Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another episode of NFL Daily's Power Players,
Speaker 1: where we talk to football people and learn from them
Speaker 1: and pull back the curtain of the sport for you
Speaker 1: just a little further. Today, I'm stoked to be joined
Speaker 1: by Ram's assistant general manager, John McKay, who has also
Speaker 1: previously worked as the Pro Personnel Director and assistant director
Speaker 1: of Pro Scouting. He'll enter training camp this summer after
Speaker 1: interviews for the Miami Dolphins in Minnesota Vikings general manager jobs.
Speaker 1: If you're a football fan, you know that the Rams
Speaker 1: do things a little differently than many of their peers,
Speaker 1: from their talent identification process to their financial and other
Speaker 1: resource allocation, whether it's an f them pis era or
Speaker 1: a draft and sprint rebuild era weighed down by record
Speaker 1: setting dead money at the time that team building is
Speaker 1: often among the NFL's biggest stories. Each season, they've tried
Speaker 1: new ideas in scouting, from character assessments or projections into
Speaker 1: head coach Sean mcvay's offense to their evaluation of the
Speaker 1: middle round draft picks and cheap veterans acquired in free
Speaker 1: agency that often supplement their big spins on stars elsewhere.
Speaker 1: So for John McKay. That has meant learning how to
Speaker 1: stay agile through the process, a risky process at that
Speaker 1: understanding their model could shift at any moment, and often
Speaker 1: without other precedent to follow along the way. So today
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about how a team becomes like this,
Speaker 1: how this shapes the people on the staff, among other items,
Speaker 1: including the Miles Garrett trade, this off season in general,
Speaker 1: and what in seasons and off seasons in a front
Speaker 1: office actually look like. Ready to get into it, Welcome
Speaker 1: to NFL Daily's Power Players, where we go inside the
Speaker 1: NFL with the people who shape the sport. I am
Speaker 1: joined today by Los Angeles Rams assistant general manager John McKay,
Speaker 1: who almost certainly has not had an interesting off season
Speaker 1: at all. John. Thank you for joining me today on
Speaker 1: Power Players.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about Miles Garrett, We're going
Speaker 1: to talk about your off season, talk about the process.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about all the things and the
Speaker 1: expectations and the really intriguing storylines around this team. But
Speaker 1: really what this show is about is helping people understand
Speaker 1: what people like you actually do in their jobs and
Speaker 1: what your path to the sport is why football has
Speaker 1: become not just a job for you, but a calling
Speaker 1: and a why. So I kind of want to start there.
Speaker 1: Why football. I know it's in the family, But when
Speaker 1: did it spark for you as a child that this
Speaker 1: is something that you're gonna probably be like a little
Speaker 1: bit sickly obsessed with.
Speaker 3: Probably probably as long as when I could first remember
Speaker 3: is honestly when it became my why. Growing up, my
Speaker 3: dad was with the Bucks kind of in the late
Speaker 3: nineties early two thousands, and then transitioned to the Falcons.
Speaker 3: So I was always around it. I was always entrenched
Speaker 3: in it. It was always a part of our life.
Speaker 3: It was always a big part of my family. It's
Speaker 3: what brought us together, what made us and even closer
Speaker 3: than we've you know, could have been. So it was
Speaker 3: always it was always the biggest.
Speaker 2: Part of my life.
Speaker 3: It was something I knew from an early age I
Speaker 3: wanted to do. I got, you know, quickly obsessed with
Speaker 3: team building, roster building, player evaluation, different ways to attack it.
Speaker 3: And so that was an obsession from an early age,
Speaker 3: and then I think, much to my dad's displeasure, it
Speaker 3: became what I wanted to do for a career. He
Speaker 3: was always very adamant that I He's like, please just
Speaker 3: do something else, and I'm like, how can I grow
Speaker 3: up around this?
Speaker 2: This not be what I do? Like, it's way too
Speaker 2: fun for that.
Speaker 3: But it's also I understand the downsides too, But it
Speaker 3: was always what I was going to do, and the
Speaker 3: exposures I had in early age were things I wouldn't
Speaker 3: trade for anything. Being around some of those teams and
Speaker 3: the people that I met, you know, both on the staffs,
Speaker 3: the players, whatever it may be. Being around my dad,
Speaker 3: watching him do it at a high level was always
Speaker 3: something that I strived to do and wanted to do
Speaker 3: when I got chance.
Speaker 1: So yeah, probably your dad wanted you to pick a
Speaker 1: career with a little less heartbreak in it. I would imagine,
Speaker 1: you know, Rich McKay obviously is who we're talking about here,
Speaker 1: and but for you, you just sort of stayed obsessed
Speaker 1: with it. I think Lucky for you, eventually the team
Speaker 1: that you started working for moved back to the city
Speaker 1: where you went to college, right, So that probably helped.
Speaker 1: But in those days, the formative years of you deciding
Speaker 1: your path and what you wanted to do in football,
Speaker 1: that maybe was in some ways similar to what you
Speaker 1: watched your dad do, but in other ways different. Who
Speaker 1: were some mentors that have stood out to you and
Speaker 1: who are some mentors that you sort of stick close
Speaker 1: to now?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, obviously my dad is a tremendous one. But
Speaker 3: when I like think about my relationship with him, it
Speaker 3: wasn't always a football based relationship. It wasn't like we
Speaker 3: were talking about football at the times. And I think
Speaker 3: about it now even like what I bring to the workplace,
Speaker 3: Like the things that I've learned from him are totally
Speaker 3: different than football. It's it's how to treat people, how
Speaker 3: to be a good leader, you know, how to just
Speaker 3: be a good person. Like those are the things that
Speaker 3: I embody from him that I found myself using on
Speaker 3: a daily basis. But then, you know, the cool thing
Speaker 3: about working here is I have a number of tremendous
Speaker 3: mentors that have come through this organization. Like I got
Speaker 3: to get started at a really young age here. I
Speaker 3: think I was twenty two or twenty three when I
Speaker 3: got hired, and Less has built of incredible staff over
Speaker 3: the course of the time that I've been here. We've
Speaker 3: had a number of you know, current and former general managers.
Speaker 3: I mean ran Carthon, Brad Holmes, Brian Xanders, Ray Agnew,
Speaker 3: James Gladstone, all those guys you get to learn from,
Speaker 3: take different things from, Emulate things that you'd like that
Speaker 3: you want to take as you, you know, elevate up
Speaker 3: in the profession. And then obviously less is a is
Speaker 3: a huge mentor of mine and somebody that I always
Speaker 3: look up to, and for me, like what he's what
Speaker 3: he's always imprinted on me is like, how can you
Speaker 3: think of about things differently? How can you think outside
Speaker 3: of the box, how can you think about team building differently?
Speaker 3: And are there different ways to do this that that
Speaker 3: we haven't thought of? And how can we make our
Speaker 3: processes get to a point where where we can put
Speaker 3: those things into place and our scouts can feel those
Speaker 3: in a daily basis, both on a on a small
Speaker 3: scale and then a larger scale from a team building perspective.
Speaker 3: So he's made a huge impact on me, and you know,
Speaker 3: being in a role where I'm in the building for
Speaker 3: the last ten now eleven years, I get to feel
Speaker 3: that on a daily basis, and so we're always in
Speaker 3: constant communication, especially in my role now, and it's cool
Speaker 3: to work kind of side by side with him now,
Speaker 3: but also when I first got here, it was much
Speaker 3: more like, hey, just put your head down. My dad
Speaker 3: always said, you know, kind of put your head down
Speaker 3: and put your ears up and listen and take in
Speaker 3: what you what you want to do, and and learn
Speaker 3: how to do this thing before you, you know, try
Speaker 3: to do too much. So I've been extremely blessed to
Speaker 3: be in the place that I'm at because between the
Speaker 3: coaches that have come through here in the front office
Speaker 3: executive is, I feel like I've had so many of
Speaker 3: the best people in this business to learn from, and
Speaker 3: I'm forever grateful for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've gotten to watch them learn each other as
Speaker 1: you're learning them too, which I know is just as
Speaker 1: part a much part of the process for listeners who
Speaker 1: don't know. The RAM staff is very different and has
Speaker 1: been operating as such pretty much since the move from
Speaker 1: Saint Louis back to Los Angeles, where first they were
Speaker 1: in transition, but then now there's a very small number
Speaker 1: of people in the front office and on the personnel
Speaker 1: team that work on site, and so it's sort of
Speaker 1: like a cluster where you guys are in very close quarters.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is not a practice facilities joke. You
Speaker 1: guys are in very close quarters all the time, and
Speaker 1: there's a huge number of Satellite people that are very
Speaker 1: trusted to sort of be on the road, and then
Speaker 1: obviously the Scouts and the area Scouts and everyone's on
Speaker 1: the road anyway. But in terms of like learning the
Speaker 1: people around you leadership styles, but then also watching them
Speaker 1: learn each other, Lesnie extremely individualistic, unique person. I'd be
Speaker 1: curious what adjectives you would use. And Sean McVay extremely individualistic,
Speaker 1: unique person, also curious what adjectives you would use. Being
Speaker 1: in the room, as those two also learned each other
Speaker 1: over the years, what did you take from that?
Speaker 3: You know, I think I think I'm able to learn
Speaker 3: and the people here, we're able to learn so much
Speaker 3: because it is a very open place. Doors are always open,
Speaker 3: conversations are always open, and that's unique, and like it
Speaker 3: doesn't matter if you're a Scouting assistant or a pro
Speaker 3: scout or an assistant general manager, Like everyone's voice is
Speaker 3: going to be heard because our staff is small, and
Speaker 3: the people that are at the top positions, like they
Speaker 3: want to hear from you and they want to be
Speaker 3: be told the truth. And so I think you're able
Speaker 3: to learn so much more when the doors are always open.
Speaker 3: You're not afraid to ask questions. You know, it's you know,
Speaker 3: it's all coming from a good place. And also like,
Speaker 3: I think the unique thing is you're able to dissent
Speaker 3: comfortably and say, hey, I might disagree with this evaluation
Speaker 3: to this player, I might disagree with this move, but
Speaker 3: here are my reasons behind it, and know that I
Speaker 3: can dissent comfortably and and not be you know, lashed
Speaker 3: out at, like like who are you to say something
Speaker 3: like that? Like I think that that's a really cool thing.
Speaker 3: And then watching the two of them work together is unique.
Speaker 3: They're they're like brothers, uh and in ways they know
Speaker 3: how to nip at each other, but they're always in lockstep,
Speaker 3: and they both of them are very good at articulating
Speaker 3: the clear visions of what they value in players. And
Speaker 3: Sean does a tremendous job communicating with our staff like
Speaker 3: this is what we're looking for, and not necessarily from
Speaker 3: always just a skill set standpoint of each position, but
Speaker 3: like what kind of people we want, you know, to
Speaker 3: fill this locker room? And I think the clear messaging
Speaker 3: in the in the constant communication allows all of our
Speaker 3: scouts and all of our front offices and better job
Speaker 3: when we're evaluating players and bringing players in and understanding like, hey,
Speaker 3: we're we're going to shop in this in this small aisle,
Speaker 3: like we'll let the rest of the league, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of take the other ones, but these are the
Speaker 3: guys we're going to be hyper focused on. And you know,
Speaker 3: being together for this many years, like I think that
Speaker 3: that vision has grown even more and more clear, and
Speaker 3: now I think when our scouts go on the road,
Speaker 3: they quickly kind of identify this is a RAM or
Speaker 3: this is not a RAM, and it really gives us
Speaker 3: an edge. But watching those two work together. We have
Speaker 3: a lot of small group discussions and things like that.
Speaker 3: They're some of the most fun you can you can
Speaker 3: possibly have as a group of you know, five or
Speaker 3: six of us that are whether it be going through
Speaker 3: the draft process, going through free agency, and then obviously
Speaker 3: using all our scouts on the road, but those small
Speaker 3: film meetings are some of some of the best times,
Speaker 3: best times I could imagine.
Speaker 1: We will get to what you touched on there about
Speaker 1: the combination of agility and willingness to take on risk,
Speaker 1: because that's a huge trade mark. I think of what
Speaker 1: that building is, and especially that sort of circle of
Speaker 1: trust in the building itself. But first, I think listeners
Speaker 1: when they see your title, they know what your job
Speaker 1: is right by title. But in terms of process infrastructure,
Speaker 1: what are some key elements that you can pull back
Speaker 1: the curtain on a little bit about what doing the
Speaker 1: job of the assistant general manager, specifically in the RAMS
Speaker 1: building means. What it looks like, what you have your
Speaker 1: hands in at any given moment.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it all starts with helping build out
Speaker 3: o our scouting process and putting together a clear process
Speaker 3: for our scouts when they go on the road they
Speaker 3: know what they're looking for, and then how they write reports,
Speaker 3: evaluation structures, character structors, things like that. It starts with
Speaker 3: our process, so we spend a lot of time, a
Speaker 3: lot of time doing that. That's a big part of
Speaker 3: Nicole and I's job to, you know, help put Lesson's
Speaker 3: vision into life with our scouts and bring that to
Speaker 3: life so they feel as comfortable as possible on the road.
Speaker 2: And then it's a lot of evaluation.
Speaker 3: It's an evaluation based building and evaluation based job. So
Speaker 3: my hands are in all parts. I would say of
Speaker 3: the evaluation process, both pro and college.
Speaker 2: I'll evaluate every player.
Speaker 3: On the draft board, I'll evaluate a really large number
Speaker 3: of free agents, and then kind of the weekly rhythm
Speaker 3: when you get into the season is a lot of
Speaker 3: evaluation of your own team and evaluation, you know, when
Speaker 3: you lose a player and need to sign a player
Speaker 3: to practice squad, how do Matt wan and I are
Speaker 3: pro director, how do we go about bringing those players
Speaker 3: on and with the help of our pro staff. So
Speaker 3: I'm doing a lot of that own rams roster management
Speaker 3: kind of in the season and always making sure you're
Speaker 3: keenly and tuned on your own team. And I think
Speaker 3: that that's given us a big edge is really understanding
Speaker 3: where our own team's at, where our rosters at, where
Speaker 3: can we improve in what kind of guys we need
Speaker 3: to bring in. I think that's a tremendously underrated thing
Speaker 3: when when I look at like team building. So that's
Speaker 3: something I try to stay super focused on. I started
Speaker 3: in the pro scouting side and was there, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of for eight nine seasons. I don't really know
Speaker 3: how many, but so transitioning to this role is a
Speaker 3: little different in terms of it's a wider scope and
Speaker 3: it's really staying focused on the draft board and then
Speaker 3: really helping the pro side where I can.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we cover it in chunks, right, Like on the
Speaker 1: outside media, we cover it in chunks. We cover in season,
Speaker 1: we cover off season, we cover free agency, we cover
Speaker 1: things in buckets, right, And that's actually not how it
Speaker 1: works in real life. It is an ongoing, constant conversation
Speaker 1: and a constant evaluation and sometimes pruning and tweaking your
Speaker 1: roster or seizing opportunity when opportunity does present itself. I
Speaker 1: think I first learned that when I was talking to
Speaker 1: you out at the practice field when I was a
Speaker 1: RAMS beat writer about your Kevin Dotson acquisition. And you know,
Speaker 1: he's a player that the RAMS and yourself as a
Speaker 1: pro personnel director at the time, scouted for a while,
Speaker 1: many many years at the point. So the pre draft
Speaker 1: process melds into the nd season development process, melds into
Speaker 1: the roster building and veteran free agent or excuse me,
Speaker 1: veteran player acquisition portion that sometimes does happen resource allocation,
Speaker 1: sending the picks and sending what you did for him,
Speaker 1: and then coming in the building and how does it work?
Speaker 1: And you know, can you take me through what that
Speaker 1: was like, because to me, Kevin, who's a starting right
Speaker 1: guard for the Rams, is a huge example of how
Speaker 1: long and interconnected this entire talent identification processes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we do our pro scouting by position, which
Speaker 3: is different than a lot of teams do it. A
Speaker 3: lot of teams do pro scouting by teams. So you
Speaker 3: have a pro scouting staff of three or four people,
Speaker 3: they're going to evaluate a certain amount of teams in
Speaker 3: the league, and then you end up having evaluation on
Speaker 3: the entire league. The way we've decided to do it
Speaker 3: is to do it by position, so we have a
Speaker 3: certain number of scouts being have ownership of certain positions.
Speaker 3: So and that's over the course of the entire league.
Speaker 3: Every every guard in the league is evaluated by the
Speaker 3: same person. Every tight end in the league is evaluated
Speaker 3: by the same person. And what we feel like is
Speaker 3: that gives that person true ownership of the position when
Speaker 3: we want to sign a free agent, or make a
Speaker 3: trade for a player, or sign a player off the street,
Speaker 3: whatever it may be. So in Kevin's case, Matt Waugh,
Speaker 3: who is our pro director, he's always handled the entire
Speaker 3: offensive line and that was his kind of his baby,
Speaker 3: and his was he's the expert on it. So when
Speaker 3: we went through that offseason, we were not able to
Speaker 3: address that guard position adequately. We felt like, and in
Speaker 3: the early parts training camp it became clear like, hey,
Speaker 3: we're gonna we're gonna need a guard. So Kevin is
Speaker 3: a player who had been drafted by the Steelers, played
Speaker 3: three seasons of good football starting starting of a football
Speaker 3: and Matt each season had evaluated Kevin's film and had
Speaker 3: been a big, big fan of his. So when we
Speaker 3: were putting together, you know, potential trade candidates we're looking at,
Speaker 3: We're always putting lists together of guys that may come free,
Speaker 3: whether it be a contractual reason, a role reason, whatever
Speaker 3: it may be, guys that we just think might be available.
Speaker 3: It was like Kevin really stood out, and Matt was
Speaker 3: the first one, you know, kind of put the list together.
Speaker 3: I evaluated him on my own two and we together
Speaker 3: kind of brought it to Less like, hey, we feel
Speaker 3: like this would be a really good candidate to step in.
Speaker 3: So we spent a large portion of the month of
Speaker 3: August that year really pressing Less like, hey, we need
Speaker 3: to we need to get this, get this going, and
Speaker 3: you know, letting him, letting him communicate with Omar from
Speaker 3: the Steelers and you know them talk through trade compensation,
Speaker 3: et cetera. And it went on for about a month
Speaker 3: and we eventually got the deal over the line. But
Speaker 3: it was a good example of a player who we
Speaker 3: had no reason necessarily to evaluate him. We're on the
Speaker 3: service that he had ever been a free agent. Obviously
Speaker 3: he was still in a rookie contract, so we didn't.
Speaker 3: But we do this process called the non advanced process,
Speaker 3: where you basically evaluate every player in the league that
Speaker 3: was not a team that you advanced scouted for, was
Speaker 3: not a free agent, basically the rest of the league.
Speaker 3: So Matt had done a tremendous job doing the non
Speaker 3: advance evals on Kevin year after year, and then that
Speaker 3: trade is able to come to life. And obviously he's
Speaker 3: been a high level player for him since for us
Speaker 3: since we acquired him, and a big part of you know,
Speaker 3: the success we've had in the run game and in protection,
Speaker 3: really solidified the you know, the imperior part of that
Speaker 3: offensive line. But it's really a credit to the whole
Speaker 3: process coming together, Matt doing a tremendous job. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna take no credit, but it filtered to me
Speaker 3: and then it went to the last so we did it collectively.
Speaker 3: And then watching him come on the field and you know,
Speaker 3: kind of bring some of those things to life in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three was was awesome. So it was a
Speaker 3: it was a fun one and one that we we
Speaker 3: still like to well, you know, like to talk about it,
Speaker 3: and it's a good encapsulation of the entire process coming together.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I think there's still a pile of sunflower seed
Speaker 1: shells out on the practice field where you lesson Matt
Speaker 1: would stand every single practice into August and September, just
Speaker 1: serving right behind the offensive line drills, just serving the
Speaker 1: work that you had just accomplished by bringing him in.
Speaker 1: And I think to John, one of the things that
Speaker 1: you touched on, but the evaluation of these players that
Speaker 1: you first scout in the draft. And that's where I
Speaker 1: want to talk about some of your off season and
Speaker 1: draft season work that you do in your role too,
Speaker 1: that stays in your system, jars that you know, listeners
Speaker 1: know I've written about it. I'm not breaking any news here.
Speaker 1: This internal scouting system that you use and basically, the
Speaker 1: more data and the more evaluations you have that you
Speaker 1: can keep, that you can basically pingpong other data sets
Speaker 1: off of in your evaluation process when you circle back
Speaker 1: around to, hey, we might acquire this player. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: have a full evil that you guys did in completion arguments,
Speaker 1: things that you've talked about. What was that like, maybe
Speaker 1: not even just for Kevin, but you've had players who
Speaker 1: I mean, it's been a year's long process from when
Speaker 1: they were a prospect into maybe when they finally got
Speaker 1: into your building, from the draft and pre draft scouting
Speaker 1: process into the off season and preseason work of pro personnel.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's really cool, and it's a credit to
Speaker 3: our college scouts because they do a tremendous job putting
Speaker 3: all the information together, and it's it's always funny, like
Speaker 3: we talk after the draft, were like, wow, we did
Speaker 3: all this work on all these players for you know
Speaker 3: whatever and maybe eight draft pcks.
Speaker 2: I think this year we had six.
Speaker 3: But like you do all this work for you're only
Speaker 3: getting those couple players at that time, So it feels like, man,
Speaker 3: that was a lot of work for not a lot
Speaker 3: of you know, not a lot of payoff. But in
Speaker 3: reality that work is always still a big part of
Speaker 3: what we do and the things that we lean on
Speaker 3: on the pro side is things like character, background, injury history,
Speaker 3: things like that. All the data that we're accumulating when
Speaker 3: they're in college is still a huge asset for us
Speaker 3: when we get to their next acquisition period, whether that
Speaker 3: be in free agency or they're released or whatever it
Speaker 3: may be. We're always looking back at that information and saying, Okay,
Speaker 3: let's what parts are still relevant, what parts are not relevant?
Speaker 3: And then it's funny because oftentimes you end up signing
Speaker 3: free agents or trading for players that he really liked
Speaker 3: in college that you missed out on. But there are
Speaker 3: other examples of times where we maybe didn't give it
Speaker 3: kind enough credit. But we look at things, Okay, we
Speaker 3: might have missed on this part of his evaluation process
Speaker 3: when he was in college, but obviously he's done a
Speaker 3: tremendous job with this team, and you know he's got
Speaker 3: high character, high ability to learn, like this is a
Speaker 3: player we should target. So it's really a credit to
Speaker 3: all the work that goes into the college process, and
Speaker 3: our database allows us for that stuff to always be
Speaker 3: a living thing and sell for us to always lean on.
Speaker 2: So it's cool when those things come.
Speaker 3: To life later on in guys' careers and we're looking
Speaker 3: back on their character, you know, six years later, or
Speaker 3: they're you know who the area scout was, like, man,
Speaker 3: he really liked that guy. Let's you know, like, let's
Speaker 3: talk to him about him. And then those parts are
Speaker 3: those parts are fun and really go back to the
Speaker 3: emphasis we put on our process being strong and making
Speaker 3: sure we're doing good work on every player even if
Speaker 3: they you know, may not be in range for us
Speaker 3: to pick them or whatever it may be, like maybe
Speaker 3: it's not in need at that position during that specific
Speaker 3: draft cycle, but hey, it's going to help us down
Speaker 3: the line. Like it's a cool part of the process,
Speaker 3: all working together and you know, coming together in totality.
Speaker 1: Tell me about what that becomes. The full bodied evaluations
Speaker 1: that you guys do and the revisiting of them all
Speaker 1: the time. Tell me what that turns into when you
Speaker 1: have a head coach in Sean McVay and a GM
Speaker 1: in less Sneed and they are actively communicating about how
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh will change things schematically frequently and to do
Speaker 1: so to stay ahead of how defenses chase him. And
Speaker 1: you know, we've seen it year over year over year
Speaker 1: from the run game and turning in from turning from
Speaker 1: a predominantly wide zone team into more of a middle
Speaker 1: zone gap team to a duo team. And I know
Speaker 1: that was fun for you guys especially, But then also
Speaker 1: you know some of the passing concepts that he uses.
Speaker 1: Eleven personnel. Now you know you've got two premier receivers
Speaker 1: and a bunch of tight ends and using them a lot.
Speaker 1: So when those pivots happen as they you know, as
Speaker 1: they should when a successful team exists, how do you
Speaker 1: communicate it in your role with those two and how
Speaker 1: do you sort of prepare with all that information you
Speaker 1: already have to pivot into whatever you're going to try next.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would. I would say we have to. We
Speaker 3: always have to be ready for anything because anything as
Speaker 3: anything as possible from you know, what the vision may be,
Speaker 3: what the adjustment may be, So you always want to
Speaker 3: be ready, and you want to always make sure that
Speaker 3: your scouts are always doing good work. And you know
Speaker 3: also like correctly identifying like what players are good at
Speaker 3: and what players are not good at, Like because someone
Speaker 3: might not be a scheme fit at the current moment,
Speaker 3: doesn't mean they might not be a scheme fit down
Speaker 3: the line. And I think when we pivoted at thirteen
Speaker 3: last year and used a lot of a lot of
Speaker 3: three tight ends, like we've been an eleven personnel team since,
Speaker 3: you know, since Sean's been here. I think we played
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl, we might have had like one healthy
Speaker 3: tight end active in the game or some maybe two,
Speaker 3: but it felt like one. And so you know, you
Speaker 3: have to be ready for pivots to happen, and I
Speaker 3: think last year the pivot to thirteen was a good
Speaker 3: example of our group being really prepared. We had felt
Speaker 3: like we had built a good tight end room where
Speaker 3: that pivot was possible, and to make that pivot in
Speaker 3: season was unique obviously, like because we didn't really run
Speaker 3: thirteen for the first you know, five or six weeks.
Speaker 3: But then to pivot that, you have to make sure
Speaker 3: your roster has guys that are ready to make transitions
Speaker 3: like that when when a coach needs them to. And
Speaker 3: that might not always be you know, in the off
Speaker 3: season process, like last year it was in the end
Speaker 3: season process. But we felt really good about the group
Speaker 3: that we had, you know, with Kolbe Davis, Allen Higgs,
Speaker 3: like those guys were ready for it and could do
Speaker 3: all the things that you know we're needed of them,
Speaker 3: and the versatility and be able to blog and someone
Speaker 3: to be a move player, guys to run different routes.
Speaker 3: We drafted ferguson, so it was possible at that moment.
Speaker 3: I think that that's the cool thing is like we
Speaker 3: felt very ready for it, and so for us, it's
Speaker 3: always about preparing our scouts to adjust to anything that
Speaker 3: and you know, they know what a RAM is, and
Speaker 3: being a RAM is more about who you are than
Speaker 3: it is like what you are from a trades perspective.
Speaker 3: So I think that those guys are rams, and they're
Speaker 3: Rams through and through, and it makes those pivots so
Speaker 3: much easier. So when Sean wants to change what we're doing,
Speaker 3: Offen like, we're ready for it. And you know, we're
Speaker 3: fortunate to have those guys on the roster and to
Speaker 3: see that vision come to life. But it's a real
Speaker 3: credit to our entire scouting staff and our you know,
Speaker 3: department as a whole to be prepared for it, to
Speaker 3: identify as the guy the guys that we needed to
Speaker 3: fill those roles. So that was a cool one for me,
Speaker 3: just to make such a strong pivot in season was unique.
Speaker 1: Well I have to, I mean I have to. You
Speaker 1: have to take me inside. You know, I'm fascinated by this.
Speaker 1: I've been like complaining for more heavy personnel for years.
Speaker 1: I went back to my notes and I charted. I
Speaker 1: was like, I saw, I'm pretty sure I saw like
Speaker 1: eleven snaps of thirteen total, like just for giggles, right,
Speaker 1: like over my five years covering the team, and I
Speaker 1: was always like thinking it would be twelve probably right,
Speaker 1: that would make sense. But then no, thirteen makes so
Speaker 1: much more sense because of the mismatch like receiver types
Speaker 1: that you guys drafted. But then also the eleven personnel
Speaker 1: playbook already exists, right, so it's it's basically a transfer process,
Speaker 1: which probably helps the pivot in season. But I have
Speaker 1: to know, like when you're in the room, you guys
Speaker 1: are in your meeting and and you know, Sneed comes in,
Speaker 1: McVeigh comes in, and you guys have this conversation like
Speaker 1: and they're telling you, Okay, now I need you to
Speaker 1: make sure to articulate this to the scouts. What is that?
Speaker 1: What is that like for you? First of all, we
Speaker 1: were like, oh, we're going to do something new okay,
Speaker 1: but then but then articulating it out into the rest
Speaker 1: of the ecosystem. I'm so fascinated by.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: We we spend a we spend a lot of time
Speaker 3: in training camp. We have what we call the Scouting Summit.
Speaker 3: It's really like our meetings the first week of the
Speaker 3: first week of training camps, all our scouts are there,
Speaker 3: We're all together kind of communicating, you know, changes in
Speaker 3: our process, whatever it may be. We spend a lot
Speaker 3: of time in those meetings talking about things to be
Speaker 3: looking for when they when our scouts go on the
Speaker 3: road the next season, when our pro scouts are evaluating
Speaker 3: guys for other teams, like what are our points of
Speaker 3: emphasis is going to be and where the change is
Speaker 3: going to take place, And so we use a lot
Speaker 3: of that time to communicate those out. We do presentations,
Speaker 3: we have coaches come in to talk, we have former
Speaker 3: players come in to talk, and it's big for us
Speaker 3: and that that's where we kind of put together the
Speaker 3: vision for this you know, evaluation cycle, and and that's
Speaker 3: where our scouts are able to go on the road knowing, Okay,
Speaker 3: this is what we want to hammer home and these
Speaker 3: are the kind of guys we want to look for
Speaker 3: at these positions. Here's where we may be changing schematically
Speaker 3: to help us do so. And then I think one
Speaker 3: of the cool things is like Sean and Seawan and
Speaker 3: Less in February kind of the like post mortem of
Speaker 3: the season, Like they do a great job communicating like,
Speaker 3: this is where we're at as a team, this is
Speaker 3: where we feel like, you know, we can get better.
Speaker 3: These are the positions we need to add. Here's how
Speaker 3: we may tinker things schematically to do so, here's how
Speaker 3: we may change things on defense, like so we know,
Speaker 3: and and when we get into February, it's like, Okay,
Speaker 3: this is the vision for the next kind of evaluation cycle.
Speaker 3: And then we try to bring those to life and
Speaker 3: free agency in the draft. But then again, where our
Speaker 3: scouts get in the road on the road the next ball,
Speaker 3: they know, Okay, this is what I'm what I'm looking for,
Speaker 3: this is what maybe our points of emphasis, and it
Speaker 3: just it just all boils down to communication, and their
Speaker 3: communication from the top makes it so much easier for myself,
Speaker 3: Nicole Matt anybody who is directing some of our scouts
Speaker 3: on the road, like or our pro scouts that are
Speaker 3: in house, like the communication is always clear and it's
Speaker 3: always straight down the line, and I think it's a
Speaker 3: fun thing to watch come to life. And our scouts
Speaker 3: do a tremendous job of putting in on a tee
Speaker 3: for us to always make good decisions.
Speaker 1: This this league does not want you to take risks
Speaker 1: just by the way that it's structured, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: It doesn't want you to take risks that push your
Speaker 1: team building model, you know, to the edge of the
Speaker 1: cliff or to the tightroper, however you want to describe it. Right,
Speaker 1: But year over year, this is a group and I
Speaker 1: think continuity plays a big part in that, of course,
Speaker 1: but this is a group that has shown a willingness
Speaker 1: to take risks, to absorb whatever risk means, and kind
Speaker 1: of push into a vision of what that team building
Speaker 1: era is going to look like. You guys, trade it
Speaker 1: for Trent McDuffie, send a first round pick you obviously
Speaker 1: you know, I think sent a shockwave through the league.
Speaker 1: A little bit later in the off season when you
Speaker 1: trade for Miles Garrett. Can you just take us behind
Speaker 1: the scenes of what that was like for you. This
Speaker 1: is a model you are familiar with. You were around
Speaker 1: the last time of the f M pis era. Obviously,
Speaker 1: building through the draft helped you guys get to this point.
Speaker 1: But in terms of those moments, making those decisions, sending
Speaker 1: draft capital for you know, very very very very very
Speaker 1: talented to elite players at premium positions, what was that discussion, like,
Speaker 1: does it still feel real? Will it feel more real
Speaker 1: when you see it at training camp?
Speaker 3: I would say it does not. It does not feel real.
Speaker 3: It was it was a it was a whirlwind. But
Speaker 3: I think when I think about the team building being aggressive,
Speaker 3: you know, trading draft capital, a lot of it comes
Speaker 3: from the fact we've had success doing it and there's
Speaker 3: a level of comfort doing it, and I think when
Speaker 3: those opportunities present themselves, there's no fear going on, there's
Speaker 3: no second guessing going on. If we feel like it's
Speaker 3: the best decision for the organization, we're going to move
Speaker 3: forward with it. And so I think that that's the
Speaker 3: cool thing is not one person flinches at the idea
Speaker 3: of trading a first round pick or you know, whatever
Speaker 3: it may be.
Speaker 1: Oh, we know, we know by now, we are aware.
Speaker 3: Yes, Catain obviously, but I think with Trent and Miles,
Speaker 3: it's it's unique because those two trades happened for different reasons.
Speaker 3: I think you look at the Trent acquisition at the
Speaker 3: beginning of the offseason, again, it was you know, we're
Speaker 3: always putting things together, what players may be available, what
Speaker 3: players should we call on, whatever it may be, And
Speaker 3: that's a that was a move that was made more
Speaker 3: out of it out of a need, Like we felt
Speaker 3: like corner was a position we needed to upgrade, maybe
Speaker 3: rehul the room, revamp the room. How can we, you know,
Speaker 3: approach things differently. And Trent was a great example of
Speaker 3: the process fully coming to life in the sense that
Speaker 3: Trent was a player that we loved out of college,
Speaker 3: had a ton of like for is an incredible human being,
Speaker 3: incredible player, has played incredible football for Kansas City. So
Speaker 3: he checked every box possible. And I think when he
Speaker 3: got picked, we might have been drafting like one hundred
Speaker 3: that year, so it's not.
Speaker 2: Like we even had a chance at him, but we
Speaker 2: loved him so.
Speaker 3: But but you know, we're we're having those conversations that
Speaker 3: and that came out of more of a need, you know,
Speaker 3: we're talking through the free agency class. We obviously ended
Speaker 3: up adding Jalen as well, but we really wanted somebody
Speaker 3: who we felt like, could you know, we could tilt
Speaker 3: coverage towards and kind of change the map defensively, and
Speaker 3: Trent was a guy that can do that, playing inside
Speaker 3: or outside.
Speaker 2: So we we worked through that one.
Speaker 3: It was it was probably a little more sped up
Speaker 3: in the sense that we we were. It was right
Speaker 3: as free agency was coming, and you know, we felt
Speaker 3: like we needed to get it done. And it was
Speaker 3: a good It was a good conversation. There was people dissenting,
Speaker 3: there was people, you know, but but ultimately we all
Speaker 3: came together in lockstep. Our contract group did a tremendous
Speaker 3: job obviously getting over the final hurdle, and so that
Speaker 3: was a acquisition we were super excited about. We felt
Speaker 3: like giving up the twenty ninth pick, we weren't gonna,
Speaker 3: you know, have a player of his caliber be available
Speaker 3: at that part of the draft, and then you know,
Speaker 3: we parted with some other draft capital. But where we
Speaker 3: were as a team, we felt like, you know, hey,
Speaker 3: having a ton of picks this year is maybe not
Speaker 3: the best thing. We have a what we feel like
Speaker 3: is a very deep roster, a difficult roster to make,
Speaker 3: so we didn't want to have a bunch of draft
Speaker 3: picks that we you know, we were going to have
Speaker 3: to release some of them and guys weren't gonna be
Speaker 3: able to make the fifty three. So we felt like
Speaker 3: comfortable with, you know, parting with what we parted from
Speaker 3: a draft capital perspective, and then when you pivot to
Speaker 3: Miles and look at that acquisition, I think it's that's
Speaker 3: an opportunity to like, how can we elevate this team,
Speaker 3: how can we take this team to another level? Obviously
Speaker 3: Jared versus a tremendous player, will have a tremendous career
Speaker 3: and a guy that we love, but you know, we're
Speaker 3: looking to elevate and change things defensively, how can we
Speaker 3: become a defense that you know, people are afraid to play?
Speaker 3: And you know, obviously, the ability to acquire a guy
Speaker 3: like Miles Garrett, who's, you know, one of the best
Speaker 3: players in the NFL, like that doesn't come around very often.
Speaker 3: But I don't think one person flinched at the idea
Speaker 3: of being able to add him, whatever the draft capital
Speaker 3: may have been. So it was cool to watch those
Speaker 3: two come to life for different reasons and at different
Speaker 3: points of the offseason. But I look at Tramp in
Speaker 3: an ad for a you know, a need and obviously
Speaker 3: you're you're elevating that.
Speaker 2: You know, you're taking the.
Speaker 3: Need away and adding a great player in the Miles
Speaker 3: really being able to take us to the next level
Speaker 3: as a pass rush when you look at a guy
Speaker 3: with this finishing ability and things like that. But the
Speaker 3: cool thing about both of them too, is like it
Speaker 3: was always rooted in the tape. Like with both of
Speaker 3: the decisions, we sat down, we watched a lot of
Speaker 3: tape together, we talked through all the positives. There was
Speaker 3: basically no negatives, but you know, we talked through all
Speaker 3: the different things we could do and made sure the
Speaker 3: vision was something that could come to life. So I'm
Speaker 3: excited to finally see both of them together on the
Speaker 3: grass when we get to get to training camp.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Still probably won't feel real at that point, oh truly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you guys been trying to get Miles first since
Speaker 1: twenty two. I mean I've written about that, like that
Speaker 1: he's been like the dream, right, like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, yes, you could say that. I think he's
Speaker 3: I think he's everybody's stream.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, yeah, Well I like what you said about
Speaker 1: the McDuffie trade because I think that one of the
Speaker 1: things when you're when you're taking especially high value draft picks,
Speaker 1: like your first round picks have been when you've had
Speaker 1: first round picks and packaging them into trade capital for
Speaker 1: a proven player at a premium position as corner is,
Speaker 1: as Trent McDuffie is, you're also understanding either a what
Speaker 1: you're not or B what the position is not and
Speaker 1: what I think the position is not. Of the position
Speaker 1: of corner specifically and perimeter corner. I know you can move,
Speaker 1: but perimeter corner specifically is predictable. Development especially at that
Speaker 1: position is not predictable. It's you guys do a lot
Speaker 1: of projections in your scouting process. I think receiver is
Speaker 1: where we really see it, but it's everywhere, and that
Speaker 1: position in particular is the player's development from rookie to
Speaker 1: second contract is all over the all over the map,
Speaker 1: even a high round, even high round picks. So so
Speaker 1: my theory is that in order to take risks the
Speaker 1: way that you guys have, you have to also know
Speaker 1: what you're not right And I guess what level of
Speaker 1: the kind word is self awareness, but I guess, like
Speaker 1: what level of criticism or critique. Do you have to
Speaker 1: have on yourself as an organization all the time to know, hey,
Speaker 1: this is not going to be a known quantity at
Speaker 1: a position for us across the league it's not, but
Speaker 1: we should go out and go for someone that is.
Speaker 3: I think yeah, like you said, corner is a very
Speaker 3: challenging position to evaluate because if you look at production
Speaker 3: and where guys are picked whatever, it's never sticky, like
Speaker 3: guys can have up years, down years, whatever it may be.
Speaker 3: The ball may get thrown at them more, the ball
Speaker 3: may go away from them more, and it might look
Speaker 3: like they have a great year, whatever it may be.
Speaker 3: Trent for us was about as consistent as we've seen
Speaker 3: a player on film through his first four seasons as
Speaker 3: we've found. And he was that way too, So I
Speaker 3: think we felt like we were truly buying an unknown
Speaker 3: commodity at the position because he's shown us nothing from
Speaker 3: his college film. He was extremely consistent his pro film.
Speaker 3: He's been extremely consistent. So we felt like it was
Speaker 3: a good a good bet to make, and I think
Speaker 3: that's a challenging thing with corners. I think when we
Speaker 3: looked at it and it was like, are we going
Speaker 3: to go into the draft feeling like we have to
Speaker 3: draft a corner when we don't, I mean, we can
Speaker 3: be as confident as we want to be in our evaluations.
Speaker 3: There is there's a growth curve that comes at that position.
Speaker 3: It's a challenging position to play be successful out as
Speaker 3: a rookie, and I think Trent made us feel really confident, like, hey,
Speaker 3: we're getting a really consistent player, but we're also getting
Speaker 3: a really good player like that we have not probably
Speaker 3: had maybe since Jalen at that position. In Jalen when
Speaker 3: we made that trade in twenty nineteen, he was about
Speaker 3: as consistent as as any corner in the league at
Speaker 3: that point. So we felt a lot of parallels and
Speaker 3: that standpoint. Obviously they're very different physically and what they
Speaker 3: can do and what they're good at, but we've felt
Speaker 3: a lot of parallels in those decisions with their level
Speaker 3: consistency and a guy that we can move hard downs to,
Speaker 3: we can move around. And then the biggest thing with
Speaker 3: both Trent and Miles is they're incredible human beings and
Speaker 3: they're going to elevate our locker room. They already have
Speaker 3: elevator our locker room. They're infectious. We have Jimmy Lake here,
Speaker 3: who's with us in college, who couldn't have said better
Speaker 3: things about about Trent when we brought him in, And
Speaker 3: he's shown that in a couple of months that he's
Speaker 3: been here, and I'm sure that he'll continue to show
Speaker 3: that throughout his RAMS career.
Speaker 2: So we're fired up.
Speaker 1: You've touched on something that I wanted to ask you
Speaker 1: about in terms of that the intangibles and quantifying intangibles,
Speaker 1: and every team has a different way that they do this.
Speaker 1: You guys have been evolving, workshopping, fiddling with your way
Speaker 1: of evaluating character all the time and when those in
Speaker 1: order to get to where you're at now in this
Speaker 1: team build model, where you are as top heavy as
Speaker 1: you are, where you are as star star powered as
Speaker 1: you are, A lot of that first had to come
Speaker 1: from that sprint rebuild building through those two draft classes
Speaker 1: of twenty three and twenty four, where one of the
Speaker 1: main points of emphasis was who is this person now?
Speaker 1: And who will this person be a few years from now?
Speaker 1: And what will this person be able to endure when
Speaker 1: hard things, challenges are thrown at them? And do they
Speaker 1: love football? And I'm saying it very very simply there's
Speaker 1: a whole formula on it. I know that, But what
Speaker 1: did you have to learn? What did you maybe take
Speaker 1: from those two classes in terms of evaluating those those
Speaker 1: intangibles or in terms of like, Okay, this is how
Speaker 1: we're going to build a team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think when I think about that, I think
Speaker 3: back to twenty three drafts. I think we ended up
Speaker 3: drafting like fourteen players that year. And we went into
Speaker 3: that draft with I think forty two players or forty
Speaker 3: four players on the roster out of ninety, so we
Speaker 3: had we had really had to strip things down.
Speaker 1: And a lot of dead money. Don't forget a lot
Speaker 1: of dead money.
Speaker 2: I don't forget. I yes, I remember, uh.
Speaker 3: And so we went into that draft knowing we were
Speaker 3: you know, we had to add a lot of players,
Speaker 3: and both in the draft and in free agency, we
Speaker 3: were fortunate we had a bunch of picks through playing
Speaker 3: the conflict pick formula and a couple of trades here
Speaker 3: and there. So the biggest thing was like when you
Speaker 3: had that few, like these guys are going to have
Speaker 3: to play right away, and we knew they were gonna
Speaker 3: have to play right away at a at a lot
Speaker 3: of premier spots So what we really tried to lean
Speaker 3: into that offseason was like, how can we get guys
Speaker 3: who are ready for it right away? What are the
Speaker 3: types of traits and tangible traits character traits that lead
Speaker 3: to a guy being ready to play right away? And
Speaker 3: we really leaned into that, really intangibly driven players we
Speaker 3: fol we had We drafted a lot of players that
Speaker 3: were older from age respect They've had a lot of
Speaker 3: experience in college, and we felt like, hey, when this
Speaker 3: guy comes in OTAs and he's the starting left guard
Speaker 3: or whatever he may be, he's gonna be ready for it.
Speaker 3: Like he's not going to be too big for him,
Speaker 3: because we knew that they were going to have to
Speaker 3: get on the grass and play quickly and learn a
Speaker 3: complicated scheme quickly. So going through that offseason, I think
Speaker 3: we found a lot of who we wanted to be
Speaker 3: in terms of team, the scouting team, and what kind
Speaker 3: of players we want to scout and the things we
Speaker 3: want to lean into. And then we're always trying to
Speaker 3: find different ways to quantify intangibles and you know, how
Speaker 3: can we you know, put metrics together and have our
Speaker 3: scouts put you know, scores on certain things to help
Speaker 3: us build things, and and and show us an actual
Speaker 3: score for intangibles and and how can you find that?
Speaker 3: So we're always working through that and we kind of
Speaker 3: built a system in those two years that allowed us
Speaker 3: to do that, and it's something that we've continued to
Speaker 3: lean in on, uh in the team building process since then,
Speaker 3: even before then. But really that that Sprint rebuild made
Speaker 3: us like focus on those kind of guys and understand, hey,
Speaker 3: we got to shrink the board down a little bit
Speaker 3: and stay focused on these type of guys. And a
Speaker 3: lot of those guys have played a lot of really
Speaker 3: good football for us. I've gotten extended and helped us
Speaker 3: win a lot of games. So obviously we're fortunate that
Speaker 3: that those picks you know, hit the way that they have,
Speaker 3: but it was also very intentional in terms of the
Speaker 3: types of players and the types of people we're bringing
Speaker 3: in in those two off seasons, and we're just something
Speaker 3: it's something we're always going to stay focused on, you know,
Speaker 3: moving forward and kind of what makes the building what
Speaker 3: it is now.
Speaker 1: Sort of a Galaxy brain question for you here on
Speaker 1: off of that. I know you've never heard a Galaxy
Speaker 1: Brain question from me before in your life, but when
Speaker 1: you're building these data sets and it's a it's a
Speaker 1: it is something that you've done for a long time.
Speaker 1: What is a RAM, right, you've done that for a
Speaker 1: long time, but really accelerating it into I would say,
Speaker 1: some of the technology we have available and then some
Speaker 1: of the some of the just different processes and trying
Speaker 1: things and trying to meld things together in really interesting
Speaker 1: ways to get a better understanding of what it is
Speaker 1: you're looking for. It's a couple of years now, in
Speaker 1: eight years, you'll have a decade of data on this.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you think can be known about
Speaker 1: quantifying in tangibles that maybe we don't yet know. Is
Speaker 1: there anything that you all are seeking I think every
Speaker 1: team is seeking it first and foremost everyone's doing it
Speaker 1: in a different way. Everyone's trying to figure out how
Speaker 1: you guys did it with those two draft classes. But
Speaker 1: is there something that you want to know that maybe
Speaker 1: just isn't possible to be known yet?
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's it's tough, it's it's it's challenging because I can't
Speaker 3: I can't really think of anything off the top of
Speaker 3: my head.
Speaker 1: He's like, well, we already know everything, so it's fine.
Speaker 3: Well, I can go I can't give up secrets, but uh,
Speaker 3: you know, it's challenging. We're we're what we're trying to
Speaker 3: do is take the formula that we have, look back
Speaker 3: at the previous draft classes, and how can we find
Speaker 3: tune this formula and make it something that that's even greater.
Speaker 3: And I think the more data that comes in, we're
Speaker 3: able to find more and more success and more and
Speaker 3: more correlations with player success in that formula, and then
Speaker 3: from there we can adjust things. People a lot smarter
Speaker 3: than me are able to do this. I'm just I'm
Speaker 3: just the one talking about it, but but I think
Speaker 3: I think that that's what that's what we're always trying
Speaker 3: to do. And it's like, how can we evolve what
Speaker 3: we currently have and continue to fine tune it and
Speaker 3: then you know, when we get to a point where
Speaker 3: it doesn't need to be fine tuned or we feel
Speaker 3: like it's in a good place. Like it's just making
Speaker 3: sure when we get on draft day that we're we're
Speaker 3: living by that formula and we're we're living by those
Speaker 3: intangibles and making sure that that is always our guiding
Speaker 3: light that we're you know, focused on and when we
Speaker 3: get between two players, we're you know, going to lean
Speaker 3: to the player that's you know, more intangibly driven than
Speaker 3: the player that's not. And so I think a lot
Speaker 3: of it is putting it into practice and staying true
Speaker 3: to it and not necessarily getting tempted, because I think
Speaker 3: that that's where things can get a little wonky, when
Speaker 3: you end up chasing something that you're like, oh man,
Speaker 3: this guy is so fast, and he's just can we
Speaker 3: just make this one exception? Like, you really got to
Speaker 3: stay true of stay true to exceptions, and and try
Speaker 3: to stay focused on your process and use the things
Speaker 3: that you have in your toolbox to make good decisions.
Speaker 3: I wish I had a better predictor answer for you,
Speaker 3: but I just don't. I don't know if I have one.
Speaker 3: I'm not that you know, it's not my it's not
Speaker 3: my area of expertise.
Speaker 1: Like the matrix avoiding the aggregators right there, avoiding all
Speaker 1: the people probably listening to this from from other teams.
Speaker 1: I'm last thing for you, John, I'm so grateful that
Speaker 1: you joined me here today, and just to explain a
Speaker 1: little bit more about what you do and the process
Speaker 1: behind it. I'm getting my calendar ready for training camp.
Speaker 1: I know yours is probably already set in stone for
Speaker 1: the next several months at this point, and I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to mark down days and I was just wondering
Speaker 1: if you could tell me what day Aaron Donald's expected
Speaker 1: to show up, because I want to put on my calendar.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I.
Speaker 3: Can't say, you know, I can't say anything about that,
Speaker 3: but I will say my if you look at my
Speaker 3: YouTube search history, it's probably a lot of kids TV
Speaker 3: shows and Aaron Donald highlights and montages. So it was
Speaker 3: a fun summer. I'll say, I can't really say anything.
Speaker 1: You know, I had to try. I had to try.
Speaker 1: So I'm in logistics mode, you know. That's it, not
Speaker 1: trying to get anything out, just the logistics.
Speaker 2: That's all I get it.
Speaker 1: I'm a planner, I get it amazing. Well. John McKay,
Speaker 1: assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Rams, thank you
Speaker 1: for joining me on NFL Daily's Power Players. Appreciate you man.
Speaker 2: Thanks Jordan.
Speaker 1: That was, of course, Ram's assistant general manager, John McKay.
Speaker 1: I just really enjoyed that conversation. I love process. I
Speaker 1: like scouting a lot, as you guys know, and I
Speaker 1: liked hearing a little bit more about like the nuts
Speaker 1: and bolts that go on behind the scenes of how
Speaker 1: to balance a bunch of different things than I do
Speaker 1: and you risks at once while still trying to lead
Speaker 1: the league in a lot of different areas, including what
Speaker 1: they're attempting to build this season on the field with
Speaker 1: the acquisition of Miles. Garrett tried to get him on
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald. I'm so sorry to the Rams fans out there.
Speaker 1: I couldn't quite get him to spill the beans, but
Speaker 1: I thought it was a pretty pretty impressive answer. I
Speaker 1: just really enjoyed that. So thanks as always for checking
Speaker 1: out this episode of NFL Daily's Power Players. Thanks again
Speaker 1: to John McKay for his time coming up in your feed.
Speaker 1: We're not done with football or with you listeners yet.
Speaker 1: We are going to have myself in the other chair,
Speaker 1: thank god, and Greg Rosenthal back in this chair going
Speaker 1: around the AFC West, coming to your feed on Friday.
Speaker 1: We'll see then,