I mean,
Speaker 4: you have to, you have to look at it that way.
Speaker 4: But we are going to be competitors too, so it'll
Speaker 4: probably change a little bit.
Speaker 5: Sure.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I absolutely think that, Yeah that I think
Speaker 4: you're exactly right about that.
Speaker 5: Just now I think it progressed naturally. We're just beginning.
Speaker 5: We're just starting.
Speaker 4: We're one year into this thing. There's so many were
Speaker 4: There's so many things that I feel like, looking back
Speaker 4: on it now, we just they.
Speaker 5: Actually were baby steps.
Speaker 4: They were hard steps for us to take because it's
Speaker 4: it was a sea change in terms of offensive philosophy,
Speaker 4: Yet they were baby steps. Looking back on them, we
Speaker 4: have so so far ago. Lamar is excited, Todd's excited,
Speaker 4: all the coaches.
Speaker 5: We have a plan.
Speaker 4: We came out the very first day after the AFC
Speaker 4: Championship game talking about where we were going to go offensively,
Speaker 4: and a staff staff meeting about it, met with Todd,
Speaker 4: met with all the coaches individually, met with Lamar a
Speaker 4: couple of days after that, met with different.
Speaker 5: Players, and we have a direction right now and where
Speaker 5: we want to go. And we want to think. We
Speaker 5: want to be tight, we want to be locked in.
Speaker 4: We want to understand how this offense applies to Lamar
Speaker 4: and our players, and we want to do right by
Speaker 4: our players. And we want to do right by Lamar
Speaker 4: and build the best operation that we can for him,
Speaker 4: so so his talents can really shine. And I think
Speaker 4: we're just starting with that.
Speaker 2: Those guys specially to take next steps.
Speaker 4: Well, I think Rashon Batman is going to take a
Speaker 4: big step. Just off the top of my head, you know,
Speaker 4: I think Rashad is going to get opportunities.
Speaker 2: This year.
Speaker 4: He ran routes really well. He worked super hard. He
Speaker 4: was healthy for the first time. Even as the year
Speaker 4: went on, he got healthier, and you could see it
Speaker 4: in his play.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: The ball got to him when he did. He made
Speaker 4: some great plays. The ball is gonna get to him
Speaker 4: a lot more next year. He's gonna be ready to go.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: We got Nelson back. Nelson is a big signing back.
Speaker 4: He played a big role last year. Of course, it speaks.
Speaker 4: He speaks for himself. We got Tie in there. Thailand
Speaker 4: did a good job.
Speaker 2: Then.
Speaker 4: You never know a guy like Odell. I know that
Speaker 4: probably a question people are asking. I've got my fingers crossed.
Speaker 5: We'll see.
Speaker 4: That's kind of out there. Those are those things that
Speaker 4: kind of kind of answer themselves in time. I love
Speaker 4: our tight ends as receivers, so all that is.
Speaker 5: Really part of it. Yeah, Yeah, the draft can help
Speaker 5: a lot.
Speaker 4: Uh, certainly with the offensive line, Jeff, I guess it's
Speaker 4: a good well, I just started watching it, so it's
Speaker 4: so far, so good, you know, and Eric tells me
Speaker 4: it's a good old line draft.
Speaker 5: That's why.
Speaker 4: Thing about the offensive line is where it starts. We
Speaker 4: talked about that in two thousand and eight. It's been
Speaker 4: true forever. You know, you went into trenches first, right,
Speaker 4: So we we think that we're offensive line centric in
Speaker 4: our philosophy, and we've got some question marks in our
Speaker 4: offensive line. So there's gonna be some rebuilding that's gonna
Speaker 4: have to be done in there, and we're getting to
Speaker 4: it already. It's gonna be really probably the most important
Speaker 4: thing we do on offense. Roquan Smith has made a
Speaker 4: sea change in our defense. I think that Rokwan kind
Speaker 4: of to kind of just tied it all together, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. He made He made it all
Speaker 4: kind of fit and makes sense. We were doing the
Speaker 4: same things on defense that we were doing when we
Speaker 4: rokone got here, and we were doing pretty well. We're
Speaker 4: getting better as that season went a long, but everybody
Speaker 4: saw it. When he got here. It changed, made everybody
Speaker 4: better around him, and it's only gotten better since. So Yeah, Rokwan,
Speaker 4: love him, love him one. Of the best, your buddy
Speaker 4: Mike thom and Mike and off the back and Betty,
Speaker 4: did you ever believe that when you were little bad and.
Speaker 5: Not having him on the other side? No, and no,
Speaker 5: no one, no pretty click.
Speaker 4: I had much respect, much love for coach Tomlin, for
Speaker 4: the Steelers organization, for the players.
Speaker 5: I mean Cam Hayward.
Speaker 4: I was at Pittsburgh as a young coach graduate assistant
Speaker 4: coach when his dad was the running back there, Iron
Speaker 4: HD Heyward. I saw him first guy ever, three hundred
Speaker 4: plus pounds leap a BYU defensive back down the sideline
Speaker 4: and run another forty yards for a touchdown. And I
Speaker 4: think he kind of epitomizes them now as well their traditions.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I'd say, yeah, exactly. No one know to
Speaker 4: both those questions. All set, Thank you, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: And if you want our analysis of what Harves and
Speaker 1: DC had to say at the combine, make sure you
Speaker 1: tune into the lounge for myself, ran Ink and Garrett
Speaker 1: down and we'll break that all down for you and
Speaker 1: we'll have plenty more coverage coming from Indianapolis.