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Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. It is Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: April fifteenth, and the Ravens held their pre draft press

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Speaker 1: conference today with general manager Eric Taicasa and head coach

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Speaker 1: John Harbaugh. The press conference has been nicknamed the Liars

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Speaker 1: Lunching over the years, but it's also a good chance

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Speaker 1: to see the team's thought process going into the draft,

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Speaker 1: which is right around the corner. So here's what we

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Speaker 1: heard from da Costa and Harball today.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so welcome everybody.

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Speaker 3: Very happy to see everybody here, and one of my

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Speaker 3: favorite times of the year. We just finished last week

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Speaker 3: our third set of draft.

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Speaker 2: Meetings with the coaches.

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Speaker 3: This time, you know, we've had a little bit of

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Speaker 3: a commotion around here with the construction, so we were

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Speaker 3: in the sound studio, which worked out really well. So

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Speaker 3: congrats to thank you to Michelle andres in her people

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Speaker 3: for allowing us to use that room last week, and

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Speaker 3: we're getting close.

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Speaker 2: I think it was a really good set of meetings.

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Speaker 3: I think the coaches did a great job helping us

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Speaker 3: kind of sort through the last few rough patches of

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Speaker 3: the draft board, and I think we'll be ready to

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Speaker 3: go next week.

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Speaker 4: Questions, especially with in free agency, it seemed like a

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Speaker 4: lot of signings on the offensive side of the ball.

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Speaker 2: Do you feel like.

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Speaker 4: In the early rounds, on you know, day one, day two,

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Speaker 4: do you think it could be more of a defensive

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Speaker 4: heavy just because of how things panned out in free agency?

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Speaker 2: A good question.

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Speaker 3: I think we'll stick to the board like we typically do,

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Speaker 3: you know, historically, and I know this is always a question.

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Speaker 3: We've been a best available player team and we spent

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Speaker 3: a lot of time. We spent eight months really building

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Speaker 3: the board based on the rankings of the players and

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Speaker 3: how they stack against each other, and we believe that really,

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Speaker 3: if we're going to build a team, that's the best

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Speaker 3: way to approach it. So, you know, I think we definitely,

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Speaker 3: you know, look at the different needs of our team.

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Speaker 3: We spend a lot of time talking about the roster

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Speaker 3: and the players that we have, and things like contract

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Speaker 3: status and all those other things that go into it,

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Speaker 3: the health of our players.

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Speaker 2: In the end, I think this is a.

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Speaker 3: Really, really pretty good draft class with talent across the board,

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Speaker 3: and as we see the players come off the board,

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Speaker 3: we'll wait for a good one to fall to us.

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Speaker 5: Brian, You're gonna be a charge of taking the mic

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Speaker 5: around now and Plesnators might take around her.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, Eric, I know you guys have always valued defensive line,

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Speaker 6: But with Michael Pierce retiring and the amount of defensive

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Speaker 6: line and in this draft to seemly have a lot

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Speaker 6: of talent, how does that weigh into how you're looking

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Speaker 6: at that position in this draft.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think it's certainly a priority, and I think

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Speaker 3: you're right this is a pretty a fairly deep defensive

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Speaker 3: line class. You know, We've always been a team that

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Speaker 3: wants to be big and strong and powerful on both

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Speaker 3: sides of the line, both sides of the ball. So

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Speaker 3: I think there's an opportunity for us to get better

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Speaker 3: than the defensive line for sure.

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Speaker 7: Elevel picks this year?

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Speaker 8: Does that?

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Speaker 1: Do you want to make eleven picks? Use having that

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Speaker 1: many make you any more likely to package them and

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Speaker 1: move up.

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Speaker 2: What's what's your.

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Speaker 1: View on the eleven picks and desire to use all

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Speaker 1: of it?

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Speaker 6: Of those?

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, I think if I had a crystal ball,

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Speaker 3: I would answer that question. I think that we have

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Speaker 3: eleven picks. I've always looked at draft picks as currency.

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Speaker 3: You can either use that on a player, you can

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Speaker 3: trade up, you can trade back, you can trade for

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Speaker 3: future picks in future years.

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Speaker 2: I think we're fortunate to be in this position.

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Speaker 3: I think that as we continue to sign back our

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Speaker 3: players as many as we can, our good young players,

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Speaker 3: we're going to be in a situation where, you know,

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Speaker 3: salary cap is critical, and so for us young talent,

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Speaker 3: the influx of young players every single year competing to make,

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Speaker 3: you know, make the roster, I think is really important.

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Speaker 3: Now we have a good team, we feel good about

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Speaker 3: our roster. It's going to be hard for eleven players

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Speaker 3: to make the team out of the gates this year.

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Speaker 3: I mean, if they do, would be incredible. History tells

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Speaker 3: us that probably not all eleven picks are going to

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Speaker 3: make the initial fifty three men roster, which is a

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Speaker 3: good problem to have. It means we're a talented team.

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Speaker 3: So I like having eleven picks. I think it gives

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Speaker 3: us a lot of flexibility in different ways. And you know,

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Speaker 3: I think that our goal would be to have extra

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Speaker 3: picks every single year because it just gives us a

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Speaker 3: chance to continually develop young players. And I think we

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Speaker 3: do that as good as any team in the league.

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Speaker 9: Eric.

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Speaker 10: Obviously, you have some really key pieces of your offensive

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Speaker 10: line back and including Roger who developed really fast last year.

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Speaker 10: With how the offensive line did as you sort of projected,

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Speaker 10: took some lumps early, then you know, really gelled together.

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Speaker 10: Does that give you confidence that you can kind of

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Speaker 10: repeat that process and if need be in certain rookies

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Speaker 10: in some of those open spots at guard this year.

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Speaker 3: Yet, well, I mean, I think I saw a stat

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Speaker 3: the other day that I think we're allocating less salary

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Speaker 3: cap this year to the offensive line than any other

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Speaker 3: team in the league. And that tells me that we

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Speaker 3: have some good young players who are playing well. They're

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Speaker 3: on their rookie contracts. I've got a lot of faith

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Speaker 3: in those guys. I've got a lot of faith in

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Speaker 3: coach Warhop to develop and a lot of you know,

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Speaker 3: faith in our strength and conditioning program too that we

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Speaker 3: bring in these younger offensive linemen and typically we see

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Speaker 3: that they get better over time. I think it's a good,

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Speaker 3: strong offensive line class this year across the board, a

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Speaker 3: really really good group of tackles and guards as well,

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Speaker 3: And so you know, I think anytime you have a

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Speaker 3: chance to draft an offensive lineman that you think can

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Speaker 3: be a really good player, you should do that. Especially

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Speaker 3: the way we play football, you know, because we're a

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Speaker 3: team that prides itself. I'm running the bomb, being physical,

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Speaker 3: knocking people off the ball, controlling the clock, protecting the quarterback,

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Speaker 3: all those different things, and so I think that's gonna

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Speaker 3: be critical.

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Speaker 9: Eric.

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Speaker 11: Last year, along the same lines, you mentioned that you

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Speaker 11: guys were committing to building the line offensive line through

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Speaker 11: the draft. Just curious what made Ronnie Stanley the exception?

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Speaker 11: What was it about his season that made you decide

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Speaker 11: to bring him back instead of going with young players.

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Speaker 3: Well, left tackles don't grow on trees, you know. First

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Speaker 3: of all, Ronnie had a great season. I think he

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Speaker 3: had one of his best years last year. He's really

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Speaker 3: i think grown in to being one of the leaders

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Speaker 3: of our team. And just looking out at the draft

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Speaker 3: in free agency, we just didn't really see a lot

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Speaker 3: of guys that we felt were better than him. And

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Speaker 3: my experience with the draft, when you're picking it in

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Speaker 3: the twenties, in the late twenties, it's very.

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Speaker 2: Hard to get left tackles.

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Speaker 3: Those guys fly off the board, and so you think

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Speaker 3: you have a chance, and then what you realize as

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Speaker 3: you're picking twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, the five tackles,

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Speaker 3: and all five tackles get.

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Speaker 2: Picked before picked twenty.

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Speaker 3: And so for us making that investment in Ronnie, knowing

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Speaker 3: him as a person, you know, his ability as a

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Speaker 3: left tackle to protect the quarterback and be a round

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Speaker 3: blocker and be a leader up on the offensive line,

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Speaker 3: I think was important.

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Speaker 8: You guys lost many guys off the draft board character

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Speaker 8: and medical.

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Speaker 2: You know, we always lose some guys.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's probably a number if I had to

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Speaker 3: just guesstimate somewhere between ten and fifteen guys total that

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Speaker 3: fail or physical or have some other other flags that

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Speaker 3: would prohibit prohibit them from being on the team.

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Speaker 2: So it happens every year.

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Speaker 3: It's it's one of the one of the one of

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Speaker 3: the tough parts of being at the combine is waking

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Speaker 3: up in the morning and seeing the injury list under

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Speaker 3: my door and then going through that and looking at

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Speaker 3: all the players that we like and seeing some guys

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Speaker 3: are failed the physicals and have been you know, flagged

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Speaker 3: for different medical conditions, and you know, that's just unfortunately

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Speaker 3: one of the hard parts of this job, and it

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Speaker 3: happens every single year. In fact, you know, John come

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Speaker 3: down and say I love this guy and I'll go, ah,

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Speaker 3: he failed as physical and so it does happen. It's

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Speaker 3: a tough part of this business. We play a very

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Speaker 3: physical sport and durability matters.

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Speaker 12: Eric when it when it comes to best player available,

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Speaker 12: particularly early round. Just curious, how do you separate when

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Speaker 12: you've got say, player X, you know, is maybe the

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Speaker 12: best player available, and then player Y maybe grades a

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Speaker 12: little bit lower, but is in a position of greater

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Speaker 12: need perhaps, how do you kind of differentiate and then

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Speaker 12: get to that decision.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, so that's you know, that's the art

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Speaker 3: of it. And if you just imagine like a bunch

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Speaker 3: of different buckets, and each bucket has a different grade,

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Speaker 3: and you know, you have these players that are all

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Speaker 3: kind of in the different buckets. So you have the

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Speaker 3: A bucket, the B bucket, the C bucket, the D bucket.

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Speaker 3: You got two players in the A bucket, they're very close,

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Speaker 3: ones at a neat position, ones not in a neat position.

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Speaker 3: We're probably going to take the neat position. What we're

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Speaker 3: not going to do is take the need position in

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Speaker 3: the B bucket over the best player available in the

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Speaker 3: A bucket. If that's the case. So if they're very close.

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Speaker 3: We're going to defer to the roster and other factors

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Speaker 3: as well, durability to all the other off the field

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Speaker 3: in tangible type stuff, but we're not going to jump players.

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Speaker 3: We're not going to take a player that's in the

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Speaker 3: lower bucket and jump him over a player in a

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Speaker 3: higher bucket.

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Speaker 13: Eric, maybe last year you talked to us about how

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Speaker 13: the changing landscape of college athletics, the nil money players

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Speaker 13: were staying in school longer, the draft classes were getting

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Speaker 13: a little bit older. Are you sensing that? And the

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Speaker 13: other question I have related to that is with the

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Speaker 13: portal and you know, hundreds of players changing teams every year,

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Speaker 13: how much harder is it to evaluate a player when

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Speaker 13: they've maybe been at a two or three schools as

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Speaker 13: opposed to have been in one system for four years.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot there to answer.

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Speaker 3: I do think that this will be the last class

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Speaker 3: of players that are significantly older, in some cases partly

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Speaker 3: because of COVID. So we've got some guys in this

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Speaker 3: draft that are twenty six years old, twenty five or

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Speaker 3: twenty six that was almost unheard of, Like six or

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Speaker 3: seven years ago, we didn't see that. So that's going

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Speaker 3: to start to change because the rules are now going

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Speaker 3: back to what they used to be. Guys didn't get

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Speaker 3: all the extra years, as far as nil goes in

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Speaker 3: the portal and all those different things. I think it

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Speaker 3: really depends you've got to have really good scouts. You've

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Speaker 3: got to have scouts that are well connected to have

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Speaker 3: contacts that can network across the different colleges to get information.

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Speaker 3: In some ways, if you have really good scouts, you

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Speaker 3: have an opportunity because you can.

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Speaker 2: Trace back that player to the other schools that.

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Speaker 3: He's been at and you can acquire more information, in

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Speaker 3: some cases very different information. So if you get a

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Speaker 3: guy that's been at three schools, you'd be amazed that

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Speaker 3: the amount of information you can get, but in some

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Speaker 3: cases how different the information might be from.

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Speaker 2: School A, school B and school CEE.

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Speaker 3: So I think it really goes back to just, you know,

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Speaker 3: having the best area of scouts and training those guys

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Speaker 3: to get the information, and then building it out and

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Speaker 3: processing that information, and then using your coaches, who are

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Speaker 3: another resource for us because they have all these contacts.

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Speaker 3: It's goools as well to use our coaches to then

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Speaker 3: contact their comrades at different schools to get information so

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Speaker 3: that we have a real clear picture of who that

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Speaker 3: player might be.

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Speaker 14: Eric from a scouting front office perspective, how would you

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Speaker 14: evaluate a two way player in the draft? And then

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Speaker 14: also John from a coaching perspective, what would the sort

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Speaker 14: of feasibility be or maybe some of the obstacles would be

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Speaker 14: for to try to get like a true two way

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Speaker 14: player on ANFL roster, particularly like the mid you know,

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Speaker 14: during the week meeting kind of perspective.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think for us, we haven't had many two

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Speaker 3: way players, and so that's the first thing.

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Speaker 2: The second thing is.

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Speaker 3: In most cases, well, I mean in this particular case,

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Speaker 3: I think if we're talking about the galley Travis Hunter,

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Speaker 3: we would probably want to put him at one position.

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Speaker 3: So our discussions have really been if he shows up

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Speaker 3: here day one, if we ever were fortunate enough to

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Speaker 3: have a player like him, which you know, if you're

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Speaker 3: going to have a player like him, you're probably pick

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Speaker 3: in top five, so that it's not something that we

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Speaker 3: ever really want to do. So, but if you have

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Speaker 3: a player like him, where's he going to be on

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Speaker 3: the draft board?

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Speaker 2: What do we think is best position is going to be?

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Speaker 2: Day one? If he's going to come in and start,

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Speaker 2: which as a rookie high pick you hope he does.

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Speaker 2: Where are we going to put him? And so that's

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Speaker 2: how we would approach it.

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Speaker 3: We would you know, talk about his skills, but then

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Speaker 3: really try to figure out, like where's he going to

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Speaker 3: play most of his football day one?

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Speaker 5: All right, that's a great point. I mean, it's going

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Speaker 5: to be interesting to see how they do it wherever

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Speaker 5: he goes. But to say that you're going to be

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Speaker 5: completely immersed in everything that there is a known offense

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Speaker 5: and everything there is a known defense. I don't know

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Speaker 5: if there's enough hours in the day for a player

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Speaker 5: to be able to do that and to have every

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Speaker 5: detailed lockdown, but you certainly can do it. I would

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Speaker 5: think on one side of the ball and then have

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Speaker 5: some sort of a package on the other side of

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Speaker 5: the ball. Which is my guess is how the team

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Speaker 5: will do it wherever he goes. But I assume we'll

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Speaker 5: be playing against him, so we're about to find out

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Speaker 5: how that team does it.

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Speaker 15: Eric The consensus from you know, the draft knicks seems

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Speaker 15: to be that this class is light on high end talent.

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Speaker 15: If you're comfortable sharing like about how many guys, do

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Speaker 15: you guys have first round grades on And if it's

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Speaker 15: not an amount that's like, you know, feasible to get

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Speaker 15: one at twenty seven, how does that kind of change

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Speaker 15: your approach there late in the first round.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So the way that I look at the draft

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Speaker 3: is you've you know, you've got on day one, right,

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Speaker 3: the first day of the draft is going to be

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Speaker 3: thirty two picks, So you've got to have thirty two

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Speaker 3: players that you would take in the first round. And

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Speaker 3: so I always answer the question, like, you know, I mean,

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Speaker 3: it's it's we have thirty two players in the first round.

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Speaker 2: You have to have at least thirty two to pick. Now.

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Speaker 3: Is it the situation where maybe the totality of all

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Speaker 3: these players in the first round might not be as

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Speaker 3: talented as another year. You know, maybe that's the case.

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Speaker 3: But I see a lot of opportunity in this draft class.

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Speaker 3: Really in the middle rounds, I see more players, I

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Speaker 3: see more draftable players. We have two hundred and seventeen

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Speaker 3: players right now on the front board, and there have

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Speaker 3: been years where we've had a hard time getting to one,

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Speaker 3: sixty one, sixty five. So there's a lot of draftable

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Speaker 3: players that means that the mid rounds are going to

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Speaker 3: be really good. And also I think undrafted free agency

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Speaker 3: should have a chance to be really really good for us.

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Speaker 3: But I really think that if you're going to have

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Speaker 3: eleven picks, this is a year that reminds me a

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Speaker 3: little bit of twenty twenty two. From the standpoint of.

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Speaker 2: The depth of the draft.

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Speaker 3: Really across the middle rounds, the third, fourth, fifth, sixth rounds.

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Speaker 2: I think it will be pretty good.

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Speaker 3: We see a lot of talent in that range, so

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Speaker 3: that's an opportunity for us to get better as a team.

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Speaker 8: Eric, how would you evaluate where you guys are at

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Speaker 8: edge rusher and just the options you could have. Do

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Speaker 8: you view this as a particularly strong edge rush draft class?

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Speaker 2: Well, I do.

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Speaker 1: I do.

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Speaker 2: Think it's a good draft class now.

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Speaker 3: Also, if I'm not mistaken, we've we got our entire

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Speaker 3: outside linebacker corep coming back this year.

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Speaker 2: So that's a.

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Speaker 3: Great situation for us because we didn't lose anybody, and

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Speaker 3: so from that standpoint, I think it's good.

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Speaker 13: Now.

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Speaker 3: Again, there are some really talented guys in this draft class,

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Speaker 3: and you know, there are guys that we'll be looking

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Speaker 3: at as first round guys, second round guys, third guys,

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Speaker 3: fourth round guys we think could come in and compete

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Speaker 3: to really play right away or develop and become really

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Speaker 3: good players. So that's exciting for us. I think that

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Speaker 3: if you're looking at the offensive line, the defensive line,

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Speaker 3: and the you know, outside linebackers as a whole, I

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Speaker 3: would say that three of the strongest positions in this

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Speaker 3: draft class.

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Speaker 16: Eric, You're obviously in a pretty unique position with your

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Speaker 16: tight end group, which is one of the best groups

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Speaker 16: on the roster, but also everyone's on an expiring contract

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Speaker 16: going into this year. How do you consider that way

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Speaker 16: that with understanding the draft is also not just about

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Speaker 16: twenty twenty five but the next couple of years. I mean,

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Speaker 16: is it plausible that you add a tight end even

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Speaker 16: if that could, you know, on paper, create quite a

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Speaker 16: roster crunch.

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Speaker 2: I just think it depends on the player. Like there

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Speaker 2: are some really good players in this.

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Speaker 3: Same could be said about the running back position as well,

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Speaker 3: and we've talked about that, you know, we talk about

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Speaker 3: these things all the time, and.

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Speaker 2: The reality of it is is if there's like.

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Speaker 3: A tight end that we think is a blue chip

356
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Speaker 3: tight end to a running back that we think is

357
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Speaker 3: a blue chip running back. We're gonna take them just

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Speaker 3: because they're important and if the talent is such that

359
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Speaker 3: we think this guy can impact our team at some point.

360
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Speaker 3: We can't just eliminate positions because we're strong in the

361
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Speaker 3: short term. We talk about needs, and we've seen you

362
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Speaker 3: guys have all seen you've covered the team for a

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Speaker 3: long time.

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Speaker 2: Needs can change in one.

365
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Speaker 3: Week, right, We've had some years where we had a

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Speaker 3: strong running back room. Next thing, you know, like it's

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Speaker 3: a Friday afternoon and we're calling every agent in the

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Speaker 3: league because we need running backs because we just had

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Speaker 3: three catastrophic injuries and spend the seven days so that

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Speaker 3: could happen.

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Speaker 2: And so I mean, yeah, it's just a reality.

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Speaker 3: It's just the reality of our business. Injuries happen, needs change,

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Speaker 3: and so for us, we're just gonna keep an open mind,

374
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Speaker 3: and if the guy is so good that we have

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Speaker 3: to take him, we're gonna take him.

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Speaker 7: Eric, going back to the past, Russia, we've seen you

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Speaker 7: guys take I don't want to say chances, but you've

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Speaker 7: drafted guys that haven't necessarily had great stats in their

379
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Speaker 7: final you I think of like a Dafeo Way coming

380
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Speaker 7: out with no sax he just had his first double

381
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Speaker 7: digit SAX season this year. How do you go about,

382
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Speaker 7: you know, wearing the options between a guy like that

383
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Speaker 7: who probably has the measurables and the potential, between another

384
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Speaker 7: guy who does have that the production at least steady

385
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Speaker 7: production on the back end of their collegiate career.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I just think it's it's a it's a cocktail,

387
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,360
Speaker 3: it's a recipe, and you take everything into account. It's

388
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Speaker 3: not just production, it's not just trades, it's not just

389
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Speaker 3: combine workouts. It's not just the intangibles. It's not the size,

390
00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:50,560
Speaker 3: it's it's not just the durability. It's really everything, and

391
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Speaker 3: you layer that in and you try to get the

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Speaker 3: full depth of who that player might be. And and

393
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Speaker 3: so I you know, I'm a big fan of production.

394
00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:00,320
Speaker 3: You know, I talk about it production all the time.

395
00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,120
Speaker 3: I think production speaks to consistency and doing.

396
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Speaker 2: It over and over again.

397
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Speaker 3: It's hard to be productive if you're not playing all

398
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Speaker 3: the time, if you're not in a field all the time,

399
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Speaker 3: if you're not playing hard all the time.

400
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Speaker 2: However, there are.

401
00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,320
Speaker 3: Some really good players that for whatever reason, might not

402
00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:17,520
Speaker 3: be productive. For instance, a corner who's so good he

403
00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,960
Speaker 3: isn't get targeted, or a pass rusher who gets double

404
00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,280
Speaker 3: teamed every single play. So you know, production can be

405
00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:27,919
Speaker 3: a little bit misleading at times. That being the case,

406
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Speaker 3: we want productive guys. We want tough guys, fast guys,

407
00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:32,200
Speaker 3: big guys, smart guys.

408
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:32,760
Speaker 2: Durable guys.

409
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Speaker 3: It's the totality of all that stuff that we look

410
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Speaker 3: at when we build out our draft board.

411
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Speaker 17: I don't believe that in the history of the Ravens

412
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Speaker 17: you guys have ever drafted a kicker. I guess it's

413
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Speaker 17: a pertinent question now in light of what's going on

414
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Speaker 17: with Justin, But would you consider is it worth drafting

415
00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,600
Speaker 17: a kicker? Using a draft pick on a kicker.

416
00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:54,440
Speaker 2: Is it worth it? I think it's worth it, sure.

417
00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:55,960
Speaker 2: I mean there's been some great.

418
00:18:55,840 --> 00:19:01,080
Speaker 3: Kickers drafted, and we've drafted a couple punters.

419
00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,160
Speaker 2: But it's worth it if you have the right kicker.

420
00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:07,399
Speaker 3: It just depends on the board, it depends on the player,

421
00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,320
Speaker 3: it depends who's there, it depends on how you coaches

422
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:16,600
Speaker 3: see them, you know. And also it should be said

423
00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,240
Speaker 3: that some of the greatest kickers of all time weren't

424
00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:20,480
Speaker 3: drafted right.

425
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:26,080
Speaker 2: So it's no like blueprint for finding a kicker, except

426
00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:29,520
Speaker 2: you've got to be able to evaluate the kicker.

427
00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,240
Speaker 3: And I think Randy Brown does a phenomenal job of

428
00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:36,120
Speaker 3: evaluating kickers, and we have a lot of other really

429
00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:38,800
Speaker 3: good coaches to do a great job of evaluating talent

430
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Speaker 3: along with our scouts, And so is it worth it?

431
00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:45,120
Speaker 3: I think it probably is if the right guy's there. However,

432
00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:47,320
Speaker 3: you don't have to draft a kicker. You don't have

433
00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:48,680
Speaker 3: to draft au pun, you don't have to draft a

434
00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:51,479
Speaker 3: running backer a linebacker for those guys to be great players.

435
00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:52,760
Speaker 2: We've seen that over and over again.

436
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:55,680
Speaker 18: Yeah, y're kind of just following up on that, But

437
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Speaker 18: I mean, because of the uncertainty around you know, justin

438
00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:01,439
Speaker 18: do you you expect to draft a kicker at all?

439
00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,400
Speaker 18: I mean, is that a you know, a thought process

440
00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,360
Speaker 18: with how many picks you have on Day three?

441
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:09,440
Speaker 3: I never have any expectations because you don't know how

442
00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:12,120
Speaker 3: the thing's gonna unfold again. You know, it's just we're

443
00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:13,680
Speaker 3: gonna be on the clock and we're gonna draft the

444
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,679
Speaker 3: best available player at every spot for us as a club.

445
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,520
Speaker 3: Never want to pigeonhole myself into doing this or that,

446
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,840
Speaker 3: because when I do that, I usually end up being disappointed,

447
00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,840
Speaker 3: you create a false expectation in your mind and you

448
00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,600
Speaker 3: start to think about needs and other things. And I

449
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:30,920
Speaker 3: like to go into that draft just like a wide

450
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:33,240
Speaker 3: open highway with no cars on the road, and I

451
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,520
Speaker 3: can drive as fast as I want, straight down the road,

452
00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:40,360
Speaker 3: unencumbered and not worry about just driving, turn the music up,

453
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:42,360
Speaker 3: and just draft and pick the best players.

454
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,520
Speaker 19: Eric, knowing your vision going into this draft, will you

455
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,040
Speaker 19: get to the other side, What are some of the

456
00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,959
Speaker 19: measures of success for you to where you can look

457
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:56,879
Speaker 19: back and say we accomplished what we want to accomplish.

458
00:20:57,440 --> 00:20:59,520
Speaker 3: I just really just I just focus on wins and

459
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:00,560
Speaker 3: losses and our season.

460
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:02,359
Speaker 2: You know, it's so hard.

461
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:04,520
Speaker 3: Sometimes you have you have an impression that you had

462
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 3: a great draft class, and maybe it wasn't. And maybe

463
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,080
Speaker 3: sometimes you think, I don't know, it wasn't the easiest year.

464
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:11,359
Speaker 3: And you have, you know, guys emerging they end up

465
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,960
Speaker 3: being great players in the end. I think what we

466
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,479
Speaker 3: all aspire to is just winning a championship. And so

467
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:20,400
Speaker 3: that's my goal and my dream and what I'm aiming for.

468
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,200
Speaker 3: And so that just starts winning our first game, and

469
00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,080
Speaker 3: then winning our second game, and then winning the division,

470
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:29,800
Speaker 3: getting a home field, you know, advantage if we can,

471
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:30,840
Speaker 3: and then winning the Super Bowl.

472
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:32,120
Speaker 2: If we do that, it'll be a success.

473
00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:38,480
Speaker 12: Eric, Eric, and or John. Have you talked to Lamar

474
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:43,200
Speaker 12: in terms of his list of draft picks or guys

475
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:47,160
Speaker 12: that he's looked at and what's the conversation I guess

476
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:48,359
Speaker 12: been with him this offseason?

477
00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,560
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, Lamar and I have texted a little bit.

478
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,360
Speaker 3: We had a conversation. We didn't get into any specific players.

479
00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:58,920
Speaker 3: We just we talked a little bit about the roster

480
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,040
Speaker 3: and just what he's up to and you know, his

481
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,840
Speaker 3: vision and his you know, excitement for the season and

482
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,159
Speaker 3: all that stuff that goes into it.

483
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:07,160
Speaker 2: But other than that, I.

484
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,840
Speaker 3: Think I just probably keep the conversations private.

485
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:15,680
Speaker 5: I haven't talked about specific prospects yet.

486
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 6: No.

487
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:22,399
Speaker 10: For Eric, you know, especially with Malik and Chris Bord,

488
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:25,639
Speaker 10: you guys have lost some guys who really had value

489
00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:30,080
Speaker 10: on special teams, including your defense. When you look at prospects,

490
00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:34,000
Speaker 10: how much does their ability to influence that phase of

491
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,439
Speaker 10: the game, which is obviously very valued here kind of

492
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 10: factor into kind of bumping them up or down? And

493
00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,639
Speaker 10: John sort of what is your confidence that do you

494
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 10: need guys in this draft who they've shown talent on

495
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:48,960
Speaker 10: special teams, or do you feel like your coaching staff

496
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,119
Speaker 10: has the ability to make anyone a great special teams player.

497
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,119
Speaker 3: Well, when you have a head coach who's one of

498
00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,720
Speaker 3: the great special teams coaches in the NFL at one point,

499
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:02,639
Speaker 3: you spend a lot of time asking them about special teams.

500
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:04,600
Speaker 3: And I really think our scouts do a great job

501
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:06,800
Speaker 3: of that. I mean I could literally ask any scout

502
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,199
Speaker 3: at any time, what's this guy doing special teams and

503
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:11,520
Speaker 3: they will go back to twenty twenty and tell me.

504
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:13,240
Speaker 2: Exactly what he did.

505
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:18,960
Speaker 3: And it wasn't always that way, but I could literally say, hey, Chess,

506
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 3: tell me about this guy at Oklahoma State and special

507
00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:24,080
Speaker 3: teams and he would say, oh, in twenty twenty, eerk,

508
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,480
Speaker 3: he was the left wing and this and that, or

509
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 3: he was a personal protract on the punt team and

510
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,159
Speaker 3: he did this and he did that, and then we

511
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 3: got you know, Chris Horton and Anthony Levine. Those guys

512
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,840
Speaker 3: will bring their perspective as coaches, and we do it

513
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,919
Speaker 3: with every single player at a certain level and at

514
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 3: certain positions. We talk about special teams and it is

515
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 3: a big thing, and it is the thing that can

516
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 3: swear a guy from one bucket to the next again,

517
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 3: because if a guy's you know, if he's in this,

518
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:52,600
Speaker 3: I'll just use the bee.

519
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:53,200
Speaker 2: If he's in the.

520
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,119
Speaker 3: Bees at the top of the bees and he's a

521
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,520
Speaker 3: really good Special Teams player, maybe he makes it to

522
00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:00,159
Speaker 3: the bottom of the a's it's just that enough that

523
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:02,960
Speaker 3: alone can push him up a little bit. And maybe

524
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:05,080
Speaker 3: that's around, maybe that's half around, whatever it is, but

525
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:06,160
Speaker 3: that's a big deal for us.

526
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:10,399
Speaker 5: I mean, just to echo what Eric's saying, I think

527
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 5: our scouts and Chris and his staff do a great job.

528
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,560
Speaker 5: Because last week we're having our meetings, that came up

529
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:18,919
Speaker 5: on pretty much every guy that would be a special

530
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 5: Teams type player. And it wasn't just what they've done

531
00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:23,600
Speaker 5: on Special teams, it's also what kind of traits do

532
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:25,920
Speaker 5: they bring to the table. You know, type of player

533
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,400
Speaker 5: sometimes translates to a special Teams player, big along, a long,

534
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 5: fast corner that can get out and run, who's tough,

535
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:34,480
Speaker 5: maybe can be a gunner for you. So you try

536
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 5: to project those guys in those positions and then building

537
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,880
Speaker 5: special teams. You know, it's important to have a good

538
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,200
Speaker 5: group of young, hungry guys, but you also want to

539
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:43,920
Speaker 5: have some veteran players and that know how to play.

540
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 5: So like bringing back a Tyland Wallace who also gives

541
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:48,919
Speaker 5: us value as a wide receiver, but can give us

542
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 5: values a special teams guy. Some of these young developing

543
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 5: guys that we had maybe second year guys this year,

544
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 5: third year guys this year, they become your veterans on

545
00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:58,199
Speaker 5: special teams, you know, and they've got to carry that

546
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:03,000
Speaker 5: mantle from a leadership production standpoints. So those roles are

547
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 5: really important. I learned that from Coach Belichick probably more

548
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 5: than anybody. But when you put your team together, there's

549
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,680
Speaker 5: a lot of specific roles that you've got to try

550
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 5: to find the right fits for to build your team,

551
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:14,840
Speaker 5: and those special team's roles are a big part of that.

552
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:18,920
Speaker 20: Eric as you as it's changed over the years in

553
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 20: terms of player movement and transferring, I think it used

554
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 20: to be kind of looking a guy transferred once or

555
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:25,119
Speaker 20: twice I might be a red flag because you're not

556
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 20: fighting through to try and win a job or whatever,

557
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:29,960
Speaker 20: looking for green or grass. But with so much player

558
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 20: moving mount now have you had to change the way

559
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 20: that factors in to your evaluation.

560
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,919
Speaker 3: I think it just it's it's become more complicated for

561
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 3: the scouts to get more information because we do want

562
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 3: to talk to people that might know this player from

563
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:49,800
Speaker 3: the other locations. For me, it's just really watching the tape.

564
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,439
Speaker 3: It's the same, you know, we just watch the tape.

565
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 3: Get in and watch the tape, and maybe if you

566
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:57,639
Speaker 3: go back and look at him at the other school,

567
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 3: you can do that as well. In some cases it

568
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,359
Speaker 3: is it is helpful because you might see a player

569
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:07,680
Speaker 3: that transferred to a big school from a small school, right,

570
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,119
Speaker 3: and so you can see how that guy played at

571
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,040
Speaker 3: a smaller school versus how he's planning now at a

572
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 3: bigger school. It provides a different perspective on the player.

573
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:20,439
Speaker 3: But I think just generally speaking again I said this,

574
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,800
Speaker 3: but if you if you have good scouts, it gives

575
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,159
Speaker 3: you the opportunity to get more information because you have

576
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,920
Speaker 3: more people to talk to about these players. So from

577
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 3: that standpoint, it can be very valuable.

578
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:33,080
Speaker 2: For Eric.

579
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 21: The last couple of years, you know, you've had first

580
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:37,159
Speaker 21: round guys be able to contribute.

581
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:39,480
Speaker 2: You know, right away, just when you're looking.

582
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:43,040
Speaker 21: At guys and evaluating are the characteristics that you look

583
00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:45,440
Speaker 21: for in guys when you're giving them that first round

584
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 21: grade that tells you that they will be able to

585
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:49,399
Speaker 21: come here and contribute right away.

586
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 3: Well, they got to be talented, you know. I mean

587
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 3: this is a this is a business where talent wins,

588
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:58,639
Speaker 3: and they've got to be talented. They've got to have

589
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 3: a unique skill set. They've got I have the traits

590
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 3: that would indicate that they can play at our level

591
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 3: of football first and foremost, and then I think confidence, uh,

592
00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 3: you know, uh, just dependability, you know, practicing hard competitive players.

593
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 3: Durability is a big deal, especially for guys that play.

594
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 3: I mean, you want to talk about rookies that have

595
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,440
Speaker 3: a hard time playing, it's usually in some way tied

596
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 3: to injuries during that rookie season. So I think durability

597
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,359
Speaker 3: is a really big deal too in that regard. And

598
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 3: then just ability to learn the game. You know, it's

599
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:32,760
Speaker 3: a different scheme and a lot of in a lot

600
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:38,800
Speaker 3: of cases it's totally different terminology. And then just being

601
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,520
Speaker 3: able to overcome the grind. It's a long season. The

602
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:45,080
Speaker 3: NFL is a long season. These guys are professional athletes

603
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:47,439
Speaker 3: to hear every single day for I don't know how

604
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,640
Speaker 3: many hours, John, how many hours, eight hours a day. Yeah, So,

605
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,720
Speaker 3: I mean it's a it's a it's a it's a grind,

606
00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:56,840
Speaker 3: and they've got to be able to handle that mental

607
00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 3: hurdle as well.

608
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,840
Speaker 8: Eric asked John about this at the owners meetings. But

609
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 8: you have made trades before with veteran players during the draft.

610
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,399
Speaker 8: Do you fully expect There's been a lot of speculations

611
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 8: about Mark Andrews' future in Baltimore. Do you fully expect

612
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:14,919
Speaker 8: him to remain with the team and is he a

613
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,000
Speaker 8: big part of what you plan on doing this year?

614
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:18,400
Speaker 2: Oh?

615
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,159
Speaker 3: Man, I never know what's going to happen, Jeff, and

616
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,560
Speaker 3: I would never want to say this with that, you know,

617
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 3: But I can tell you this, Mark Andrews is a

618
00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,840
Speaker 3: warrior and he's played his butt off for us, and

619
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:36,080
Speaker 3: his competitiveness, his talent, his attitude, his leadership is so

620
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,560
Speaker 3: valued here and he's a great player.

621
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 2: And I think.

622
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:43,440
Speaker 3: We're in the business of keeping as many great players

623
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:47,040
Speaker 3: as we can. So there's always a lot of unpredictability

624
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 3: with the draft.

625
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:48,640
Speaker 2: You just never know.

626
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:54,200
Speaker 3: I don't think we've traded many of our own players.

627
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 3: I don't know have we ever made a trade during

628
00:28:56,240 --> 00:29:00,239
Speaker 3: the draft where we traded one of our players well,

629
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 3: that wasn't during the draft. Well, I mean I had

630
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 3: done that draft. I had done that trade before the draft.

631
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 3: You guys didn't know.

632
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 2: Before the day before I had.

633
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:07,720
Speaker 8: I had done that.

634
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 2: I did that on a Monday, actually, the Monday or

635
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 2: the draft.

636
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 5: I knew. I knew that was coming.

637
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, that wasn't during the That wasn't actually during the draft.

638
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,440
Speaker 5: If we had one during the draft.

639
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was announced in the draft. It was. That

640
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 2: was strategic though.

641
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 3: We didn't want announce it beforehand, just in case because

642
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 3: the team might think we would want a receiver, so

643
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:28,920
Speaker 3: we kept it as quiet as we could. But I

644
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,320
Speaker 3: don't think we've ever traded one of our players. We've

645
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 3: traded four players during the draft. I know we did

646
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 3: Kevin Johnson way back when for a fourth round pick,

647
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:40,680
Speaker 3: But I don't know that we've ever traded one of

648
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:41,440
Speaker 3: our own players.

649
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 2: You should know that, Jameson, I don't think. Okay, yeah,

650
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:47,240
Speaker 2: just because I brought him up.

651
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:52,360
Speaker 1: Just now, it came to me, how big of a

652
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 1: need do you view a cornerback? Obviously you took Nate

653
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 1: Wagans last year and always want to restock that position

654
00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,760
Speaker 1: at a cheeto and free agency Stevens Less. How big

655
00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:01,440
Speaker 1: of a need is corner in your mind?

656
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:03,920
Speaker 3: It's always a big need. Every single year. You could

657
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 3: ask thirty one other teams.

658
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:10,840
Speaker 2: It all says the same thing. Corner is critical important position.

659
00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 3: They break down, you know, they're like bugattis and they

660
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 3: just break down, and you've got to have them in

661
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,480
Speaker 3: reserve because that can go from being a positional strength

662
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:25,800
Speaker 3: to being something that you know. I remember, it's a

663
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,240
Speaker 3: long story. Some won't tell it, but two thousand and seven,

664
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,680
Speaker 3: we played the Steelers on a Monday night and I

665
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 3: was flying out to USC and UCLA and we took

666
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 3: off and the game hadn't started yet, and when we landed,

667
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:39,600
Speaker 3: it was like twenty four to nothing in the first

668
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,520
Speaker 3: quarter against the Steelers. And if you look at our

669
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 3: corners that game. Not to be smirched anyone, but they

670
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,040
Speaker 3: were all guys that were playing because other guys got hurt.

671
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 2: And that's just an incredibly important position. So that's always

672
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 2: going to be a need for us.

673
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 3: Doesn't even going to take a guy in the first round,

674
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,560
Speaker 3: but I feel pretty sure that we'll take at least

675
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:00,320
Speaker 3: one corner.

676
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,080
Speaker 2: Draft John, how has your.

677
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,080
Speaker 7: I guess responsibilities changed since you came here in terms

678
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,440
Speaker 7: of the draft, I mean, first under Ozzie and now

679
00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 7: and then Eric, I.

680
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,200
Speaker 5: Would say, see if Eric agrees with this, But I

681
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,280
Speaker 5: would say it really hasn't changed at all. I think

682
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 5: we've had kind of this consistent format and Ozzie and Eric,

683
00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 5: you know, we're gracious enough to you know, allow a

684
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:29,440
Speaker 5: young coach to come in and have input, you know,

685
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:31,640
Speaker 5: and have a have a say, you know, and be

686
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 5: a part of it and be a partner.

687
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 9: Uh.

688
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 5: And then we've got the same format now, you know,

689
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,400
Speaker 5: and probably you know, eighteen drafts later, we've got even

690
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,040
Speaker 5: well obviously the trust has been built over the years,

691
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:46,000
Speaker 5: and then you know, the shared understanding the vision of

692
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 5: kind of what we want to build. I think we've

693
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 5: kind of grown together on that where it's like in

694
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,440
Speaker 5: my front yard, I got these two or three trees

695
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:53,920
Speaker 5: that kind of grew together and they're all like one

696
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 5: trunk right now. I feel like that's how we kind

697
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,000
Speaker 5: of look at things in terms of, you know, building

698
00:31:59,000 --> 00:31:59,920
Speaker 5: our team with the draft.

699
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would just say that, you know, not all

700
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:08,200
Speaker 3: teams do it this way, and you know, I'm proud

701
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 3: I started out as a young guy in nineteen ninety

702
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 3: six with coach Marchibroda and Ozzy and just watching the.

703
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 2: Way that they work together, just that light bulb goes off.

704
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 2: This is the way it's supposed to be. When you

705
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 2: have your coaches and.

706
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:27,040
Speaker 3: Your scouts aligned working together on a massive project like this,

707
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:32,120
Speaker 3: you've got ownership across the board. And I think anytime

708
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,400
Speaker 3: you can build that, I think you really have something.

709
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 5: I mean, if we're talking about that, you know, in

710
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 5: terms of an advantage that we have, it goes back

711
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,320
Speaker 5: to nineteen ninety six, I would say probably when you

712
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,120
Speaker 5: were here, so you saw it from the beginning with

713
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,480
Speaker 5: coach Marcha Broden with Ozzy and what's kind of taking

714
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 5: place ever since. But coaches come in here and they'll

715
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,560
Speaker 5: watch our draft process and they're kind of blown away

716
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,320
Speaker 5: by the fact that it's just so merged together, and

717
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,040
Speaker 5: the scouts do the work, they do the they do

718
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,480
Speaker 5: ninety plus ninety five plus percent of the work and

719
00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:04,600
Speaker 5: lay the whole thing out. Then the coaches can kind

720
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 5: of come in and overlay a perspective that is taken

721
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,800
Speaker 5: seriously and accounted for, you know, and then you know,

722
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:15,239
Speaker 5: we don't spend much time anymore having conversations about you know,

723
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:16,720
Speaker 5: what kind of a player do we want or what

724
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,040
Speaker 5: kind of a what kind of traits we're looking for?

725
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 5: These kind of things are almost unspoken, and even the

726
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 5: new coaches they kind of like fall right in, don't

727
00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 5: you think they just fall right in with this process?

728
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 5: And guys will say, man, it's just not like this everywhere,

729
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:32,320
Speaker 5: so it's hard to describe it. But I think when

730
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,840
Speaker 5: you're in it, for me, it's just the way it

731
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:36,720
Speaker 5: would be the only way it is. You know that.

732
00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,240
Speaker 5: I couldn't see it being done any differently. But it

733
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,000
Speaker 5: goes back to Ozzy and Eric all the way back

734
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 5: to the beginning.

735
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 9: John's sort of along those lines. As a coach, once

736
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 9: you first get those players in from the draft, those

737
00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 9: however many picks in here, finally seeing them in purple

738
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:55,360
Speaker 9: and black, what are some of the things that excite

739
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,760
Speaker 9: you about seeing their talents and how they're going to

740
00:33:57,760 --> 00:33:59,080
Speaker 9: fit into this team eventually?

741
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:01,239
Speaker 5: Well, you want to see what you thought you were

742
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 5: going to see. You want to see a guy that's talented,

743
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 5: like Eric said, but you hate to bring a guy

744
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:07,720
Speaker 5: in and go, man, I don't think this this is

745
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:11,279
Speaker 5: I've heard stories and I've heard stories in recruiting. Maybe

746
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,200
Speaker 5: it's happened in the NFL, but yeah, it has happened

747
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 5: where you know you'd get a guy and you guy,

748
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,880
Speaker 5: this cannot be the same guy I watched on tape.

749
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:21,640
Speaker 5: You know, like a like there was an impostor there's

750
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 5: an impostor that was brought in here in college and

751
00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:27,920
Speaker 5: you don't want to see that. We really haven't seen that,

752
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 5: but I've seen it. Yeah, you have seen it.

753
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:31,839
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's been a few well no, I'm not going

754
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 3: to mention the players. So this is a few times

755
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:34,560
Speaker 3: over the years.

756
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:36,520
Speaker 2: Where we.

757
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:39,840
Speaker 3: Liked the guy and then we drafted him, and then

758
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:41,520
Speaker 3: he showed up day one and we were just like,

759
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:45,319
Speaker 3: oh my gosh. I mean, it happens right off any

760
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:47,880
Speaker 3: you probably happened to you. I mean, it just happens,

761
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:50,880
Speaker 3: right you just you just what you think you saw,

762
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,439
Speaker 3: you didn't see, and you shows up and you're like, man,

763
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:55,919
Speaker 3: I thought this guy was a better athlete. I thought

764
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 3: this guy was faster, I thought this guy was whatever.

765
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 3: And next thing you know, they're on your practice squad

766
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:03,480
Speaker 3: or they're on somebody else's practice squad.

767
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:08,239
Speaker 10: Eric, you guys went through multiple returners in particular, at

768
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:09,919
Speaker 10: punt returner last year.

769
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:11,880
Speaker 21: Are you hoping to come out of this draft with

770
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:13,880
Speaker 21: someone with returnability?

771
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:17,680
Speaker 2: It'd be nice, it'd be nice. It'd be nice.

772
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 3: I mean, I think I think we've done a good

773
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 3: job of sizing that up. And I think, you know, again,

774
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 3: Chris Horton does an awesome job. I mean, our scouts evaluate,

775
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:27,680
Speaker 3: but it's based on the area that they scout or

776
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,360
Speaker 3: the position maybe that they scout. Chris really does a

777
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,480
Speaker 3: great job of taking all the returners in ranking the

778
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 3: returners from first to worst, and so that's a big

779
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,359
Speaker 3: part of it. I think we have some guys that

780
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 3: can do it. So we've got a floor, but we

781
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:43,920
Speaker 3: want a high ceiling. That's what we want, and we're

782
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:44,879
Speaker 3: gonna try to find that guy.

783
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:46,480
Speaker 9: Eric.

784
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:48,720
Speaker 15: I think we're just a couple of days away from

785
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:53,040
Speaker 15: our Darius is deadline to sign offersheets. If he's gotten those,

786
00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:57,279
Speaker 15: I guess, how confident are you and him returning? And

787
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 15: if you do, guys get that done, how's a felt

788
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:01,960
Speaker 15: maybe what you want to do in the draft so

789
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:04,040
Speaker 15: you can put him in the best position as well

790
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:05,279
Speaker 15: as well as Kyle next year.

791
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,240
Speaker 3: Well, I'm confident, you know, fairly confident that our Darius

792
00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:13,200
Speaker 3: will be back. I don't know that it affects our

793
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,399
Speaker 3: decision making at the position at all.

794
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,959
Speaker 2: And I think it's a pretty deep safety crew.

795
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,799
Speaker 3: And it's you know, obviously the top guys, but then

796
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,920
Speaker 3: there's maybe four or five or six guys that will

797
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 3: probably be you know, third, fourth, fifth round guys that

798
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:29,720
Speaker 3: are good players.

799
00:36:29,719 --> 00:36:30,920
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a really.

800
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:33,640
Speaker 3: Nice pool of players to pick from. I think we

801
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:35,560
Speaker 3: definitely will look at that. I think we added the

802
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,319
Speaker 3: two young guys last year. Both guys play well for

803
00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:44,759
Speaker 3: us on special teams Bowen Sinoussi. But yeah, it's a

804
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 3: it's a good group of players this year. And again

805
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 3: a position I mentioned corner, I would probably guess that

806
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:54,279
Speaker 3: of our eleven picks, at least one of those will

807
00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:54,840
Speaker 3: be a safety.

808
00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 21: Eric, you're a last four first round draft picks have

809
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:01,759
Speaker 21: made a nim pecked right away. How do you kind

810
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:03,560
Speaker 21: of look back at that track record and allow that

811
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 21: confidence to carry over year after year when drafting?

812
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,279
Speaker 3: Well, I'm never super confident. I just I always want

813
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:11,759
Speaker 3: to feel like the weight of the world is on

814
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:16,320
Speaker 3: my shoulders. You know, I started out with the greatest

815
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,920
Speaker 3: general manager of all time in Ozzie and you look

816
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,719
Speaker 3: at his first round picks every single year.

817
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:23,439
Speaker 2: I mean, it was just historic what he did.

818
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,520
Speaker 3: So I feel that pressure and I'll never live up

819
00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,600
Speaker 3: to that, but it doesn't mean I can't try. And so,

820
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 3: you know, we want to hit all our picks, not

821
00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:35,839
Speaker 3: just first round picks. I mean, I'm just as hard

822
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:38,239
Speaker 3: on myself for a fourth round pick that I might

823
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:39,359
Speaker 3: have missed and what didn't I.

824
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:40,640
Speaker 2: See and what did I see?

825
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,120
Speaker 3: Or you know, players that end up being really good

826
00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 3: that we passed on for different reasons. You know, what

827
00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:48,040
Speaker 3: didn't I see in that player? And now he's a

828
00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:51,640
Speaker 3: pro bowler and you just beat yourself up over that.

829
00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:56,719
Speaker 3: So yeah, I feel that pressure every year, and I

830
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 3: welcome it. If I didn't feel that, i'd be concerned.

831
00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 3: You know, if I didn't wake up in the middle

832
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 3: of the night come in and look at tape, I'd

833
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:05,800
Speaker 3: be waited. You know me, I'm over confident, I'm not

834
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,160
Speaker 3: working quite as hard, and I never want to get

835
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:12,120
Speaker 3: to that point. So kind I relish that feeling of like,

836
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:13,399
Speaker 3: oh man, I haven't done enough.

837
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:13,960
Speaker 2: I gotta do more.

838
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,240
Speaker 3: I got look at more tape, I talk to more people,

839
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,160
Speaker 3: you know, leaving myself notes in the middle of the

840
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:19,040
Speaker 3: nite things.

841
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:19,279
Speaker 2: To check on.

842
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,880
Speaker 3: But you know, as far as like our previous picks

843
00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:27,120
Speaker 3: that we made, that doesn't give me any any confidence

844
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:28,560
Speaker 3: that we're going to continue to do it. We just

845
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,240
Speaker 3: got to go out and do it, and I'm confident

846
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:33,279
Speaker 3: that we will at least put forth the very best

847
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:37,320
Speaker 3: effort and get all the information and check off every

848
00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:39,440
Speaker 3: box to make sure that we get to that point.

849
00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:44,200
Speaker 19: Eric, not specific to the draft, but with the departure

850
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 19: of Josh Johnson, you signed Cooper Rush. Just curious what

851
00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:50,800
Speaker 19: it was you liked about him and why you capitalize

852
00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:52,719
Speaker 19: on the opportunity to add him.

853
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:53,520
Speaker 2: Yeah.

854
00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:55,240
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, he's a guy that we've admired.

855
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:56,880
Speaker 3: I watched a lot of football, He's won a lot

856
00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:59,319
Speaker 3: of games as a backup quarterback, a cerebral guy.

857
00:38:59,360 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 2: I think he's a town.

858
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:01,960
Speaker 8: Yeah.

859
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:03,720
Speaker 3: It just was the right player for us at that point,

860
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:06,840
Speaker 3: guy that we felt like we could invest in for

861
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:09,280
Speaker 3: a couple of years. We like the way he's been playing,

862
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,200
Speaker 3: and we think he's going to really I think augment

863
00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 3: the room really well and give us a chance to win.

864
00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:16,000
Speaker 3: If something Heaven forbid ever happened on Lamar.

865
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,040
Speaker 12: Eric. I know you said an extension for Derek Henry

866
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 12: something you guys are talking about. Just curious where that's

867
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:36,560
Speaker 12: out and how that maybe impacts things, if at all,

868
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:38,959
Speaker 12: with draft plans and running backs and such.

869
00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:41,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we have a lot of different balls in

870
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:43,759
Speaker 3: the air right now. That's probably what I would say

871
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:45,120
Speaker 3: on that. You know, I'm not going to talk about

872
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:47,160
Speaker 3: what we're doing, what we're not doing behind the scenes

873
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:48,359
Speaker 3: business wise with these guys.

874
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:49,719
Speaker 2: I don't think it's good for.

875
00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:50,080
Speaker 9: Me to do that.

876
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:53,759
Speaker 3: But I would say that aside from the draft, as

877
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:55,680
Speaker 3: you all know, like we're looking at guys that are

878
00:39:55,719 --> 00:39:57,640
Speaker 3: still available free agents on the street, we're looking at

879
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:02,000
Speaker 3: resigning our own guys. You know, we were blessed to

880
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:05,120
Speaker 3: have a bunch of really good players, and we're going

881
00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:06,719
Speaker 3: to try and keep as many of those guys as

882
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:07,600
Speaker 3: we can.

883
00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 2: It's a challenge.

884
00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:11,759
Speaker 3: It's one of the curses I think of doing a

885
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:14,000
Speaker 3: pretty good job drafting is you've got all these really

886
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:16,320
Speaker 3: good players that you want to keep. Our goal is

887
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:19,359
Speaker 3: to keep every single one of them. We're working at

888
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 3: doing that, and we'll also continue.

889
00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:23,240
Speaker 2: To build a roster after the draft.

890
00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:25,840
Speaker 3: As you guys all know, we'll be looking at guys

891
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:28,399
Speaker 3: that haven't signed yet. We've had some success in that

892
00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:32,799
Speaker 3: aspect of team building the last few years, you know,

893
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:34,120
Speaker 3: and I think we'll do that as well, and there's

894
00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:36,479
Speaker 3: gonna be some really good opportunities for us to fill

895
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:37,400
Speaker 3: in some holes.

896
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:37,920
Speaker 2: After the draft.

897
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 3: I think undrafted free agency is another area. We've talked

898
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:44,120
Speaker 3: about ar Darius Right and it's a guy that was

899
00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 3: an undrafted free agent just a couple of years ago,

900
00:40:46,239 --> 00:40:48,799
Speaker 3: and we see what he brought to the table, you know,

901
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,520
Speaker 3: this year. So that's gonna be a big component as well,

902
00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:53,319
Speaker 3: and I'm really really comfortable that we'll do a great

903
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,000
Speaker 3: job with that as well.

904
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:06,719
Speaker 22: Hey, Eric, I know how important is for you to

905
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:09,520
Speaker 22: have these one oh one with the players with prospects, Well,

906
00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:11,919
Speaker 22: you don't talk about football more like personal live knowing

907
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:14,279
Speaker 22: the player. How much of an impact has been those

908
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:18,040
Speaker 22: conversations to make a decision for the draft.

909
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:21,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's important to see these guys and

910
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:23,840
Speaker 3: to meet with these guys. You know, we get a

911
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:26,920
Speaker 3: lot of information, and sometimes that information isn't quite what

912
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,880
Speaker 3: we see in an interview setting, and so just getting

913
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:33,400
Speaker 3: to know these guys, their motivations, their drivers, what's important

914
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:36,719
Speaker 3: to them, how they see themselves, their humility, emotional intelligence,

915
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 3: their competitiveness, you know, all the various things that make

916
00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 3: up who these players are. They're not just statistics or

917
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:46,960
Speaker 3: what we see on tape, and so getting to know

918
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,520
Speaker 3: these guys is critical. Now, I can also tell you this,

919
00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:54,080
Speaker 3: sometimes you can get tricked right, And there's been you know,

920
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:56,200
Speaker 3: I could write a book on players that I interviewed

921
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:57,759
Speaker 3: and would say, oh, this is a great guy, and

922
00:41:57,760 --> 00:41:59,000
Speaker 3: then now all of a sudden, you get the guy

923
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,200
Speaker 3: and you're like, oh no. And sometimes you interview a

924
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:03,399
Speaker 3: guy and maybe he's really quiet and seems almost shy

925
00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:05,920
Speaker 3: or whatever that might be, and you end up picking

926
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:07,520
Speaker 3: them and you're like, this guy's incredible.

927
00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,360
Speaker 5: So question, you know, the question is I think everybody

928
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:11,880
Speaker 5: would want to ask right now, is are you going

929
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:14,239
Speaker 5: to write the book you said you could write a

930
00:42:14,239 --> 00:42:16,400
Speaker 5: book on that When you guys love to read that book.

931
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 19: Maybe I may.

932
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,760
Speaker 3: Maybe I'll have Jerry help me, you know, my ghostwriter,

933
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:21,480
Speaker 3: Jerry Coleman.

934
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,280
Speaker 2: You've been quiet today. Jerry, you don't want to my questions.

935
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 8: He's not wrong, Eric, And you said you had a

936
00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:36,399
Speaker 8: lot of balls in the air. Fifth year Option deadlines coming,

937
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:39,239
Speaker 8: have you made you have two prominent players with that.

938
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:42,280
Speaker 8: Have you made a decision on that front.

939
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's really no updates on that front.

940
00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:46,399
Speaker 3: You know. I think the last couple of years, I've

941
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:49,440
Speaker 3: waited to announce that and handle that, and I think that's.

942
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:50,520
Speaker 2: Going to be the case again this year.

943
00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:57,400
Speaker 3: Thank you you're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast.

944
00:42:57,440 --> 00:42:59,480
Speaker 1: Also make sure you head over to the Lounge podcast

945
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 1: feed subscribe to that feed and this one as well.

946
00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:04,360
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening and we will be

947
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:06,040
Speaker 1: back with you again soon.