Speaker 1: It's Friday, September first, and Ravens general manager Eric Tacosta
Speaker 1: met with reporters today to look ahead to the upcoming season.
Speaker 1: He talked about quarterback Lamar Jackson, wide receiver Odell Beckham Junior,
Speaker 1: some of the other new additions to this team, and
Speaker 1: his mentality going into this year with this new look
Speaker 1: Ravens offense. Here's what the Costa had to say in
Speaker 1: his time with reporters.
Speaker 2: First of all, I knew with Gil Brandt you might EMPLOYE.
Speaker 2: Can you just talk about the passing of Gil.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great question. I'm glad you brought that up obviously.
Speaker 3: You know me growing up child of the seventies, you know,
Speaker 3: I became a Cowboys fan in seventy eight.
Speaker 2: Really just admired the way they built that team.
Speaker 3: Gil Brandt, coach Landry tech Shram, very innovative, really kind
Speaker 3: of set the standard for scouting as we know it.
Speaker 3: Our actual grading scale that we use, our system goes
Speaker 3: back to that original gil Brandt system that they use
Speaker 3: out of We've tweaked it, but it's still the same system.
Speaker 3: Just a very innovative, deep thinking person just really set
Speaker 3: the stage basically for scouting as we know it big
Speaker 3: loss in the NFL community. I'm glad that he got
Speaker 3: into the Hall of Fame a couple of years ago,
Speaker 3: well deserved in my opinion, and just one of the best.
Speaker 1: Is a big picture, Eric, kind of what's your thought
Speaker 1: mindset of where the team stands going into the season.
Speaker 1: Certainly a lot of excitement and optimism.
Speaker 2: Feel good, you know.
Speaker 3: I think coach Harbard did a great job getting us
Speaker 3: out of training camp relatively healthy, which is awesome compared
Speaker 3: to the recent past. And I think the team is
Speaker 3: an excellent mindset. I'm excited about some of the changes
Speaker 3: we've made personnel.
Speaker 2: Wise, you know. Just I think we're very, very excited
Speaker 2: and ready to go.
Speaker 4: Eric, I guess what happened with the jay Gats off
Speaker 4: season and is there any hesitation at all from the
Speaker 4: organization in terms of you know him or with his
Speaker 4: entry history.
Speaker 2: We love JK. But when he's played, he's been a warrior.
Speaker 3: He's uh played through injuries when he's been able to
Speaker 3: very talented guy, great attitude, he's a leader.
Speaker 2: I think he's respected.
Speaker 3: Uh, I've got a strong affinity for him personally, and uh, we're.
Speaker 2: Very excited he's back. He's healthy this year, he looks
Speaker 2: great and he's ready to go.
Speaker 4: Rick's contract Just what's the what's the plan is it?
Speaker 2: Well, it'll be ongoing discussions through the year.
Speaker 1: Uh he you know, w what's what sort.
Speaker 3: Of your Yeah, I mean that's kind of you know,
Speaker 3: try to keep that stuff in house. We're excited to
Speaker 3: see what he's gonna do this year. You know, he's
Speaker 3: a talented player.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: I know he wants to be here. We want him here.
Speaker 2: I have a lot of respect.
Speaker 3: For him as a person also as a competitor, the
Speaker 3: way he takes care of his business, the way he
Speaker 3: rehabed his injury, the way he plays on Sundays.
Speaker 2: And uh, I think we've shown.
Speaker 3: That over the last five years we've really tried hard
Speaker 3: to bring back as many of our own players as
Speaker 3: possible and that will continue to be what we do.
Speaker 5: Eric, what clinched the decision of three quarterbacks on the
Speaker 5: fifty three And do you think that's something that likely
Speaker 5: could persist for the entire year?
Speaker 3: You know, that's a a good question. I think every
Speaker 3: team is adjusting to the new.
Speaker 2: Rule this year, which allows you to keep three quarterbacks active.
Speaker 3: On Sundays if you have three quarterbacks on the active roster,
Speaker 3: allowing you then to uh to dress forty nine players.
Speaker 3: So I think every team's gonna attack that differently. I
Speaker 3: think in our situation it's complicated a little bit by
Speaker 3: the health of our quarterbacks of.
Speaker 2: This training camp. That being the case, we're trying to
Speaker 2: keep all of our good players. And you all saw
Speaker 2: the games. Uh. Josh had an excellent preseason, played.
Speaker 3: Very very well in the games. Snoop in the one
Speaker 3: game that he played, played very well in that game.
Speaker 3: So we think we're dealing with a position of strength
Speaker 3: at the quarterback position, with three guys that have shown
Speaker 3: they can play winning football for us, and we're excited
Speaker 3: about that. Eric. Eric was a.
Speaker 2: Report that, uh, the Ravens showed interest in Trey Lance.
Speaker 2: Can you come in on that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say that's just bad reporting. If somebody
Speaker 3: calls you and asks about if you're interested in the
Speaker 3: player and you say no, does that mean you're interested
Speaker 3: in that player? You know, it's just one of those things.
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot in term Koibono, who does
Speaker 3: it benefit?
Speaker 2: And you know, when you.
Speaker 3: See a report like that, We've got good quarterbacks. We
Speaker 3: love our quarterbacks. We weren't looking to add any quarterbacks
Speaker 3: at all this training camp. That's what I would say
Speaker 3: on that.
Speaker 2: Eric help challenging.
Speaker 5: Has the evaluation for the cornerback position been this summer?
Speaker 5: Just guys on and off the field? And where do
Speaker 5: you think you are there right now? Knowing that you
Speaker 5: know Marlon status is iffy at least early in the season.
Speaker 3: Well, we've certainly thrown out a big net. You know,
Speaker 3: we have a lot of guys right now at that position.
Speaker 3: I think the health has been somewhat problematic at various
Speaker 3: times throughout camp at that position, as we've seen it
Speaker 3: in the past. That being said, we do think we
Speaker 3: have a lot of talented guys back there. We're anxious
Speaker 3: to see when we finally get everybody out there on
Speaker 3: the field together what it looks like. But I think
Speaker 3: that some of the younger guys have emerged. A couple
Speaker 3: other guys that have been on the team in the
Speaker 3: last couple of years look like they've taken a step
Speaker 3: in the right direction. Obviously, we know that when we
Speaker 3: get Marlin back, we'll have a premier player out there,
Speaker 3: and you know, remains to be seen. There's always going
Speaker 3: to be one position that every team has that's challenging
Speaker 3: at times throughout the course of any season, and you know,
Speaker 3: we'll address those positions. We've tried to do that every
Speaker 3: single year. There's always one position that seems to just
Speaker 3: kind of be an outlier force depth wise.
Speaker 2: The good thing I would.
Speaker 3: Say with the corner position this year is we haven't
Speaker 3: suffered any serious injuries, catastrophic injuries. They are all injuries
Speaker 3: that are more in some ways annoying type of injuries
Speaker 3: to soft tissue whatever, and we think will be healthy
Speaker 3: pretty quickly.
Speaker 4: How do you like value the running back position?
Speaker 3: As a general manager? We value good players really, I
Speaker 3: think you know how teams I I can't speak to
Speaker 3: how other teams do it, but we want guys at
Speaker 3: every position who can make plays and help us win
Speaker 3: football games at the right time.
Speaker 2: And uh, that's across the board, y, you know, And
Speaker 2: I think you know.
Speaker 3: We've paid inside linebackers, We've drafted safeties in the first round.
Speaker 3: We've drafted a center in the first round. Those aren't
Speaker 3: your typical, you know, most important positions. We've paid left
Speaker 3: tackles a lot of money. We've paid corners a lot
Speaker 3: of money. We've paid quarterbacks a lot of money.
Speaker 2: So I do it based on how good is the player.
Speaker 3: Not necessarily well, this position you should give a ton
Speaker 3: of money to. In this position you can't give any
Speaker 3: money to. For me, it really does depend on how
Speaker 3: good the player is. I guess what I was growing
Speaker 3: up as a young scout. I had the chance to
Speaker 3: see players like Ray Lewis and Ed Reid and Jamal
Speaker 3: Lewis and guys like that, and I could s see
Speaker 3: how those guys could take over games. And so I
Speaker 3: understand the argument, uh about running backs and mother positions
Speaker 3: as well. I think there's definitely some wisdom to who
Speaker 3: you pay and when you pay those players. On the
Speaker 3: other hand, we want to try and get as many
Speaker 3: good players as we count of the.
Speaker 1: Team are police. Have you been with Odell from what
Speaker 1: he's done on the field, from a culture standpoint, just
Speaker 1: everything that he's brought so.
Speaker 2: Far been great.
Speaker 3: He's uh, I would say he's probably exceeded my expectations
Speaker 3: to this point.
Speaker 4: Regarding to placing Kyuk Kelly on waivers or not on
Speaker 4: the fifty three man roster and your reaction to seeing.
Speaker 3: Him get claimed, Well, he didn't make the team because
Speaker 3: he didn't make the team, disappointed that he got claimed.
Speaker 2: Definitely eric.
Speaker 4: According to David Clowney, what prompted that signing was the
Speaker 4: type Bowser injury part of that.
Speaker 2: And what do you where do you see David Ajabo
Speaker 2: right now? Uh?
Speaker 3: Well, Clowney first of all, as a player that we've
Speaker 3: admired for a long time. We've scouted him in the past,
Speaker 3: we've played against him many times. We felt like he
Speaker 3: could be a guy that's been uh like Jason was
Speaker 3: last year here, Paul and Justin and guys like that
Speaker 3: for us this year. And uh, he wanted to play here,
Speaker 3: which for me, when we're talking to players and we're
Speaker 3: trying to bring players in, when a guy expresses an
Speaker 3: interest in coming here, that resonates with me. You know,
Speaker 3: we really we we want guys that wanna be here,
Speaker 3: and he wanted to get it done.
Speaker 2: We were happy to work with him and we were
Speaker 2: able to do it. I think that.
Speaker 3: Uh, regarding all the other outside linebackers, they're all good
Speaker 3: young players that were very excited to see. They're gonna
Speaker 3: all improve at their own uh pace. Uh, David's a
Speaker 3: guy that you know, obviously missed a lot of football
Speaker 3: last year. I think that, Uh, he's shown us what
Speaker 3: he can do in practice this year so far in
Speaker 3: training camp, we've seen it.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: Eventually, Uh, I think when he gets w in in
Speaker 3: games nfl R regular season games, I think he and
Speaker 3: o'dafay both are gonna have very very good seasons for us.
Speaker 4: Because of your where you're at salary wise, salary cat wise.
Speaker 4: Do you feel like you're gonna have to do some
Speaker 4: restructures here to create some more flexibility so you have that,
Speaker 4: you know, availability and make moves going forward.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you always want to have more money, Jeff.
Speaker 3: We have different ways of doing that, you know. I
Speaker 3: think that we've shown that we'll spend up to the
Speaker 3: cap every single year, and we'll do that. I think
Speaker 3: that the the the landscape for this team has changed
Speaker 3: a little bit because we struck a contract with Lamar,
Speaker 3: and so the way that we operate will probably be
Speaker 3: a little bit different in the future. I think we'll
Speaker 3: continue to try and do early signs as much as possible.
Speaker 2: The draft will continue to be very very important as well.
Speaker 3: We're blessed to have Nick Matteo and Pat Moriarty working here.
Speaker 2: They're very creative with the.
Speaker 3: Salary cap, finding ways for us to find additional money
Speaker 3: to sign players, and uh, we'll continue to do that
Speaker 3: and hopefully have a little bit so that we can
Speaker 3: get to the trade deadline and maybe make a trade. Eric,
Speaker 3: you've been here since ninety six.
Speaker 5: A lot of soaprolos being thrown around about this wide
Speaker 5: receiver group do you have Are you comfortable kind of
Speaker 5: assessing where this group stands into the previous group team?
Speaker 2: Ah, Jonas, that's a good question. You know, I'm really not.
Speaker 3: I you know, I just think this group is good
Speaker 3: and we've seen these guys make plays, and it's encouraging
Speaker 3: for us to see him every single day. Guys are
Speaker 3: stepping out, making contesting catches, making big explosive plays. The
Speaker 3: attitude and the energy is very very good. I think
Speaker 3: our coaches have done a great job with those guys,
Speaker 3: and just the leadership with the veteran players Nelson and
Speaker 3: and Odell has really been superb. And the younger guys
Speaker 3: have really brought their game every single day. So I
Speaker 3: think it's just, uh, it's encouraging to have so much depth.
Speaker 2: This was the first year.
Speaker 3: I will say this, This the first year that other
Speaker 3: teams called us looking for receivers and h I actually
Speaker 3: I was a joke at first, but so that you know,
Speaker 3: so that's kind of cool.
Speaker 2: Eric, who you thought about Odell exceeding?
Speaker 4: You have to take it in some ways.
Speaker 2: Can you talk about kind of and how he's done that? Well?
Speaker 3: His body he's in very good shape. That takes care
Speaker 3: of his body. I think he worked extremely hard this offseason.
Speaker 3: His attitude is awesome. He's a leader, he's a first
Speaker 3: in line guy, he's a do the right thing guy.
Speaker 3: He's just been great. I just I just really don't
Speaker 3: know how to explain it, you know. Uh So I
Speaker 3: have two boys at Gilman and just before camp started
Speaker 3: there was a football camp that Odell had a Gilman
Speaker 3: And to see the entire community that seemed like there
Speaker 3: were thousands of boys and girls there. And to see that,
Speaker 3: to see that impact in a very short span of time,
Speaker 3: to see the impact that he's having on this community,
Speaker 3: it's a powerful thing.
Speaker 2: And we're excited about that.
Speaker 4: Are you intrigued to a greater degree than usual to
Speaker 4: see how this offense looks when when you get the
Speaker 4: games and that you have all these new pieces who
Speaker 4: haven't actually been in a game together.
Speaker 5: Yet you have the new coordinator all all that stuff together.
Speaker 3: Well, I was intrigued in nineteen because I knew that
Speaker 3: we were gonna do something that was different and it
Speaker 3: was gonna be a very very tough offense to defend.
Speaker 3: But you know, I think you go into every season excited.
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're doing your job the right way
Speaker 3: and you're excited about it, you know, you bringing players
Speaker 3: that you like, you're always excited. I do think this
Speaker 3: is ex's a It could be a really cool thing
Speaker 3: to see this group kind of come together. You know,
Speaker 3: if you look at just across the board and offense,
Speaker 3: all the different position groups were pretty strong.
Speaker 2: We have pretty good depth, and.
Speaker 3: I know that because other teams will calling us on
Speaker 3: all these offensive guys, looking at.
Speaker 2: How you have a lot of tight ends, You've got.
Speaker 3: An extra running back, You've got a lot of offensive
Speaker 3: linement receivers. So I think that boats well for the season. Obviously,
Speaker 3: these guys have to play and we expect them to.
Speaker 3: Got a lot of faith and Todd and the coaches
Speaker 3: and the players. You've got to stay healthy. But on
Speaker 3: paper it pretty good. Do you think the offense will
Speaker 3: look compared to the previous years. Oh man, that's a
Speaker 3: that's more of a coaching question. I just want to
Speaker 3: see touchdowns.
Speaker 5: Did those conversations happen right up till the roster cutdown?
Speaker 2: People calling you?
Speaker 5: Did you entertain trades, either adding or some tracking players
Speaker 5: right up until the cutdown?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: You know, people call me because we do a lot
Speaker 3: of trades. We love trades, and so we get a
Speaker 3: lot of calls.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: It used to be easier for me to do trades
Speaker 3: than it is now. I think people they're always a
Speaker 3: little more suspicious now that I've been in the league
Speaker 3: as a general manager for five years. But yeah, you
Speaker 3: get a lot of calls and you look at it
Speaker 3: and you just have to basically assess the way that
Speaker 3: I think of it is, Okay, yeah, sure we could
Speaker 3: flip a pick and maybe get some additional value in
Speaker 3: a late round next year. Is that worth you know,
Speaker 3: giving up your tenth offensive lineman or your seventh wide
Speaker 3: out who might make it to your practice squad, those
Speaker 3: kind of things, And you just have to go back
Speaker 3: and forth and look at it.
Speaker 2: You know, Uh, I've seen It's happened to me.
Speaker 3: Actually, you know, Uh, a few years ago, we had
Speaker 3: a bunch of offensive linemen.
Speaker 2: We traded a couple guys. I think Ben Brettison might
Speaker 2: have been one, and and uh.
Speaker 3: Somebody else Man's and all that, and then you get
Speaker 3: a couple of injuries and now all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: all that depth becomes a weakness.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: So that's something you always look at me kind of
Speaker 3: being greedy. I love the idea of getting extra picks.
Speaker 3: A lot of times coaches will be more reluctant. They
Speaker 3: don't see how a six round pick or a flop
Speaker 3: six or a five is gonna benefit you in two
Speaker 3: thousand twenty five.
Speaker 2: So they want the players.
Speaker 3: And so for me, it's kind of like short term
Speaker 3: versus long term and really kind of being balanced.
Speaker 5: And how with the team you've assembled, how do you
Speaker 5: think they stuck out compared to the division and and
Speaker 5: the rest of the AFC. Just right now going.
Speaker 3: Into the season, man, I think, uh, and we'll have
Speaker 3: to we feel good about our team. You know, every
Speaker 3: team is trying to build the best team they can,
Speaker 3: you know, I think, uh, we always joke like the
Speaker 3: the draft, we look at our draft board and we're
Speaker 3: always excited about the players that we got, and then
Speaker 3: we look over there and we see what the Steelers
Speaker 3: did and what the Bengals did and we're like, man,
Speaker 3: they got better too.
Speaker 2: So they're great teams. The Browns are an excellent team.
Speaker 3: We respect all those guys every t Every game is
Speaker 3: gonna be very very challenging and very tough.
Speaker 2: But I think John'll have us prepared every week, more prepared.
Speaker 4: The previous years.
Speaker 1: Can win in the training camp and leave in the
Speaker 1: training camp.
Speaker 3: Oh man, Well, Lamar's attitude has been ex excellent this year.
Speaker 3: I think last year was a challenging year for a
Speaker 3: lot of reasons, but obviously just where he was with
Speaker 3: his contract.
Speaker 2: But this year is just his attitude. His enthusiasm has
Speaker 2: been fantastic. He's thrown the ball very very well.
Speaker 3: He's been able to build a a great rapport with
Speaker 3: the receivers very very quickly. He's taking care of his body.
Speaker 3: He seems really into the offense. I think he's excited
Speaker 3: about it. He has an awesome relationship with his coaches,
Speaker 3: and uh, you know, he worked very hard this offseason
Speaker 3: with some of the receivers that we brought in, which
Speaker 3: was awesome to see.
Speaker 2: And I think it's showing off and his parent's gonna
Speaker 2: pay dividends for us.
Speaker 4: Eric, we talked about different approaches the contract. What did
Speaker 4: Patrick Queen show you and how he came here? Was
Speaker 4: that OTA's it's a lot of questions about his contract,
Speaker 4: but what did he show you with what he's done
Speaker 4: over the last couple of moments?
Speaker 3: Oh, man, Patrick's a gym, you know, uh I. I
Speaker 3: think we've seen in the NFL now y a lot
Speaker 3: of teams are dealing with it right these players that
Speaker 3: they're holding in or they're not showing up, or they're
Speaker 3: holding out, or they're unhappy or they're spouting off publicly.
Speaker 2: And Patrick's just a guy that shows up.
Speaker 3: To work every single day. He's a very very talented player,
Speaker 3: very very selfless, but loved by his teammates. He's a leader,
Speaker 3: and we expect to have a great season.
Speaker 1: That was Ravens general manager Erics Costa. You're listening to
Speaker 1: the Ravens press pass.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: The team has a few days off before getting back
Speaker 1: to work on Monday, and we're gonna have a chance
Speaker 1: to hear from head coach John Harball coming up on Monday.
Speaker 1: So enjoy the weekend and come back on Monday as
Speaker 1: the Ravens really dive into their game prep for the
Speaker 1: season opener at home against the Houston Texas