Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. It is Tuesday,
Speaker 1: August twenty ninth. The Ravens had to trim the roster
Speaker 1: to fifty three players today and before that point we
Speaker 1: had a chance to hear from head coach John Harbaugh,
Speaker 1: left guard John Simpson, and cornerback Ronald Darby. Let's kick
Speaker 1: things off with coach Hardball.
Speaker 2: All right, good to see everybody. I appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2: Very good practice. I'll put the pads on. Guys were
Speaker 2: very much into it, very happy with what we did today.
Speaker 2: What questions you have, John with the roster cutting?
Speaker 3: Is there a difference at practice for some guys? Do
Speaker 3: you feel or is do you think it's a businesses.
Speaker 2: Or I think it's business as usual. Guys did a
Speaker 2: nice job. They always do. I thought of everybody's business, like,
Speaker 2: everybody understands what we need to get done as a
Speaker 2: team today, and they did a good job of it.
Speaker 3: Talking about the list, how different was Jes, You're working
Speaker 3: on a new offense.
Speaker 4: It different making the list now?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean there's always subtleties, but in the big picture,
Speaker 2: I'd say, no, you know the big picture of the process,
Speaker 2: the way you handle it it's still you try to
Speaker 2: do it's in the best interest to your team, and
Speaker 2: and you really try to, you know, allow decisions to
Speaker 2: make themselves based on the way guys play and practice
Speaker 2: and perform.
Speaker 5: John, I know a kind of a soft timeline when
Speaker 5: when Marlin had to put surgery. But are you still
Speaker 5: feeling comfortable that he'll be able to make it back
Speaker 5: in the first unseason.
Speaker 2: I am, yeah, he's okay. There's different guys have different things,
Speaker 2: so there's nothing, h nothing to report.
Speaker 6: The most improved player in training.
Speaker 2: Camp a most improved player? Oh man, Well, you know,
Speaker 2: you say somebody, then you leave some people out. I
Speaker 2: tell you, I just really really, I mean ever, everybody's
Speaker 2: improved too different degrees. Just as a team. I think
Speaker 2: we've come a long way, you know, And that's what
Speaker 2: I'm pleased with. The coaches or please with the players
Speaker 2: are pleased with it because they feel it in terms
Speaker 2: of execution. Now it's time to go see where you're
Speaker 2: in a game now. You don't know until you play
Speaker 2: a game, and then then you start over again. You
Speaker 2: know where are we now? Once you play a game?
Speaker 4: I don't know, John Simpson, I guess the other night
Speaker 4: he talked about how he maybe lost some of those
Speaker 4: confidence the last year and how he's built it. I mean,
Speaker 4: did you did you see that with the way he
Speaker 4: attacked the opportunity this the summer every how would you
Speaker 4: say he kind of sees that job.
Speaker 2: Well, he definitely sees the job. And I read the
Speaker 2: same thing and I was really it was intriguing to
Speaker 2: read it. You know, he never u He's always showed himself,
Speaker 2: you know, his confident guy and stuff. But I was
Speaker 2: just proud of him, and I thought he just just
Speaker 2: came to work every day, kept it simple. H made
Speaker 2: it about being the best player he could be day
Speaker 2: in and day out. I think he took coaching really
Speaker 2: well and and obviously he's a very talented player. So
Speaker 2: if he's playing with confidence, now, I'm all for it.
Speaker 2: You know, I feel really good about hearing that is
Speaker 2: a good thing.
Speaker 6: I just a fellow on two offensive line considerations you
Speaker 6: mentioned earlier in can't it's solid just full time and
Speaker 6: you think interior guy and pole. I know you talked
Speaker 6: about maybe or putting inside of guard, but you see
Speaker 6: him on the outside the right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Sala will be focusing interior at guard and Flele
Speaker 2: will be focusing outside of tackle, but we'll also I'm
Speaker 2: sure work those guys from time to time, you know,
Speaker 2: in a different spot, just because you have to all
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 6: But then he looked like he handled his own his
Speaker 6: job pretty well on the side there.
Speaker 7: I agree.
Speaker 2: I agree, he didn't get tons of reps there, but
Speaker 2: he did fine when he was in there. Right.
Speaker 1: That was head coach John Harball. Now after the game
Speaker 1: on Saturday in Tampa Bay, he announced that John Simpson
Speaker 1: is going to be the team's starting left guard going
Speaker 1: into this season, and Simpson talked with reporters today about
Speaker 1: what that means to him.
Speaker 7: Just what did it.
Speaker 6: Mean to you when you hear the news that that.
Speaker 8: You were going to be the start?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 9: Ad meant a lot to me. Uh they you know,
Speaker 9: for them to trust me in that position, and you know,
Speaker 9: just getting that news, it just it it meant a
Speaker 9: whole lot.
Speaker 8: What did you find out?
Speaker 6: Did you take it through?
Speaker 1: Help?
Speaker 7: Went?
Speaker 9: It was after practice one day, Uh, Coach Jod came
Speaker 9: to me and said, yeah, if we play, uh like tomorrow,
Speaker 9: you'd be the starter. But it wasn't. It was like
Speaker 9: last week or something like that. Uh So I just
Speaker 9: learned that I learned like a few days before everyone else.
Speaker 1: But what did your focus drinking? What what did you
Speaker 1: kind of set out to prove, you know, to the
Speaker 1: team during that direction too.
Speaker 9: I wasn't really trying to prove, Like I'm not gonna
Speaker 9: say I wasn't trying to prove anything, but like I
Speaker 9: just wanted to come in with my best foot forward
Speaker 9: and you know, just put my head down and go
Speaker 9: to work. I wasn't trying to like, you know, be
Speaker 9: it arrogant or you know, cocky and think that I
Speaker 9: ran everything or whatever. I just did whatever, like try
Speaker 9: to do whatever they asked me to do, and if
Speaker 9: I didn't do it right, I try to do it
Speaker 9: right the next time. And uh, you know that's pretty
Speaker 9: much how I went. I s I just you know,
Speaker 9: try to get better every day. Like I said before,
Speaker 9: I just want to get better one step at a
Speaker 9: time every day and just look at it like that,
Speaker 9: you know, every every day's opportunity to get better.
Speaker 7: So that's how I look at it.
Speaker 3: John, you said on Saturday, and you talked about how
Speaker 3: the confidence was lacking after leaving Las Vegas thing, But
Speaker 3: where do you think you've improved the most since you arrived,
Speaker 3: that you're at this place now where you're starting, and
Speaker 3: clearly more confident than you.
Speaker 9: Had the Yeah, I mean, I don't know. It's it's
Speaker 9: kind of weird, like because when I came in, like
Speaker 9: I said, I was, I liked confidence, and I just
Speaker 9: didn't really know like what would happen or what was
Speaker 9: going on. And I think that mindset that I explained earlier,
Speaker 9: just like getting better one day at a time just
Speaker 9: kind of like changed my mindset and my confidence a
Speaker 9: little bit. It's just like mistakes are gonna happen, I
Speaker 9: know that, just try to overcome them or and just
Speaker 9: go to the next play or whatever whatever's next to
Speaker 9: try to go through that. And that's kind of how
Speaker 9: I kind of helped build my own confidence. And then
Speaker 9: I got guys like Tyler. Sam must have heard he
Speaker 9: you know, He's been a great help for me. You know,
Speaker 9: Morgan Moses, all those guys has just been there for me.
Speaker 9: Whenever I would make a mistake or something like that,
Speaker 9: they just be there and let me know that I'm
Speaker 9: capable of, you know, doing the right thing. So working
Speaker 9: with coach Joe, coach Jod, he's a he's a great coach.
Speaker 9: He you know, he's been around the game for a
Speaker 9: long long time and he you know, he he knows
Speaker 9: what his guys are capable of. And uh, like, you
Speaker 9: can't ask for nothing better than that an O line coach.
Speaker 9: He also gives me like great confidence. You know, he'll
Speaker 9: he'll get on me when I make a mistake and
Speaker 9: then he'll you know, giv him praises when I when
Speaker 9: I do good so and I mean, that's all you
Speaker 9: can ask for in an O line coach.
Speaker 7: So around that they needed to change the scene.
Speaker 8: Nothing against the operations Vegas.
Speaker 3: But you feel like it kind of you were re
Speaker 3: energized getting here. You said, a coaches around a new teammates.
Speaker 8: They kind of served as a fresh stuard for you.
Speaker 9: Yeah. Yeah, I mean that that definitely played a part
Speaker 9: in it.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 9: I think, you know, just getting here, uh and and
Speaker 9: realizing like it's still just football. I think that helped
Speaker 9: me out a lot. And nothing against those guys, Uh
Speaker 9: they're it's a great organization and everything like that, but uh,
Speaker 9: change the scenery did I think helped me out a
Speaker 9: little bit.
Speaker 4: Your mindset that's purved meization feel when you put in
Speaker 4: confidence to getting you try to play catch up and
Speaker 4: then fighting for job is getting a job? How to
Speaker 4: have especially the n part there.
Speaker 3: How did that your mindset many change.
Speaker 8: Or for yours?
Speaker 9: Well, I mean I don't really, I don't think it
Speaker 9: changed a whole lot besides from like when I first
Speaker 9: got here, like you said, and until like uh this
Speaker 9: the summer, like training camp started training camp. But I
Speaker 9: I think, like I said earlier, is just you know,
Speaker 9: putting one one thing at a time, one day at
Speaker 9: a time, is just trying to get better. Honestly, I
Speaker 9: got I. I wish I had a different answer, but
Speaker 9: that's kind of how I. How I went about training
Speaker 9: camp is just like and and coach says it all
Speaker 9: the time. He says, you know, the one thing at
Speaker 9: a time, one day at a time, one play at
Speaker 9: a time, whatever it is, just do that and you'll
Speaker 9: you'll see improvement. And I and I've been trusted in
Speaker 9: his process and it's been played off, paid off for me.
Speaker 4: Did you did you like did you like being part
Speaker 4: of what turned out to be pretty direct competition? I
Speaker 4: mean we knew Left Guard was kind of up for
Speaker 4: grabs coming in. Yeah, then it pretty quickly it was
Speaker 4: you and you and Salid obviously nothing against him, But
Speaker 4: I mean, is that is that energizing in a sense?
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, I mean for sure. I mean any any competition,
Speaker 9: Like I'm a competitor, like anybody as a competitor wants
Speaker 9: to compete. And uh, I think, Uh, that kind of
Speaker 9: gave me a little juice.
Speaker 7: I'm yeah, I mean it did.
Speaker 9: It gave me a little juice and uh and it
Speaker 9: I feel like it kind of helped me throughout camp
Speaker 9: and it gave me something to look forward to every day.
Speaker 9: And not saying that I won't have that same mindset,
Speaker 9: but it definitely did play a part in how I
Speaker 9: competed in camp.
Speaker 1: What would you have said, you know, like back in
Speaker 1: the center was applying to practice right here in the
Speaker 1: city and he started cards.
Speaker 4: Going through the season.
Speaker 9: Uh, shoot, I don't know, I really, I don't. I
Speaker 9: have no idea, honestly, I just I don't know. That's
Speaker 9: a good question. I gotta think about that.
Speaker 6: It's been like being in direct competition with Sla but
Speaker 6: also working with him in your experiences with.
Speaker 9: That, it's I mean, it's been fun. The training camp
Speaker 9: has been fun. I you know, go like competing against
Speaker 9: a guy like Salah. He's young. He just came in
Speaker 9: and he's trying to figure out everything, and I mean
Speaker 9: I kind of am trying to figure out things about
Speaker 9: this program and stuff like that. So I feel like
Speaker 9: we're we were kind of in the same position. But
Speaker 9: I had a few years on him, and I think maybe,
Speaker 9: like I don't know if that's what you know, I
Speaker 9: don't know if that's what it was or whatever, but like,
Speaker 9: I think that was the biggest thing. But I was
Speaker 9: always there trying to help him, and you know, vice versa.
Speaker 9: We always got shared shared news with each other or
Speaker 9: share things with each other and try to help each other.
Speaker 1: That was starting left guard John Simpson. We also heard
Speaker 1: from cornerback Ronald Darby. He was a free agent acquisition
Speaker 1: late in training camp. He's played a lot of football
Speaker 1: in his career, really valuable player who the Ravens were
Speaker 1: excited to get, and he talked about his decision to
Speaker 1: come here and join this team.
Speaker 8: Oh, can you just talk about you know, what led
Speaker 8: you to to signing with the Ravens.
Speaker 7: Uh. I felt like it was a good fit.
Speaker 8: It's a winning team, got a lot of homey guys around,
Speaker 8: and I feel like it could help me a lot.
Speaker 8: Got great safeties. Of course, that's an important thing. Great
Speaker 8: up front linebackers experienced defense. So yeah, uh huh, I
Speaker 8: know you uh played with in high school?
Speaker 7: Did Yeah? I talked to Tavon all the time. That's
Speaker 7: one of my close friends.
Speaker 8: Like you said, we went to high school together, so
Speaker 8: you know, he was excited and everything.
Speaker 2: How uh, I.
Speaker 4: Guess how how are you doing in terms of the
Speaker 4: recovery from from from then injury, I mean and and
Speaker 4: went along that timeline. Did you kind of say I'm
Speaker 4: feeling pretty confident. I'm I'm feeling like myself.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 8: Really once I got cleared, like you know, I stressed
Speaker 8: the process of you know, getting the strength back, and
Speaker 8: I made one thing I made sure I did come
Speaker 8: and off of this uh knee injury is run. I
Speaker 8: ran a lot doing rehab just to you know, get
Speaker 8: my top side speed back up and everything. So I
Speaker 8: was working, you know before I even as signed anywhere.
Speaker 4: And when were you play when?
Speaker 2: When did you?
Speaker 7: Uh about like two months ago?
Speaker 1: Really?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 1: What what have uh been your versions of this defense
Speaker 1: in the time that you've been here in in the
Speaker 1: world and you can play on that?
Speaker 8: Uh, I'm really impressed by the defense. How to communicate,
Speaker 8: you know, id driven, they yard how each day to
Speaker 8: come out ready to work. And you know I came
Speaker 8: later in camp and like they gave me like first
Speaker 8: week energy once I first got out here, like them guys.
Speaker 7: Be flying around on both sides of the ball. So
Speaker 7: you know, I like that.
Speaker 5: So how do you feel that you've come on and
Speaker 5: and picking up the defense given the late start.
Speaker 7: Uh, I'm picking it up pretty well.
Speaker 8: Like you know, the places I've been, we didn't have
Speaker 8: new head coaches every year, so like I didn't have
Speaker 8: like three new head coaches every year. This fourth new
Speaker 8: head coach, so like, I mean, I know how to
Speaker 8: pick it up fast. It's corner, you know, it's cover
Speaker 8: one's own, same stuff. You just gotta learn the names.
Speaker 1: Have you ever been in the camp where you're.
Speaker 2: Going against some of them, the big white outs that.
Speaker 4: Uh the way was happening.
Speaker 7: Uh. I've been some real good places. The closest I.
Speaker 8: Could probably say is my f my Wikie year in
Speaker 8: Buffalo when they had you know, Sammy Sammy Walkins before
Speaker 8: you know he broke his foot. They had Robert Woods,
Speaker 8: a good win, they had Chris Hogan, Percy Harve and
Speaker 8: it was they had they were squaded at receiver, so
Speaker 8: they gave us work each day, me and Gilmore when
Speaker 8: we was over there. But just a very talented wide
Speaker 8: receiver group.
Speaker 5: Ow you come here and you, like, like Kevin said,
Speaker 5: you're going up against guys like O'Dell and then when
Speaker 5: you're trying to work back your your work your way
Speaker 5: back onto the field after that injury. How much confidence
Speaker 5: did I give you to be able to run with
Speaker 5: some of them receivers your garter and practice right now?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 8: One thing I'm tryna stress, you know, getting back into
Speaker 8: for a football shape is you know, just working my
Speaker 8: technique and like being up against these guys give you
Speaker 8: a confidence to line up in front of anybody like
Speaker 8: these some of the top receivers in the league. So
Speaker 8: it's like a blessing that really had 'em out here,
Speaker 8: cause it'll help get you back on track fast.
Speaker 3: The attention to the Ravens a lot, and growing up
Speaker 3: in the area.
Speaker 8: Uh No, I grew up in Washington. Fine, yeah, I'm
Speaker 8: from the DC PG area.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so how well, you know, as you kind
Speaker 1: of have got settled in here, how how ready do
Speaker 1: you feel like you are to play all tomot earlier
Speaker 1: in the season.
Speaker 7: Uh, I'm ready.
Speaker 8: That's what I'm out here doing, like getting myself back
Speaker 8: into football shape. But like I get called on, i'm'a
Speaker 8: go out there, you know, giving my Uh like I
Speaker 8: don't feel like any doubt or anything or you know,
Speaker 8: I won't be out there getting the reps and stuff
Speaker 8: that I'm getting.
Speaker 7: So yeah, Oh they can take.
Speaker 6: A lot of a lot of guys, you know, more
Speaker 6: than a year to come back from the ACL. But
Speaker 6: so when you got hurt and you you spoke to
Speaker 6: the doctors after that injury last year, did did they
Speaker 6: give you a a timetable for when you you know,
Speaker 6: when they thought you might be good to go? And
Speaker 6: did did you beat it with ease? I mean, if
Speaker 6: you were clear of the two months ago, it seems
Speaker 6: like you made pretty good time.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Uh uh.
Speaker 8: When it comes to the ACL, was really about the
Speaker 8: work you put into it, you know, Like like I said,
Speaker 8: I was busting my ass like rehabbing running. I was
Speaker 8: having like two days like all through the week. So
Speaker 8: like I made sure I put the load on my
Speaker 8: body knowing that you know, I wasn't in OTA's knowing
Speaker 8: I wasn't in the first half of camp, Like, I
Speaker 8: made sure I did more so I could be ready
Speaker 8: and have confidence on it. That's what it's mainly about,
Speaker 8: having a confidence on your knee.
Speaker 4: When you when you didn't meet with the Ravens, what
Speaker 4: did they tell you they were looking for?
Speaker 7: Uh?
Speaker 8: They just said they liked me. Really, you know, I
Speaker 8: did the workout. It was my first time going through
Speaker 8: this process. Normally I always been on the team, So
Speaker 8: they were just like, you know, they liked me and they.
Speaker 7: Help everything work out, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: Were there other.
Speaker 5: Teams contacting you at the time or what?
Speaker 7: Uh? It was some other teams you you know, I
Speaker 7: was to my age. But you know it's a great fit.
Speaker 7: A lot of friends and family come out a week
Speaker 7: one most likely. Yeah, you know they right down the road.
Speaker 7: You know, I'm gonna I gotta keep a number on it. So, yeah,
Speaker 7: I was gonna let that get road.
Speaker 9: On another Super Bowl.
Speaker 6: You're gonna get another Totoo logo?
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, for sure. I don't know why I'm gonna
Speaker 8: put it for. I'm definitely gonna get another Super Bowl
Speaker 8: side too.
Speaker 1: One that was cornerback Ronald Darby. You also heard from
Speaker 1: John Simpson and head coach John Harbaugh. Now I mentioned
Speaker 1: off the top that the Ravens had to turn the
Speaker 1: roster to fifty three players by four pm on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and if you want a full breakdown of all the
Speaker 1: moves that they made, of course, you can check out
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens dot com. Also headed into the Ravens Press
Speaker 1: Pass podcast feed, we break down everything that happened with
Speaker 1: roster cuts, what they mean, and where the Ravens go
Speaker 1: from here. You can check out that podcast, the Lounge podcast.
Speaker 1: Subscribe to that one and this feed as well Ravens
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Speaker 1: That's it for me today on the Ravens Press Pass podcasts,
Speaker 1: but stay tuned for more to come this week.