Speaker 1: You're listening to the Ravens Press Pass podcast, and today
Speaker 1: the Ravens introduced they're big free agent acquisition, King Henry.
Speaker 1: Running back Dereck Henry arrived in Baltimore and officially signed
Speaker 1: his new contract to join the squad, and the Ravens
Speaker 1: are clearly fired up about this move. The Ravens held
Speaker 1: a press conference this morning with Dereck Henry, head coach
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh, and general manager Eric Dacassa. Here's that press conference.
Speaker 2: Okay, everybody, welcome, thanks for coming in today. We're here
Speaker 2: to celebrate the signing of Derrick Henry, player that we
Speaker 2: faced multiple times over the last five to seven years,
Speaker 2: and a player that we've always admired. We've had a
Speaker 2: chance to watch him up close and also from AFAR.
Speaker 2: Were thrilled to bring him here to Baltimore. Congrats to
Speaker 2: him and also his beautiful family. John, guys, just a.
Speaker 3: Follow up on that, I mean, wonderful family. It has
Speaker 3: been fun getting to know you guys today and we're
Speaker 3: just thrilled and proud to have you here. I'm trying
Speaker 3: to figure out who's more excited on our staff, the
Speaker 3: offensive coaches, a defensive coaches. You know, the offensive coaches
Speaker 3: are pretty fired up at the defensive coaches. They don't
Speaker 3: have to tackle this guy anymore. So it's just a
Speaker 3: it's just great for our team. It's gonna make a
Speaker 3: difference for us when other players are excited, but we
Speaker 3: can't wait to get started.
Speaker 4: So for me, I'm grateful for his opportunity. This is
Speaker 4: a great organization. Uh, my family still with me, my
Speaker 4: girlfriend Adriana, my daughter Valentina and Adriana, my mom, Miss Simona.
Speaker 4: Like he said, like I said, has some great battles
Speaker 4: against the Ravens for five to seven years. And happy
Speaker 4: and grateful to be a part of it. God is
Speaker 4: good and blessed for this opportunity.
Speaker 5: Questions, Derek, you.
Speaker 6: Know there's a lot talking about you and Lar being
Speaker 6: on the same What kind of offense can you envision
Speaker 6: having you know, booth.
Speaker 7: You guys you know as a handle?
Speaker 4: Oh well, he's he he's so dynamic and and how
Speaker 4: he plays and uh his playmaking ability especially you know,
Speaker 4: meet me seeing it going against these guys for uh
Speaker 4: a little while now, so excited to uh to play
Speaker 4: with him. He had a great year this year, did
Speaker 4: a lot of great things. I'm gonna have a lot
Speaker 4: of great guys uh in the offense, and I just
Speaker 4: wanna be I adding piece to this offense to uh
Speaker 4: uh to help them uh do do do better than
Speaker 4: did last year. And right now, just trying to focus
Speaker 4: on coming in, earn earning my earn the respect for
Speaker 4: my teammates.
Speaker 5: Eric, we've been into the decision to.
Speaker 4: To come here for Yeah, it really was a uh
Speaker 4: a no brainer for me. This is where I I
Speaker 4: I knew I wanted to be. I love the style,
Speaker 4: the physicality that they played with on all three phases.
Speaker 4: I feel like it uh fits my my style of
Speaker 4: play as well.
Speaker 7: Uh and it was really a no brainer.
Speaker 4: Just trying to figure out the business side of things
Speaker 4: and glad we're able to get it figured out.
Speaker 8: Ok Aron, how did you feel the TA or I'm
Speaker 8: gonna be a lacking out the bad stage?
Speaker 5: What was your sponsor after that?
Speaker 4: Tell 'em to keep watching you know, uh, look at you?
Speaker 7: You still here so so.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean if people always gonna have something to say, oh,
Speaker 4: I gonna have opinions, i'm'a su you're uh ready to work,
Speaker 4: ready to get things started and do my best to
Speaker 4: to help this organization.
Speaker 9: Your homeport.
Speaker 1: Was it to be a part of a team that's
Speaker 1: insistant contender in your decision making during this.
Speaker 4: Sum Yeah, definitely, wanna be somewhere that had a solid foundation,
Speaker 4: and you know, this foundation has been set for a
Speaker 4: very long time and they compete every year and and
Speaker 4: and always in the conversation, and wanna be somewhere where
Speaker 4: I'm surrounded by uh by great talent have ah uh
Speaker 4: a great quarterback and great players around him as well.
Speaker 4: So you know, I'm just excited for this, for this opportunity,
Speaker 4: and bless and and thankful to be able to land
Speaker 4: here there.
Speaker 7: Could congratulations on him.
Speaker 6: Wondering could you quantify the week that you've had signing
Speaker 6: justin and then getting the guy that you come in
Speaker 6: for a long time and Derek, I mean last year
Speaker 6: with Lamar signing was big, but you got two and
Speaker 6: one week.
Speaker 5: Where does that rank for you as a GM as
Speaker 5: far as the week is?
Speaker 2: Oh Man, we've had some ups and downs over the
Speaker 2: last five years. So we've had some huge weeks, We've
Speaker 2: had some bad weeks. This is kind of a in
Speaker 2: some ways remarkable, great exciting we've but we've also lost
Speaker 2: what eight players excellent players as well. So it's always
Speaker 2: bittersweet this time of year.
Speaker 9: You win some, you lose some.
Speaker 2: We keep swinging, blessed to get Justin done, blessed to
Speaker 2: get Derek done. You know, I feel like both those
Speaker 2: guys are slam dunks and saying that, you know, I
Speaker 2: want to also, you know, celebrate, you know, Patrick Queen,
Speaker 2: John Simpson, Geno Stone, Gus ed Which, Ronald Dorby, Tyler
Speaker 2: Ott Morgan, Moses, Devin Dumanet. Those guys helped us win
Speaker 2: a lot of games over the last five years, all
Speaker 2: Ravens in different ways, different backgrounds, So you know, there's
Speaker 2: always it's always kind of a tough give and take
Speaker 2: this time of year.
Speaker 9: But we're blessed today to be here with Derek.
Speaker 10: Eric you talked to start about, you know, your experience
Speaker 10: going against Derek Henry. You know about his resume, but
Speaker 10: how much did your you know, your up close and
Speaker 10: personal experiences playing against him going to the decision to
Speaker 10: bring me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'll tell you in twenty nineteen, we played
Speaker 2: that game and it was, you know, just a gut
Speaker 2: wrenching performance.
Speaker 9: I think we all kind of realized that.
Speaker 2: But I was at the Senior Bowl and I left
Speaker 2: the senior ball and met our team, our coaching staff
Speaker 2: and a lot of players at the Pro Bowl, and
Speaker 2: I had the chance as a as a general manager
Speaker 2: to just observe. And I saw Derek that week, and
Speaker 2: I watched him, and I watched how the other players
Speaker 2: related to him.
Speaker 9: I washed and saw his humility.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a guy that ran for like
Speaker 2: I don't know how many yards that season, and all
Speaker 2: the players kind of gravitated towards him that week, and
Speaker 2: there was a tremendous respect, and that resonated with me
Speaker 2: as a guy whose scouts for a living, and I just,
Speaker 2: you know, having a chance to kind of step aside
Speaker 2: and watch his career unfold, it's been very, very impressive
Speaker 2: to me.
Speaker 3: Eric, you got Derrick Cameron and Moore.
Speaker 10: Jackson's the goal, the out priority kind of built the
Speaker 10: offensive line to be a blot for these guys.
Speaker 9: That's mind you to, right.
Speaker 2: That's always going to be the priority, is the offensive line,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 9: I think in two thousand.
Speaker 2: And eight when we hired John, one of the first
Speaker 2: things he said to me was we need a big, strong, physical,
Speaker 2: athletic offensive line.
Speaker 9: And that's never really changed.
Speaker 2: And so that will be the mission in the coming
Speaker 2: weeks to build that out.
Speaker 9: I think we're on our way. I think we have
Speaker 9: a good plan.
Speaker 2: We're fortunate that this draft classics pretty good from that standpoint.
Speaker 2: I don't want to call it historically strong, but it
Speaker 2: looks like a very strong crop of offensive linemen. And
Speaker 2: I say this every year, but as a wise man
Speaker 2: once said, we don't play games September.
Speaker 9: We'll be ready.
Speaker 3: There was so much talk about how the running back
Speaker 3: carget with Shike Gallup, who are a lot of quality players.
Speaker 5: But did you go in knowing this was the guy.
Speaker 3: That you wanted.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I had a good indication. I mean, to be honest.
Speaker 2: We tried to trade for Derek, you know, before the
Speaker 2: trade deadline. I thought there was a reasonable chance that
Speaker 2: we would get a trade done.
Speaker 9: It didn't work out.
Speaker 2: It was disappointing, but we pivoted. You know, but again,
Speaker 2: when you evaluate the tape, you watch the player, you
Speaker 2: see the history of the player, you talk to people
Speaker 2: who have been around the player. It made all the
Speaker 2: sense in the will for us to target Derek John.
Speaker 4: How will the.
Speaker 6: Addition of Derek Kinty just changes the look of the offense.
Speaker 6: I mean you still feel that you'll mainly go pistol,
Speaker 6: will you go more under center?
Speaker 5: How much could that change just loll go the offense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think you always try to build
Speaker 3: the offense around the players that you have, So you know,
Speaker 3: when Derek does really exceptionally well, is going to be
Speaker 3: where we're gonna kind of move towards. But we're versatile.
Speaker 3: We can go in a lot of different different directions.
Speaker 3: That's what Lamar makes us versatile. And I also think
Speaker 3: kind of what we've been doing along those lines, wor
Speaker 3: kind of fit this guy really well. You know, it's
Speaker 3: not just his specific talents, because he can you can
Speaker 3: run out of any kind of backfield set. He can
Speaker 3: be in the pistol, he can be he can be onder,
Speaker 3: he can be in the gun, he can move around.
Speaker 3: That's that's all things he's just said. Versatile player. But
Speaker 3: more than that, I just think that the person that
Speaker 3: the guy that loves football, you know, that fits us
Speaker 3: really well too. He's this tough, physical guy, but you know,
Speaker 3: you played the high school he played at, you played
Speaker 3: the college he played at. You know where he's been
Speaker 3: with Tennessee. The kind of leader he's been everybody you
Speaker 3: talk to talks about him in terms of a guy
Speaker 3: just loves football, is about football, wants to compete, wants
Speaker 3: to do his best, wants to do everything he can
Speaker 3: to help the team win. You know, That's that's kind
Speaker 3: of what it's all about here, and that's I'm most
Speaker 3: excited probably about that we move there.
Speaker 5: Have you spoken to Lamar Jackson?
Speaker 11: I know Marlon Humphrey had a back and forth on
Speaker 11: social You go, what other players on this team that
Speaker 11: you spoken for.
Speaker 5: The last few days?
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, may have social media, guy, Marlin podcast social media.
Speaker 3: Let's make that Yeah.
Speaker 4: Man Violin definitely, uh we we We've texted, h talked
Speaker 4: to social media. Uh Rannie reached out. I got to
Speaker 4: know him through throughout the years. I haven't spoken till tomorrow,
Speaker 4: but I'm sure he's busy and enjoying his off season.
Speaker 4: I mean we'll connect at some point, but yeah, just
Speaker 4: excited for opportunity and you know, ready to meet by
Speaker 4: my teammates.
Speaker 7: And earn the respect or you.
Speaker 11: Eric said last year before trade Lightning lineup, they thought
Speaker 11: they gave you were you captain breast of those conversations.
Speaker 11: Was there a point there where you thought you were
Speaker 11: gonna be Raven before last year'street deadline.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I thought it was a good chance.
Speaker 4: I was I was going to be didn't really know
Speaker 4: uh when it when it was gonna happen, and it
Speaker 4: was conversations and things going on, but you know, I
Speaker 4: was just really just just focus on the season if
Speaker 4: and anything came this pivot and get ready for whatever
Speaker 4: whatever that was gonna happen. But it it, it didn't happen.
Speaker 4: But you know, I'm I'm a raving now, so that's
Speaker 4: all that matters. And you know, get ready to go
Speaker 4: to work, Derek.
Speaker 10: Everybody seems to love the idea of you next to
Speaker 10: Lamar Jackson in the backfield. For you as the player,
Speaker 10: what does what is the benefit for you being next
Speaker 10: to a guy like Tomorrow who is who's as.
Speaker 4: Mobile as he in Yeah, I wanna make any uh
Speaker 4: predictions and any expectations I think, just put into work.
Speaker 12: Uh.
Speaker 4: And and I'm big on earning my respect for my teammates.
Speaker 4: And I know I've said that repeatedly, but that's all
Speaker 4: I wanna do is I own respect from everybody in
Speaker 4: this building. I'm stronger that I'm I'm ready to to
Speaker 4: come work, help everybody get better than any aspect that
Speaker 4: I can be a leader in any type of way
Speaker 4: by the way I carry myself and by the way
Speaker 4: I work on the field, in the weight room and
Speaker 4: be a tentative tentatifferent meetings, help the young guys in
Speaker 4: any way I can, and you know, just just go
Speaker 4: out and work and do the best I can to
Speaker 4: help Lamar in any way I run the football protecting
Speaker 4: him and help my teammates anywhere as well. So that
Speaker 4: you know, that's my main ft focus and I'm definitely
Speaker 4: excited to be the side Lamar in the same offense.
Speaker 2: A lot of mayors of being.
Speaker 5: Lamar h dropped up. Uh have that you You ever talked.
Speaker 6: About the possibility with the stand up and the dreams
Speaker 6: of community.
Speaker 5: Potentially playing together.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I I've definitely thought about it.
Speaker 4: You know, he's uh uh one of the best and
Speaker 4: not the best uh players in this league. You know,
Speaker 4: I have respect for him ever since he's he's come
Speaker 4: in this league and his body of work and what
Speaker 4: he's been been able to do, and and respect for
Speaker 4: this organization as well. Have some great players organiza organization,
Speaker 4: just just like themar who's done a lot of great things.
Speaker 4: Uh Mark Andrews at tight end, uh Rock corn Smith
Speaker 4: at at the line of recquisitions from great leaders guys,
Speaker 4: Whal said a good example. So excited to be teammates
Speaker 4: with with everybody, and excited to get in the RB
Speaker 4: room and get to to get to know those guys
Speaker 4: and be able to compete against them.
Speaker 7: And all all of us make each other better.
Speaker 5: On their side, everyone auvers farm tail. What's it like
Speaker 5: for you in your vision of the Ravens And.
Speaker 8: On the other side, how do you view the Raives from?
Speaker 12: Uh?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean bucket your chin strap.
Speaker 4: You're ready for a sixty minute fight and knowing that
Speaker 4: you know you're gonna take some licks and have to
Speaker 4: give some licks. And every every time we played on
Speaker 4: it was physical, and uh you know, we had to
Speaker 4: have a great gay plan to uh prepare for these guys,
Speaker 4: especially on defense cause they give you so many different looks.
Speaker 4: And then our defense getting ready for Lamar and how
Speaker 4: you gotta game playing against him. So I'm definitely glad
Speaker 4: to be on the other side.
Speaker 11: No, so yeah, what what what do you think is
Speaker 11: the key to long chevity for running backs? Because not
Speaker 11: many running backs can do, especially what you've done even
Speaker 11: in at the during this in the stage of your career.
Speaker 5: What do you think is the key for fort that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, really, I think it's taking care of your body,
Speaker 4: doing the things you need to do, get your body
Speaker 4: prepare year in and year out, weekend and week out
Speaker 4: and every single day, and making sure that you feel
Speaker 4: the best to be able to perform at your best,
Speaker 4: creating good habits with eating healthy, and you know, as
Speaker 4: you get into the league, you know, just do more
Speaker 4: research on you know, guys who played a long time
Speaker 4: and be a sponge to guys at the run back
Speaker 4: position or anywhere else and see what they've done and
Speaker 4: try to implement it into your life as well. And
Speaker 4: that's all I try to do. And you know, I
Speaker 4: feel great. I'm blessed to be able to be going
Speaker 4: into year nine and getting this opportunity, so just want
Speaker 4: to take advantage of it and do my best that
Speaker 4: I can.
Speaker 11: John, You've allow yourself to think about your dark situations
Speaker 11: with him and possibly running behind that retard and how
Speaker 11: much dress that could put on a defense, and how
Speaker 11: it's not your problem anymore to.
Speaker 5: Have to tackle with you.
Speaker 3: I do allow myself to think about all those things,
Speaker 3: and I think about it with a smile on my face.
Speaker 3: But it'll be It'll be great game planning wise. It's
Speaker 3: going to give us a lot of options. We have
Speaker 3: a lot of like Derek was talking about, we've got
Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of playmakers, and our offensive
Speaker 3: line is going to be big and physical and tough
Speaker 3: and good. So we're looking forward to it.
Speaker 13: A lot of the lines, you know, I think you're
Speaker 13: seeing in the division, maybe across the NFL teams get
Speaker 13: faster at that.
Speaker 5: Second level to kind of accunt for quarterbacks like lamarm and.
Speaker 13: Is there any you know, pleasure for you and kind
Speaker 13: of having a counter punch of a guy that's big,
Speaker 13: physical last year being the kind of counter munch to
Speaker 13: everyone that's smaller, faster or maybe on defense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, that's a good observations. It's one way to
Speaker 3: look at it. We always talk about attacking the full
Speaker 3: width of the field in terms of the run game,
Speaker 3: but also the past game, and that does start in
Speaker 3: the A gap to your point, But a great thing
Speaker 3: about Derek Henry, it doesn't end in the A gap.
Speaker 3: It's the B gap to see gap to de gap,
Speaker 3: the edge all the way out to the sideline. We
Speaker 3: saw that in London this past year on that fake
Speaker 3: reverse that you guys hit on us. So h this
Speaker 3: is this is the back that can do everything you know,
Speaker 3: and and you know he can. He can he can
Speaker 3: change the game for you. So we're excited about it.
Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 6: Eric.
Speaker 11: Do you have any kind of timetable for the return
Speaker 11: Keith Mitchell And given that he's out.
Speaker 14: For some time, is the search still on at yet
Speaker 14: another running back into this mix for that first part
Speaker 14: of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think Keaton's doing really well. You know,
Speaker 2: we'll see obviously significant knee injury, but we have some
Speaker 2: experience with that. You know, I've gotten some updates from
Speaker 2: our trainers and doctors and we feel like he's on
Speaker 2: path to come back at some point in this season.
Speaker 2: Running back wise, you know, we'll assess the market like
Speaker 2: we always do. There's some players out there still that
Speaker 2: are pretty interesting players. The draft is also another way
Speaker 2: for us to get better, and we'll attack it in
Speaker 2: different ways depending on the situation, depending on the value
Speaker 2: that we see. You know, we've drafted guys, we've signed
Speaker 2: on drafted free agents, we've traded for running backs, and
Speaker 2: there's a lot of different ways to skin the cats,
Speaker 2: so to speak, so.
Speaker 9: We'll look at it.
Speaker 2: We feel really good about Justice too, Justice Hill, who's
Speaker 2: one of the unsung heroes of our team, I would say,
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, so the coverage is not bought,
Speaker 2: not bear and we got this guy, so I think
Speaker 2: we're in good shape.
Speaker 12: Derevin, was it difficult watching ten other running backs come
Speaker 12: off free agency in day one and even Tony Pollard
Speaker 12: going to where you were not being able to say
Speaker 12: what you were going to do?
Speaker 8: And did you even know what you were going to
Speaker 8: do when all these things were happening in a couple
Speaker 8: of days ago.
Speaker 4: No, I wasn't too overwhelmed about it, you know. I
Speaker 4: just prayed about it and ask God to put me
Speaker 4: where I needed to be and I trusted to believe
Speaker 4: in that process and knew it would happened. But as
Speaker 4: other running backs going off the market, very happy for
Speaker 4: those guys, you know, trying to keep it as a
Speaker 4: brotherhood with running backs and especially with this day and
Speaker 4: age and happen to those guys get paid, and knowing
Speaker 4: that at some point, my my my chances are come
Speaker 4: and I'll get my opportunity and I was hoping that
Speaker 4: it would be here and then you know it, it
Speaker 4: all worked out.
Speaker 7: So I was happy.
Speaker 8: Whatever something you build off of back questions, cause you've
Speaker 8: heard a lot over the last few years about her
Speaker 8: position being devalued.
Speaker 5: The frustrated in contract negotiations and everything. And just see
Speaker 5: on day one, you know.
Speaker 8: So many of your brother go to running backs and
Speaker 8: so it's not in the first couple of days.
Speaker 5: Is that a positive thing for you?
Speaker 8: Do you feel did you view that as as something
Speaker 8: that was good for your positions of getting paid into
Speaker 8: earn contracts.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I was definitely happy to see uh uh those
Speaker 7: guys go go out the market pretty fast.
Speaker 4: I think that speak volumes that you know, the running
Speaker 4: back position is it still needed even though you know
Speaker 4: it that doesn't seem like it.
Speaker 7: You know, you still gotta be able to run the ball.
Speaker 4: This guy have so gotta have a guy who could change,
Speaker 4: uh change the game and in any matter uh of
Speaker 4: the game. And you know, I feel like the guys
Speaker 4: who signed those contracts that if you can do that,
Speaker 4: and I think it it was recognized and very happy
Speaker 4: for those guys because you know, we definitely wanna be
Speaker 4: able to, you know, have a market where it is
Speaker 4: fair and uh, we are a value for the future
Speaker 4: as well for guys who's coming up after us.
Speaker 13: Eric a couple of years ago to me, if you
Speaker 13: can talk about how running back is a great own
Speaker 13: position for work, it's really hard for guys.
Speaker 5: To stay up.
Speaker 11: Is Derek just, based.
Speaker 13: On his back record, one of those guys who seems
Speaker 13: to defive what's happens to the folks at that position.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think that's right.
Speaker 2: Uh, you know, we're talking about a guy who's missed very,
Speaker 2: very little time in his career. He's kind of a unicorn,
Speaker 2: to be honest. His combination of speed, power, durability. You know,
Speaker 2: he's thrived in different systems and done different things.
Speaker 9: He's one wherever he's.
Speaker 2: Been and and uh, you know, those kind of guys
Speaker 2: are rare. I mean, we've had some here in Baltimore.
Speaker 2: They're just different from everybody else. And I think Derek's
Speaker 2: a good example of that.
Speaker 11: Derek, after all the years and Tennessee and be in
Speaker 11: the same place, what do you see as the biggest
Speaker 11: challenge joining a new team after being.
Speaker 2: Somewhere so long?
Speaker 4: I think, Uh, you know, when you've been somewhere eight years,
Speaker 4: I mean, you know this changes with uh, the people
Speaker 4: in the organization, you know, just getting to know everybody,
Speaker 4: getting everybody to know me. Know this is the culture
Speaker 4: and how they do things around here, which I don't
Speaker 4: think will be hard. I think, you know, I'll get
Speaker 4: acclimated pretty quick by the guys around here.
Speaker 7: Here is very family already ended, uh a great brotherhood.
Speaker 4: But no, not really so much worried about that, but
Speaker 4: just excited for for for what's in store and getting
Speaker 4: getting to know everybody and get getting the swing of things.
Speaker 4: And I'm trying to help it anyway as possible.
Speaker 10: Here John, we know how physical these AFC North games
Speaker 10: can be. You guys pride yourself of being a physical
Speaker 10: running team. Just how tired they you to have never
Speaker 10: probably the most physical back uh in those games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, these could fit in the AFC North, but uh,
Speaker 3: you know we're they were They were in the AFC
Speaker 3: North at one time, weren't They are the same so
Speaker 3: they this this rivalry.
Speaker 2: For a long time about that, Jami, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: I mean you're talking historically kind of your point. It's
Speaker 3: there's a long story in history. You know, this kind
Speaker 3: of football being played by these teams. So it continues.
Speaker 9: Eric, you said you wanted to solidify the oupenive line.
Speaker 5: You said that product aren't going You're going.
Speaker 11: To get it back, and you got Derrick Henry. Is
Speaker 11: there anything on the receiver front, I mean there's a
Speaker 11: report you maybe looking for Ebo Samuel.
Speaker 7: Or another veteran.
Speaker 5: Can you comment on where you're at there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think you know that specific reports.
Speaker 2: Probably I read the Lorax last week at a local
Speaker 2: elementary school, and I would probably put that report that
Speaker 2: similar to that. But I think you know, the hunt
Speaker 2: goes on when you're trying to find good football players
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, whether that's a receiver, offensive line,
Speaker 2: pass rushers, corners, whatever it is. I think that, you know,
Speaker 2: the challenge for us is to find the money, find
Speaker 2: the right player, find a perfect match on the field.
Speaker 2: Off the field, we know we have the draft as
Speaker 2: of right now, I think we have nine picks. We
Speaker 2: moved up a little bit and the fourth which I
Speaker 2: think is gonna be advantageous for us. Moving from the
Speaker 2: bottom of the fourth to the top third of the
Speaker 2: fourth round should be a better player.
Speaker 9: So I do see opportunity for us to uh to
Speaker 9: get back at the draft.
Speaker 2: Last year was kind of leaning with the draft in
Speaker 2: terms of the amount of picks we had. I think
Speaker 2: this year will be a good chance for us to
Speaker 2: kind of augment the roster with good, young, cheap talented
Speaker 2: football players.
Speaker 13: I think Fourth free to see your team and Taylor,
Speaker 13: who wants to he can really see you even as
Speaker 13: marketers like he didn't think he would like to rehi
Speaker 13: and work here.
Speaker 5: Was that I think you know, are even kind of
Speaker 5: comfortable with it? Was everything that is offer will.
Speaker 7: Probably have for you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm I'm definitely comfortable, confident in my ability, confident
Speaker 4: to adjust, and you know, uh excited for for Weston
Speaker 4: store Taylor. Taylor is very opinionated these days, has his
Speaker 4: opinion on on a lot of stuff. But uh, you know,
Speaker 4: I'm very confident my ability. Wow, but this is his
Speaker 4: his his occupation.
Speaker 14: So yeah, Parrish, you guys have you guys have been
Speaker 14: with this organization for so long, especially and the list
Speaker 14: of great running backs, I mean it's a long one here,
Speaker 14: but this is arguably the greatest running in this franchise history.
Speaker 14: Where would you you know, kind of I guess put him,
Speaker 14: you know, on the list of running backs that I
Speaker 14: mean he will suit up for the Raiders.
Speaker 2: Oh well, I'm not I'm not really gonna rank. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think it's it's not something that I typically will do.
Speaker 2: It's like ranked players especially, you know, but this guy
Speaker 2: is a warrior and he's right up there with the
Speaker 2: very best we've ever had.
Speaker 9: Certainly, we've had a.
Speaker 2: Number of outstanding players throughout the years. I mean had
Speaker 2: multiple guys offensive player of the Year in the league,
Speaker 2: whether we're that's with somebody else. I mean, even a
Speaker 2: guy like Priest Holmes, but we had, you know, so
Speaker 2: many great ones.
Speaker 4: This guy.
Speaker 2: Unbelievable player. Excited to see what he does. It's a brotherhood,
Speaker 2: like he said, And I know that we have a
Speaker 2: lot of guys the legends, the Baltimore Legends, running back legends,
Speaker 2: are going to be cheering for this guy from day one.
Speaker 9: And that's exciting.
Speaker 5: First time you've won on her whole legs.
Speaker 4: How'd you like the no? I actually told coach Harborough
Speaker 4: this funny story. This is actually the suit I wore
Speaker 4: to my grandmother's funeral, who raised me. She died in
Speaker 4: twenty sixteen, and this is our favorite color. So whenever
Speaker 4: Eric told me that I would be coming to do
Speaker 4: a press, I was like, I gotta wear this suit.
Speaker 4: So we're actually moving this next week. So I was
Speaker 4: scramming through boxes, pulling everything out, trying to find.
Speaker 7: This suit and be able to put it together. So
Speaker 7: you know, yeah, I definitely.
Speaker 4: Wanted to wear this color to honor her and show
Speaker 4: with all the fans around Fault Nature.
Speaker 7: I'm ready, I'm on board.
Speaker 9: I'm exciting.
Speaker 5: Do you think she would be that you signed with
Speaker 5: the Ravens or in her favorite color?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yeah, she's she She's definitely excited. The day before a
Speaker 4: free agency, we were outside in my yard, uh playing.
Speaker 4: I was outside playing with my daughter. My grandmother loved
Speaker 4: butterflies and Tennessee, I ul always see a butterfly, uh
Speaker 4: every practice, and you know the house we lived in
Speaker 4: out never saw one since we've been there. We've been
Speaker 4: there going on two years. And that day a butterfly
Speaker 4: just flew around me like constantly, and you know, I
Speaker 4: knew that. I I was kind of like a reminder
Speaker 4: that you know, she was around and everything was gonna
Speaker 4: be alright. So I was felt good.
Speaker 10: Lane.
Speaker 5: I wanted to ask you about your grandmother and just
Speaker 5: with your upbringing, how do you think the lessons that
Speaker 5: she's imparted on you?
Speaker 10: What help you that you navi.
Speaker 5: Against this new situation.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well I come from uh a hard working and
Speaker 4: UH supportive family, and I already trusting and believe in
Speaker 4: the men above that how that he would leave me
Speaker 4: in the right direction and never leave me wrong. So
Speaker 4: she she raised me to always put God first, trust him,
Speaker 4: believe in his plan, and it's not always your time,
Speaker 4: is his time, and his time is always perfect. So
Speaker 4: that's why I always believe in and you know, she
Speaker 4: raised me to, you know, always have great manners, be respectful,
Speaker 4: be respectful and earn everything that I want out of life,
Speaker 4: and never give up on my dream and what I
Speaker 4: want to accomplish.
Speaker 11: Eric, Eric North was the best division of all last
Speaker 11: year out with with you guys and Derek Henri and
Speaker 11: the other teams what they've done.
Speaker 5: How much better do you think this division has already
Speaker 5: gotten better?
Speaker 9: We can be able to see, you know, I haven't
Speaker 9: really studied it. I mean I've seen some movement.
Speaker 2: Obviously, a few of our competitors have taken some of
Speaker 2: our players, you know, happens every year. I mean every
Speaker 2: year we look at the AFC nor if they draft well,
Speaker 2: they sign good players. They have a way of doing things.
Speaker 2: But let's not forget we'll be there too. And I
Speaker 2: love our team.
Speaker 9: I love our roster. We have some challenges ahead, but
Speaker 9: we're gonna be ready to plan in sept.
Speaker 1: So we're excited to have Derek Henry here in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to be a great fit for
Speaker 1: this team. We actually sat down with him for an
Speaker 1: episode of the Lounge Podcast and you can check that
Speaker 1: out wherever you find your podcast, Just head over there
Speaker 1: to the Lounge Podcast feed, hit that subscribe button. Also
Speaker 1: leave a rating and a review. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: stay tuned for more in the coming days and weeks.