Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ravens Presspass podcast. It is Thursday, August
Speaker 1: twenty ninth. The Ravens opened the regular season a week
Speaker 1: from today in Arrowhead against the Kansas City Chiefs. Before
Speaker 1: we get to that point, we had a chance to
Speaker 1: hear from Ravens general manager Eric Tacosta today. He talked
Speaker 1: with reporters just before the season and here's what he
Speaker 1: had to say.
Speaker 2: Eric, and paring down the Rocks down to fifty three,
Speaker 2: what were kind of some of the more difficult decisions.
Speaker 3: That you feel you had to make to get down
Speaker 3: a different.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean we're strong in the secondary, and you know,
Speaker 4: we stayed strong. We kept some additional guys we really
Speaker 4: like our corner group and our safety group, and you know,
Speaker 4: it would have been more challenging really honestly had Trayvon
Speaker 4: Mullin stayed healthy and then Arthur Mallett, two really good
Speaker 4: players who got hurt. So yeah, we're very strong there,
Speaker 4: and you know, we had a few teams call us
Speaker 4: about a few of our players, and you know, mentality
Speaker 4: is just if you're strong, stay strong. And you know,
Speaker 4: some years we've traded players and then you get a
Speaker 4: couple of injuries and you look at it and you
Speaker 4: kind of regret it now you're happy at draft time,
Speaker 4: but it makes for you know, some challenges in season.
Speaker 4: So we just decided this year that we liked our
Speaker 4: team and we were going to stand put with the
Speaker 4: players that we had. We felt there was a chance
Speaker 4: we get some really good players to the practice squad
Speaker 4: and we were fortunately able to do that.
Speaker 3: But the rule that carried a third quarterback when you
Speaker 3: may roster they're going to two quarterbacks. Is that sort
Speaker 3: of an issue.
Speaker 5: You'll deal with it if if your issue comes comes
Speaker 5: up or you know what kind of plan you got
Speaker 5: in place for that.
Speaker 4: Well, we have three qbs, so you know, heaven forbid
Speaker 4: we get an injury, and if that happens, then we'll
Speaker 4: have to adjust the roster, you know, if we get
Speaker 4: a long term injury at quarterback. You know, that was
Speaker 4: an interesting dynamic. The rule passed at the owners meetings,
Speaker 4: and then we were notified I believe on July eleventh
Speaker 4: that the NFL p A had UH had not agreed
Speaker 4: to that rule change. So it was a little complicated,
Speaker 4: I think, especially for you know, teams that potentially drafted
Speaker 4: the QB.
Speaker 6: In the draft.
Speaker 4: You know, it just we didn't find out. We found
Speaker 4: out so late in the game. But in the end, we.
Speaker 6: Have three qbs.
Speaker 4: We just have one of the practice squad and we
Speaker 4: have a mechanism for getting that player up if we
Speaker 4: need to get them up. So I guess the one
Speaker 4: scenario would be if both qbs got hurt in a game,
Speaker 4: and we've dealt with that. We've dealt with that for
Speaker 4: years up until last year, so so we'll be ready
Speaker 4: to go regardless.
Speaker 2: If you're happy your quarterback situation, I think there is
Speaker 2: for rating quarterback who's the least earlier to the.
Speaker 6: But you think you're pretty good with what you have there, Well.
Speaker 4: We have an MVP, so I think we're pretty happy there.
Speaker 4: With Josh, we have a really experienced guy. He's like
Speaker 4: having another coach, you know, and he's great with Lamar.
Speaker 4: The players love him, he's what, he's highly respected, he's
Speaker 4: a talented player. So we love Josh. And with Devin,
Speaker 4: we have a young player and he had his moments
Speaker 4: and just certainly as we've seen with quarterbacks, a lot
Speaker 4: of things that he can improve on and get better at,
Speaker 4: and we believe you will. But yeah, we like the room.
Speaker 4: It doesn't mean that we won't add another guy, which
Speaker 4: we could do at some point.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: It's like any position on the team will continue to
Speaker 4: evaluate and look at players that become available and make
Speaker 4: decisions based off of that.
Speaker 7: Eric with the offensive line a lot of turnover this
Speaker 7: off season, I'm sure it was a big point of
Speaker 7: emphasis for you guys this offseason. How do you feel
Speaker 7: about them now compared to going into the off season.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, I think we're still there's a little
Speaker 4: bit of an unknown just because we haven't played as
Speaker 4: a unit in games. We've seen him in practice, you know, Tyler,
Speaker 4: you know, getting hurt early on the camp probably wasn't ideal.
Speaker 4: We're very excited to get him back, but you know,
Speaker 4: not having a Pro Bowl center out there. That's kind
Speaker 4: of the guy that drives the car in a lot
Speaker 4: of ways on the offensive line. He's the guy that
Speaker 4: typically will adjust the line and works hand in hand
Speaker 4: with the quarterback on things like protections and stuff. Very
Speaker 4: important position, and we're blessed to have one of the
Speaker 4: best guys in the league. You know, I think across
Speaker 4: the board, we made the decision to start to build
Speaker 4: up the offensive line with young players and that was
Speaker 4: a you know, unfortunately, with a salary cap league, you know,
Speaker 4: you just can't build a team with veterans at every position.
Speaker 6: If you could be.
Speaker 4: Great, you know it would be you know, I always
Speaker 4: tell people I grew up a Cowboys fan, and the
Speaker 4: nineteen ninety three Dallas Cowboys. It was one of the
Speaker 4: great teams of all time that period with the Cowboys.
Speaker 4: And if that team had been able to stay together forever,
Speaker 4: they dodn't won Super Bowls every year, I think. But
Speaker 4: there is a salary cap, and there is free agency
Speaker 4: and things, and so you have to pay players. But
Speaker 4: you also understand you've got a draft and you've got
Speaker 4: to develop young players as well well. And we have
Speaker 4: started to do that on the offensive line. Excited about Roger,
Speaker 4: excited about four He's Andrew, excited for the future. We
Speaker 4: may have a couple of hiccups across along the way,
Speaker 4: but I think we've started to build from the bottom up,
Speaker 4: and I think a year from that will be in
Speaker 4: a great place.
Speaker 5: Did you know going into the offseason that would be
Speaker 5: the play with that group, or if the rate value
Speaker 5: had come up with a veteran, might.
Speaker 6: You have adjusted.
Speaker 4: It's hard because again, we went into this year knowing
Speaker 4: that when you pay your quarterback, your MVP quarterback, and
Speaker 4: make them the highest paid, you pay your basically the
Speaker 4: heart of your defense, Roquan, make them the highest paid linebacker,
Speaker 4: you pay arguably one of the top three defensive tackles
Speaker 4: in football last year, justin Mattabek. You realize you're going
Speaker 4: to have to make some changes in the way that
Speaker 4: you do business, and that's going to affects. It's affecting
Speaker 4: other teams. I could give you ten different teams that
Speaker 4: are all dealing with that exact same phenomenon.
Speaker 6: And you see it.
Speaker 4: So it's just one of the realities of this business.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: I can think of multiple teams right now that are
Speaker 4: struggling with this dynamic and they're gonna have to probably
Speaker 4: make major, massive changes in the next coming years. And
Speaker 4: so we're aware of that. You just simply can't pay everybody.
Speaker 4: And so we made the decision that we were gonna
Speaker 4: go young on the offensive lines as best as we
Speaker 4: could develop our guys. We've had a lot of success
Speaker 4: developing offensive linemen in the past. I give you a
Speaker 4: bunch of players that we took in the draft or
Speaker 4: even got you know, off the streets, you know, and
Speaker 4: those guys became good players for us.
Speaker 8: When you were constructing this offensive line, How did having
Speaker 8: a guy like Patrick Mutari affect the way that you
Speaker 8: look at it?
Speaker 4: Well, it's Patrick's great. He can play multiple spots. I mean,
Speaker 4: he's played probably all five spots on the offensive line.
Speaker 4: So having that, you know, flexible chess piece, I think
Speaker 4: really helps us on game days especially.
Speaker 6: You know, it's great.
Speaker 4: He's like having an elite six man in basketball. You
Speaker 4: know Kevin McHale when I was a Celtic Celtics fan
Speaker 4: back in the eighties, who was the six man at
Speaker 4: one point. You know, Patrick's kind of like that. He
Speaker 4: can play all five spots and plays them.
Speaker 1: Well, you're no stranger to the trades you made him
Speaker 1: many times over the years. Do you feel like you
Speaker 1: have the flexibility if there's a player that you want
Speaker 1: at some point this season to.
Speaker 6: Pull off the trade.
Speaker 4: Well, we don't right now because I think we're probably
Speaker 4: over the cap when you factor in practice squads and
Speaker 4: things like that. But at some point we will have
Speaker 4: to make some moves in the coming days and weeks,
Speaker 4: and we've been planning for all that, you know, So
Speaker 4: there's a lot of things we'll be able to do.
Speaker 6: We will be cap.
Speaker 4: Compliant, and we will have at least some money to
Speaker 4: spend if a player is available that we think will
Speaker 4: help us be the best team we can be.
Speaker 3: You've been watching the preseason for a while now.
Speaker 5: How much value do you get out of watching these games?
Speaker 5: And do you think we're closer to ending at all
Speaker 5: and just going to seventeen games altogether?
Speaker 4: Oh, I don't know, Jerry, I don't have an opinion
Speaker 4: on that, but I do think that for us, looking
Speaker 4: at the practice, I mean, looking at the preseason games
Speaker 4: is really about looking at the lower end roster players
Speaker 4: and undrafted free agents and guys like that, and getting
Speaker 4: a chance to.
Speaker 6: Evaluate those guys. You know.
Speaker 4: We know we're not going to have a chance to
Speaker 4: look at really the starters and to get much of
Speaker 4: a feel. It's not like the old days when guys
Speaker 4: played in the first couple of preseason games, but it's
Speaker 4: still a great opportunity for us to evaluate the talent
Speaker 4: the back end of rosters, to look at those players
Speaker 4: that we may not know a lot about, to assess
Speaker 4: those players to help us, you know, find a couple
Speaker 4: guys here and there. I mean, I think our pro department,
Speaker 4: led by George Cokeenis and Marc as Sabada do as
Speaker 4: good a job as anybody in the NFL. And I
Speaker 4: think that's proven every single year. They find players at
Speaker 4: all different levels of football, and we'll have a chance
Speaker 4: to at some point probably churn our practice squad and
Speaker 4: find some guys that we think are better than what
Speaker 4: we have, and those guys will probably help us win
Speaker 4: some football games.
Speaker 5: Player making a team of both raide is that a
Speaker 5: specific pride? And finding again that undrafted player to get
Speaker 5: to the fifty three.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know, someone said maybe we had twenty out of
Speaker 4: twenty one years we had a guy make it. That's
Speaker 4: not necessarily like a streak that like we're trying to
Speaker 4: uh address. I mean, even that one year, I don't
Speaker 4: know who it was. Had I been aware of that streak,
Speaker 4: I probably would have kept a guy just to.
Speaker 6: Keep the streak going.
Speaker 4: So I really didn't know about that streak. But in
Speaker 4: this year, I just think with bo, I mean, that
Speaker 4: guy just really earned it. And if you looked at
Speaker 4: our games, you know, the Packers game, let's face it, it
Speaker 4: was kind of a joke. It was hard to watch
Speaker 4: in a lot of ways. I couldn't wait for the
Speaker 4: game to be over really, just you know, to get
Speaker 4: the pop Eyce chicken sandwich on the plane. But the
Speaker 4: reality is like bo actually just played great and he
Speaker 4: did it consistently. He won the job, he took the job,
Speaker 4: and in the end he deserved to be on the team.
Speaker 6: And that's what it was all about.
Speaker 3: Intentioned Sally cafin compliance projection sites out of it between
Speaker 3: two million to three and half million over.
Speaker 2: Are you expecting his significant restructures? You have to make
Speaker 2: more white sweeping moves to get cap rempliant where kind
Speaker 2: of to.
Speaker 6: Be comfortable for in.
Speaker 5: Season moves in a potential trade that you pretend to
Speaker 5: have an affinity for the season.
Speaker 2: Just or are you expecting significant moves.
Speaker 6: To get cap repliant and.
Speaker 9: Buck Cup with the season?
Speaker 4: Well I think I answered that, but I'll we have
Speaker 4: some flexibility to make some moves and we will in
Speaker 4: the next probably week be cap compliant.
Speaker 6: A lot of different things we can do.
Speaker 4: We've been pretty conservative and I'm blessed to have Nick Matteo,
Speaker 4: who's a great salary cap guy in pat Moriarty, who's
Speaker 4: kind of like the conciliarity of salary cap guys. So
Speaker 4: we're in good shape upstairs, and we'll have a good plan.
Speaker 6: Eric when you feel like where you are at.
Speaker 5: Edge rusher and specifically with David Agado and Tavius Robinson.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I think both those guys really kind of
Speaker 4: made a jump this year. I mean, David has really
Speaker 4: been snake bitten by injuries. He's worked extremely hard. I mean,
Speaker 4: you guys know, coming back from an ACL terrorist challenging
Speaker 4: and this is a guy that did that in started
Speaker 4: practice in probably in eight months.
Speaker 6: Which is pretty remarkable.
Speaker 4: He is showing me that he has got his quickness
Speaker 4: back in his twitch and his suddenness.
Speaker 6: Uh, he's playing with heavy.
Speaker 4: Hands and I'm very excited about what he's gonna bring
Speaker 4: to the team this year. And then Tavius is a
Speaker 4: guy that just keeps getting better and he plays with
Speaker 4: a passion.
Speaker 6: He's very very physical, stout edgestter.
Speaker 4: He plays with a relentless energy about him, you know,
Speaker 4: and I think his best football is on the common.
Speaker 4: He's going to be one of these guys that probably
Speaker 4: a year from now, two years from now, we're going
Speaker 4: to say it was one of our better fourth round picks.
Speaker 7: Along those lines.
Speaker 9: I don't think we asked you yet about a da
Speaker 9: FE and the decision to pick up that fifth year option.
Speaker 3: I guess, what have you seen to give him a
Speaker 3: pretty significant check of money for twenty twenty five?
Speaker 4: Well, that I did from what I've seen. You know,
Speaker 4: we were kind of betting on the come with him.
Speaker 4: He's a guy last year. You know, everybody wants to
Speaker 4: kind of evaluate a player based on just a sack production,
Speaker 4: which you know, I get that that's what we do
Speaker 4: as fans. But this is a guy that impacts games
Speaker 4: and played well last year, and we felt like he
Speaker 4: was going to make another jump, and we've seen it
Speaker 4: in the training camp. We've seen him every day you
Speaker 4: guys are out there. You've seen the energy that he
Speaker 4: plays with his ability to disrupt and make things happen.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's it's always it's never easy when
Speaker 4: you're talking about a fifth year option. That's why you
Speaker 4: see so many fifth year options not get picked up
Speaker 4: around the league. I mean, it's kind of surprising when
Speaker 4: you think about it. We do for a living, and
Speaker 4: yet we draft these guys and then we don't pick
Speaker 4: up their fifty year option almost probably half the time,
Speaker 4: I'm guessing without any I don't know the stats on that.
Speaker 4: But but with o'dafe, we just felt like this was
Speaker 4: a guy that has all the tools.
Speaker 6: He plays hard, he's.
Speaker 4: Got a great energy about him, he wants to be good,
Speaker 4: he's got all the talent to be one of the
Speaker 4: better guys at his position, and uh, and we just
Speaker 4: decide to make a bet on him, and he was
Speaker 4: gonna do it, and so far I feel really good
Speaker 4: about it.
Speaker 8: Is when you were deciding to make Rashaan Bateman a
Speaker 8: part of the team's future and you're evaluating what you
Speaker 8: thought could make him a success, how much of that
Speaker 8: comes down to chemistry with Lamar and how do you
Speaker 8: think they can continue building that.
Speaker 4: It's just really an opportunity, you know, for him to
Speaker 4: show what he can do consistently. I think a big
Speaker 4: part of that is him staying on the field playing
Speaker 4: catching the ball. He runs great routes, he's he's tough, he.
Speaker 6: Wants to be good.
Speaker 4: He he has the talent to do it, and uh,
Speaker 4: he needs the opportunities. But and then half of that
Speaker 4: is really getting the opportunities the other half of that
Speaker 4: is staying healthy and doing being the best he can be.
Speaker 4: But I am very bullish on Rashad. I've said that repeatedly.
Speaker 4: It was a no brainer for us to extend him,
Speaker 4: to give him the chance to be what we all
Speaker 4: know he's going to become. He is a great kid,
Speaker 4: an awesome guy. I love having him here in the building.
Speaker 4: He's got a great opportunity and I believe he's going
Speaker 4: to show the fans this year what he can be
Speaker 4: on paper.
Speaker 7: What do you like about the roster that you constructed.
Speaker 4: We got a lot of guys that love the game.
Speaker 4: They play hard, relentless. The camaraderie is great, the culture
Speaker 4: is awesome. These guys really get along well together. And
Speaker 4: we have a lot of really good young players. And
Speaker 4: we're going to have more challenges because looking out, you know,
Speaker 4: in the next couple of years, starting after this season,
Speaker 4: we're going to have some really, really good players that
Speaker 4: we can extend and it's gonna be challenging, but we're
Speaker 4: gonna try to do it because we're going to try
Speaker 4: to keep I think I said this back in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 4: We're gonna try to keep as much of our young
Speaker 4: talent here in Baltimore as we can. We can't do
Speaker 4: it all the time, but that's a mission.
Speaker 6: That we have.
Speaker 4: And I love that we have so many good young
Speaker 4: players and you know, they just keep emerging and we
Speaker 4: keep seeing these guys develop in our training staff and
Speaker 4: strength and conditioning staff and our coaches just they do
Speaker 4: a great job taking young players and helping them be
Speaker 4: the very best that they can be. And it's it's
Speaker 4: great in one way, but in the other way, it's
Speaker 4: it's hard because we can't keep every single player, but
Speaker 4: we're gonna try to keep as many guys as we can,
Speaker 4: and so I think our future is very bright a
Speaker 4: lot of lines.
Speaker 2: Brandon Stevens is going to be his fourth year.
Speaker 3: Is he a guy that you're really watching this year
Speaker 3: and say, hey, maybe this is somebody I want to
Speaker 3: have this contract aggreciations with this year.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, Brandon had as good a year last year
Speaker 4: as anybody on the team, and I love his attitude,
Speaker 4: love how he just takes care of his business as
Speaker 4: a player, and I think he's gonna make another jump
Speaker 4: this year. So again, you know, he's a guy that
Speaker 4: you know, we certainly want to keep him here. Long term.
Speaker 4: It's not without a challenge. He plays a position where
Speaker 4: the best players are highly compensated. But we'll do our best.
Speaker 4: And I just I admire so many things about Brandon.
Speaker 4: This guy has had some adversity. He's overcome so many
Speaker 4: different things, position changes, transfers and all these things, and
Speaker 4: he's made himself one of the best corners in the NFL.
Speaker 5: Sorry, Eric, one of the guys that you probably will
Speaker 5: want to extend, you know, when time comes.
Speaker 2: Call Hamilton, do you ever think back to that draft
Speaker 2: and wonder, like, how did this guy still fall to you?
Speaker 8: Guys?
Speaker 6: You know, I just.
Speaker 4: I credit Ozzie because it happened to him so many times.
Speaker 4: We're just the best player fell to him, and it
Speaker 4: happened to me. So I'm blessed we have been around
Speaker 4: Ozzy and sat next to him, and maybe some of
Speaker 4: that magic kind of fell off on us that year
Speaker 4: and we were able to get who I consider to
Speaker 4: be one of the best players in that draft class,
Speaker 4: the Loner's life.
Speaker 9: Hamilton, Steve was very versatile. John and the coaches all
Speaker 9: talk about diversity, flexibility of the roster. Is that something
Speaker 9: you guys are seeing in the college game and you're
Speaker 9: emphasizing to the scouts hows you're developing the players when
Speaker 9: they get here. Every every coach talks about it.
Speaker 4: Well, I think versatility is a skill, you know, it's
Speaker 4: a it's a it's a trait that we look for scouts.
Speaker 4: So when we see a guy that can do multiple
Speaker 4: things or be used in multiple.
Speaker 6: Ways, they get graded for that. They get graded up
Speaker 6: for that.
Speaker 4: And so you know, if you have an offense from
Speaker 4: the lineman who can play multiple spots, uh, you have
Speaker 4: a dB who can play safety or corner or play
Speaker 4: on the nickel, or you have a receiver who can
Speaker 4: return kicks or do different things or be a gunner,
Speaker 4: you get extra credit almost.
Speaker 6: It just it just makes it.
Speaker 4: It makes it easier for the club because we can
Speaker 4: account for game day, and we can account for the
Speaker 4: roster and the forty eight players and all those different things.
Speaker 4: It's really peace of mind when you know you have
Speaker 4: a guy who can do multiple things to get you
Speaker 4: out of a game. Or you can create packages where
Speaker 4: guys moving around quite a bit and keeping the offense
Speaker 4: or the defense kind of on the heels because they're
Speaker 4: not really or how that guy is going to be used.
Speaker 6: So it makes you more.
Speaker 4: Multiple in it, it makes it more confusing for the
Speaker 4: other side of the ball. All that kind of factors in.
Speaker 4: But I would say just I think one of the
Speaker 4: things that our scouts have to do is really assess
Speaker 4: the players versatility to do multiple things, and the most
Speaker 4: versatile players end up being players that get moved up
Speaker 4: the board a little bit.
Speaker 1: Training keep what's it does you about Lamar's training camp
Speaker 1: and what are your thoughts on you come off another mvpcson.
Speaker 8: Going into this year.
Speaker 4: Well, he looks fast as heck, you know, he looks
Speaker 4: he looks really really fast. He's throwing the ball extremely well.
Speaker 4: What I've noticed about Lamar really is more of an
Speaker 4: intangible thing. His urgency as a leader, his urgency with
Speaker 4: the other players. He's just really in tune with the
Speaker 4: other players every single day in practice. He's so engaged
Speaker 4: with the coaches, he's engaged with his teammates, you know, Heck,
Speaker 4: he's engaged with me. We talk personnel. We meet after
Speaker 4: practice just the other day talking about personnel. He's got
Speaker 4: some great ideas and suggestions, and he just really wants
Speaker 4: to win badly. And I think I'm seeing that, like
Speaker 4: as a player. I've always known that, but now I'm
Speaker 4: seeing his personality kind of come out more where I
Speaker 4: can really get a sense like this guy is so
Speaker 4: hyper focused on this season and really you know, working
Speaker 4: to get a ring.
Speaker 9: Is that meeting with you about personnel, Lamar?
Speaker 3: Is that a new thing or you know.
Speaker 6: Has that been going on?
Speaker 4: I mean we would, we would always talk about players
Speaker 4: and stuff, but you know, I think just Lamar sees
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't want to speak for Lamar, but
Speaker 4: I think we all see an opportunity for us to
Speaker 4: be a good team this year, and we want to
Speaker 4: do it this year. And and that's just there's so
Speaker 4: many different layers to that. It's what have we done
Speaker 4: in the offseason, what are we doing in training camp?
Speaker 4: How can we be the best team on Sundays? You
Speaker 4: know other players out there that might help us. Where
Speaker 4: are we strong, where are we weak? What can we
Speaker 4: improve on? There's just so many different things. But again,
Speaker 4: like I just I feel an urgency with Lamar. I
Speaker 4: mean it's great. I love it, you know, That's how
Speaker 4: I am, And so I really appreciate that quality and
Speaker 4: others and just the urge to get better and the
Speaker 4: daily just improve on things. That's how you win as
Speaker 4: a team.
Speaker 1: Likely if you're vision being a breakout player this year's
Speaker 1: sort of He's a guy can get down fielding, also has.
Speaker 5: Good hands and tight and had great training camp.
Speaker 4: What do you seeking the industry, Well, he's I love Zay.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's he's a playmakers. He's got, you know,
Speaker 4: right running ability. He's similar to a receiver in some ways,
Speaker 4: strong after the catch, you know. I mean that's something
Speaker 4: that going back to college when I evaluated him, So
Speaker 4: one thing you really kind of hung your hat on.
Speaker 4: This guy was dangerous with the football in his hands.
Speaker 4: He's another guy like I've seen in an urgency this
Speaker 4: year with him, his leadership, interaction with other players. You know,
Speaker 4: he's he's kind of changed from being a young player
Speaker 4: to being from being a rookie to being a vet.
Speaker 4: And I just feel like he and Mark Andrews will
Speaker 4: be the best tandem at their position in the league
Speaker 4: and really create a lot of problems for opposing defensive coordinators.
Speaker 7: That's that's a huge blow off the field, but even
Speaker 7: football wise, to lose a coach with that status and
Speaker 7: bring everything he brings to the table right before the season.
Speaker 7: What does that do.
Speaker 2: For this team?
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, it's just a hard one. I mean,
Speaker 4: Joe is just a great friend of mine. You know,
Speaker 4: if you've seen practice, you know I always stand behind
Speaker 4: usually next to Joe and we talk about you know,
Speaker 4: football and just life and things. And his ability with
Speaker 4: the younger players is just was a special thing watching
Speaker 4: him develop these guys. You know, he could push, but
Speaker 4: he could love And that's what makes a great coach,
Speaker 4: great teacher. Think about the great teachers we've all had, right,
Speaker 4: the best teachers will push you, but they could also
Speaker 4: love you up too.
Speaker 6: When you were struggling. And that's Joe d.
Speaker 4: It's a tough one. You know, it's a tough one.
Speaker 4: It's a tough one for all of us here, you know.
Speaker 4: That's what I have to Saynd that Eric, you.
Speaker 2: Have had conversations with the coaches, the fact that this
Speaker 2: season you're fifteen practice squad players will be seen throughout
Speaker 2: the league forward hard knocks and there's a possibility of
Speaker 2: many of maybe taking off.
Speaker 6: That list there.
Speaker 2: If you guys had conversation, the fact that they haven't.
Speaker 6: I don't think so.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, we evaluate the practice squad guys,
Speaker 4: We don't use HBO to evaluate, and we watch the tape.
Speaker 4: I mean, so we're gonna we're gonna know the players,
Speaker 4: and you know, we'll know everybody else's players too, and
Speaker 4: so you know, we you know, we'll get a guy
Speaker 4: post once or twice a year. We'll post a couple guys.
Speaker 4: But in the en, I think teams are really comfortable
Speaker 4: with their own players. You know, it's gonna be an
Speaker 4: interesting dynamic with hard knocks, and I'm not exactly sure
Speaker 4: what that's gonna be. I don't know how how much
Speaker 4: focus will be on the practice squad guys. If it's
Speaker 4: up to me, they won't be much. But I don't
Speaker 4: see it as a as a major hindrance for us
Speaker 4: in terms of keeping our players.
Speaker 5: Sometimes you hear fans say this team can't prove anything
Speaker 5: else to me during the regular season. It's all about
Speaker 5: what happens in January. You know, what do they do
Speaker 5: at the end. How do you kind of balance that
Speaker 5: urgency to win the Super Bowl with knowing all the
Speaker 5: steps you have to go through to even have that chance.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's an excellent question. I mean I
Speaker 4: would say I was thinking about this the other day,
Speaker 4: like if I had to just rank some of the
Speaker 4: best Ravens teams, you know, you'd put two thousand on there.
Speaker 4: But it's a one sided team, right, And then you
Speaker 4: go two thousand and six. That was a hell hell
Speaker 4: of a team, you know. Twenty eleven was a great team,
Speaker 4: one of the best. Twenty nineteen, twenty twenty three, those
Speaker 4: are like really strong teams. The twenty twelve team we
Speaker 4: got hot late. You know, there's a lot of factors
Speaker 4: that really go into a team winning the Super Bowl
Speaker 4: and in the end, and I know this because I'm
Speaker 4: at the Senior Bowl every single year, there's only one
Speaker 4: team ends up being happy. There's a lot that goes
Speaker 4: into that. So my goal is to build a team
Speaker 4: that has talent in every position, that is flexible enough
Speaker 4: to withstand injuries, that we have depth to get us
Speaker 4: through a long season and to make the playoffs and
Speaker 4: to be sort of ascending at that point. It's really
Speaker 4: hard to project what's going to happen, and it's it's
Speaker 4: mentally challenging too for me. You know, it is tough.
Speaker 4: You know, I think we've been maybe had the best
Speaker 4: record twice in the last six years five years, and
Speaker 4: we didn't make it to the end. That's tough, But
Speaker 4: I am proud of our team what we've accomplished. We
Speaker 4: haven't accomplished our ultimate goal. But I don't really subscribe
Speaker 4: to the idea that your season's a failure if you
Speaker 4: don't win the Super Bowl. I know a lot of
Speaker 4: people do. If I did that, I'd probably be in
Speaker 4: a mental institution. So I don't feel that way. I
Speaker 4: measure the success of a season and a lot of
Speaker 4: different things, super Bowl being one of those things, but
Speaker 4: certainly not the only criteria that I would use to
Speaker 4: judge a season.
Speaker 9: Two more, you talked last year, maybe you talked about
Speaker 9: how the Lamar Jackson contract was going to change how you.
Speaker 4: Could build the roster in the future, thinking of Brandon
Speaker 4: Stephen some of the other players.
Speaker 6: How is your approach to kind.
Speaker 3: Of in the season negotiating because it has it changed
Speaker 3: in terms of trying.
Speaker 6: To negotiate with some of these extensions in the season.
Speaker 2: Does that strategy change since the Jackson contract to now?
Speaker 6: I don't know that it changes that.
Speaker 4: I think it's just right player, right price, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, you got a negotiate a contract that works
Speaker 4: for you and work for the player, and sometimes you're
Speaker 4: under parameters that might make it more challenging. You just
Speaker 4: simply just can't afford to have the highest paid players
Speaker 4: across the board at their position. You know, you can
Speaker 4: have some, but I think if you study the league,
Speaker 4: you're seeing the impact that it has on rosters and
Speaker 4: what that means, whether that's holdouts or players getting terminated,
Speaker 4: quality players getting terminated. It's just you just fundamentally, financially,
Speaker 4: you can't do it. You can't have ten players making
Speaker 4: twenty million dollars a year. You just can't do it
Speaker 4: on a two hundred and fifty eight million dollars salary cap.
Speaker 4: So you have to look at it and have a strategy.
Speaker 4: And every team operate rates with a different strategy how
Speaker 4: they pay players, what's.
Speaker 6: Important to them.
Speaker 4: We try to be balanced across the board, and we
Speaker 4: try to pay our best players as much as we can,
Speaker 4: understanding that sometimes we just can't keep every single player.
Speaker 4: If we could, the roster would be different, but it's not.
Speaker 4: We understand that it is challenging sometimes to let really
Speaker 4: good players leave, but that's the business.
Speaker 6: We're in.
Speaker 3: Quarterbacks specifically, Like it was pretty obvious that you know,
Speaker 3: giving Lamar's accomplishments and talent he was gonna we sent
Speaker 3: the quarterback market that are a top across the seem
Speaker 3: like every time a quarterback gets a second contract, they're
Speaker 3: like the highest big player ever. All of a sudden,
Speaker 3: do you think that's going to continue to be reality
Speaker 3: across the league? We should, you know, kind of look
Speaker 3: in the future at the landscape or at some point
Speaker 3: is that going to bounce back and either going to
Speaker 3: say we can't afford to keep doing this with if
Speaker 3: it's done an MVP.
Speaker 6: Kind of guy. Well, we paid Lamar.
Speaker 4: We made Lamar the highest paid quarterback because we felt
Speaker 4: he was the best quarterback in the league. He won
Speaker 4: an MVP now two MVPs, and I'm blessed. We're very
Speaker 4: happy that we did that. Generally speaking, I don't necessarily
Speaker 4: subscribe to the theory that every time you do a
Speaker 4: negotiation with a quality player they need to be the
Speaker 4: highest paid player at their position, and I think in
Speaker 4: a lot of cases we haven't done that. It's challenging
Speaker 4: at times. There isn't typically an expectation when you negotiate
Speaker 4: with agents that they want the market to work that way.
Speaker 6: I think it's up to the club. It's up to
Speaker 6: the individual club. The hard part is that.
Speaker 4: When a deal is done, good or bad, that goes
Speaker 4: into the library of deals that get done and it's
Speaker 4: used good or bad by clubs and by agents. We
Speaker 4: try to be responsible with our deals. We try to
Speaker 4: be respectful of the player's position. But we're going to
Speaker 4: pay the players what we can't afford to pay the players,
Speaker 4: and most of our money every single year we're going
Speaker 4: to be over the cap, cash over cap most years. Now,
Speaker 4: there is always going to be a day of reckoning.
Speaker 4: You can't be a cash overcap every single year. There's
Speaker 4: going to have to be a purge at some point.
Speaker 4: So we understand that. But you know, I've seen these contracts.
Speaker 4: Every club has to operate the way they.
Speaker 6: Want to operate.
Speaker 4: You know, we operate the way we're going to operate,
Speaker 4: and we look out and we know we have a
Speaker 4: lot of really good players to pay, and every dollar
Speaker 4: that we can save on a contract is a dollar
Speaker 4: that we can use a really another, really good player.
Speaker 6: That's my theory.
Speaker 1: Thanks guys, you're listening to the Ravens Press Pass podcast.
Speaker 1: Also make sure you head over to the Lounge podcast feed.
Speaker 1: We had quarterback Lamar Jackson on the podcast this week.
Speaker 1: He shared some really good insight into his mindset, his mentality,
Speaker 1: and the urgency that he has going into this season.
Speaker 1: And listen to that right here and you're podcast feed
Speaker 1: just head over to the Lounge podcast make sure you
Speaker 1: hit that subscribe button here and on the press Pass feed.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. We'll talk with you
Speaker 1: again later this week.