Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. It is Tuesday,
Speaker 1: April fifteenth, and the Ravens held their pre draft press
Speaker 1: conference today with general manager Eric Taicasa and head coach
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh. The press conference has been nicknamed the Liars
Speaker 1: Lunching over the years, but it's also a good chance
Speaker 1: to see the team's thought process going into the draft,
Speaker 1: which is right around the corner. So here's what we
Speaker 1: heard from da Costa and Harball today.
Speaker 2: Okay, so welcome everybody.
Speaker 3: Very happy to see everybody here, and one of my
Speaker 3: favorite times of the year. We just finished last week
Speaker 3: our third set of draft.
Speaker 2: Meetings with the coaches.
Speaker 3: This time, you know, we've had a little bit of
Speaker 3: a commotion around here with the construction, so we were
Speaker 3: in the sound studio, which worked out really well. So
Speaker 3: congrats to thank you to Michelle andres in her people
Speaker 3: for allowing us to use that room last week, and
Speaker 3: we're getting close.
Speaker 2: I think it was a really good set of meetings.
Speaker 3: I think the coaches did a great job helping us
Speaker 3: kind of sort through the last few rough patches of
Speaker 3: the draft board, and I think we'll be ready to
Speaker 3: go next week.
Speaker 4: Questions, especially with in free agency, it seemed like a
Speaker 4: lot of signings on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like.
Speaker 4: In the early rounds, on you know, day one, day two,
Speaker 4: do you think it could be more of a defensive
Speaker 4: heavy just because of how things panned out in free agency?
Speaker 2: A good question.
Speaker 3: I think we'll stick to the board like we typically do,
Speaker 3: you know, historically, and I know this is always a question.
Speaker 3: We've been a best available player team and we spent
Speaker 3: a lot of time. We spent eight months really building
Speaker 3: the board based on the rankings of the players and
Speaker 3: how they stack against each other, and we believe that really,
Speaker 3: if we're going to build a team, that's the best
Speaker 3: way to approach it. So, you know, I think we definitely,
Speaker 3: you know, look at the different needs of our team.
Speaker 3: We spend a lot of time talking about the roster
Speaker 3: and the players that we have, and things like contract
Speaker 3: status and all those other things that go into it,
Speaker 3: the health of our players.
Speaker 2: In the end, I think this is a.
Speaker 3: Really, really pretty good draft class with talent across the board,
Speaker 3: and as we see the players come off the board,
Speaker 3: we'll wait for a good one to fall to us.
Speaker 5: Brian, You're gonna be a charge of taking the mic
Speaker 5: around now and Plesnators might take around her.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Eric, I know you guys have always valued defensive line,
Speaker 6: But with Michael Pierce retiring and the amount of defensive
Speaker 6: line and in this draft to seemly have a lot
Speaker 6: of talent, how does that weigh into how you're looking
Speaker 6: at that position in this draft.
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's certainly a priority, and I think
Speaker 3: you're right this is a pretty a fairly deep defensive
Speaker 3: line class. You know, We've always been a team that
Speaker 3: wants to be big and strong and powerful on both
Speaker 3: sides of the line, both sides of the ball. So
Speaker 3: I think there's an opportunity for us to get better
Speaker 3: than the defensive line for sure.
Speaker 7: Elevel picks this year?
Speaker 8: Does that?
Speaker 1: Do you want to make eleven picks? Use having that
Speaker 1: many make you any more likely to package them and
Speaker 1: move up.
Speaker 2: What's what's your.
Speaker 1: View on the eleven picks and desire to use all
Speaker 1: of it?
Speaker 6: Of those?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I think if I had a crystal ball,
Speaker 3: I would answer that question. I think that we have
Speaker 3: eleven picks. I've always looked at draft picks as currency.
Speaker 3: You can either use that on a player, you can
Speaker 3: trade up, you can trade back, you can trade for
Speaker 3: future picks in future years.
Speaker 2: I think we're fortunate to be in this position.
Speaker 3: I think that as we continue to sign back our
Speaker 3: players as many as we can, our good young players,
Speaker 3: we're going to be in a situation where, you know,
Speaker 3: salary cap is critical, and so for us young talent,
Speaker 3: the influx of young players every single year competing to make,
Speaker 3: you know, make the roster, I think is really important.
Speaker 3: Now we have a good team, we feel good about
Speaker 3: our roster. It's going to be hard for eleven players
Speaker 3: to make the team out of the gates this year.
Speaker 3: I mean, if they do, would be incredible. History tells
Speaker 3: us that probably not all eleven picks are going to
Speaker 3: make the initial fifty three men roster, which is a
Speaker 3: good problem to have. It means we're a talented team.
Speaker 3: So I like having eleven picks. I think it gives
Speaker 3: us a lot of flexibility in different ways. And you know,
Speaker 3: I think that our goal would be to have extra
Speaker 3: picks every single year because it just gives us a
Speaker 3: chance to continually develop young players. And I think we
Speaker 3: do that as good as any team in the league.
Speaker 9: Eric.
Speaker 10: Obviously, you have some really key pieces of your offensive
Speaker 10: line back and including Roger who developed really fast last year.
Speaker 10: With how the offensive line did as you sort of projected,
Speaker 10: took some lumps early, then you know, really gelled together.
Speaker 10: Does that give you confidence that you can kind of
Speaker 10: repeat that process and if need be in certain rookies
Speaker 10: in some of those open spots at guard this year.
Speaker 3: Yet, well, I mean, I think I saw a stat
Speaker 3: the other day that I think we're allocating less salary
Speaker 3: cap this year to the offensive line than any other
Speaker 3: team in the league. And that tells me that we
Speaker 3: have some good young players who are playing well. They're
Speaker 3: on their rookie contracts. I've got a lot of faith
Speaker 3: in those guys. I've got a lot of faith in
Speaker 3: coach Warhop to develop and a lot of you know,
Speaker 3: faith in our strength and conditioning program too that we
Speaker 3: bring in these younger offensive linemen and typically we see
Speaker 3: that they get better over time. I think it's a good,
Speaker 3: strong offensive line class this year across the board, a
Speaker 3: really really good group of tackles and guards as well,
Speaker 3: And so you know, I think anytime you have a
Speaker 3: chance to draft an offensive lineman that you think can
Speaker 3: be a really good player, you should do that. Especially
Speaker 3: the way we play football, you know, because we're a
Speaker 3: team that prides itself. I'm running the bomb, being physical,
Speaker 3: knocking people off the ball, controlling the clock, protecting the quarterback,
Speaker 3: all those different things, and so I think that's gonna
Speaker 3: be critical.
Speaker 9: Eric.
Speaker 11: Last year, along the same lines, you mentioned that you
Speaker 11: guys were committing to building the line offensive line through
Speaker 11: the draft. Just curious what made Ronnie Stanley the exception?
Speaker 11: What was it about his season that made you decide
Speaker 11: to bring him back instead of going with young players.
Speaker 3: Well, left tackles don't grow on trees, you know. First
Speaker 3: of all, Ronnie had a great season. I think he
Speaker 3: had one of his best years last year. He's really
Speaker 3: i think grown in to being one of the leaders
Speaker 3: of our team. And just looking out at the draft
Speaker 3: in free agency, we just didn't really see a lot
Speaker 3: of guys that we felt were better than him. And
Speaker 3: my experience with the draft, when you're picking it in
Speaker 3: the twenties, in the late twenties, it's very.
Speaker 2: Hard to get left tackles.
Speaker 3: Those guys fly off the board, and so you think
Speaker 3: you have a chance, and then what you realize as
Speaker 3: you're picking twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, the five tackles,
Speaker 3: and all five tackles get.
Speaker 2: Picked before picked twenty.
Speaker 3: And so for us making that investment in Ronnie, knowing
Speaker 3: him as a person, you know, his ability as a
Speaker 3: left tackle to protect the quarterback and be a round
Speaker 3: blocker and be a leader up on the offensive line,
Speaker 3: I think was important.
Speaker 8: You guys lost many guys off the draft board character
Speaker 8: and medical.
Speaker 2: You know, we always lose some guys.
Speaker 3: You know, it's probably a number if I had to
Speaker 3: just guesstimate somewhere between ten and fifteen guys total that
Speaker 3: fail or physical or have some other other flags that
Speaker 3: would prohibit prohibit them from being on the team.
Speaker 2: So it happens every year.
Speaker 3: It's it's one of the one of the one of
Speaker 3: the tough parts of being at the combine is waking
Speaker 3: up in the morning and seeing the injury list under
Speaker 3: my door and then going through that and looking at
Speaker 3: all the players that we like and seeing some guys
Speaker 3: are failed the physicals and have been you know, flagged
Speaker 3: for different medical conditions, and you know, that's just unfortunately
Speaker 3: one of the hard parts of this job, and it
Speaker 3: happens every single year. In fact, you know, John come
Speaker 3: down and say I love this guy and I'll go, ah,
Speaker 3: he failed as physical and so it does happen. It's
Speaker 3: a tough part of this business. We play a very
Speaker 3: physical sport and durability matters.
Speaker 12: Eric when it when it comes to best player available,
Speaker 12: particularly early round. Just curious, how do you separate when
Speaker 12: you've got say, player X, you know, is maybe the
Speaker 12: best player available, and then player Y maybe grades a
Speaker 12: little bit lower, but is in a position of greater
Speaker 12: need perhaps, how do you kind of differentiate and then
Speaker 12: get to that decision.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, so that's you know, that's the art
Speaker 3: of it. And if you just imagine like a bunch
Speaker 3: of different buckets, and each bucket has a different grade,
Speaker 3: and you know, you have these players that are all
Speaker 3: kind of in the different buckets. So you have the
Speaker 3: A bucket, the B bucket, the C bucket, the D bucket.
Speaker 3: You got two players in the A bucket, they're very close,
Speaker 3: ones at a neat position, ones not in a neat position.
Speaker 3: We're probably going to take the neat position. What we're
Speaker 3: not going to do is take the need position in
Speaker 3: the B bucket over the best player available in the
Speaker 3: A bucket. If that's the case. So if they're very close.
Speaker 3: We're going to defer to the roster and other factors
Speaker 3: as well, durability to all the other off the field
Speaker 3: in tangible type stuff, but we're not going to jump players.
Speaker 3: We're not going to take a player that's in the
Speaker 3: lower bucket and jump him over a player in a
Speaker 3: higher bucket.
Speaker 13: Eric, maybe last year you talked to us about how
Speaker 13: the changing landscape of college athletics, the nil money players
Speaker 13: were staying in school longer, the draft classes were getting
Speaker 13: a little bit older. Are you sensing that? And the
Speaker 13: other question I have related to that is with the
Speaker 13: portal and you know, hundreds of players changing teams every year,
Speaker 13: how much harder is it to evaluate a player when
Speaker 13: they've maybe been at a two or three schools as
Speaker 13: opposed to have been in one system for four years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot there to answer.
Speaker 3: I do think that this will be the last class
Speaker 3: of players that are significantly older, in some cases partly
Speaker 3: because of COVID. So we've got some guys in this
Speaker 3: draft that are twenty six years old, twenty five or
Speaker 3: twenty six that was almost unheard of, Like six or
Speaker 3: seven years ago, we didn't see that. So that's going
Speaker 3: to start to change because the rules are now going
Speaker 3: back to what they used to be. Guys didn't get
Speaker 3: all the extra years, as far as nil goes in
Speaker 3: the portal and all those different things. I think it
Speaker 3: really depends you've got to have really good scouts. You've
Speaker 3: got to have scouts that are well connected to have
Speaker 3: contacts that can network across the different colleges to get information.
Speaker 3: In some ways, if you have really good scouts, you
Speaker 3: have an opportunity because you can.
Speaker 2: Trace back that player to the other schools that.
Speaker 3: He's been at and you can acquire more information, in
Speaker 3: some cases very different information. So if you get a
Speaker 3: guy that's been at three schools, you'd be amazed that
Speaker 3: the amount of information you can get, but in some
Speaker 3: cases how different the information might be from.
Speaker 2: School A, school B and school CEE.
Speaker 3: So I think it really goes back to just, you know,
Speaker 3: having the best area of scouts and training those guys
Speaker 3: to get the information, and then building it out and
Speaker 3: processing that information, and then using your coaches, who are
Speaker 3: another resource for us because they have all these contacts.
Speaker 3: It's goools as well to use our coaches to then
Speaker 3: contact their comrades at different schools to get information so
Speaker 3: that we have a real clear picture of who that
Speaker 3: player might be.
Speaker 14: Eric from a scouting front office perspective, how would you
Speaker 14: evaluate a two way player in the draft? And then
Speaker 14: also John from a coaching perspective, what would the sort
Speaker 14: of feasibility be or maybe some of the obstacles would be
Speaker 14: for to try to get like a true two way
Speaker 14: player on ANFL roster, particularly like the mid you know,
Speaker 14: during the week meeting kind of perspective.
Speaker 3: Well, I think for us, we haven't had many two
Speaker 3: way players, and so that's the first thing.
Speaker 2: The second thing is.
Speaker 3: In most cases, well, I mean in this particular case,
Speaker 3: I think if we're talking about the galley Travis Hunter,
Speaker 3: we would probably want to put him at one position.
Speaker 3: So our discussions have really been if he shows up
Speaker 3: here day one, if we ever were fortunate enough to
Speaker 3: have a player like him, which you know, if you're
Speaker 3: going to have a player like him, you're probably pick
Speaker 3: in top five, so that it's not something that we
Speaker 3: ever really want to do. So, but if you have
Speaker 3: a player like him, where's he going to be on
Speaker 3: the draft board?
Speaker 2: What do we think is best position is going to be?
Speaker 2: Day one? If he's going to come in and start,
Speaker 2: which as a rookie high pick you hope he does.
Speaker 2: Where are we going to put him? And so that's
Speaker 2: how we would approach it.
Speaker 3: We would you know, talk about his skills, but then
Speaker 3: really try to figure out, like where's he going to
Speaker 3: play most of his football day one?
Speaker 5: All right, that's a great point. I mean, it's going
Speaker 5: to be interesting to see how they do it wherever
Speaker 5: he goes. But to say that you're going to be
Speaker 5: completely immersed in everything that there is a known offense
Speaker 5: and everything there is a known defense. I don't know
Speaker 5: if there's enough hours in the day for a player
Speaker 5: to be able to do that and to have every
Speaker 5: detailed lockdown, but you certainly can do it. I would
Speaker 5: think on one side of the ball and then have
Speaker 5: some sort of a package on the other side of
Speaker 5: the ball. Which is my guess is how the team
Speaker 5: will do it wherever he goes. But I assume we'll
Speaker 5: be playing against him, so we're about to find out
Speaker 5: how that team does it.
Speaker 15: Eric The consensus from you know, the draft knicks seems
Speaker 15: to be that this class is light on high end talent.
Speaker 15: If you're comfortable sharing like about how many guys, do
Speaker 15: you guys have first round grades on And if it's
Speaker 15: not an amount that's like, you know, feasible to get
Speaker 15: one at twenty seven, how does that kind of change
Speaker 15: your approach there late in the first round.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the way that I look at the draft
Speaker 3: is you've you know, you've got on day one, right,
Speaker 3: the first day of the draft is going to be
Speaker 3: thirty two picks, So you've got to have thirty two
Speaker 3: players that you would take in the first round. And
Speaker 3: so I always answer the question, like, you know, I mean,
Speaker 3: it's it's we have thirty two players in the first round.
Speaker 2: You have to have at least thirty two to pick. Now.
Speaker 3: Is it the situation where maybe the totality of all
Speaker 3: these players in the first round might not be as
Speaker 3: talented as another year. You know, maybe that's the case.
Speaker 3: But I see a lot of opportunity in this draft class.
Speaker 3: Really in the middle rounds, I see more players, I
Speaker 3: see more draftable players. We have two hundred and seventeen
Speaker 3: players right now on the front board, and there have
Speaker 3: been years where we've had a hard time getting to one,
Speaker 3: sixty one, sixty five. So there's a lot of draftable
Speaker 3: players that means that the mid rounds are going to
Speaker 3: be really good. And also I think undrafted free agency
Speaker 3: should have a chance to be really really good for us.
Speaker 3: But I really think that if you're going to have
Speaker 3: eleven picks, this is a year that reminds me a
Speaker 3: little bit of twenty twenty two. From the standpoint of.
Speaker 2: The depth of the draft.
Speaker 3: Really across the middle rounds, the third, fourth, fifth, sixth rounds.
Speaker 2: I think it will be pretty good.
Speaker 3: We see a lot of talent in that range, so
Speaker 3: that's an opportunity for us to get better as a team.
Speaker 8: Eric, how would you evaluate where you guys are at
Speaker 8: edge rusher and just the options you could have. Do
Speaker 8: you view this as a particularly strong edge rush draft class?
Speaker 2: Well, I do.
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: Think it's a good draft class now.
Speaker 3: Also, if I'm not mistaken, we've we got our entire
Speaker 3: outside linebacker corep coming back this year.
Speaker 2: So that's a.
Speaker 3: Great situation for us because we didn't lose anybody, and
Speaker 3: so from that standpoint, I think it's good.
Speaker 13: Now.
Speaker 3: Again, there are some really talented guys in this draft class,
Speaker 3: and you know, there are guys that we'll be looking
Speaker 3: at as first round guys, second round guys, third guys,
Speaker 3: fourth round guys we think could come in and compete
Speaker 3: to really play right away or develop and become really
Speaker 3: good players. So that's exciting for us. I think that
Speaker 3: if you're looking at the offensive line, the defensive line,
Speaker 3: and the you know, outside linebackers as a whole, I
Speaker 3: would say that three of the strongest positions in this
Speaker 3: draft class.
Speaker 16: Eric, You're obviously in a pretty unique position with your
Speaker 16: tight end group, which is one of the best groups
Speaker 16: on the roster, but also everyone's on an expiring contract
Speaker 16: going into this year. How do you consider that way
Speaker 16: that with understanding the draft is also not just about
Speaker 16: twenty twenty five but the next couple of years. I mean,
Speaker 16: is it plausible that you add a tight end even
Speaker 16: if that could, you know, on paper, create quite a
Speaker 16: roster crunch.
Speaker 2: I just think it depends on the player. Like there
Speaker 2: are some really good players in this.
Speaker 3: Same could be said about the running back position as well,
Speaker 3: and we've talked about that, you know, we talk about
Speaker 3: these things all the time, and.
Speaker 2: The reality of it is is if there's like.
Speaker 3: A tight end that we think is a blue chip
Speaker 3: tight end to a running back that we think is
Speaker 3: a blue chip running back. We're gonna take them just
Speaker 3: because they're important and if the talent is such that
Speaker 3: we think this guy can impact our team at some point.
Speaker 3: We can't just eliminate positions because we're strong in the
Speaker 3: short term. We talk about needs, and we've seen you
Speaker 3: guys have all seen you've covered the team for a
Speaker 3: long time.
Speaker 2: Needs can change in one.
Speaker 3: Week, right, We've had some years where we had a
Speaker 3: strong running back room. Next thing, you know, like it's
Speaker 3: a Friday afternoon and we're calling every agent in the
Speaker 3: league because we need running backs because we just had
Speaker 3: three catastrophic injuries and spend the seven days so that
Speaker 3: could happen.
Speaker 2: And so I mean, yeah, it's just a reality.
Speaker 3: It's just the reality of our business. Injuries happen, needs change,
Speaker 3: and so for us, we're just gonna keep an open mind,
Speaker 3: and if the guy is so good that we have
Speaker 3: to take him, we're gonna take him.
Speaker 7: Eric, going back to the past, Russia, we've seen you
Speaker 7: guys take I don't want to say chances, but you've
Speaker 7: drafted guys that haven't necessarily had great stats in their
Speaker 7: final you I think of like a Dafeo Way coming
Speaker 7: out with no sax he just had his first double
Speaker 7: digit SAX season this year. How do you go about,
Speaker 7: you know, wearing the options between a guy like that
Speaker 7: who probably has the measurables and the potential, between another
Speaker 7: guy who does have that the production at least steady
Speaker 7: production on the back end of their collegiate career.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just think it's it's a it's a cocktail,
Speaker 3: it's a recipe, and you take everything into account. It's
Speaker 3: not just production, it's not just trades, it's not just
Speaker 3: combine workouts. It's not just the intangibles. It's not the size,
Speaker 3: it's it's not just the durability. It's really everything, and
Speaker 3: you layer that in and you try to get the
Speaker 3: full depth of who that player might be. And and
Speaker 3: so I you know, I'm a big fan of production.
Speaker 3: You know, I talk about it production all the time.
Speaker 3: I think production speaks to consistency and doing.
Speaker 2: It over and over again.
Speaker 3: It's hard to be productive if you're not playing all
Speaker 3: the time, if you're not in a field all the time,
Speaker 3: if you're not playing hard all the time.
Speaker 2: However, there are.
Speaker 3: Some really good players that for whatever reason, might not
Speaker 3: be productive. For instance, a corner who's so good he
Speaker 3: isn't get targeted, or a pass rusher who gets double
Speaker 3: teamed every single play. So you know, production can be
Speaker 3: a little bit misleading at times. That being the case,
Speaker 3: we want productive guys. We want tough guys, fast guys,
Speaker 3: big guys, smart guys.
Speaker 2: Durable guys.
Speaker 3: It's the totality of all that stuff that we look
Speaker 3: at when we build out our draft board.
Speaker 17: I don't believe that in the history of the Ravens
Speaker 17: you guys have ever drafted a kicker. I guess it's
Speaker 17: a pertinent question now in light of what's going on
Speaker 17: with Justin, But would you consider is it worth drafting
Speaker 17: a kicker? Using a draft pick on a kicker.
Speaker 2: Is it worth it? I think it's worth it, sure.
Speaker 2: I mean there's been some great.
Speaker 3: Kickers drafted, and we've drafted a couple punters.
Speaker 2: But it's worth it if you have the right kicker.
Speaker 3: It just depends on the board, it depends on the player,
Speaker 3: it depends who's there, it depends on how you coaches
Speaker 3: see them, you know. And also it should be said
Speaker 3: that some of the greatest kickers of all time weren't
Speaker 3: drafted right.
Speaker 2: So it's no like blueprint for finding a kicker, except
Speaker 2: you've got to be able to evaluate the kicker.
Speaker 3: And I think Randy Brown does a phenomenal job of
Speaker 3: evaluating kickers, and we have a lot of other really
Speaker 3: good coaches to do a great job of evaluating talent
Speaker 3: along with our scouts, And so is it worth it?
Speaker 3: I think it probably is if the right guy's there. However,
Speaker 3: you don't have to draft a kicker. You don't have
Speaker 3: to draft au pun, you don't have to draft a
Speaker 3: running backer a linebacker for those guys to be great players.
Speaker 2: We've seen that over and over again.
Speaker 18: Yeah, y're kind of just following up on that, But
Speaker 18: I mean, because of the uncertainty around you know, justin
Speaker 18: do you you expect to draft a kicker at all?
Speaker 18: I mean, is that a you know, a thought process
Speaker 18: with how many picks you have on Day three?
Speaker 3: I never have any expectations because you don't know how
Speaker 3: the thing's gonna unfold again. You know, it's just we're
Speaker 3: gonna be on the clock and we're gonna draft the
Speaker 3: best available player at every spot for us as a club.
Speaker 3: Never want to pigeonhole myself into doing this or that,
Speaker 3: because when I do that, I usually end up being disappointed,
Speaker 3: you create a false expectation in your mind and you
Speaker 3: start to think about needs and other things. And I
Speaker 3: like to go into that draft just like a wide
Speaker 3: open highway with no cars on the road, and I
Speaker 3: can drive as fast as I want, straight down the road,
Speaker 3: unencumbered and not worry about just driving, turn the music up,
Speaker 3: and just draft and pick the best players.
Speaker 19: Eric, knowing your vision going into this draft, will you
Speaker 19: get to the other side, What are some of the
Speaker 19: measures of success for you to where you can look
Speaker 19: back and say we accomplished what we want to accomplish.
Speaker 3: I just really just I just focus on wins and
Speaker 3: losses and our season.
Speaker 2: You know, it's so hard.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you have you have an impression that you had
Speaker 3: a great draft class, and maybe it wasn't. And maybe
Speaker 3: sometimes you think, I don't know, it wasn't the easiest year.
Speaker 3: And you have, you know, guys emerging they end up
Speaker 3: being great players in the end. I think what we
Speaker 3: all aspire to is just winning a championship. And so
Speaker 3: that's my goal and my dream and what I'm aiming for.
Speaker 3: And so that just starts winning our first game, and
Speaker 3: then winning our second game, and then winning the division,
Speaker 3: getting a home field, you know, advantage if we can,
Speaker 3: and then winning the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: If we do that, it'll be a success.
Speaker 12: Eric, Eric, and or John. Have you talked to Lamar
Speaker 12: in terms of his list of draft picks or guys
Speaker 12: that he's looked at and what's the conversation I guess
Speaker 12: been with him this offseason?
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, Lamar and I have texted a little bit.
Speaker 3: We had a conversation. We didn't get into any specific players.
Speaker 3: We just we talked a little bit about the roster
Speaker 3: and just what he's up to and you know, his
Speaker 3: vision and his you know, excitement for the season and
Speaker 3: all that stuff that goes into it.
Speaker 2: But other than that, I.
Speaker 3: Think I just probably keep the conversations private.
Speaker 5: I haven't talked about specific prospects yet.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 10: For Eric, you know, especially with Malik and Chris Bord,
Speaker 10: you guys have lost some guys who really had value
Speaker 10: on special teams, including your defense. When you look at prospects,
Speaker 10: how much does their ability to influence that phase of
Speaker 10: the game, which is obviously very valued here kind of
Speaker 10: factor into kind of bumping them up or down? And
Speaker 10: John sort of what is your confidence that do you
Speaker 10: need guys in this draft who they've shown talent on
Speaker 10: special teams, or do you feel like your coaching staff
Speaker 10: has the ability to make anyone a great special teams player.
Speaker 3: Well, when you have a head coach who's one of
Speaker 3: the great special teams coaches in the NFL at one point,
Speaker 3: you spend a lot of time asking them about special teams.
Speaker 3: And I really think our scouts do a great job
Speaker 3: of that. I mean I could literally ask any scout
Speaker 3: at any time, what's this guy doing special teams and
Speaker 3: they will go back to twenty twenty and tell me.
Speaker 2: Exactly what he did.
Speaker 3: And it wasn't always that way, but I could literally say, hey, Chess,
Speaker 3: tell me about this guy at Oklahoma State and special
Speaker 3: teams and he would say, oh, in twenty twenty, eerk,
Speaker 3: he was the left wing and this and that, or
Speaker 3: he was a personal protract on the punt team and
Speaker 3: he did this and he did that, and then we
Speaker 3: got you know, Chris Horton and Anthony Levine. Those guys
Speaker 3: will bring their perspective as coaches, and we do it
Speaker 3: with every single player at a certain level and at
Speaker 3: certain positions. We talk about special teams and it is
Speaker 3: a big thing, and it is the thing that can
Speaker 3: swear a guy from one bucket to the next again,
Speaker 3: because if a guy's you know, if he's in this,
Speaker 3: I'll just use the bee.
Speaker 2: If he's in the.
Speaker 3: Bees at the top of the bees and he's a
Speaker 3: really good Special Teams player, maybe he makes it to
Speaker 3: the bottom of the a's it's just that enough that
Speaker 3: alone can push him up a little bit. And maybe
Speaker 3: that's around, maybe that's half around, whatever it is, but
Speaker 3: that's a big deal for us.
Speaker 5: I mean, just to echo what Eric's saying, I think
Speaker 5: our scouts and Chris and his staff do a great job.
Speaker 5: Because last week we're having our meetings, that came up
Speaker 5: on pretty much every guy that would be a special
Speaker 5: Teams type player. And it wasn't just what they've done
Speaker 5: on Special teams, it's also what kind of traits do
Speaker 5: they bring to the table. You know, type of player
Speaker 5: sometimes translates to a special Teams player, big along, a long,
Speaker 5: fast corner that can get out and run, who's tough,
Speaker 5: maybe can be a gunner for you. So you try
Speaker 5: to project those guys in those positions and then building
Speaker 5: special teams. You know, it's important to have a good
Speaker 5: group of young, hungry guys, but you also want to
Speaker 5: have some veteran players and that know how to play.
Speaker 5: So like bringing back a Tyland Wallace who also gives
Speaker 5: us value as a wide receiver, but can give us
Speaker 5: values a special teams guy. Some of these young developing
Speaker 5: guys that we had maybe second year guys this year,
Speaker 5: third year guys this year, they become your veterans on
Speaker 5: special teams, you know, and they've got to carry that
Speaker 5: mantle from a leadership production standpoints. So those roles are
Speaker 5: really important. I learned that from Coach Belichick probably more
Speaker 5: than anybody. But when you put your team together, there's
Speaker 5: a lot of specific roles that you've got to try
Speaker 5: to find the right fits for to build your team,
Speaker 5: and those special team's roles are a big part of that.
Speaker 20: Eric as you as it's changed over the years in
Speaker 20: terms of player movement and transferring, I think it used
Speaker 20: to be kind of looking a guy transferred once or
Speaker 20: twice I might be a red flag because you're not
Speaker 20: fighting through to try and win a job or whatever,
Speaker 20: looking for green or grass. But with so much player
Speaker 20: moving mount now have you had to change the way
Speaker 20: that factors in to your evaluation.
Speaker 3: I think it just it's it's become more complicated for
Speaker 3: the scouts to get more information because we do want
Speaker 3: to talk to people that might know this player from
Speaker 3: the other locations. For me, it's just really watching the tape.
Speaker 3: It's the same, you know, we just watch the tape.
Speaker 3: Get in and watch the tape, and maybe if you
Speaker 3: go back and look at him at the other school,
Speaker 3: you can do that as well. In some cases it
Speaker 3: is it is helpful because you might see a player
Speaker 3: that transferred to a big school from a small school, right,
Speaker 3: and so you can see how that guy played at
Speaker 3: a smaller school versus how he's planning now at a
Speaker 3: bigger school. It provides a different perspective on the player.
Speaker 3: But I think just generally speaking again I said this,
Speaker 3: but if you if you have good scouts, it gives
Speaker 3: you the opportunity to get more information because you have
Speaker 3: more people to talk to about these players. So from
Speaker 3: that standpoint, it can be very valuable.
Speaker 2: For Eric.
Speaker 21: The last couple of years, you know, you've had first
Speaker 21: round guys be able to contribute.
Speaker 2: You know, right away, just when you're looking.
Speaker 21: At guys and evaluating are the characteristics that you look
Speaker 21: for in guys when you're giving them that first round
Speaker 21: grade that tells you that they will be able to
Speaker 21: come here and contribute right away.
Speaker 3: Well, they got to be talented, you know. I mean
Speaker 3: this is a this is a business where talent wins,
Speaker 3: and they've got to be talented. They've got to have
Speaker 3: a unique skill set. They've got I have the traits
Speaker 3: that would indicate that they can play at our level
Speaker 3: of football first and foremost, and then I think confidence, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, uh, just dependability, you know, practicing hard competitive players.
Speaker 3: Durability is a big deal, especially for guys that play.
Speaker 3: I mean, you want to talk about rookies that have
Speaker 3: a hard time playing, it's usually in some way tied
Speaker 3: to injuries during that rookie season. So I think durability
Speaker 3: is a really big deal too in that regard. And
Speaker 3: then just ability to learn the game. You know, it's
Speaker 3: a different scheme and a lot of in a lot
Speaker 3: of cases it's totally different terminology. And then just being
Speaker 3: able to overcome the grind. It's a long season. The
Speaker 3: NFL is a long season. These guys are professional athletes
Speaker 3: to hear every single day for I don't know how
Speaker 3: many hours, John, how many hours, eight hours a day. Yeah, So,
Speaker 3: I mean it's a it's a it's a it's a grind,
Speaker 3: and they've got to be able to handle that mental
Speaker 3: hurdle as well.
Speaker 8: Eric asked John about this at the owners meetings. But
Speaker 8: you have made trades before with veteran players during the draft.
Speaker 8: Do you fully expect There's been a lot of speculations
Speaker 8: about Mark Andrews' future in Baltimore. Do you fully expect
Speaker 8: him to remain with the team and is he a
Speaker 8: big part of what you plan on doing this year?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 3: Man, I never know what's going to happen, Jeff, and
Speaker 3: I would never want to say this with that, you know,
Speaker 3: But I can tell you this, Mark Andrews is a
Speaker 3: warrior and he's played his butt off for us, and
Speaker 3: his competitiveness, his talent, his attitude, his leadership is so
Speaker 3: valued here and he's a great player.
Speaker 2: And I think.
Speaker 3: We're in the business of keeping as many great players
Speaker 3: as we can. So there's always a lot of unpredictability
Speaker 3: with the draft.
Speaker 2: You just never know.
Speaker 3: I don't think we've traded many of our own players.
Speaker 3: I don't know have we ever made a trade during
Speaker 3: the draft where we traded one of our players well,
Speaker 3: that wasn't during the draft. Well, I mean I had
Speaker 3: done that draft. I had done that trade before the draft.
Speaker 3: You guys didn't know.
Speaker 2: Before the day before I had.
Speaker 8: I had done that.
Speaker 2: I did that on a Monday, actually, the Monday or
Speaker 2: the draft.
Speaker 5: I knew. I knew that was coming.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that wasn't during the That wasn't actually during the draft.
Speaker 5: If we had one during the draft.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was announced in the draft. It was. That
Speaker 2: was strategic though.
Speaker 3: We didn't want announce it beforehand, just in case because
Speaker 3: the team might think we would want a receiver, so
Speaker 3: we kept it as quiet as we could. But I
Speaker 3: don't think we've ever traded one of our players. We've
Speaker 3: traded four players during the draft. I know we did
Speaker 3: Kevin Johnson way back when for a fourth round pick,
Speaker 3: But I don't know that we've ever traded one of
Speaker 3: our own players.
Speaker 2: You should know that, Jameson, I don't think. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: just because I brought him up.
Speaker 1: Just now, it came to me, how big of a
Speaker 1: need do you view a cornerback? Obviously you took Nate
Speaker 1: Wagans last year and always want to restock that position
Speaker 1: at a cheeto and free agency Stevens Less. How big
Speaker 1: of a need is corner in your mind?
Speaker 3: It's always a big need. Every single year. You could
Speaker 3: ask thirty one other teams.
Speaker 2: It all says the same thing. Corner is critical important position.
Speaker 3: They break down, you know, they're like bugattis and they
Speaker 3: just break down, and you've got to have them in
Speaker 3: reserve because that can go from being a positional strength
Speaker 3: to being something that you know. I remember, it's a
Speaker 3: long story. Some won't tell it, but two thousand and seven,
Speaker 3: we played the Steelers on a Monday night and I
Speaker 3: was flying out to USC and UCLA and we took
Speaker 3: off and the game hadn't started yet, and when we landed,
Speaker 3: it was like twenty four to nothing in the first
Speaker 3: quarter against the Steelers. And if you look at our
Speaker 3: corners that game. Not to be smirched anyone, but they
Speaker 3: were all guys that were playing because other guys got hurt.
Speaker 2: And that's just an incredibly important position. So that's always
Speaker 2: going to be a need for us.
Speaker 3: Doesn't even going to take a guy in the first round,
Speaker 3: but I feel pretty sure that we'll take at least
Speaker 3: one corner.
Speaker 2: Draft John, how has your.
Speaker 7: I guess responsibilities changed since you came here in terms
Speaker 7: of the draft, I mean, first under Ozzie and now
Speaker 7: and then Eric, I.
Speaker 5: Would say, see if Eric agrees with this, But I
Speaker 5: would say it really hasn't changed at all. I think
Speaker 5: we've had kind of this consistent format and Ozzie and Eric,
Speaker 5: you know, we're gracious enough to you know, allow a
Speaker 5: young coach to come in and have input, you know,
Speaker 5: and have a have a say, you know, and be
Speaker 5: a part of it and be a partner.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 5: And then we've got the same format now, you know,
Speaker 5: and probably you know, eighteen drafts later, we've got even
Speaker 5: well obviously the trust has been built over the years,
Speaker 5: and then you know, the shared understanding the vision of
Speaker 5: kind of what we want to build. I think we've
Speaker 5: kind of grown together on that where it's like in
Speaker 5: my front yard, I got these two or three trees
Speaker 5: that kind of grew together and they're all like one
Speaker 5: trunk right now. I feel like that's how we kind
Speaker 5: of look at things in terms of, you know, building
Speaker 5: our team with the draft.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would just say that, you know, not all
Speaker 3: teams do it this way, and you know, I'm proud
Speaker 3: I started out as a young guy in nineteen ninety
Speaker 3: six with coach Marchibroda and Ozzy and just watching the.
Speaker 2: Way that they work together, just that light bulb goes off.
Speaker 2: This is the way it's supposed to be. When you
Speaker 2: have your coaches and.
Speaker 3: Your scouts aligned working together on a massive project like this,
Speaker 3: you've got ownership across the board. And I think anytime
Speaker 3: you can build that, I think you really have something.
Speaker 5: I mean, if we're talking about that, you know, in
Speaker 5: terms of an advantage that we have, it goes back
Speaker 5: to nineteen ninety six, I would say probably when you
Speaker 5: were here, so you saw it from the beginning with
Speaker 5: coach Marcha Broden with Ozzy and what's kind of taking
Speaker 5: place ever since. But coaches come in here and they'll
Speaker 5: watch our draft process and they're kind of blown away
Speaker 5: by the fact that it's just so merged together, and
Speaker 5: the scouts do the work, they do the they do
Speaker 5: ninety plus ninety five plus percent of the work and
Speaker 5: lay the whole thing out. Then the coaches can kind
Speaker 5: of come in and overlay a perspective that is taken
Speaker 5: seriously and accounted for, you know, and then you know,
Speaker 5: we don't spend much time anymore having conversations about you know,
Speaker 5: what kind of a player do we want or what
Speaker 5: kind of a what kind of traits we're looking for?
Speaker 5: These kind of things are almost unspoken, and even the
Speaker 5: new coaches they kind of like fall right in, don't
Speaker 5: you think they just fall right in with this process?
Speaker 5: And guys will say, man, it's just not like this everywhere,
Speaker 5: so it's hard to describe it. But I think when
Speaker 5: you're in it, for me, it's just the way it
Speaker 5: would be the only way it is. You know that.
Speaker 5: I couldn't see it being done any differently. But it
Speaker 5: goes back to Ozzy and Eric all the way back
Speaker 5: to the beginning.
Speaker 9: John's sort of along those lines. As a coach, once
Speaker 9: you first get those players in from the draft, those
Speaker 9: however many picks in here, finally seeing them in purple
Speaker 9: and black, what are some of the things that excite
Speaker 9: you about seeing their talents and how they're going to
Speaker 9: fit into this team eventually?
Speaker 5: Well, you want to see what you thought you were
Speaker 5: going to see. You want to see a guy that's talented,
Speaker 5: like Eric said, but you hate to bring a guy
Speaker 5: in and go, man, I don't think this this is
Speaker 5: I've heard stories and I've heard stories in recruiting. Maybe
Speaker 5: it's happened in the NFL, but yeah, it has happened
Speaker 5: where you know you'd get a guy and you guy,
Speaker 5: this cannot be the same guy I watched on tape.
Speaker 5: You know, like a like there was an impostor there's
Speaker 5: an impostor that was brought in here in college and
Speaker 5: you don't want to see that. We really haven't seen that,
Speaker 5: but I've seen it. Yeah, you have seen it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's been a few well no, I'm not going
Speaker 3: to mention the players. So this is a few times
Speaker 3: over the years.
Speaker 2: Where we.
Speaker 3: Liked the guy and then we drafted him, and then
Speaker 3: he showed up day one and we were just like,
Speaker 3: oh my gosh. I mean, it happens right off any
Speaker 3: you probably happened to you. I mean, it just happens,
Speaker 3: right you just you just what you think you saw,
Speaker 3: you didn't see, and you shows up and you're like, man,
Speaker 3: I thought this guy was a better athlete. I thought
Speaker 3: this guy was faster, I thought this guy was whatever.
Speaker 3: And next thing you know, they're on your practice squad
Speaker 3: or they're on somebody else's practice squad.
Speaker 10: Eric, you guys went through multiple returners in particular, at
Speaker 10: punt returner last year.
Speaker 21: Are you hoping to come out of this draft with
Speaker 21: someone with returnability?
Speaker 2: It'd be nice, it'd be nice. It'd be nice.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think I think we've done a good
Speaker 3: job of sizing that up. And I think, you know, again,
Speaker 3: Chris Horton does an awesome job. I mean, our scouts evaluate,
Speaker 3: but it's based on the area that they scout or
Speaker 3: the position maybe that they scout. Chris really does a
Speaker 3: great job of taking all the returners in ranking the
Speaker 3: returners from first to worst, and so that's a big
Speaker 3: part of it. I think we have some guys that
Speaker 3: can do it. So we've got a floor, but we
Speaker 3: want a high ceiling. That's what we want, and we're
Speaker 3: gonna try to find that guy.
Speaker 9: Eric.
Speaker 15: I think we're just a couple of days away from
Speaker 15: our Darius is deadline to sign offersheets. If he's gotten those,
Speaker 15: I guess, how confident are you and him returning? And
Speaker 15: if you do, guys get that done, how's a felt
Speaker 15: maybe what you want to do in the draft so
Speaker 15: you can put him in the best position as well
Speaker 15: as well as Kyle next year.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm confident, you know, fairly confident that our Darius
Speaker 3: will be back. I don't know that it affects our
Speaker 3: decision making at the position at all.
Speaker 2: And I think it's a pretty deep safety crew.
Speaker 3: And it's you know, obviously the top guys, but then
Speaker 3: there's maybe four or five or six guys that will
Speaker 3: probably be you know, third, fourth, fifth round guys that
Speaker 3: are good players.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a really.
Speaker 3: Nice pool of players to pick from. I think we
Speaker 3: definitely will look at that. I think we added the
Speaker 3: two young guys last year. Both guys play well for
Speaker 3: us on special teams Bowen Sinoussi. But yeah, it's a
Speaker 3: it's a good group of players this year. And again
Speaker 3: a position I mentioned corner, I would probably guess that
Speaker 3: of our eleven picks, at least one of those will
Speaker 3: be a safety.
Speaker 21: Eric, you're a last four first round draft picks have
Speaker 21: made a nim pecked right away. How do you kind
Speaker 21: of look back at that track record and allow that
Speaker 21: confidence to carry over year after year when drafting?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm never super confident. I just I always want
Speaker 3: to feel like the weight of the world is on
Speaker 3: my shoulders. You know, I started out with the greatest
Speaker 3: general manager of all time in Ozzie and you look
Speaker 3: at his first round picks every single year.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was just historic what he did.
Speaker 3: So I feel that pressure and I'll never live up
Speaker 3: to that, but it doesn't mean I can't try. And so,
Speaker 3: you know, we want to hit all our picks, not
Speaker 3: just first round picks. I mean, I'm just as hard
Speaker 3: on myself for a fourth round pick that I might
Speaker 3: have missed and what didn't I.
Speaker 2: See and what did I see?
Speaker 3: Or you know, players that end up being really good
Speaker 3: that we passed on for different reasons. You know, what
Speaker 3: didn't I see in that player? And now he's a
Speaker 3: pro bowler and you just beat yourself up over that.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I feel that pressure every year, and I
Speaker 3: welcome it. If I didn't feel that, i'd be concerned.
Speaker 3: You know, if I didn't wake up in the middle
Speaker 3: of the night come in and look at tape, I'd
Speaker 3: be waited. You know me, I'm over confident, I'm not
Speaker 3: working quite as hard, and I never want to get
Speaker 3: to that point. So kind I relish that feeling of like,
Speaker 3: oh man, I haven't done enough.
Speaker 2: I gotta do more.
Speaker 3: I got look at more tape, I talk to more people,
Speaker 3: you know, leaving myself notes in the middle of the
Speaker 3: nite things.
Speaker 2: To check on.
Speaker 3: But you know, as far as like our previous picks
Speaker 3: that we made, that doesn't give me any any confidence
Speaker 3: that we're going to continue to do it. We just
Speaker 3: got to go out and do it, and I'm confident
Speaker 3: that we will at least put forth the very best
Speaker 3: effort and get all the information and check off every
Speaker 3: box to make sure that we get to that point.
Speaker 19: Eric, not specific to the draft, but with the departure
Speaker 19: of Josh Johnson, you signed Cooper Rush. Just curious what
Speaker 19: it was you liked about him and why you capitalize
Speaker 19: on the opportunity to add him.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, he's a guy that we've admired.
Speaker 3: I watched a lot of football, He's won a lot
Speaker 3: of games as a backup quarterback, a cerebral guy.
Speaker 2: I think he's a town.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It just was the right player for us at that point,
Speaker 3: guy that we felt like we could invest in for
Speaker 3: a couple of years. We like the way he's been playing,
Speaker 3: and we think he's going to really I think augment
Speaker 3: the room really well and give us a chance to win.
Speaker 3: If something Heaven forbid ever happened on Lamar.
Speaker 12: Eric. I know you said an extension for Derek Henry
Speaker 12: something you guys are talking about. Just curious where that's
Speaker 12: out and how that maybe impacts things, if at all,
Speaker 12: with draft plans and running backs and such.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we have a lot of different balls in
Speaker 3: the air right now. That's probably what I would say
Speaker 3: on that. You know, I'm not going to talk about
Speaker 3: what we're doing, what we're not doing behind the scenes
Speaker 3: business wise with these guys.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's good for.
Speaker 9: Me to do that.
Speaker 3: But I would say that aside from the draft, as
Speaker 3: you all know, like we're looking at guys that are
Speaker 3: still available free agents on the street, we're looking at
Speaker 3: resigning our own guys. You know, we were blessed to
Speaker 3: have a bunch of really good players, and we're going
Speaker 3: to try and keep as many of those guys as
Speaker 3: we can.
Speaker 2: It's a challenge.
Speaker 3: It's one of the curses I think of doing a
Speaker 3: pretty good job drafting is you've got all these really
Speaker 3: good players that you want to keep. Our goal is
Speaker 3: to keep every single one of them. We're working at
Speaker 3: doing that, and we'll also continue.
Speaker 2: To build a roster after the draft.
Speaker 3: As you guys all know, we'll be looking at guys
Speaker 3: that haven't signed yet. We've had some success in that
Speaker 3: aspect of team building the last few years, you know,
Speaker 3: and I think we'll do that as well, and there's
Speaker 3: gonna be some really good opportunities for us to fill
Speaker 3: in some holes.
Speaker 2: After the draft.
Speaker 3: I think undrafted free agency is another area. We've talked
Speaker 3: about ar Darius Right and it's a guy that was
Speaker 3: an undrafted free agent just a couple of years ago,
Speaker 3: and we see what he brought to the table, you know,
Speaker 3: this year. So that's gonna be a big component as well,
Speaker 3: and I'm really really comfortable that we'll do a great
Speaker 3: job with that as well.
Speaker 22: Hey, Eric, I know how important is for you to
Speaker 22: have these one oh one with the players with prospects, Well,
Speaker 22: you don't talk about football more like personal live knowing
Speaker 22: the player. How much of an impact has been those
Speaker 22: conversations to make a decision for the draft.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's important to see these guys and
Speaker 3: to meet with these guys. You know, we get a
Speaker 3: lot of information, and sometimes that information isn't quite what
Speaker 3: we see in an interview setting, and so just getting
Speaker 3: to know these guys, their motivations, their drivers, what's important
Speaker 3: to them, how they see themselves, their humility, emotional intelligence,
Speaker 3: their competitiveness, you know, all the various things that make
Speaker 3: up who these players are. They're not just statistics or
Speaker 3: what we see on tape, and so getting to know
Speaker 3: these guys is critical. Now, I can also tell you this,
Speaker 3: sometimes you can get tricked right, And there's been you know,
Speaker 3: I could write a book on players that I interviewed
Speaker 3: and would say, oh, this is a great guy, and
Speaker 3: then now all of a sudden, you get the guy
Speaker 3: and you're like, oh no. And sometimes you interview a
Speaker 3: guy and maybe he's really quiet and seems almost shy
Speaker 3: or whatever that might be, and you end up picking
Speaker 3: them and you're like, this guy's incredible.
Speaker 5: So question, you know, the question is I think everybody
Speaker 5: would want to ask right now, is are you going
Speaker 5: to write the book you said you could write a
Speaker 5: book on that When you guys love to read that book.
Speaker 19: Maybe I may.
Speaker 3: Maybe I'll have Jerry help me, you know, my ghostwriter,
Speaker 3: Jerry Coleman.
Speaker 2: You've been quiet today. Jerry, you don't want to my questions.
Speaker 8: He's not wrong, Eric, And you said you had a
Speaker 8: lot of balls in the air. Fifth year Option deadlines coming,
Speaker 8: have you made you have two prominent players with that.
Speaker 8: Have you made a decision on that front.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's really no updates on that front.
Speaker 3: You know. I think the last couple of years, I've
Speaker 3: waited to announce that and handle that, and I think that's.
Speaker 2: Going to be the case again this year.
Speaker 3: Thank you you're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast.
Speaker 1: Also make sure you head over to the Lounge podcast
Speaker 1: feed subscribe to that feed and this one as well.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening and we will be
Speaker 1: back with you again soon.