Speaker 1: Years. As far as you know, the each year come
Speaker 1: to camp and if you tried to kind of.
Speaker 2: Add onto your game, just try to be more consistent. Honestly,
Speaker 2: it's it's been cool to be in the system for
Speaker 2: a few years now, getting to work the same stuff,
Speaker 2: just kind of mastering all the techniques and everything that
Speaker 2: we do. But consistency has really been the biggest thing
Speaker 2: for me this year, just trying to stay consistent with
Speaker 2: my training, my recovery, and then also just on the field,
Speaker 2: just trying to make sure learning from my mistakes and
Speaker 2: then you know, capitalizing all the things that I do well.
Speaker 1: I can tell sometimes when a guy switches numbers whether
Speaker 1: he's physically different from from year to year, But you
Speaker 1: seem slimmer and quicker than.
Speaker 2: Than maybe you've been in the past.
Speaker 1: Is that Are we seeing that correctly?
Speaker 2: I have been hearing that the number is a little deceiving.
Speaker 2: People aren't used to it. They're used to that fifty nine.
Speaker 2: I feel better, honestly. I feel like I'm moving better,
Speaker 2: I feel more in shape. That was a big focus
Speaker 2: for me. I'm really the same weight, but I feel
Speaker 2: like I have a better build right now than I
Speaker 2: have in the past, and you know, I'm glad that
Speaker 2: it looks that way because it feels that way for sure.
Speaker 3: Off season training I saw somewhere with Red and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we stayed. We stay here in the summer
Speaker 2: with what take that as far as I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: used to how they prepare, so with them, the word
Speaker 2: consistency I've been repeating over and over again. That's really
Speaker 2: the biggest thing with them. That's why they've had such
Speaker 2: big success here, and that's why they've been able to
Speaker 2: stay here as main stays of this organization. And I
Speaker 2: realized that obviously last year I wanted something to change,
Speaker 2: and I knew that if I stayed back and trained
Speaker 2: with them, Dre's here in the off seasons as well.
Speaker 2: It really helped me kind of see what it takes
Speaker 2: from eight am to three pm, whenever we're in and
Speaker 2: out in those training days, how much really goes in
Speaker 2: and you know, just kind of falling after their league
Speaker 2: recognition and stands out.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're really recognizing the place quickly and moving fast.
Speaker 4: Is that film study or is that being in this
Speaker 4: defense for a number of years. Where's that come from?
Speaker 2: It's a number of things you hit on it film
Speaker 2: study obviously, but really it's just being in the system
Speaker 2: and gaining the confidence. Honestly, this is the most confident
Speaker 2: I've felt since I've been here, and that's testament to
Speaker 2: Johnny and the other backers, like I said, helping me
Speaker 2: get prepared and get to that point. But I just
Speaker 2: feel really comfortable right now diagnosing stuff and and also
Speaker 2: just taking the chances and shooting gaps. Like you said,
Speaker 2: that's one thing I've struggled with in the past is
Speaker 2: play recognition, almost looking like I'm hesitating a little bit.
Speaker 2: And that's just the one thing that I have really
Speaker 2: been trying to work on this off season. In this preseason,
Speaker 2: learned a thing on.
Speaker 3: The tick coverage stuff and how it's gone or is it.
Speaker 2: It's definitely a work in progress. It's something that none
Speaker 2: of us are used to, only the guys and that
Speaker 2: come from I think the USFL and the XFL have
Speaker 2: really done it before. We've been working a lot of
Speaker 2: just technical stuff and a lot of a lot of
Speaker 2: technique to try and you know, win one on one matchups,
Speaker 2: but scheme wise, it's it's really is a work in progress.
Speaker 2: We're learning as we go. Leverage is the biggest thing
Speaker 2: for us, honestly, that returner is going to have to
Speaker 2: make a decision at one point, and if you're if
Speaker 2: you're playing your leverage, especially to the front side of
Speaker 2: that return, usually good things are gonna happen.
Speaker 3: Some teams are be hiding some stuff that there conna
Speaker 3: be some unknown something you haven't seen before that you
Speaker 3: have to deal with.
Speaker 2: I feel, yeah, that's a general tendency in the preseason.
Speaker 2: You're obviously not going to show your complete hand, but
Speaker 2: I think in years past we know from kickoff return
Speaker 2: there's only so much that you can do. Obviously, reverses
Speaker 2: are going to be the biggest thing that we're probably
Speaker 2: not seeing right now that are gonna come up. And
Speaker 2: that's just the same thing testing someone's leverage on the
Speaker 2: back side. If people are crashing in, not holding another leverage,
Speaker 2: not playing discipline, I think that's the one thing you'll
Speaker 2: probably see early on in the regular season. But I
Speaker 2: think a lot of teams are just gonna try to
Speaker 2: focus on hitting it downhill and getting good field position
Speaker 2: to start.
Speaker 1: I think some people in your position would probably be
Speaker 1: looking for gonna go somewhere else. Let's see, you know,
Speaker 1: if I have a better chance somewhere else. Is your
Speaker 1: third training camp, fourth year with the team.
Speaker 4: Why why forty?
Speaker 1: Why do you keep coming back?
Speaker 4: Why do you? Why are you devoted to make this
Speaker 4: happen here?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean, I don't mean to sound like a
Speaker 2: broken record, but I really recognize that this is a
Speaker 2: special place. It's a really special organization, and I've been
Speaker 2: grateful enough to be here for as long as I
Speaker 2: have and learn under the guys that I have. And
Speaker 2: it's like you said, it's not always the easiest thing
Speaker 2: to not play and to be practice squad over an
Speaker 2: active roster, But for me, I personally believe I've needed
Speaker 2: a lot of development in order to actually be prepared
Speaker 2: to play and do substantial things in this league. And
Speaker 2: that's really been my focus, just trying to control what
Speaker 2: I can as far as the work, and hasn't really
Speaker 2: shown up on the field yet, but I'm just like
Speaker 2: I said, I'm trying to keep my head down and
Speaker 2: whatever happens happens. But I feel good about the work
Speaker 2: that I put in.
Speaker 4: Exactly done quite a bit of self reflection. Has there
Speaker 4: been something along the way here a frustration level or
Speaker 4: something else that has kind of got you to this
Speaker 4: point where you're like, hey, I need to focus in
Speaker 4: on this so that I can, like you say, achieve
Speaker 4: the goals that you want to reach.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean I've been humbled a decent amount in
Speaker 2: my time in the league. I wasn't necessarily completely prepared.
Speaker 2: I don't think I did enough when I first came
Speaker 2: in as an undrafted rookie in Denver, and that kind
Speaker 2: of showed. And even when I came here, I was
Speaker 2: rudely awakened to see what it's really like like the guys.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I'm blessed because of how special that
Speaker 2: linebacker group is. When I first got here, we had disease,
Speaker 2: we had dre fred. Obviously they were a little bit younger,
Speaker 2: but they were already seasoned in what they did, and
Speaker 2: I saw a difference. I had never been around a
Speaker 2: group like that. So for me, I realized I was
Speaker 2: very behind the eight ball in my personal opinion, and
Speaker 2: I wanted to be a part of that group really bad.
Speaker 2: That's still how I feel, and so that's kind of
Speaker 2: just where my head's been at. Every year, I try
Speaker 2: to just take a step back and see how have
Speaker 2: I developed, but also how can I continue to develop
Speaker 2: and I think that it's really helped me out. And
Speaker 2: I have good people behind me, good people, have good
Speaker 2: support system at home, So self reflection is big for
Speaker 2: me and I think this every year. It's just kind
Speaker 2: of trying to chuck forward and continue finding way to
Speaker 2: get better at some how.
Speaker 4: Difficult is it to kind of get to that point
Speaker 4: where you're looking at yourself rather than like, oh, they're
Speaker 4: doing me wrong, or you know, whatever kind of excuses
Speaker 4: that could.
Speaker 1: Be out there.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's easy to fall back on excuses, but
Speaker 2: for me personally, I know that if I can control
Speaker 2: what I can control everything else to take care of itself.
Speaker 2: I think it kind of shows that way things don't
Speaker 2: always go your way and that's just kind of how
Speaker 2: the world works. And like I said, I've been humbled
Speaker 2: multiple times, so it's it's nothing that's new to me.
Speaker 2: But like I said, I have a bunch of great
Speaker 2: people in this building, not just in the linebacker room,
Speaker 2: that have shown me that if you put the work in,
Speaker 2: things will come to fruition more more often than not.
Speaker 4: I think to play that NC Championship game or birds
Speaker 4: was kept out, I think it was almost like a
Speaker 4: game time decision where they played him instead of you.
Speaker 4: Was that a hard moment to swallow or did it
Speaker 4: fuel you through this offseason?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was difficult. I was obviously super excited. Those
Speaker 2: are moments that you dream of as a kid, you know,
Speaker 2: playing in a championship game with those types of stipulations,
Speaker 2: trying to go to the Super Bowl. I was very excited.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, Warren was ready,
Speaker 2: you know, and that that's just kind of I knew
Speaker 2: going in that was the case. So it wasn't like
Speaker 2: it was a surprise to me. But again, fuel sure,
Speaker 2: But for me, I'm I'm fueled more so by just
Speaker 2: my personal aspirations, not necessarily how things have happened over
Speaker 2: the past. You're the room you guys are in right now,
Speaker 2: really talented.
Speaker 4: Uh, you guys probably watched that scenes film. What's Johnny's
Speaker 4: saying about about Jalen and Tatum and some of these
Speaker 4: young kids that they they were.
Speaker 2: Following me the night? Yeah? Jo, Like I said, I've
Speaker 2: said it before, Johnny's the ultimately positive coach, which I love. Honestly,
Speaker 2: He's he coaches as hard, but he makes sure to
Speaker 2: find a positive spend in a way to really deal
Speaker 2: with positive reinforcement with everybody. But Tatum and Jalen are
Speaker 2: doing amazing. All the young guys did as well. Has
Speaker 2: had an amazing camp. Obviously he didn't play this week,
Speaker 2: but he's been doing great. It's really cool to see
Speaker 2: their progression, especially Tatum as a rookie. It's really hard
Speaker 2: to come into this system and show that much flash
Speaker 2: as a rookie and it's just a testament to him
Speaker 2: and his skill and how how much raw talent he has.
Speaker 2: But you know, Johnny has nothing but good things to
Speaker 2: say about everybody. I'm proud of Jalen too. He's worked
Speaker 2: really hard to develop and it's shown on the field
Speaker 2: in my opinion, Thanks guys.
Speaker 1: You