Speaker 1: We were presented by went Beat Betty as a team sport,
Speaker 1: but together it went beat. Eric Allen here in the
Speaker 1: studio at one Jets Dride, joined by Jets the puntil
Speaker 1: line coach Aaron White Cotton. You're two for you and
Speaker 1: the coaching staff. What's different out there this brain Um,
Speaker 1: we'll starting with a bass now, you know. For the
Speaker 1: most part, We've got some new faces here and there,
Speaker 1: But for the most part, guys, I'm using vocabulary, I'm
Speaker 1: using terms, I'm using techniques, and guys, it clicks quicker.
Speaker 1: It's like, this is what he means. And then there's
Speaker 1: some carry over to Eric, like the guys who've been
Speaker 1: there can put their arm around the guys who are
Speaker 1: brand new to like, hey, this is what he means,
Speaker 1: you know, or like, hey, don't listen to the tone,
Speaker 1: this is what he means, you know. So it's it's
Speaker 1: been really nice to kind of feel like, um, you're
Speaker 1: not starting over some scratch, You're not um beginning a
Speaker 1: whole new scheme again. It's it's now we're able to
Speaker 1: build on that kind of stuff and get a little
Speaker 1: bit more to the next level, the three oh one
Speaker 1: to five O one level. How difficult? Is it for
Speaker 1: the big guys, the guys that you're coaching up here
Speaker 1: during the spring, when you're out there without pads and
Speaker 1: you're not doing any team run activities. I'm sure to
Speaker 1: a certain extent they like that because they're not getting
Speaker 1: beat up. UM. So what what we've tried to really do,
Speaker 1: Eric is make it make it um like a positive
Speaker 1: and that we get so much extra work on our
Speaker 1: own that we can get farther ahead, that we have
Speaker 1: even more time to drill work and be like really
Speaker 1: really detailed with the stuff that maybe gets lost in
Speaker 1: translation when you're watching thirty team plays, that you know
Speaker 1: the guys at all levels of the roster are able
Speaker 1: to get really really detailed individual coaching. I think that's
Speaker 1: really is what's gonna help. And and the positive side
Speaker 1: of it too is I got a group of guys
Speaker 1: that works really hard and gets after it. So we
Speaker 1: do some conditioning on our own, like real live UM
Speaker 1: play type conditioning, and they take to it. They're not
Speaker 1: they're not shying away from it. Um. We have really
Speaker 1: good attendance and it's been it's been really fun to
Speaker 1: watch Moork. What are you stressing? What do you emphasizing
Speaker 1: in terms of technique here out break, the same thing
Speaker 1: that will stress whenever we get to game one of
Speaker 1: the preseason, Game two of the preseason. Violence and effort.
Speaker 1: Just those two things will never ever ever change for us.
Speaker 1: Violence and effort. Violence and effort. Now, the technique part
Speaker 1: of it, like this, this hand placement here, this step,
Speaker 1: this footwork, that stuff that that stuff is all nuanced
Speaker 1: things that you add into the game that you're talking about,
Speaker 1: But at when you're down in those in that area
Speaker 1: and the trenches down there, some of that stuff kind
Speaker 1: of goes out the window, especially if you play with
Speaker 1: violence and effort. What changes for young guys when they
Speaker 1: step onto an NFL field. I've heard from multiple coaches
Speaker 1: when you're talking about pass rush that yes, you can
Speaker 1: beat guys in college maybe with one move, but it
Speaker 1: really doesn't begin in the NFL until you develop those owners. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing, Eric is um one conversation
Speaker 1: I have with all new guys that are coming from colleges, Like,
Speaker 1: you were probably the man at basketball at your school
Speaker 1: and baseball and track and football. You were all state
Speaker 1: and you were five star, and you were this, and
Speaker 1: you were that. But guess what everybody else in here
Speaker 1: was too, and so was that offensive tackle. You're going again,
Speaker 1: So you ain't playing some bum who's going to work
Speaker 1: at Bank of America next week, like you're playing a
Speaker 1: real dude who does this for a living, trying to
Speaker 1: feed his family. So you better have your a game,
Speaker 1: you know. And it's not like I'm the best guy.
Speaker 1: Just show up and beat everybody. And that's what gets
Speaker 1: a lot of young guys in trouble. And and luckily
Speaker 1: the two young young men that we've added through the draft,
Speaker 1: they've taken right to that and they understand, like, this
Speaker 1: is not a game. Like like I said, that's another
Speaker 1: grown man across from you who's got a wife and kids,
Speaker 1: and if you beat him, they don't eat. That's that's real.
Speaker 1: That's that's real competition. Should we start with some of
Speaker 1: the free agent editions? Solomon Thomas, Were you with fran Francisco?
Speaker 1: Right with him? It's a former top five pick? What
Speaker 1: do you know about so I know that, Um, there
Speaker 1: is not another guy that you can talk about with effort.
Speaker 1: This He elevates everybody around him because the way he
Speaker 1: plays the game, his intellect, he knows the game very well.
Speaker 1: The guy plays ument about violence and effort. He plays
Speaker 1: with violence and effort, and and that shows throughout, Like
Speaker 1: you see that Solomon is not a like really huge guy.
Speaker 1: He's not a three plus pound guy. But he plays
Speaker 1: down in there in the A and the B gap
Speaker 1: with those guys because of the way he attacks, in
Speaker 1: the way that he plays the game, and on top
Speaker 1: of all that is at all those things and the
Speaker 1: other his talent, what he brings to the room, and
Speaker 1: the way that he approaches and plays the game. There's
Speaker 1: not another guy that you could say, like I'd like
Speaker 1: for this guy to take my daughter to the prom,
Speaker 1: like that's the kind of man that he is. So
Speaker 1: having that, like Sally is just like the complete package
Speaker 1: for us, this scheme familiarity, how he is that awesome.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. We're watching stuff right now. Eric, we'll we'll
Speaker 1: go in there and watch some tape and Sally's on
Speaker 1: it from two thousand, nineteen or two thousand twenties, some
Speaker 1: stuff that I pulled from nineteen, stuff I pulled from
Speaker 1: twenty whatever, stuff I pull from him in Vegas because
Speaker 1: he knows what's expected and he's been a part of it,
Speaker 1: and he knows and now for him and really Eric
Speaker 1: is just getting back into that vocabulary and some of
Speaker 1: the slight changes in techniques that he was that was
Speaker 1: different for him last year and and he's really hit
Speaker 1: the ground running with It's been awesome. What do you
Speaker 1: guys like about Jacob Martin. He's coming off a career
Speaker 1: year in Houston, UM, obviously coming to a new system
Speaker 1: right now. The explosion off that he flashes that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's the biggest thing is like we're attack,
Speaker 1: will always be attacked. Oh to Jim Washburn and Christka Surk,
Speaker 1: we will always be attacked. We will get off the rock.
Speaker 1: And I think like when you look at Jake, that's
Speaker 1: really what he does, that's he does a great job
Speaker 1: of that. So why not, Like it's a way for
Speaker 1: him to flourish. And I think he's really add about
Speaker 1: being here and we're excited to have him because those
Speaker 1: those explosive traits, like explosions the number one thing we're
Speaker 1: looking for and Jake's got it. Jermaine Johnson, what was
Speaker 1: Draft weekend like for you guys? You get Garrett Wilson
Speaker 1: at ten and before that was Sauce Gardner of course,
Speaker 1: and you might be sitting there as defensive line coach,
Speaker 1: but like, hey, Robert, Joe, Jermaine still on a board.
Speaker 1: What was draft night like? For it? Every year? It's
Speaker 1: stressful because in my opinion, we should take seven d
Speaker 1: linen every year. So I don't care about any other
Speaker 1: position I'm trying to. I have such conviction about a
Speaker 1: certain you know, one to three, four, five guys. We
Speaker 1: gotta have this guy. We gotta have this guy. Go
Speaker 1: get him, Go get him, go get him. And there
Speaker 1: you know those guys. That's why they're big picture of you,
Speaker 1: and I'm just very small picture of you because I'm
Speaker 1: miserable the whole time if we don't get every single
Speaker 1: guy that I love. And luckily, man, we came out
Speaker 1: with two that I absolutely love. And Um, I think
Speaker 1: for the organization, they're going to see why, you know,
Speaker 1: the fans, especially the organization, those who followed Jets football,
Speaker 1: why we really love these guys, Robert Salis said, in
Speaker 1: terms of fit, what you guys run wide nine and
Speaker 1: also just being um the most pro ready pass rusher.
Speaker 1: He was the top for you guys, the top of
Speaker 1: the board. Yeah, we just felt like Eric that Jermaine
Speaker 1: Um Jermaine has good pass rush instincts and pass rush hands,
Speaker 1: something that can be developed. But when when he shows that,
Speaker 1: he demonstrates out on his college tape before he gets there,
Speaker 1: it feels like you don't have as far to go.
Speaker 1: You know. Where you go, you find a guy who
Speaker 1: is strictly just winning off speed around the edge, versus
Speaker 1: versus um God bless him, tackles that aren't going to
Speaker 1: be NFL players. Well, then now you have to work
Speaker 1: at them and just really really fine tune those guys
Speaker 1: and teach them how to use their hands and teach
Speaker 1: them how to tie their hands and feet together. That's
Speaker 1: a whole different ball game, and that sets you back,
Speaker 1: not in a negative way, it's just takes more time.
Speaker 1: Whereas Germaine, we felt like, man, this guy already knows
Speaker 1: how to use his hands and pass rush. He already
Speaker 1: knows like his hands and feet are already kind of
Speaker 1: tied together. It makes it makes it easier for him
Speaker 1: to acclimate to the pass rush in the NFL, which
Speaker 1: is still hard. It's still really hard and still gonna
Speaker 1: be tough for him. It's to be tough for everybody
Speaker 1: who's a rookie this year to rush the pastor at
Speaker 1: an effective rate. But he's got a chance to make
Speaker 1: strides quicker. So he's got the physical skill set. UM,
Speaker 1: and you'll like what you saw on tape. He was
Speaker 1: dominant in Florida State. He did some good things that Georgia.
Speaker 1: He just wanted more of an opportunity and everything checked out.
Speaker 1: But with all that being said, what was so important?
Speaker 1: What was clicking on that visit? He made a pro
Speaker 1: day visit here, He visited thirty teams. He said this
Speaker 1: by far was his best visit. I don't know, you
Speaker 1: just have to ask him. I thought it. I thought
Speaker 1: it went good. You know, we um. I'm a straight shooter,
Speaker 1: you know. And it's just like, hey, Germaine, this is
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do. This is how we're gonna roll all.
Speaker 1: We think you fit perfectly in this. Can you do this, this, this,
Speaker 1: and this? He set yup and it was good and
Speaker 1: we're good and we got along and there was good,
Speaker 1: good communication and good um, a good vibe. I think
Speaker 1: I spoke the language that that he is down for
Speaker 1: the way we like to play, UM. And if I
Speaker 1: was coming out, I would want to play on our
Speaker 1: front too. But that's just me personally, um, and I'm biased,
Speaker 1: So I think between all that stuff, I think it
Speaker 1: just it was a good visit. And and add into
Speaker 1: like all the support staff, how they make everything so
Speaker 1: smooth for those guys, the operations staff, everyone, and travel.
Speaker 1: Then that he goes and meets with coach Um, then
Speaker 1: he meets with Brick, and then he meets with you know,
Speaker 1: and so all those things. I think if you have
Speaker 1: two or three bad experiences out of some of that,
Speaker 1: then it don't matter what what I have to do. Plus,
Speaker 1: you don't really get a choice anyways. If we want him,
Speaker 1: he's coming here. But all that being said, him having
Speaker 1: good vibes about us and us having good vibes about
Speaker 1: him made it made an easy choice. How about Michael Clemens,
Speaker 1: He really flourished that past year a Texas his final year.
Speaker 1: Violent dude, big dude, what do you like about violent?
Speaker 1: That's it? Man, Like, that's my kind of guy. Um, Mike.
Speaker 1: Mike goes in there every every down, and like there's
Speaker 1: times in walk Through it's like, hey, do you gotta
Speaker 1: chill out? You know, like walk through And that's I
Speaker 1: love that. It's better to pull him back, you know,
Speaker 1: than have to tell him to get you up. So, Um,
Speaker 1: the violence that he plays with, the mentality that he
Speaker 1: plays with, matches perfectly to our front and our scheme.
Speaker 1: That that's what really drew me to Mike. On top
Speaker 1: of his physical abilities, Um, his intensity to learn the game,
Speaker 1: all that stuff is is there. But the violence that
Speaker 1: I'm all about, that what makes Carl Losson unique. I
Speaker 1: tell everybody who was I wanted to know anything about
Speaker 1: the Jets last year out of your training camp, he
Speaker 1: by far the best player on the field. But from
Speaker 1: your perspective, a guy who's teaching him in the room,
Speaker 1: he even for a professional, he seems to me like
Speaker 1: he got a unique approach. Oh yeah, for sure, I
Speaker 1: would say the number one thing. He is so internally
Speaker 1: driven to get the most out of his body, his
Speaker 1: skill set, whatever God has blessed him with. He is
Speaker 1: so internally driven to get all that. It's constant information grab.
Speaker 1: He's looking all over the league trying to find something.
Speaker 1: Then when he gets on the field he demonstrates it.
Speaker 1: And and Carl is so unique in that way of
Speaker 1: just his drive and his passion for the game, his
Speaker 1: passion to grow and and still be processed oriented with
Speaker 1: it like if Carl doesn't get something right away, it's
Speaker 1: not like he just throws in the trash and moves on.
Speaker 1: Like he keeps working and keeps working and keeps working
Speaker 1: at it. But he keeps working at it a hundred
Speaker 1: miles an hour, which, gosh, you can't ask for another
Speaker 1: guy like that. You know. I'll get text from him
Speaker 1: randomly about stuff like hey, what do you think about this?
Speaker 1: And he's just he's the wheels are always turning, and
Speaker 1: he's always thinking about ball and and it's a it's
Speaker 1: a dream come true for me. How can you change
Speaker 1: the dynamic upfront? Who Carl um? I? I think so
Speaker 1: when the number one thing is I think you could
Speaker 1: feel the last year in training camp, Carl elevates people
Speaker 1: on the field around him because of the way that
Speaker 1: he practices, in the way that he plays. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, we have a group that plays like that,
Speaker 1: and then we adding more pieces to it and more
Speaker 1: pieces to it, like Carl coming back that guys see like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, like this is the way to approach it.
Speaker 1: I think it's only gonna like it's gonna it's gonna
Speaker 1: force guys to grow with that. It's gonna force guys
Speaker 1: to match that intensity or they get left behind. And
Speaker 1: that's really what this. You know, when coach Wash started
Speaker 1: this years ago, it started on that competitive, nasty mentality
Speaker 1: where everybody's pushing one another towards the common goal of
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. And Carl is like the perfect example of
Speaker 1: that of a guy. And let's be honest, Eric like
Speaker 1: coming out fourth round pick. People still doubt him to
Speaker 1: this day and all he does is keep process oriented drive,
Speaker 1: process oriented drive. He just keeps on going. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's incredible for the other people to see, but it's
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Speaker 1: New York Jets Office up to the change in terms
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Speaker 1: know has a gambling problem called one seven zero seven
Speaker 1: one one seven, how much do you guys stress coming
Speaker 1: at people in waves, because Robert's been asked a number
Speaker 1: of times of how many reps or how many snaps
Speaker 1: they quinning and having this game or a few other guys,
Speaker 1: and it will automakele say that, Hey, listen, we want
Speaker 1: guys when they're in there to go a hundred miles.
Speaker 1: Yeah that you can play fifty five plays a game
Speaker 1: in this front, but you can't run to the ball,
Speaker 1: sprint to the ball. I'm not two run. I'm telling
Speaker 1: about sprint wide open. You saying bolt, get your butt
Speaker 1: down the field and go touch the ball carrier. You
Speaker 1: can't do that fifty times in a game. After Now,
Speaker 1: let's let's rewind this. I'm talking about running fifty yards
Speaker 1: to the ball and touch the ball carrier down tackle,
Speaker 1: come in there with a nasty finish after you just
Speaker 1: set an edge on a three pound man fifty times
Speaker 1: in the game. You you're you're We've done studies of
Speaker 1: this over and over and over. It's like diminishing returns.
Speaker 1: So what we try to do Eric is we just
Speaker 1: try to keep throwing guys at waves, throwing them in waves,
Speaker 1: throwing them in waves, throwing them waves. And the reason
Speaker 1: for that is when we get to the critical moments
Speaker 1: of the game, it's third and eight from the eight
Speaker 1: and we gotta get a stop in the red zone,
Speaker 1: Quinnin should be fresh. So I'm like, go Quinnin, it's
Speaker 1: your time to shine. You know, we have to have
Speaker 1: him ready for that moment because if we give if
Speaker 1: we give up four yards on first down at the
Speaker 1: minus twenty, all right, we'll be okay with that. But
Speaker 1: if we don't have third and eight from the eight
Speaker 1: are best rushers in there to go finish the game,
Speaker 1: then then we're kidding ourselves. So we need to have
Speaker 1: that a little bit of um rotational value. And and
Speaker 1: that's where I said, like, we gotta have eight starters,
Speaker 1: And that's where I'm going with I think we should
Speaker 1: draft seven d lineman every every year. We gotta have
Speaker 1: eight starters. So I'm counting on guys when when we
Speaker 1: draft a guy John Marshall in the sixth round, we
Speaker 1: drafted guy Michael Comes in the fourth Like I'm looking
Speaker 1: at this guy, like this guy's playing in games a
Speaker 1: significant amount. He's not the third string quarterback. This dude
Speaker 1: is playing, so he has to meet these expectations. And
Speaker 1: he's got a rise to that, to that occasion when
Speaker 1: he gets that opportunity to play, because he's gonna get
Speaker 1: significant staffs and if those significant snap stink ain't gonna
Speaker 1: be around very long. So it's a way for us
Speaker 1: to keep keep everybody fresh, keep everybody at their best.
Speaker 1: But also to that requires good players that we have
Speaker 1: on our team to be able to do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one of those good players I think that we've probably
Speaker 1: overlooked here this offseason, not you guys here internally is
Speaker 1: John Franklin. How big is his versatility and with the
Speaker 1: additions that you guys have made this offseason, how maybe
Speaker 1: even more effective can he be? You know what, He's
Speaker 1: got to be more effective? All right, There's just there's
Speaker 1: no two ways about it. And he would tell you
Speaker 1: the same thing. He's got to be more effective. Thought
Speaker 1: a good solid year last year, did some good things,
Speaker 1: but he's got he's got even more. We've gotta get
Speaker 1: more out of him, and I think um having more
Speaker 1: parts and pieces around him. I'll give you an example,
Speaker 1: there was a game where we had COVID issues, we
Speaker 1: had injuries, we had some stuff going on, and John
Speaker 1: played like fifties fifty four plays or fifty five plays. Well,
Speaker 1: there was a stretch of about seven eight nine plays
Speaker 1: in there. He was absolutely gassed, had played too much
Speaker 1: and he wasn't as effective. Well, shoot, that's on me
Speaker 1: to rotate better. That's on us to take care of
Speaker 1: the stuff that we got to take care of off
Speaker 1: the field. And then so that when he's in there
Speaker 1: in those forty plays, those thirty five plays, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: that we're getting more out of him. So now he
Speaker 1: can put him inside to rush, he can play outside
Speaker 1: on first and second. Now we can do some different
Speaker 1: things with John because of that versatility. I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be great and and and he has respond to
Speaker 1: that all offseason. His attitude is fantastic. Um, and I'm
Speaker 1: excited to see how he grows. What's Quinn and Williams
Speaker 1: next step. One of the most talented young defensive interior
Speaker 1: players in the National Football League, But what is next
Speaker 1: for him? Um? You know, Eric, I'm not the one
Speaker 1: to put numbers on people or put He's got to
Speaker 1: do this to be this Quinny just has to be
Speaker 1: the best version of himself and um and I think
Speaker 1: we're we're starting to see more and more of that
Speaker 1: every day. He is. Definitely his internal motivation continues to grow.
Speaker 1: He's always been internally motivated, and we're seeing that from him.
Speaker 1: We're seeing a little bit more step up from him
Speaker 1: vocally in the room, all that sort of stuff. And
Speaker 1: it's year four now, Okay, now it's starting to come
Speaker 1: together even more. He's healthy, which has been able to
Speaker 1: kick start him in this offseason. He's got he's got
Speaker 1: to grow and he's got to get better. It's my
Speaker 1: job to help him, and he's embraced every opportunity to
Speaker 1: get better this offseason. How much you can it reinforce
Speaker 1: back in and help you guys up front because you
Speaker 1: got those additions at the cornerback positions. Safety said a
Speaker 1: makeover as well. And I always talk about, hey, not
Speaker 1: only front line players, are you guys getting better, but
Speaker 1: the depth is getting better at all these spots. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll let those coaches and Brick and Slid
Speaker 1: talk about each individual piece. I just see some really
Speaker 1: good football players that have got added to this group.
Speaker 1: And hey, they buy us an extra hitch. It's our
Speaker 1: responsibility to get there. And that's what those guys can
Speaker 1: do because they're good football players being coached by good coaches,
Speaker 1: and they get that quarterback to hitch and hitch and hitch.
Speaker 1: Now we got to do our job and put him down.
Speaker 1: You played college football at South Carolina right back in
Speaker 1: two thousands. No, this is Lou Holtz. Is what's your
Speaker 1: favorite story? Oh my gosh. Um, probably the best one,
Speaker 1: Eric is, Uh, we were playing Tennessee. I want to
Speaker 1: say it was my red shirt freshman year and like
Speaker 1: this is Tennessee, like Albert haines Worth, John Henderson, like dudes, Okay,
Speaker 1: and then and I I want to say, shoot, four
Speaker 1: or five years in a row, Carolina had not beaten Tennessee,
Speaker 1: all right, and it had been very one sided. This
Speaker 1: was phil former years. They were still they were still rolling,
Speaker 1: they were Blue Bluff. Yeah. So we're playing Tennessee and
Speaker 1: we and and this is like, you know, my first
Speaker 1: year was the year that we were able to go
Speaker 1: to the Outback Bowl and do some things where coach
Speaker 1: really started turning the program around. And we had gotten
Speaker 1: some momentum going into that game, and uh, felt good
Speaker 1: about like the places that we were going. So the
Speaker 1: day before the game, we're in the team meeting room
Speaker 1: and everybody's just kind of sits there in the team
Speaker 1: meeting when coach. You know, we're we're waiting on coach
Speaker 1: because he's like like Coach was like a celebrity. You know,
Speaker 1: he was our our coach, but he's also our celebrity too.
Speaker 1: It's like, um, he could pretend like he knows who
Speaker 1: I am, but I know he don't know who I am,
Speaker 1: you know, because he's like he was like he was
Speaker 1: the CEO celebrity of the team. So we're all just
Speaker 1: sitting there, but when you heard that kind of door click,
Speaker 1: you knew he was about to come in. He kind
Speaker 1: of waited till everybody got sat down set and everybody
Speaker 1: just kind of like got up in their chair and
Speaker 1: it gets like super silent. Well, this dude walks in
Speaker 1: in a full Tennessee uniform, helmet, jersey, shoulder pads, everything,
Speaker 1: and minds you, coach is not that big, but he's
Speaker 1: full decked out Tennessee uniform and everybody is just kind
Speaker 1: of shocked, and like there's some snickers or some laughs,
Speaker 1: like why is he doing this, he's running another team's colors,
Speaker 1: and he's like, it's been five years. I don't want
Speaker 1: to do an impression of him, but he's like, it's
Speaker 1: been five years. What's so scary about this? Is anybody?
Speaker 1: Can anybody tell me why this is so scary? So
Speaker 1: scary Tennessee? Like this color, this hat, this ain't scary.
Speaker 1: You know. It kind of goes off onto like what
Speaker 1: what is? What is? Like? You see me and he's
Speaker 1: not an imposing guy, and I'm wearing this jersey. That
Speaker 1: doesn't make him any scarier. It was kind of his
Speaker 1: point to it. And once he started his stick and
Speaker 1: doing all that, everybody's dying laughing. It was a good,
Speaker 1: like serious icebreaker to the lead up to the game.
Speaker 1: Fast forward, you take care of it. We got these
Speaker 1: dudes beat. They called a fake punt and excuse me,
Speaker 1: a fake field goal. I believe it was a fake
Speaker 1: field goal. The snapper takes the ball, he rolls out,
Speaker 1: dude is wide open game. When he touchdown, he starts,
Speaker 1: he gets a little bit of pressure, he short arms
Speaker 1: the ball. It bounces a yard in front of the guy.
Speaker 1: We've lost the game. Oh my god, we would have
Speaker 1: won the game. Hey, did they do sandstorm at the time? No,
Speaker 1: that was a little after So so what's the story.
Speaker 1: First off, how do you get to the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball? I know it's lying play, but you played. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So right after college I kind of messed around a
Speaker 1: little bit, messed around, like not not doing good enough
Speaker 1: in school. So it took me a little bit. All right,
Speaker 1: I finished college and you finished it Charlotte, right, yes, right.
Speaker 1: I went back home to Charlotte cause I'm from Charlotte.
Speaker 1: So I finished at Charlotte, and I'm trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what I want to do. Um, I worked for
Speaker 1: my dad for a while, our families in construction, so
Speaker 1: I'm doing that. UM kind of messing around trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what I want to do. And then I
Speaker 1: just decided I just missed ball. I really missed it bad,
Speaker 1: and I had to figure out a way to get
Speaker 1: back in. So I went back to my old high
Speaker 1: school and talked to the UM. A D at the
Speaker 1: time was the same A D when I was in school.
Speaker 1: So I just said, hey, coach cluis anything I can
Speaker 1: do in the football program, just let me know, Like
Speaker 1: I just I gotta be around football somehow, some way.
Speaker 1: So he goes and talks to the head coach. Head
Speaker 1: coach calls me and he's like, hey, you want to
Speaker 1: come over and just talk and hang out? Like sure,
Speaker 1: So I go over there and uh, we're we're sitting
Speaker 1: there talking. He's like, look like I got an oline coach.
Speaker 1: I feel really good about um that I think is good,
Speaker 1: but um, we don't really have a D line coach.
Speaker 1: What's your experience? And I was like, well, my red
Speaker 1: shirt freshman year, I was a block and dummy for
Speaker 1: D line the whole day and I heard and I heard,
Speaker 1: and our D line coach at the time was Charlie Strong.
Speaker 1: So I heard every single coaching point that this guy
Speaker 1: made and I lashed onto it. I remembered everything kind
Speaker 1: of you know, and Coach Strong was really good to
Speaker 1: me when I was there, so he said, well, are
Speaker 1: you down? Ca'm down? So I started coaching D line
Speaker 1: that year and stay there for four or five years,
Speaker 1: kind of moving up the ranks, doing like doing some
Speaker 1: different jobs on defense. But that's how it started. And
Speaker 1: ever since, I've never coached offense in my life except
Speaker 1: for one year. Went but is not live in New Jersey,
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Speaker 1: And gave me a part of the New York Jets
Speaker 1: office up to the change. In terms of conditions that
Speaker 1: went bet dot com must be twenty one the older
Speaker 1: at president of New Jersey. If you're someone you know
Speaker 1: has a gambling problem called one seven zero seven one
Speaker 1: one seven, that's fascinating. But then you jumped to college
Speaker 1: right for one year? I went to New Mexico State,
Speaker 1: So what was what brought you to New Mexico State?
Speaker 1: So here there's a jet centric story. So, oh, by
Speaker 1: the way, we gotta get to you one of your
Speaker 1: son's names, Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's the man um Is.
Speaker 1: I got to a point in high school ball Eric
Speaker 1: where I was like I think, I think I want
Speaker 1: to do this, Like I think I think this. I
Speaker 1: want this to be my life. And um, so, the
Speaker 1: big thing in college football is this coaching convention. The
Speaker 1: a f C a coaching convention every year goes to
Speaker 1: different cities and coaches from all over high school college.
Speaker 1: I think some pro guys go there at times if
Speaker 1: the season is not done yet. I can't remember how
Speaker 1: it works out now, but that's like it's like the
Speaker 1: Mecca and all these guys are speaking. It's like Urban
Speaker 1: Myers up there speaking and this guy's up there speaking.
Speaker 1: This is like at the height of their coaching careers. UM,
Speaker 1: Kevin Sumlin. I'm trying to think of us. I see
Speaker 1: I pulled up one year and Nick Saban comes up
Speaker 1: in his limo and gets out with security details. But
Speaker 1: it's like all the heavy hitters come and speak. But
Speaker 1: so you paid for your way out. So I paid
Speaker 1: for my way out there. And I'm just like anybody
Speaker 1: I can meet. UM, let's let's go, and I say, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: here's my name, here's my contact information, and if you
Speaker 1: I'll do anything, just let me know. I'll do anything.
Speaker 1: So I meet these just randomly. I'm watching the UM
Speaker 1: I'm watching the National Championship game. And I meet these
Speaker 1: two guys who are junior college coaches in California, and
Speaker 1: it's basically like, hey, are you sitting here? And now
Speaker 1: the seats open if you want to sit next to us,
Speaker 1: So I sit down, have a beer. I just start
Speaker 1: talking to these guys whatever. And they're like, hey, we're
Speaker 1: about to go meet this guy that we know that
Speaker 1: coaches college. He comes and recruits our area. Like all right,
Speaker 1: He's like, do you want to come? These guys are
Speaker 1: good guys, We're getting along. I'm sure I ain't got
Speaker 1: nothing else to do. So we go over there. The
Speaker 1: dude they went to meet with Rudy, Mike Ruenberg, Mike Grutenberg,
Speaker 1: just so we we talked and I throw the same
Speaker 1: thing out and we talked for me and said, hey, look,
Speaker 1: I don't know what you guys got going on out
Speaker 1: there in New Mexico State. I'll do whatever. I don't care.
Speaker 1: And I probably hit him with a hundred emails, a
Speaker 1: hundred text messages all you know, anybody, I wrote a
Speaker 1: letter to every coach in the in college football, I'll
Speaker 1: do whatever. At at some point he probably felt back
Speaker 1: for me. At some point, Rudy passed my name on
Speaker 1: to the head coach and the coordinator. They asked me
Speaker 1: if I could come out there. It's like, yes, I'm
Speaker 1: fired up. Let's go. Like all right, well, let us
Speaker 1: know when you can make it. Like, what do you
Speaker 1: mean we can't pay for you to come out here.
Speaker 1: So I found a way, like saved up some money
Speaker 1: and went out there, had a two day interview, and
Speaker 1: I got a job as a g A. That's something else.
Speaker 1: That was it. And they do that, but you do
Speaker 1: that for one year? Did it for one year and
Speaker 1: then you break into the NFL. Uh, God's grace only
Speaker 1: Eric Like, there's this this story can't this can only
Speaker 1: be explained by that. So the head coach was Dwayne Walker,
Speaker 1: all right. Dwayne Walker was the one agreed to take
Speaker 1: me on, A great man who was a mentor to Rudy,
Speaker 1: And like I said, Rudy, Rudy helped me get connected
Speaker 1: to him, got out there. We worked together that year.
Speaker 1: Well after that season, I think I don't know exactly
Speaker 1: what his motivation was, but I think coach needed something
Speaker 1: different and he got a call to be the dB
Speaker 1: coach for the Jaguars, so he took it. So now
Speaker 1: I'm there and waiting to see who the head coach
Speaker 1: is going to be. I'm a g A. I ain't
Speaker 1: making squad, but I was all right, you know, I was.
Speaker 1: I was. I was alive, I was. I was still
Speaker 1: eating and drinking, right, so um. Then word comes quick
Speaker 1: Rudy is going to be his assistant. Great deserved, like
Speaker 1: they've been together for a really long time. I get it. Well.
Speaker 1: Then like two weeks later, three weeks later, out of
Speaker 1: the blue, take that back. Two months later, out of
Speaker 1: the blue, I get a call from the defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville. Between Rudy and d Walk, they gave me
Speaker 1: enough recommendation that he calls and says, hey, we have
Speaker 1: this defensive assistant position open if you want to come interview. Like, heck, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to come interview. Went out there on the interview.
Speaker 1: The third day I was there, Coach Gus Bradley offered
Speaker 1: me the job and that was it. So what was
Speaker 1: Robert Sala like at Jacksonville in San Francisco compared to now,
Speaker 1: because obviously he's holding different positions and and I know
Speaker 1: you are who you are, but but what what was
Speaker 1: it like for you to be watching him while you're developing,
Speaker 1: and he was developing as well. Obviously, I think the
Speaker 1: biggest thing Eric was going from from knowing him in
Speaker 1: Jacksonville like as a peer, you know, and just and
Speaker 1: he did a great job. Like we had we had
Speaker 1: a good defense. He did a great job as the
Speaker 1: linebackers coach, but he wasn't daily up in front of
Speaker 1: the team. It wasn't daily up in front of the defense.
Speaker 1: So I get to San Fran and now coaches in
Speaker 1: this like leadership position. Where I walked in the first
Speaker 1: day like hey, what's up, what's going on? But then
Speaker 1: you see him in a different light of he's leading
Speaker 1: the whole side of the ball, He's making decisions, he's
Speaker 1: got you know. That was like I saw from the
Speaker 1: moment that we part of ways. I went to Buffalo
Speaker 1: and he went to San Fran. I saw, I saw
Speaker 1: so much growth in him to where I showed up
Speaker 1: in San Fran and it was u such a more
Speaker 1: like such more of a leadership role that he was
Speaker 1: in that I had not seen him in before because
Speaker 1: I was never in his room and and it was
Speaker 1: just cool to see like wow, like he's doing a
Speaker 1: great job. This is amazing. You know, he's leading this
Speaker 1: whole side of the ball. We're good on defense, and
Speaker 1: and he's the guy running the ship and coaching everybody
Speaker 1: up in the meeting every day, leading the staff meetings
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. I had not seen him in
Speaker 1: that light, and it was cool to see. So from
Speaker 1: here it was more just like even more global picture
Speaker 1: of what I saw when I first got to San France.
Speaker 1: How much do you, as somebody on his coaching staff,
Speaker 1: enjoy the way he relates to the players and the
Speaker 1: way he gets his messages out in those meetings. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love it. I think I think it's um it was.
Speaker 1: It was like a really a blessing for me to
Speaker 1: be to work for coach Gus Bradley, because I think
Speaker 1: coach so learned a lot of that from him, but
Speaker 1: also to like coaches put his own spin on it.
Speaker 1: So to see those two styles kind of merge. Coach
Speaker 1: put his spin on it and Gus have his style,
Speaker 1: and seeing like, oh, like that's Gus, but that's that's new,
Speaker 1: that's that's all solid, like he made that up. That
Speaker 1: kind of stuff is cool for me to see, like
Speaker 1: how that interaction happens, how the leadership happens, how he
Speaker 1: um interacts with the guys differently, like Gus was always
Speaker 1: very interactive with the guys, but Sali interacts with him
Speaker 1: differently in a positive way. And I thought just seeing that,
Speaker 1: like again, that that evolution and that growth and coach
Speaker 1: from when we were you know, down the hall in
Speaker 1: the office too, when he's in a big office and
Speaker 1: to an even bigger office, it was it was really cool.
Speaker 1: And speaking of really cool, how much are you looking
Speaker 1: forward to after you get a little break? Get? You
Speaker 1: have the veteran minicamp right now we're taping this in
Speaker 1: the middle of voluntary O t A S. But you
Speaker 1: get a little bit of break, get a chance to
Speaker 1: walk away. And by the way, we didn't cover this,
Speaker 1: but you do have how many kids you have? And
Speaker 1: one of them is named yet we have four. Our
Speaker 1: our oldest boy, his name is Jack's are second boy
Speaker 1: who was born in Buffalo just Jet fans, so you know,
Speaker 1: and we named him Jet while we were in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: And then our little girl, Lila and art training camp.
Speaker 1: One baby Lorela. What do your plan? Just hang out
Speaker 1: with them? Yeah, yeah, we'll go to the beach. Um,
Speaker 1: My kids love the beach. We'll just go hang out
Speaker 1: with them and just spend as much time as with
Speaker 1: you know, my wife, who's my best friend, and the
Speaker 1: four kids. That's that's my whole plan. Look at you,
Speaker 1: and how exciting is this in terms of the roster
Speaker 1: editions that you guys have made, the scheme, familiarity, where
Speaker 1: you guys are as his staff, the ascent. Something is
Speaker 1: building here. Um. The first thing I sent is being
Speaker 1: really thankful, Eric, just to have the opportunity that Coach
Speaker 1: gave me to be here. UM, that all the things
Speaker 1: that God has blessed us with this opportunity is is amazing.
Speaker 1: So I'm thankful for that and wake up every day thankful. UM.
Speaker 1: And then just that, like you said, that familiarity, UM,
Speaker 1: I get to do Eric, I get to do something
Speaker 1: with this front every day that I believe in, Like
Speaker 1: I'll go to my grave believing that this is the
Speaker 1: way to do it. I clearly, clearly, clearly understand that
Speaker 1: there's other ways to do it that are successful and
Speaker 1: then are good and that are different, and I respect
Speaker 1: those ways. But what what we do. I just when
Speaker 1: I first kind of like learned about it, when I
Speaker 1: first watched that tape of them doing it, I fell
Speaker 1: in love with it, and it's exciting to be able
Speaker 1: to pour into that every single day because I believe
Speaker 1: it in my core. There will be no read and
Speaker 1: reacting for any of a like GOTTFF that's alignment in
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty two or at any point after that.
Speaker 1: Thanks for coming back and put me in the grave
Speaker 1: before that.