Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Past Podcast. It is Tuesday,
Speaker 1: June third, and today the Ravens held an open practice
Speaker 1: of organized team activities. After practice, we had a chance
Speaker 1: to hear from offensive coordinator Tom Munkett.
Speaker 2: I know it's week two about but as anything from
Speaker 2: that with DeAndre Hopkins, I know I probably see him
Speaker 2: throughout your career, but anything since he's been around here
Speaker 2: that kind of stood out.
Speaker 3: To you, Well, first of all, it's great having him here.
Speaker 3: I think he's been really diligent, you know, not perfect,
Speaker 3: but I think he's been diligent in what we do offensively.
Speaker 3: You know, we're just trying to get him up to speed,
Speaker 3: but he's been great.
Speaker 4: Have you seen.
Speaker 3: Himself? Ted will on his side, I'm sure he is.
Speaker 3: I'm busy calling the place. I really don't know. I
Speaker 3: think he's not trying to be an ass. I'm just
Speaker 3: saying that. I don't know. I'm sure he is working
Speaker 3: with the young guys. Uh. He's a great dude. I mean,
Speaker 3: he really is a good person. He understands why we
Speaker 3: brought him here, what we expect from him to be
Speaker 3: an outstanding player. I just think that's his nature to
Speaker 3: help those guys. Just what Lettle I've seen when he's
Speaker 3: been around those guys, he just seems to interact with them,
Speaker 3: you know, at a really high level.
Speaker 5: How do you go there's so many guys who can
Speaker 5: you know, mark and throw the ball teams? How do
Speaker 5: you go back anywhere to get another highly decorative, talented
Speaker 5: guy and instead of what does he bring not in
Speaker 5: that regard to getting into making what you guys are
Speaker 5: looking for.
Speaker 3: Well, we'll see it stay four. But as I said
Speaker 3: in another interview, I'd in the off season. I'd rather
Speaker 3: have too much talent try to figure out how to
Speaker 3: manage it, how to have everybody embrace their role, than
Speaker 3: not have enough. So we love having another weapon. I
Speaker 3: thought Nelly the last couple of years did a great
Speaker 3: job for us as our third receiver. I don't really
Speaker 3: see d Hop as a third receiver. I see him
Speaker 3: more as we have three starters at wide receiver. But
Speaker 3: we also haven't a too tight end. So it'll be
Speaker 3: interesting as we get going, especially once we get to
Speaker 3: camp and we get the pads on how we can
Speaker 3: integrate him into the offense. But we're excited, he said,
Speaker 3: how much.
Speaker 6: He might be able to hope things up more than
Speaker 6: eight flowers too, because he's a he's a different kind
Speaker 6: of receiver, different guy.
Speaker 3: And again, can't wait till we really get to go
Speaker 3: full speed and get the pads on and really see it.
Speaker 3: You know, we're really we're not there yet. He's not
Speaker 3: there yet, So can't wait to, uh to get there
Speaker 3: and and really see what we got.
Speaker 6: What did you like about Cooper rushing the offseason and
Speaker 6: kind of seeing him.
Speaker 5: Out there today taking a lot of the.
Speaker 3: You know, first three games. Yeah, again, it's he's a pro.
Speaker 3: That's why he's made it in the NFL as law
Speaker 3: as he has. That's why his record as a starter
Speaker 3: is what it is, because it's not like those guys
Speaker 3: get a lot of reps, you know. So when he's
Speaker 3: had his opportunities, Uh, he's done an outstanding job, not
Speaker 3: a good job, an outstanding job of winning football games.
Speaker 3: He knows where to go with the ball. He knows
Speaker 3: his skill set. I mean, it's it's one thing to
Speaker 3: have a skill set, it's either another to understand that
Speaker 3: he's not Lamar. So he's got to know where to
Speaker 3: go with the ball beyond time using his arm, talent, anticipation,
Speaker 3: with throws and uh, you know, being able to get
Speaker 3: the ball out and get it to checkdowns. Sorry, with a.
Speaker 5: Thousand yards slash year, they're kind of woking for him
Speaker 5: to do. Make him to throw or the next step
Speaker 5: to couch.
Speaker 3: Well, we just got to get him the ball more.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's really it. The problem is we have
Speaker 3: a lot of those guys like you know, he's he's
Speaker 3: an unbelievable football player. You know, he's he's not only
Speaker 3: an outside receiver that has elite route running skills, but
Speaker 3: he's unbelievable with the ball in his hands. So you
Speaker 3: have like a guy that fits two positions, really plays
Speaker 3: two spots. Now, I'm not sure we're gonna use that
Speaker 3: when it's contract negotiations that we see him as two players,
Speaker 3: but I'm just saying that you can use him in
Speaker 3: a variety of roles to get him the ball, which
Speaker 3: allows your volume to go up. You know, he's a
Speaker 3: volume catch guy. You can use him in novelty screens
Speaker 3: getting him the ball down the field. So I expect
Speaker 3: him to take another leap, you know, in terms of
Speaker 3: you know, his consistency. But you know, when you make
Speaker 3: it to the Pro Bowl or you're an all pro like,
Speaker 3: you're pretty good, You're pretty good.
Speaker 5: I don't know how you look at everything every own season?
Speaker 2: Was there something kind of home getting on or about
Speaker 2: people review or in particular area like the you.
Speaker 3: Know, the game as a whole, get a lot better
Speaker 3: at great question. You know, when we started the off season,
Speaker 3: we had to really drill down into being specific intentional
Speaker 3: of what those areas were, because if you just took
Speaker 3: a broad scope or perspective, you'd say, well, we were
Speaker 3: really good at that, we were really good at this,
Speaker 3: we were really good at that area. We were really
Speaker 3: good at this, and yet that wasn't always the case
Speaker 3: in certain parts of what we did. So we just
Speaker 3: really tried to drill down as to how the things
Speaker 3: that we do, how do we do them better? How
Speaker 3: do we function at a higher level. Obviously we started
Speaker 3: to get the penalties cleaned up, how do we function
Speaker 3: better at the line of scrimmage, from our operation to communication,
Speaker 3: and really hone in after looking at last year, what
Speaker 3: our guys do really well? What is lamar like like, really,
Speaker 3: that's that's really it? Why waste time? I felt like
Speaker 3: we did that last year. I felt like we first
Speaker 3: couple of games all the off season of what we did,
Speaker 3: we kind of wanted to see it and it wasn't
Speaker 3: good enough. I mean it really wasn't. So who are
Speaker 3: we really so we can come out of the gates fast.
Speaker 2: About the advantage having two tight ends to ends have
Speaker 2: more than that which he works at Charlie. But just
Speaker 2: the fact of what Mark and and say, how do
Speaker 2: you think that worked out last year? And do you
Speaker 2: think things can change with with what.
Speaker 7: You can do with that?
Speaker 3: Well, it works out great because both of those guys,
Speaker 3: first of all, they're good friends and they're selfless. Like
Speaker 3: that's not easy, you know. I mean, I know we
Speaker 3: played a lot of twelve personnel, but there's also you know,
Speaker 3: when we go eleven personnel, one thems in the game.
Speaker 3: And they're both very capable guys. So Coach Goats does
Speaker 3: a great job every week of how do we rotate
Speaker 3: those guys? Where do we have the targets aligned? So
Speaker 3: those guys feel like they're getting their opportunities. So it
Speaker 3: starts with them. I mean, they're the ones that make
Speaker 3: that decision that you know, they're selfless, and I think
Speaker 3: it gives us you know, first of all, I'm fired
Speaker 3: up the back. They're all here, okay to run it
Speaker 3: back with those guys. And you know, I see as
Speaker 3: very being very similar to last year in a lot
Speaker 3: of ways, is because I think that's our best grouping Todd.
Speaker 4: Coming into the season, it was so much going on
Speaker 4: with the offensive line filling three different starter spots, the
Speaker 4: fortunate passing coach d obviously DA made it a challenge
Speaker 4: going into the season. How is that different now with
Speaker 4: less moving parts along the offensive line going into this year?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, you'll have to ask those guys. I mean,
Speaker 3: what a great job you know, Trevelle did, Coach Warhop
Speaker 3: did our players. You'll have to ask those guys, you know, really,
Speaker 3: because they're the ones that did it. They're the ones
Speaker 3: that went out there, let alone the new starters, you know,
Speaker 3: and those guys embracing their role. But that since I've
Speaker 3: been hen even before I got here, it feels like
Speaker 3: the next old lineman just steps up. That's why you
Speaker 3: draft players, That's why you develop, That's why you hope
Speaker 3: that over the years you're good enough to let those
Speaker 3: guys develop and then when it's their time, be it
Speaker 3: Daniel or hell, it took Patrick a little bit longer
Speaker 3: you know, to get that opportunity. But even guys in
Speaker 3: the past, with Simpson and before I got here, powers
Speaker 3: like let those guys continue to develop and have some
Speaker 3: other guys there in the wings. But what a great
Speaker 3: job that the coaches did and our players did of
Speaker 3: just you know, moving on. That's not easy, you know,
Speaker 3: a new voice, new players, But what a great job
Speaker 3: they did.
Speaker 5: We saw six full start pailies going on cant it
Speaker 5: might have been more than that today.
Speaker 7: Any idea of what's going on in terms of that
Speaker 7: of sickness, and that was one of the things the
Speaker 7: end of the last year.
Speaker 5: I was conning on it's a lot more opially cleaning
Speaker 5: up the penalties.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not very good. Now, Well, one thing I
Speaker 3: told the guys that what we can't do is, first
Speaker 3: of all, we have a lot of guys repping. So
Speaker 3: the more you rep guys, you know that it's going
Speaker 3: to put an onus on a lot of different guys, right,
Speaker 3: and some guys that, to be honest, probably won't be
Speaker 3: playing for us. But that's a freaking excuse. Okay. The
Speaker 3: reality is we can't give in to just go into
Speaker 3: one cadence. That's an easy solution. The easy solutions will
Speaker 3: go on one every time, right, blah blah blah blah
Speaker 3: blah blah. Set hut. I mean, is that the best
Speaker 3: way to do it. I'm not trying to be I'm
Speaker 3: just being real with you. So we've got to work
Speaker 3: it now. Now is the time for us to work
Speaker 3: multiple cadence, right, because that was one of our things
Speaker 3: in the off season. How do we get better at
Speaker 3: multiple catenes without without jumping and flinching as much? For sure,
Speaker 3: it's disappointing. I watch it on his disappointed as as anybody.
Speaker 3: But we're gonna continue to do it. We're gonna continue
Speaker 3: to chart it. And the guys that continue to get penalties,
Speaker 3: they'll struggle to get on the field.
Speaker 5: There's a chance that you guys go into this season
Speaker 5: with a good chance that you guys go in the
Speaker 5: season with a rookie kicker. Do you have any sense
Speaker 5: yet as whether that might alter graduate or might be
Speaker 5: looking to be more assertive than some of that thirty
Speaker 5: five forty five got a doubt.
Speaker 3: Not when they make everyone, I mean, heck, when those
Speaker 3: I don't know which one's gonna be. But as long
Speaker 3: as they make everyone and won't adjust anything. That's what
Speaker 3: I'm counting on.
Speaker 8: We didn't see him out in the field today, but
Speaker 8: are you and you're dealing with them, and when he's been.
Speaker 5: In the building, are you feel good abouts had to
Speaker 5: this point?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel good. I always feel good about Lamar.
Speaker 3: He always comes in ready. You know that's I've never
Speaker 3: felt like that when we've started camp or whenever he's
Speaker 3: been here, that he's not ready. He loves to play football,
Speaker 3: and he loves his teammates, he loves the Ravens. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, I mean, I've never felt that way one
Speaker 3: way or the other. You know about about his preparation.
Speaker 3: He'll be ready to go and we'll be ready to
Speaker 3: go against Buffalo come Sunday night.
Speaker 1: And one of the guys a monk and talked about
Speaker 1: his wide receiver, Zay Flowers. He was a Pro Bowler
Speaker 1: in year two, but he is even bigger expectations going
Speaker 1: into this season. And here's what Zay had to say
Speaker 1: during his time with the media. You have a Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl season, you know what's next on the list for
Speaker 1: you when you look at your aspirations for this season.
Speaker 7: I mean, to me, it just get better every year.
Speaker 7: Do a little bit more than I did last year,
Speaker 7: and as a team get furnther the than we did
Speaker 7: last So, uh, that's that's kind of my goal. Do better,
Speaker 7: just get better in every aspect of the game and
Speaker 7: try to push for the ultimate goal. To su Bo, Yeah,
Speaker 7: what has it been like?
Speaker 3: You're trying a younger comport into adult at working with him?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 7: He a real vet, like he know everything. He teach
Speaker 7: you what he know, He give out the game and
Speaker 7: he work hard too, so it's easy to just follow him.
Speaker 7: It's easy to get behind him and do what he do.
Speaker 7: So he a great VET and he great for our group.
Speaker 2: From him that you wanna kind of add to your game, uh.
Speaker 7: He just he patiently everything he do. He understand that
Speaker 7: in practice you gotta detail it so in the game
Speaker 7: it's perfect. So I've been learning that from him the
Speaker 7: movies a long time.
Speaker 8: Is there anything that he's been able any advice to
Speaker 8: be able to give you or any other guys, It's
Speaker 8: been hopeful.
Speaker 7: Just take care of your body. It's really been like
Speaker 7: that with all my vets, Nelly, O'Dell d hot, they
Speaker 7: all tell me the same thing, take care of your body.
Speaker 7: And maybe I could play thirteen years like.
Speaker 3: Your group, I.
Speaker 7: Say, more experience. I feel more like I can, I'm
Speaker 7: more into the game, I'm more learning football. I learned
Speaker 7: football a lot more than I did my rookie year,
Speaker 7: and I just got a lot more experience on the field.
Speaker 3: And understand is they just kind was the knee and
Speaker 3: did you have to do anything to get to this
Speaker 3: point just to make.
Speaker 4: Sure you are ready for this?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 7: I mean I did a lot, but my kneed great.
Speaker 7: I feel a hundred percent. I feel like I'm ready
Speaker 7: to go, feel like I'm ready for the season, no limits.
Speaker 7: So I'm good you spoke after.
Speaker 1: With locker room clean out.
Speaker 3: But just how tough was last season's ending knowing that
Speaker 3: you had to watch January for that part of playoffs
Speaker 3: on the sideline?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 7: Super tough. Cause when you play seventeen games just to
Speaker 7: get to the first playoff game and you can't play
Speaker 7: in it, it's always hard. So that was kind I
Speaker 7: think that was my first time second time missing the
Speaker 7: game ever, and it was missing a playoff game is
Speaker 7: is different, so it kind of felt a little different.
Speaker 7: So at least we get to play on first game
Speaker 7: this year.
Speaker 3: So if you lingered it on.
Speaker 4: You know, ever to miss a football game or or
Speaker 4: you just gonna.
Speaker 7: Flush it s think about Uh, I flushed it, to
Speaker 7: be honest, like cause it's only I couldn't really do
Speaker 7: nothing about it. It's like I was hurt. So I
Speaker 7: just had to watch and helped the chair the guys
Speaker 7: on and try to get to the next round. And
Speaker 7: it feels possible. I woulda played day.
Speaker 2: We got to the stars to the season last year
Speaker 2: and then you know this schedule.
Speaker 1: Just a herd advocate as well.
Speaker 6: When you think about being ready and getting out to
Speaker 6: a better start this year, what you kind of want.
Speaker 8: To see, especially your your positions.
Speaker 4: G get better.
Speaker 7: I feel like my position group played solid last year,
Speaker 7: if I'm being honest, So this year, I I I
Speaker 7: want us to do the same thing. Just play hard
Speaker 7: and do what we know what we can do so
Speaker 7: and every time the ball come out a way, make
Speaker 7: a play. So that's my expectations for the receiver group,
Speaker 7: block and just help the team anyway we can.
Speaker 2: So's together with Lemarney off season helping you prepare for
Speaker 2: the coming season.
Speaker 7: Excuse me?
Speaker 5: How is working with Lemarny off season help you prepare
Speaker 5: for the upcoming season?
Speaker 7: It just get our time of down and things we
Speaker 7: wanted to work on during the season that we seen.
Speaker 7: H we talk about on the field, like if we
Speaker 7: running routes, He'll take you run it this way, or
Speaker 7: I like how you ran it this way. So it's
Speaker 7: just really just talking a lot and detailing like the
Speaker 7: small things that he that he wanna get down drop off.
Speaker 6: Like when you think of you've been close to your
Speaker 6: two years, you have playoff teams, really contenders, but not
Speaker 6: getting over with the hap y'all, see what do you
Speaker 6: guys talk about to to get to the finish line?
Speaker 6: Who those conversations?
Speaker 1: H I.
Speaker 7: I feel like we we talk about a lot about
Speaker 7: beating ourselves, but on the field, we just play our games.
Speaker 7: So it's like we know we we know we were
Speaker 7: we supposed to be and where we supposed to end
Speaker 7: up at that the end of the year. So it's
Speaker 7: really on us and we we we talk to ourselves.
Speaker 7: We talked to like ell all come in and talk
Speaker 7: to us about meeting after like this year, he wanna
Speaker 7: do a lot more me and he wanna do a
Speaker 7: lot more team stuff. He wanna do a lot more
Speaker 7: personal stuff with us, just to get that that team
Speaker 7: karate on a good level.
Speaker 2: So Yan, you have a thousand yards season Pro Bowl?
Speaker 2: Is there anything specifically, whether it's like statistic or anything
Speaker 2: that you're shooting for for?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 7: For yourself this year, do better than I did last year?
Speaker 7: Everything top everything that I did last year. Or prove
Speaker 7: everybody to say I can't whatever I can't do. Try
Speaker 7: to prove everybody to show 'em I can do it,
Speaker 7: or not proving them, just showing myself I can do it.
Speaker 3: Honestly say among those lines.
Speaker 8: I think we talked to you before last season and
Speaker 8: you were hoping that you'd be a big part of
Speaker 8: the downfield passing games, and you know, seemed like it
Speaker 8: was more of a shot. But you still win for
Speaker 8: a Pro Bowl season. Thus, w what is that kind
Speaker 8: of kiddy confidence about how you can involved with what
Speaker 8: you can be in this offense with even more downfield pargets.
Speaker 7: It just showed me I could unlock a whole another
Speaker 7: level of my game and I haven't unlocked it yet.
Speaker 7: So once we start hearing those downfield passes more, I
Speaker 7: think it'll get up it. It'll be a lot more
Speaker 7: explosive players between me and a shot. And now we
Speaker 7: got d hops, so it should be three times three
Speaker 7: times much real.
Speaker 5: So I'm like football in your work person.
Speaker 7: Uh, I don't I would played for real football. I'm
Speaker 7: just I just here to play my tackle football. I
Speaker 7: ain't really hure about going to the Olympics. I'm trying
Speaker 7: to warn the super Bowl.
Speaker 5: She's also talk.
Speaker 2: About how even at thirty two, he still kind of
Speaker 2: has that speed out there. Yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he trying to expose all of us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but no, he's still him.
Speaker 2: And it does he show like the speed that he's
Speaker 2: kind of talking.
Speaker 7: No, absolutely, he still play fast. He still play fast.
Speaker 7: Everything he do fast, and like I said, like he
Speaker 7: a true vet. He doing he know, he know how
Speaker 7: his body feel and he go so but he was
Speaker 7: moving though. He had a little twenty, had a little
Speaker 7: twenty on that he had a good day.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast. Make sure
Speaker 1: you hit subscribe here on this feed. Also head over
Speaker 1: to the Lounge podcast feed. We sit down with cornerback
Speaker 1: Nate Wagan's for an episode that's dropping tomorrow morning, so
Speaker 1: make sure you go ahead and check that out. That's
Speaker 1: it for me, Thanks for listening, and we'll be back
Speaker 1: with you later this week.