Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. It is Thursday,
Speaker 1: June fifth. The Ravens had another open practice of OTA's,
Speaker 1: but before they had that practice, the big news out
Speaker 1: of the Castle was that wide receiver or Shad Bateman
Speaker 1: reached a contract extension with the team. The contract extension
Speaker 1: is reportedly a three year extension on top of the
Speaker 1: two years that Bateman already had left remaining on his deal,
Speaker 1: so this will keep him in Baltimore through the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty nine season. Batement met with reporters after practice and
Speaker 1: talked about his excitement for this new deal.
Speaker 2: Can you just give us a little maybe a little
Speaker 2: background on how this all came about the contract extension point, you.
Speaker 3: Know, it was this two parties kind of met, we
Speaker 3: kind of been negotiating since the end of the season,
Speaker 3: and you know, it was something that both parties wanted
Speaker 3: to do and it just made sense for both of
Speaker 3: us and we worked it out. So I'm happy to
Speaker 3: be here, bliss Unfortunately, so keep chasing the super Bowl.
Speaker 4: So it was less of the surprise this year the
Speaker 4: last definitely last.
Speaker 3: Year, less of a surprise this year. This year made
Speaker 3: sense to me for sure, most.
Speaker 4: Definitely why why didn't make sense to you?
Speaker 3: Because I feel like I finally did something on the
Speaker 3: field that was you know, impressive, is something that you
Speaker 3: can you know, respect and stand on. Before that, it
Speaker 3: was a a little bit shocking. I had some up
Speaker 3: ups and downs here and there. So, you know, to
Speaker 3: be able to be here now it feels good, you
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: Is there a time when you might not have been
Speaker 5: sure that you were gonna be here for eight or
Speaker 5: nine years when you're are you Maybe you didn't know
Speaker 5: for sure that you.
Speaker 3: Wanted to I mean, like, er, is it did it
Speaker 3: take some time to get there?
Speaker 6: Or is this is the right thing?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 3: I knew I've always wanted to be here. I just
Speaker 3: think as a player, you you don't know when your
Speaker 3: time's up. You know, like you don't know the conversations
Speaker 3: that have had, you know, when you're not around or
Speaker 3: in the meetings or or those type of things, so
Speaker 3: you know, you're always wondering what's gonna happen to you.
Speaker 3: You've seen some of the best players get traded sometimes,
Speaker 3: so you just never know. But you know, we've had,
Speaker 3: you know, some good transparent dialogue throughout this whole I said,
Speaker 3: So they was honest with me. I was honest with them.
Speaker 3: And you know, here we are today, what do you
Speaker 3: have lost?
Speaker 4: You look at this system?
Speaker 7: Do you have your break down, your lessons to go back?
Speaker 8: For fucking what more shouldn't you say for me? What
Speaker 8: more you think to be here?
Speaker 3: I just know I can play ball, and it's like
Speaker 3: everybody knows that now, and I'm not I'm not here
Speaker 3: to prove that to nobody. You know, I I wanna
Speaker 3: prove that to my teammates and i'm'a go. I work
Speaker 3: for the Ravens. You know what I'm saying. I work
Speaker 3: for you know, Lamar Jackson technically, and if these guys
Speaker 3: will pleased with you know what I'm doing and you
Speaker 3: know my work ethic and and all of that, then
Speaker 3: I feel like as a as a team, that's what's
Speaker 3: important to me. So I've done that, and you know,
Speaker 3: I'm definitely looking to continue to build off of that.
Speaker 3: For sure.
Speaker 8: You look at the contract or for what validation shout looking.
Speaker 3: At the palm sho strive for sure? Yeah, yeah, most definitely.
Speaker 3: It's a uh it's kind of highest lead words. You
Speaker 3: get paid if you're doing the right things. You know,
Speaker 3: on and off the field and disrespect thing. It's showing
Speaker 3: that dogization you know, believes in me. It's showing that,
Speaker 3: you know, I believe in them. So you know, hopefully
Speaker 3: this thing keep on keep on trucking in that direction.
Speaker 4: Should does it take trust from between player and organization.
Speaker 9: That look, if I outperform a contract that I even
Speaker 9: if I just signed it, if I outperform that this
Speaker 9: organization's gonna take care.
Speaker 3: Of me in the wrong way. That's what you would
Speaker 3: want them to do. But it it doesn't, It doesn't
Speaker 3: guarantee anything. You know, I got a good relationship with
Speaker 3: the GOSTA, and I think you know that helped us. Well,
Speaker 3: that helped us well, you know, they respect you know
Speaker 3: how I work, you know how I come in the
Speaker 3: building and my teammates do and you know, I think
Speaker 3: that's why I'm still here, I hope, so not just
Speaker 3: about you know, what I do on the football field.
Speaker 3: So I'm definitely hoping to continue that that mindset and
Speaker 3: that work ethic to continue to prove them the coaches
Speaker 3: that are worth it.
Speaker 4: For Shure, that's us.
Speaker 3: So I don't even know if he's really talking to me.
Speaker 3: I think I just like wrapped him up and and
Speaker 3: kind of kept it moving. But Harves has always been
Speaker 3: a guy that's believed in me since I've been here.
Speaker 3: Cool guy, cool, cool guy. And you know he's good
Speaker 3: for the team and he's good for all of us.
Speaker 3: So what are shot?
Speaker 7: You guys have DeAndre Hopkins and the receivers bringing out
Speaker 7: like order contract for quite a few more years.
Speaker 4: You're gonna be the best of the leader in this
Speaker 4: dring for a while.
Speaker 7: How do you approach that role and how do you
Speaker 7: see yourself developing as a leader in this SoC.
Speaker 3: I I'll continue to do what I do. Uh lead
Speaker 3: by example. Some people are vocal and some people you know,
Speaker 3: lead with like the way they work, you know. And
Speaker 3: Lamar's like a good example. You know, Derek is a
Speaker 3: good example. They might not say much, but you know
Speaker 3: you can tell, you know when it's time to you know,
Speaker 3: get right, you know what I'm saying and lock in
Speaker 3: and I I think that's more you know what I am.
Speaker 3: You know, Rokowan he's more of a vocal you know leader.
Speaker 3: Calvin NOI he's a he's a vocal leader, you know.
Speaker 3: But they they they work hard as well. But uh me,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna show up every day, you know what I'm
Speaker 3: saying the work. Continue to do that and you know,
Speaker 3: hopefully that helps others around.
Speaker 4: Me for shot, And what did the last season do
Speaker 4: for you?
Speaker 5: Just to I obviously the contractors they've led that, But
Speaker 5: what what impacted and have to do to be able
Speaker 5: to go through the.
Speaker 4: Season healthy, have the kind of year you had?
Speaker 7: Uh?
Speaker 4: What did it do, not just physically but mentally for you?
Speaker 10: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I just think last year was fun overall. I don't
Speaker 3: think it helped me really get through anything. I think
Speaker 3: before the season started, I was kind of, you know,
Speaker 3: at that point of peace, you know, and I feel
Speaker 3: like that was a a heavy reason to why you know,
Speaker 3: I was able to do you know, those you know
Speaker 3: type of things on the field and have them more success,
Speaker 3: just because I know I was in a better headspace,
Speaker 3: you know, throughout the whole year. So you know, hopefully
Speaker 3: we keep that mindset as well, and you know, plenty
Speaker 3: more big plays to come.
Speaker 8: Sean, are you you played with a veteran like Odell Beckham?
Speaker 8: Now you have d hop here? Is is there anything
Speaker 8: that you are hoping to pick his brain about? Is
Speaker 8: there anything you wanna take from him.
Speaker 3: I mean, not nothing in particular, but I think with
Speaker 3: a guy like that, that's that's done so much in
Speaker 3: the league with there's so much respect, you know. I
Speaker 3: just I'm ready to ask him anything, you know, as
Speaker 3: far as you know, catching hands, rock, running body, taking
Speaker 3: care of your body at what you do, uh when
Speaker 3: you was in year one compared to year five, you know,
Speaker 3: it's a lot of different variables. I'm a I'm a
Speaker 3: deep thinker, so I I'm not like a one a
Speaker 3: one coursing guy. You know, if I'm after ask a question,
Speaker 3: I wanna you know, keep digging into you know, I
Speaker 3: really figure out, you know, the best way to do something.
Speaker 3: And de Hop has already been a you know, a
Speaker 3: good vocal leader for us, you know, if it's wars
Speaker 3: to helping us with the young guys, and I definitely
Speaker 3: trust to he'll continue to help us out in that way.
Speaker 4: Shot Under said here play a little bit in.
Speaker 11: A ask year so respect that to be.
Speaker 3: I I honestly don't know. I really I really never know.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 3: I I just I really never know.
Speaker 7: Bro.
Speaker 3: So you just gotta be prepared for it all. Just
Speaker 3: show up and be ready to play. So i'm'a just
Speaker 3: continue to do that. Yeah, whatever they want me to do,
Speaker 3: i'm'a do. I just like playing football and at this point, bro,
Speaker 3: I'm great for for it all. So you know, they
Speaker 3: throw me in the slot, throw me at tight end,
Speaker 3: the chip block, whatever, I I'll I'll do it. Especially now.
Speaker 6: Yeah yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 9: Not many, not many players get three contracts with the team.
Speaker 9: Did you take a minute to kind of take that in,
Speaker 9: especially since early on there was some it was kind
Speaker 9: of some tumultuous days with the injuries and all that
Speaker 9: that you were able to be a guy who was
Speaker 9: a three contract guy here. Uh.
Speaker 3: I just think for me, that's it's more. It hits
Speaker 3: different when you know it's a receiver here. Well, we
Speaker 3: all know the perspective here and you know we've we've
Speaker 3: been through a lot. We can we go through a lot.
Speaker 3: We we continue to go through a lot, you know
Speaker 3: when it comes to facing back last here and there
Speaker 3: or wherever it may be. But it definitely you know,
Speaker 3: I I'll just say it means a lot, you know,
Speaker 3: to be able to start something new here, you know,
Speaker 3: something fresh when it comes to the receiving room, and
Speaker 3: I mean hopefully we continue to you know, make plays
Speaker 3: and you know, change the the narrative of what we
Speaker 3: have here.
Speaker 8: I'm sure how you mentioned.
Speaker 11: Your relationship with Eric da Costa earlier. He's publicly said
Speaker 11: over the past, you see, and he's fullish about your talents.
Speaker 11: So what does it mean to you just to have
Speaker 11: him kind of stick beside you, continue to defend you
Speaker 11: at and continue to sign you.
Speaker 3: It means a lot. I mean that coming from that's
Speaker 3: coming from the top man that you know that pay us.
Speaker 3: So honestly, you know, if you got you know, got
Speaker 3: that respect from from him, you know, it means a lot,
Speaker 3: you know, and you know hopefully that continues to develop
Speaker 3: and you know grow over the time of me being here,
Speaker 3: but being able to build a relationship with him, you know,
Speaker 3: even all the coaches. It's been it's been real good
Speaker 3: and it's been real beneficial.
Speaker 11: Have you had an opportunity to share this mom over
Speaker 11: with your family? What was their reaction?
Speaker 6: Nah?
Speaker 3: I told my mom about a couple of days ago,
Speaker 3: but I haven't called it yet.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: I kind of signed and then came to work after that,
Speaker 3: So i'm'a go call it right now. You heard from you.
Speaker 4: I suppose that Lamar not yet.
Speaker 3: Not yet. I don't know if anybody heard from tomorrow.
Speaker 3: I think so we'll find out soon.
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
Speaker 6: I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 1: We also had a chance to talk with defensive coordinator zach.
Speaker 2: Orr mal Chai, Mike Green, a lot of young guys.
Speaker 2: How do you think they have kind of to go
Speaker 2: open and worked so far?
Speaker 10: I'm excited about the young group that we brought in, man.
Speaker 12: I think that Eric and his staff did a great
Speaker 12: job of identifying talent and I think, most importantly, Ravens
Speaker 12: man like guys that really loved football, love to grind,
Speaker 12: love to compete.
Speaker 7: Man.
Speaker 10: So I'm excited about the young guys.
Speaker 7: Man.
Speaker 12: We're throwing a lot at them right now. They're picking
Speaker 12: it up well, they're learning from their mistakes. I just
Speaker 12: appreciate the way that they're coming into work. So we're
Speaker 12: fired up about them, and you know, they got long
Speaker 12: ways to go. But I like where we're at right
Speaker 12: now with.
Speaker 4: Them out here to speak.
Speaker 10: So what's kind of the vision of what Kyle and
Speaker 10: kar KaiA can do see e secondary.
Speaker 12: I think that could change week by man, but I
Speaker 12: think the vision ultimately is uh be Ballhawks.
Speaker 10: And be ball controlled back there.
Speaker 9: Man.
Speaker 12: Great communicators, great leaders, get us right, get us in
Speaker 12: and in and out of the right cause nothing over
Speaker 12: our heads, and then make plays back there. I think,
Speaker 12: uh last week when when kay Ham was here with Malakai,
Speaker 12: it was great to see those guys kind of start
Speaker 12: building that chemistry. And I already seen the impact that
Speaker 12: kay Ham has had on Malakai with his communication, his
Speaker 12: knowledge and just his football savvy and uh so Malachi
Speaker 12: is picking that up. I got a great vision for
Speaker 12: those guys. I think they're gonna help us out and
Speaker 12: play great football for us.
Speaker 9: Zach, what's it been like working with Chuck Pagano And
Speaker 9: how valuable is it that a's one not just a
Speaker 9: former DC but a former NFL head coach and the
Speaker 9: defensive coach.
Speaker 4: It's been great.
Speaker 12: It's been great. I mean, I'm glad that he's here.
Speaker 12: I mean, I don't know how old he is. I
Speaker 12: don't put his new age out there, but I mean
Speaker 12: he has great energy. I mean his energy is great
Speaker 12: and obviously, like you said, his his football knowledge. Man,
Speaker 12: It's just it's just so valuable to me personally and
Speaker 12: then just to us as a as a team, and
Speaker 12: as a defense. I mean's he's He's led great defenses
Speaker 12: here as a coordinator. He was a great position coach
Speaker 12: throughout his whole career, great head coach as well. So
Speaker 12: he's seen a lot, been around a lot, and you know,
Speaker 12: he's a deep dB expert. So he's gonna be great
Speaker 12: for our guys. He's already been great for us as
Speaker 12: players and coaches and his organization.
Speaker 10: So I'm fired up about him.
Speaker 7: And Jared hey Wigs talked about he's put on some
Speaker 7: wait this offseason and he has big those expectations for
Speaker 7: this year. What are you see him from him out
Speaker 7: out here at practice and what do you see for him?
Speaker 7: Which is your expectations from this year?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 12: I thought Nate did a great job going to work
Speaker 12: this offseason. Man, putting weight on, that's a testament to
Speaker 12: him and the strength coaches coming up with a great
Speaker 12: plan and obviously he followed it.
Speaker 10: The wait is real, you know. So that's good to see.
Speaker 12: But what I see him focusing on now, Man, he's
Speaker 12: more locked in on his fundamentals and technique on.
Speaker 10: A more consistent basis. Like last year.
Speaker 12: I felt like he got to that point towards the
Speaker 12: middle end of the season. But last year was just
Speaker 12: running with like a chicken with his head cut off,
Speaker 12: trying to figure out what to do. Now, he understands
Speaker 12: the system, he understands the defense. He's been been the
Speaker 12: league four years. He understands formations from offenses. So now
Speaker 12: you're just hone in on his his technique. Man, and
Speaker 12: that guy right there, he take his technique to another
Speaker 12: level on a consistent basis.
Speaker 10: The sky's the limit for him.
Speaker 5: You get the outside linebacker moving back and attack. Plus
Speaker 5: Mike Green. When I know it's early, but when you
Speaker 5: look at him, what have you seen and and sort
Speaker 5: of what does that do in terms of versatility in
Speaker 5: terms of what you guys can do past martialize.
Speaker 12: Yeah, Man, I see a guy who comes out here
Speaker 12: and works. But from a physical standpoint, I mean, his
Speaker 12: get off is real, and he understands the.
Speaker 10: Level of the quarterback.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 12: So I think he's gonna be a real valuable piece
Speaker 12: for us. He's he's strong, he's explosive. He could rush
Speaker 12: on the outside and he could rush on the inside.
Speaker 12: So one thing we always say, you can never have
Speaker 12: enough rushers, man, and he's gonna add to that room
Speaker 12: and it's gonna be a great valuable piece for us.
Speaker 10: But Uh, I'm happy with Mike.
Speaker 12: I think that he's doing a good job of what
Speaker 12: he can do right now, giving the restrictions with the
Speaker 12: with the pads and everything. But I think training camp
Speaker 12: and the preseason, you guys really start to see, uh,
Speaker 12: you know what abilities.
Speaker 10: He really has a lot of the.
Speaker 4: Defense you've been Trent, this guy he stayed high on
Speaker 4: even though he has discrepis last year. What are you
Speaker 4: gonna see from him?
Speaker 10: And these stays out of Yes, he's.
Speaker 12: A lot more confident, man. This is the most confident
Speaker 12: that I've seen Trent man. And he's a lot more
Speaker 12: relaxed before the play I hear him talking. This is
Speaker 12: the most I've heard him communicate on the field. So
Speaker 12: I'm excited, man, We're excited about him. I think has
Speaker 12: done a great job. Tyler Santucci, our linebacker, has done
Speaker 12: a great job with him, uh thus far, and he's
Speaker 12: done a great job out here man. So he's actually
Speaker 12: turning into one of our most vocal guys. So you're
Speaker 12: on the only way we say you can be confident
Speaker 12: in speaking is if you're confident in doing what you're
Speaker 12: doing so. Obviously, he's confident in what he's doing and
Speaker 12: he's doing the heck of a job. So I'm excited
Speaker 12: to see him to continue to.
Speaker 10: Trend upwards for us.
Speaker 12: Say again, man, shoot, Teddy plays like a raven you
Speaker 12: know his college film. He flies around and he likes
Speaker 12: he seeks contact, He can play in space, and he's
Speaker 12: a smart player. I mean, talk about a guy who
Speaker 12: came from a smaller school, dominated that they made one
Speaker 12: year jump, got there kind of like there in the
Speaker 12: middle of the summer, and dominated in the ACC at
Speaker 12: a big school.
Speaker 10: So I'm excited about Teddy. We threw a lot of
Speaker 10: his place. He's playing.
Speaker 12: He's playing both positions for US, Mike, Will and Don
Speaker 12: and he's done a good job going out there so far.
Speaker 9: Hey, exactly, we see Chalen Davis floating all over your defense,
Speaker 9: even a little bit at safety. What what goes into
Speaker 9: that decision?
Speaker 4: What goes into city down with the guy and saying
Speaker 4: give give this a work.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think, man, Since.
Speaker 12: Since since I've been here, way back in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 12: it's always been preached you want to get your best
Speaker 12: eleven guys on the field. So in the secondary, most
Speaker 12: of the time, you're gonna have at least five DB's
Speaker 12: on the field, sometimes six, maybe seven, So you want
Speaker 12: to get your best eleven. But especially with the with
Speaker 12: the top five dbs, you want to play with the
Speaker 12: best five. You don't want to limit yourself or a
Speaker 12: player just because well he's only a corner. So even
Speaker 12: though he might be better than the safety, we can't
Speaker 12: play him because he's only the corner. So we we
Speaker 12: force our guys to kind of learn everything and then
Speaker 12: we start throwing him out there to see if they
Speaker 12: can pick it up and execute at a high level.
Speaker 12: So Jalen, he probably he might be the smartest dB
Speaker 12: in the room because he knows all the positions.
Speaker 10: He can play all the positions.
Speaker 12: But he's just the one of the guys we're starting
Speaker 12: to do that with, and you'll start seeing more guys
Speaker 12: do that as we get gone.
Speaker 11: Could Dafe Oh wait, he also put on some weight
Speaker 11: in the off season. What do you think that'll do
Speaker 11: for him? How do you think it'll help him take
Speaker 11: another step?
Speaker 8: This team?
Speaker 9: Him?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 10: Man, he done it. He done it.
Speaker 12: He's another guy who came back and he's always been
Speaker 12: in real good physical shape.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 12: But you could see he took it to another level,
Speaker 12: like he's he's twenty pounds of muscle. I don't know
Speaker 12: how he did it, but I'm glad he did. But
Speaker 12: he's still fast. He's still got that fast, that twitchiness
Speaker 12: and that explosiveness. So you know, this is a big
Speaker 12: year for Dafay. Like we don't shy away from it.
Speaker 10: We all know what it is.
Speaker 12: It's a contract year for him. We know his individual goals.
Speaker 12: We know he wants to get accomplished, we know his
Speaker 12: team goals. He wants to be a centerpiece to help us,
Speaker 12: you know, reach.
Speaker 3: The super Bowl.
Speaker 10: So he's took that approach.
Speaker 12: I think it's gonna do wonders for his game because
Speaker 12: tackles are already scared of his speed and he has
Speaker 12: he has ability to power, but I think with twenty
Speaker 12: extra pounds, that's gonna make his power even better.
Speaker 10: So yeah, I'm excited for a Dafe man. And I
Speaker 10: think he approached this his situation the right way in
Speaker 10: the contract year. And he's here. He's been here. He's
Speaker 10: been here even in Phase one.
Speaker 12: In Phase two when he's out here practicing, working his
Speaker 12: butt off, and and he continues that mindset and he
Speaker 12: putting the work he's putting in, it's gonna pay off
Speaker 12: for him.
Speaker 4: In the process. You know, the interceptions just got to
Speaker 4: stick down that you remember when was in plays get
Speaker 4: good inst to otto.
Speaker 10: Year, man, I can't. I he made a lot of plays, man.
Speaker 12: I mean this dude, he's kind of been on our
Speaker 12: radar for a while just because Georgia obviously they've had
Speaker 12: they've been a great football team, so they had a
Speaker 12: lot of guys come out over the years. And I
Speaker 12: remember watching you know, dbs that came out specifically in
Speaker 12: last year's class twenty twenty four class, and I'm like, man,
Speaker 12: who's twenty four? I ask him the scouts and everything.
Speaker 12: They're like, he's not coming out to next year. I
Speaker 12: was like, oh, he's all he's a true sophomore. But
Speaker 12: I think the thing that really pressed me about him
Speaker 12: this year was Georgia had a lot of young guys
Speaker 12: in the secondary.
Speaker 10: He's one of the older guys there as a true junior.
Speaker 12: So basically by week or by game plan, he played
Speaker 12: all around the secondary and he still was their best
Speaker 12: player back there. So that's what's really intriguing to us
Speaker 12: that we like to be Verse twelve of our guys.
Speaker 12: We don't like locking our guys in one position. We
Speaker 12: don't like locking ourselves in one position depending on you know,
Speaker 12: who were playing that week. So if you if you
Speaker 12: got a guy in the secondary who can play safety, corner, nickel,
Speaker 12: dime and play at all at a high level, it's
Speaker 12: real valuable. So I think that's what really stood out
Speaker 12: to me about him this year, Zach.
Speaker 2: Obviously the defense didn't start off the way you wanted to,
Speaker 2: but by the end of the season, I mean statistically
Speaker 2: you're one of the best, you know as finishing best team.
Speaker 2: What did you learn maybe the most throughout last season?
Speaker 10: Man, I just probably just learned that it's a week
Speaker 10: to week league.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 12: I mean I knew it, but you got a chance
Speaker 12: to see it's week the weekend. You got to go
Speaker 12: out there and do it no matter who you got
Speaker 12: back there. The names don't mean nothing. Our names on
Speaker 12: our jersey, we take pride in that. But the team
Speaker 12: coming in trying to trying to whoop our butt, man,
Speaker 12: and the players we got real accomplished players and coaches.
Speaker 12: The team that's coming in that's playing us don't care
Speaker 12: about that. So you can't rest on what you've done
Speaker 12: in the past. Man, you got to show up as
Speaker 12: a team, as a coach, as a player every single
Speaker 12: week and get your respect. And I think that when
Speaker 12: we finally fully embraced that, our game too went to
Speaker 12: another level. And the only way you can do that
Speaker 12: is out here on this practice field. You know, it's
Speaker 12: not just gonna happen on game day. So you know,
Speaker 12: that's why I probably learned is just continue to preach
Speaker 12: that message, continue to stay on top of that all
Speaker 12: the time.
Speaker 10: Man, Like we talked about it today. So we're gonna
Speaker 10: be a little angle about it. And that's good.
Speaker 12: If you love football, you want to be challenged, you
Speaker 12: want to be coached, you want to get pushed. So
Speaker 12: if that's the type of uh, you know, player and
Speaker 12: coach you are, you're gonna thrive here. If not, then
Speaker 12: you know it's probably not gonna be the place for you.
Speaker 10: You got old Chusa Johno at GB Experts or anything
Speaker 10: when you first got here. Of that, he said that
Speaker 10: he like the way you guys have group. Last year
Speaker 10: he came in.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean definitely, man.
Speaker 12: I mean the biggest thing that he just jumped off
Speaker 12: jumped off the tape to him just watch him. Was
Speaker 12: you know, just the communication back back there, and some
Speaker 12: of that, like I said, it was was on me
Speaker 12: as well, you know, tightening the menu up, but just
Speaker 12: the communication. And then he said, once we got that fixed,
Speaker 12: you know, this the the skies, the limit. You know,
Speaker 12: we a talented group back there. And then the other
Speaker 12: other thing that stood out to him was technique. You know,
Speaker 12: we got to get better with our technique in the
Speaker 12: back end. Man, it's like we we we make real
Speaker 12: good plays, but we give up plays. We shouldn't give
Speaker 12: up because.
Speaker 10: Our eyes not right, our leverage is not right, or
Speaker 10: our body position is not right.
Speaker 12: So those are just little nuances he picked up. And
Speaker 12: I think it was impressive. Is a lot of guys
Speaker 12: went up to him. He might not even know I noticed,
Speaker 12: but a lot of guys went up to him and
Speaker 12: asked him one on one what he could what they
Speaker 12: could work on. And he had an answer for every
Speaker 12: single one of those guys, a deep, detailed summary. So,
Speaker 12: like I said, man, it's it's great to have him
Speaker 12: here in the building. And like I said, he don't
Speaker 12: be fooled by his age. You guys can talk to
Speaker 12: him here.
Speaker 10: In a second.
Speaker 12: His dude got real juice and energy and knowledge, man,
Speaker 12: So I'm fired up about him and.
Speaker 10: All the coaches that we brought in.
Speaker 1: We also heard from We have a secondary coach, Chuck Pegano.
Speaker 1: He was the former defensive coordinator here. Of course, he
Speaker 1: was the head coach of the Indianapolis Coults. He's excited
Speaker 1: to be back in Baltimore, and he talked about what
Speaker 1: this opportunity means for him.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're part of the media for a little while.
Speaker 2: Doing that didn't any knocking off Russ getting back into coaching.
Speaker 2: What was it like getting back into coaching for him?
Speaker 6: You gotta get in football shape, you know.
Speaker 13: We tell the guys we're fixing the sent him home
Speaker 13: for the summer, and you always worry about that, right
Speaker 13: because they're in great shape now, and then everybody's got
Speaker 13: a month off, so you want them to come back
Speaker 13: in football shape. But you really can't replicate, you know,
Speaker 13: the pads and all those kinds of things. Coaching is
Speaker 13: no different, you know. So I'm pretty damn good on
Speaker 13: a peloton, you know, I ride my tail off on
Speaker 13: that bike. But coming out and running around with these
Speaker 13: guys again, that that took them inte, you know, and
Speaker 13: I don't have the the bounce of my step that
Speaker 13: I used to, but uh, it's been, it's been awesome.
Speaker 6: I'm so grateful and thankful for the opportunity to be back.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 13: It's it's always something when you have something, you kind
Speaker 13: of take it for granted, and then when when you don't,
Speaker 13: you realize just how special it was to coach and
Speaker 13: uh be a part of something, be a part of
Speaker 13: a team, have the relationships, uh you know that you
Speaker 13: that you develop and build uh when you're part of
Speaker 13: something like that. So it's it's been awesome. Got obviously
Speaker 13: a gold standard of organizations top down, and the familiarity
Speaker 13: with with John Staff's a lot different. But you know,
Speaker 13: felt like I knew everybody. You know Manny, you know
Speaker 13: in the kitchen, you know, he bugging me every day still,
Speaker 13: you know, like I never was gone. You know, see
Speaker 13: all you know tell of familiar faces. So it's been
Speaker 13: they've they've all made a you know, pretty easy transition.
Speaker 7: Is that.
Speaker 4: Jameson still being here, what's been about sort of? I mean,
Speaker 4: like you said, it's been a bunch of years since
Speaker 4: you were here last. But the more organization's pretty famous
Speaker 4: for its.
Speaker 6: Mean, what do you kind of notice on the back
Speaker 6: of the h just the same. I mean, the standard
Speaker 6: is the standard.
Speaker 13: I know that's that's cliche, is you know, but you know,
Speaker 13: the type of people like if you don't John talked
Speaker 13: about it today. Gruden was here today, Like, if you
Speaker 13: don't love ball, you can't survive here. You know, there's
Speaker 13: a big difference between like and love. You know, in
Speaker 13: a relationship. You know, it's gonna be thirty six years
Speaker 13: in July for me and my wife. If I would
Speaker 13: have just kind of liked marriage, that would have been
Speaker 13: over probably thirty five years ago, you know, but she
Speaker 13: sacrificed a lot. But you gotta you gotta love ball
Speaker 13: and the type of people that they bring in here,
Speaker 13: the football character, the football IQ uh, the standards, what
Speaker 13: the expectations are. That hasn't that hasn't changed, you know,
Speaker 13: just seeing Oz every day, Eric every day, John, it's like,
Speaker 13: I like you never really left. You know, Buildings a
Speaker 13: little bit bigger, they're adding on again, some of those things.
Speaker 6: But it's been pretty seamless.
Speaker 10: Look around the league. It's especially on the defensive side
Speaker 10: of the ball.
Speaker 8: You're seeing more positionless football guys, they could play all
Speaker 8: over the place. The Ravens have a couple of those
Speaker 8: guys on their defense. How different is that, you know,
Speaker 8: trying to scheme up and coach those types of guys
Speaker 8: compared to you know, guys used to play just setain positions.
Speaker 13: Yeah, I mean, when you have a guy, I'm assuming
Speaker 13: you're talking about a guy like Kyle, you know Hamilton,
Speaker 13: you know Marlon Humphrey, you know, veteran, veteran guy, been
Speaker 13: in the league a long long time, can play outside,
Speaker 13: can play the nickel. Kyle played deep, play big nickel,
Speaker 13: played dime linebacker, played deep in coverage, play man lets,
Speaker 13: all those kind of things. When you have you know,
Speaker 13: chess pieces as we like to refer to them, and
Speaker 13: you can move those things around. Not only you know
Speaker 13: his football character, but then his skill set and his
Speaker 13: ability to do all the things you think about, you know,
Speaker 13: the wide receiver groups that that we're gonna have to face,
Speaker 13: the quarterbacks that we're gonna have to face, You're gonna
Speaker 13: have to have, you know, dudes like that Roquan.
Speaker 6: I was with Roqan as you guys know in Chicago.
Speaker 13: You know I knew the minute, you know he came
Speaker 13: over here that he was going to be a game changer,
Speaker 13: you know, for for this defense and for this unit.
Speaker 13: Those guys again, they their football smarts, their football IQ,
Speaker 13: their love for the game, their passion for the game,
Speaker 13: their passion for playing for one another is off the charts.
Speaker 6: So you can't you can't have enough of those guys.
Speaker 4: You've ensure that the secondary hits the ground one second.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's going to be a second year of Playboer,
Speaker 6: what has.
Speaker 2: Stop out to you?
Speaker 6: A value set?
Speaker 13: H Zach is awesome, as you guys know, a ton
Speaker 13: of energy, a ton of juice, ton of passion. He's
Speaker 13: super smart, super intelligent. He knows this, you know, defense
Speaker 13: inside and out. And I just look at the transformation
Speaker 13: like what happened here on defense when you look at
Speaker 13: from the bye week on, there wasn't a better defense
Speaker 13: in the National Football League. They gave up probably an
Speaker 13: average of two hundred and seventy two hundred and eighty
Speaker 13: yards total. Pass defense was awesome. Rush defense, of course
Speaker 13: they led the league anyway, and that they're turnover margin,
Speaker 13: third down everything was was you know, number one or
Speaker 13: two in the National Football League. So I think it's
Speaker 13: a process you know, and stepping into that role. You know,
Speaker 13: I stepped into that role back in twenty eleven here,
Speaker 13: you know, coach the secondary for three years and then
Speaker 13: all of a sudden the guy leaves and you get
Speaker 13: the opportunity of a lifetime to be that play call
Speaker 13: that was. That's a process that takes time. Now the system,
Speaker 13: you know, it's been in place, the players were, you know,
Speaker 13: the same. So Zach's fortunate that way. I was really
Speaker 13: fortunate that way. And he's got a bunch of great coaches,
Speaker 13: you know, excluding one sixty five year old man you know,
Speaker 13: in that defensive room. So I'm just trying to do
Speaker 13: my part, stay in my lane, know my role. But yeah,
Speaker 13: he's he's he's been tremendous. And you know the thing
Speaker 13: about Zach, he's gonna hold himself accountable, but he's not
Speaker 13: afraid to hold these kids accountable, these players accountable, you know,
Speaker 13: And he's gonna he's gonna be honest with him. He's
Speaker 13: gonna be upfront, he's gonna be fourthright, and he's gonna
Speaker 13: tell them what they need to hear, not what they
Speaker 13: want to hear, which is to me, which is huge,
Speaker 13: and that's a great quality to have.
Speaker 2: How do you ensure that the secondary hits the round
Speaker 2: and running this here, because I think those guys will
Speaker 2: be the first to say that they didn't play up
Speaker 2: to the standard that they expected for the first half.
Speaker 6: Of last year.
Speaker 13: I think we're off to a great start, you know
Speaker 13: right now. Uh Donald Delecio as a secondary coach, he
Speaker 13: comes over from from Kansas City. He's done a phenomenal
Speaker 13: job of you know, to this point of getting not
Speaker 13: only the veterans that have that have been here, but
Speaker 13: these young players, these rookie players, Malachi, the couple of
Speaker 13: corners that we drafted, you know, bk and and Beam,
Speaker 13: you know. So he's done a great job. But we've
Speaker 13: got another you know, handful of OTAs. We've got a
Speaker 13: mandatory mini camp. We'll do a great job and give
Speaker 13: these guys kind of a prescription when they leave for
Speaker 13: that month of what to you know, keep working from
Speaker 13: a skill development.
Speaker 6: They'll have their iPads, they'll get to take all the tape.
Speaker 13: Home, all the corrections home, all the film home, and
Speaker 13: and keep studying, you know, and keep growing that way
Speaker 13: so that when training camp comes, it isn't like you know,
Speaker 13: back in the day, when I was here in O
Speaker 13: eight we were going to Westminster. You know, there's no
Speaker 13: CBA in place that said you had to you know,
Speaker 13: practice you know, shorts, shorts, shorts, maybe spiders, then maybe
Speaker 13: get into pads, have this ramp up.
Speaker 6: Like day three we were full pad, Day four we
Speaker 6: were full pad. Day five we were full pads.
Speaker 13: And it was two days you know, so you couldn't
Speaker 13: And my point is like you had to show up
Speaker 13: in shape that you wouldn't make it through the first
Speaker 13: three days of camp. This is really no different. So
Speaker 13: we've got you know, good veteran group. We got you know,
Speaker 13: leaders in the back end there that will that we
Speaker 13: will lean on. Donald myself will lean on to stay
Speaker 13: connected with with all the guys in the back end
Speaker 13: so that when we do show up, we hit the
Speaker 13: ground run and we're in shape.
Speaker 6: You know physically.
Speaker 13: If you don't show up in shape, then as soon
Speaker 13: as you get tired, this thing slows down. You lose folks,
Speaker 13: lose concentration. Then you have you know a bad day
Speaker 13: and then followed maybe by another can't happen.
Speaker 9: You're a if you had that wanted that made you
Speaker 9: want to get back in or what's happened. How did
Speaker 9: this opportunity come about? If you gave us a lot
Speaker 9: of background, Was this something that was kind of stewing
Speaker 9: with you that you were kind of getting the itch
Speaker 9: to get.
Speaker 13: Back in, And yeah, I never really stopped thinking about
Speaker 13: coaching and thinking about the game. I was fortunate, you know,
Speaker 13: Pat having me on and doing that show, being on
Speaker 13: the program with him and the boys. You know, that
Speaker 13: was kind of my football fix, you know, but that
Speaker 13: was six months out of that was football season, you know.
Speaker 13: But it kept me connected to the game. But I
Speaker 13: never really stopped thinking about, you know, maybe coming back
Speaker 13: at some point. My kids, my wife, my daughters. I
Speaker 13: got three daughters, I got five grandkids. They don't know
Speaker 13: any better, but they all thought I retired too young
Speaker 13: as it was.
Speaker 6: But it was twenty twenty. It was coming off of
Speaker 6: COVID and I just kind of had enough.
Speaker 13: I was like, okay, I need a break, probably like
Speaker 13: everybody else in the world, but never really stopped thinking
Speaker 13: about it.
Speaker 6: This was just a probably the only opportunity.
Speaker 13: That would get me off the couch, you know, because yeah,
Speaker 13: I was playing golf and working out with my grandkids
Speaker 13: and life was pretty good, you know. A lot of
Speaker 13: my friends back home like, are you out of your mind?
Speaker 13: Why would you go back to the grind? You can't
Speaker 13: replicate this. You can't replicate the grind. It's hard to
Speaker 13: It's hard to fill your days. You know, My day
Speaker 13: was usually I was done with the workout, honeydewes chores,
Speaker 13: and it's ten o'clock in the morning, and I'm like,
Speaker 13: I can't start drinking, you know, I wait a certain
Speaker 13: time to start that.
Speaker 6: But you know, it's hard to fill your days, you know.
Speaker 6: So yeah, it was.
Speaker 13: It was, like I said, an opportunity of a lifetime
Speaker 13: and and probably the only the only place that that could.
Speaker 5: Get me to come back you or you're gonna be
Speaker 5: out here wearing steaveld shirts or something.
Speaker 13: I don't think no John John would kick me out,
Speaker 13: Like if you don't have the you gotta wear the
Speaker 13: right attire. You're not in the right attire. You're get
Speaker 13: sent back in.
Speaker 6: You don't care how old you are and how many
Speaker 6: years you got in. You know, sir, you gotta yeah, no, no, tank,
Speaker 6: I got guns too, you'd be.
Speaker 5: Uh, we're exact stated when we first got here, A
Speaker 5: bunch of guys that come to you seeing one on one.
Speaker 10: Advice scarious with the accavation process you place for years
Speaker 10: to they and you can share about some of those.
Speaker 13: Conversations they were. They were more like just trying to
Speaker 13: build relationships from that standpoint. You know, you get hired,
Speaker 13: you read you know they're not here, they're off you know,
Speaker 13: in the off season stuff. So you start text thread
Speaker 13: texting the players, introducing yourself, tell them how much you're
Speaker 13: looking forward to, you know, being part of their their family,
Speaker 13: their team, being part of this organization.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 13: And then once they start to filter in and you
Speaker 13: just really start to build a relationship with them, and uh,
Speaker 13: not so much even the football side of it. Some
Speaker 13: had played more than others. Some had a bunch of
Speaker 13: tape you could look at. Some you know hadn't really
Speaker 13: been on the field yet. You know, first year guys
Speaker 13: got injured, didn't get much at TJ you know guy
Speaker 13: like TJ BO. You know, so the conversations were great. Again,
Speaker 13: it was more of just building relationships with these these players.
Speaker 7: And and.
Speaker 13: You have a if you have a you know, a
Speaker 13: strong bond and you know did for Meal said a
Speaker 13: long time ago, he said, these players don't care how
Speaker 13: much you know until they know how much you care,
Speaker 13: you know, And so I I think that's I've kind
Speaker 13: of lived by that philosophy my entire coaching career. So
Speaker 13: it was more about just building relationships, getting to know
Speaker 13: these people up now.
Speaker 2: That you're back coaching again, any any desire to be
Speaker 2: a head coach again in the NFL, No.
Speaker 13: Sir, new sir, you know that again. I was right place,
Speaker 13: right time, got the opportunity of a lifetime. Mister Ursay.
Speaker 13: You know, God rest his soul and rest in peace.
Speaker 13: What a great man. He gave me an opportunity of
Speaker 13: a lifetime. All that I went through in year one
Speaker 13: stood by me, had my back the entire time.
Speaker 6: But you have no idea.
Speaker 13: Nobody has no idea until you sit in that seat.
Speaker 13: And you know, it's one thing being a position coach.
Speaker 13: It's another thing being you know, a coordinator on one
Speaker 13: side of the ball. You know, you kind of live
Speaker 13: in your own little world, but you know, sitting in
Speaker 13: that seat kind of looking for the head coach manual.
Speaker 13: You know, two days after I was hired Nindy, I
Speaker 13: was presser was done and all the meating was gone,
Speaker 13: and I'm going through Jimmy Caldwell's desk looking for the
Speaker 13: head coach manual, hoping he left it behind. You know,
Speaker 13: I looked at Tina, I was like, what the frick
Speaker 13: did we just do to ourselves?
Speaker 10: You know?
Speaker 13: So I loved I loved it, you know, but I'd
Speaker 13: love just you know, some of my fondest memories and
Speaker 13: best coaching moments were like the first time I was
Speaker 13: here and just being a secondary coach and having that
Speaker 13: room and that group and that bond.
Speaker 6: Head coaching.
Speaker 13: They'll tell you you got to stay involved, you want
Speaker 13: to keep coaching, but it's damn near impossible because you
Speaker 13: got you know, you have to do this three out
Speaker 13: of the four days a week. You get a Thursday
Speaker 13: off because John still get Thursdays off.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 6: I used to love Thursday, not because I didn't love
Speaker 6: the media.
Speaker 13: Everybody's great people, but it's just a break where you
Speaker 13: could actually go in and maybe look at some tape
Speaker 13: and coach some guys up. But you get pulled away
Speaker 13: from what you love doing, and that's coaching the game,
Speaker 13: because you got so many other things going. So I
Speaker 13: know that was a long winded, you know, answer to
Speaker 13: your question, but no, I'm good. I've had enough of that.
Speaker 13: I'm just trying to hold on to my job.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 13: You know that scanner thing, you know every morning when
Speaker 13: I come in, I scan, it says access permitted. I'm like,
Speaker 13: thank you, you know, because you go up and you
Speaker 13: scan that and it access deny. It'll say access denied,
Speaker 13: and I'm like, what did I do wrong? You know, boy,
Speaker 13: How'd I screw this up?
Speaker 1: But no, you're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast.
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Speaker 1: so so much for listening. We'll talk with you again
Speaker 1: tomorrow