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Speaker 1: Welcome into the Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Ink

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Speaker 1: here at Garrett Downing and we are thrilled to sit

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Speaker 1: down with Ravens general manager Eric Dacassa. And Eric one

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Speaker 1: thing we hate to do on this podcast is tu

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Speaker 1: darnhorn just we loathe doing that. But I you know,

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Speaker 1: in full transparency, I do have to let you know

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Speaker 1: that Malachi Starks was my mock draft pick.

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Speaker 2: And you're probably thinking a lot of guys pick Malchai.

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Speaker 1: You know, this wasn't exactly a giraffe stick your neck

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Speaker 1: out kind of thing, but I planted my flag on

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Speaker 1: February thirteenth.

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Speaker 2: I have the receipts. A few days out of the

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Speaker 2: Super Bowl.

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Speaker 1: I said, Malachi's my guy, right, So my question to

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Speaker 1: you is how early was Malachi the Ravens guy?

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Speaker 2: Like when did he first peak your interest?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I mean I think Ryan, first of all, they don't

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Speaker 3: become our guy until they become our guy. Like literally,

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Speaker 3: we're on the clock and that's our guy. We have

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Speaker 3: a lot of guys that are our guys, but I

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Speaker 3: think that's a player that the scouts like throughout the process.

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Speaker 3: Joey Cleary Andrew Raphael Kevin Widel. Those guys went in

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Speaker 3: there to Georgia early and just came back with rave reviews. Professionalism, coachability,

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Speaker 3: ball skills, toughness, tackling instincts, just you know, kind of

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Speaker 3: ran a gamut of every box to check off. Was

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Speaker 3: Malachi and he became a guy that throughout the process

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Speaker 3: we just said, you know what, if this guy's there,

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Speaker 3: this guy would be a great pick.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, is there a process?

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Speaker 1: You know, Malchi had a fantastic interception in like his

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Speaker 1: fourth play.

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Speaker 2: It was his first game in college.

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Speaker 1: Are there guys that down the road, you know eventually

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Speaker 1: they're going to be in the draft, and they but

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Speaker 1: they catch your attention as freshman, Ye're like, when that

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Speaker 1: guy comes out, like we were gonna have to take

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Speaker 1: a good hard look at that guy.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, that's a great question. And sometimes those

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Speaker 3: guys end up being every bit as good as they

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Speaker 3: looked as freshmen. Sometimes they even become better. But I'll

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Speaker 3: tell you, every once in a while, you'll watch a

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Speaker 3: guy that's a senior and you'll say, you know what,

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Speaker 3: this guy was a beast as a freshman. You know,

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Speaker 3: look at him and go, you know what, he's not

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Speaker 3: that good, right, and some of that. Sometimes that's scheme change.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes that's they peaked early, injuries or a factor or

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Speaker 3: different things like that. But that happens with certain guys.

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Speaker 3: And you know, so I used to back in the

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Speaker 3: day when we could make little bets, which can't do

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Speaker 3: that anymore. But back in the day, there was a guy.

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Speaker 3: This was I'm going, this is going back fifteen twenty years.

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Speaker 3: There was a guy that I saw that played in

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Speaker 3: the Pac ten as a freshman, and I was watching

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Speaker 3: somebody else. I might have been watching. I might have

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Speaker 3: been watching Holodinada. I mean that times out far backwards.

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Speaker 3: But I saw a guy. I go, Wow, that guy's

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Speaker 3: gonna be a first round pick some day. He was

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Speaker 3: a freshman. So I put it on Joe Hortiz's board,

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Speaker 3: and this guy's name was up there for like four years.

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Speaker 4: But four years later.

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Speaker 3: I'm looking at that name, going why is that up there?

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Speaker 3: And that was your guy, and I'm like, that guy's terrible.

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Speaker 2: That was not Malachi MALKI continue to get better.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm curious you made the point after the draft

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Speaker 5: you picked him that he was the highest rated player

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Speaker 5: on the board when you were on there at twenty

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Speaker 5: seven by far by far, Yeah, can you give any

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Speaker 5: indication of just how high he was on our board?

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Speaker 3: Well, we repicked what twenty seven, yeah, and he was

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Speaker 3: much higher than that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So you know then that happens a lot in the

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Speaker 3: first round. You know, we talk about the word I

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Speaker 3: use as slippage, which is just basically players outside your

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Speaker 3: range that get drafted. So anytime that happens, it's great

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Speaker 3: because it pushes down.

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Speaker 4: One of your players.

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Speaker 3: And so for us at twenty seven, we have our

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Speaker 3: list one to twenty seven, and you know, the quarterbacks

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Speaker 3: may be in there, so that means you need more

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Speaker 3: than twenty seven because you're probably not going to draft

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Speaker 3: the quarterback for the first pick if you're the Ravens,

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Speaker 3: so you need more than twenty seven players. You need

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Speaker 3: twenty nine players if you have two first round quarterbacks.

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Speaker 3: So you got twenty nine players. Well, anytime a player's

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Speaker 3: draft that outside your range of twenty nine, you're like

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Speaker 3: high five and because that's going to make it easier

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Speaker 3: for one of your higher rated guys in twenty one

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Speaker 3: and above to make it to you. So Malachi was

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Speaker 3: pretty down high.

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Speaker 5: It seems like the league like just doesn't understand the

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Speaker 5: value of safeties to a certain extent. I mean, we

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Speaker 5: saw that with Kyle Hamilton when he gets to US

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Speaker 5: at fourteen and ends up being like a great player,

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Speaker 5: and hopefully that's the same case with Malachai and he

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Speaker 5: ends up falling into that category of a slippage situation

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Speaker 5: where he's there and probably has no business being there

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Speaker 5: at twenty seven. Do you agree with that, Like, does

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Speaker 5: the NFL not value safeties or do we value safeties more?

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Speaker 6: What's your view on that?

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Speaker 3: You know, I think there are definitely premium positions. Some

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Speaker 3: people may or may not put safeties in that group

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Speaker 3: of premium positions. I think one of my philosophies, and

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Speaker 3: this is going back many years, is that, you know,

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Speaker 3: going back to like Todd Heap ed Reid, when you

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Speaker 3: get the number one player at his position in any

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Speaker 3: given draft class, you're getting a damn good football player.

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Speaker 3: And so for us, you know, getting a number one

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Speaker 3: player at a position that maybe some don't think is

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Speaker 3: a premium position. If that guy has a chance to

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Speaker 3: be an impact player for you, then you should take him.

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Speaker 3: So it's like it comes down to, like, would you

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Speaker 3: rather take the sixth best offensive lineman in a draft

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Speaker 3: because you have a need on the offensive line, or

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Speaker 3: the fourth best receiver because you have a need at receiver,

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Speaker 3: or the best safety or the best inside linebacker.

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Speaker 4: There's not really a right or wrong answer.

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Speaker 3: I'm just saying that's a discussion that people would have, right,

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Speaker 3: you know. And so for me looking at it, if

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Speaker 3: you got the best guy this position in the draft,

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Speaker 3: and he's going to come in and play for you

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Speaker 3: right away, you think he's a difference maker, that's exciting.

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Speaker 4: Well.

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Speaker 1: And the nice part is last season, two premium positions

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Speaker 1: at the top with cornerback and offensive tackle with Wiggins

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Speaker 1: and then Rosengarten, and they turned out to be arguably

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Speaker 1: the best at their position anyway, even though they weren't

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Speaker 1: the first picked. They were right up there with the

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Speaker 1: top guys drafted at those premium positions. So that kind

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Speaker 1: of frees you up to all, right, now, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: get the best guy at different positions because we check

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Speaker 1: those boxes at premium positions this year.

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Speaker 3: Any other point too, I think, is so if you

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Speaker 3: imagine like you've got a bunch of buckets, and in

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Speaker 3: every bucket, your mentality is gonna be you have all

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Speaker 3: these players, they're all graded closely together, right, and then

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Speaker 3: you're gonna take the premium position guys and probably move

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Speaker 3: them up a little bit because they play premium position,

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Speaker 3: except that you're also going to weigh how clean is

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Speaker 3: the player, Right, So you get a guy that is

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Speaker 3: super smart, he's been productive, he's extremely durable, he's been

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Speaker 3: a team captain, or you know, incredible interview and all

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Speaker 3: that stuff, versus the other guys in the bucket that

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Speaker 3: maybe aren't as productive, or maybe have some injuries, or

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Speaker 3: maybe don't test that well, whatever it might be. So

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Speaker 3: with Malachi, you're truly looking at the best player at

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Speaker 3: his position, and probably when it all comes right down

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Speaker 3: to it, maybe arguably the cleanest player at his position, literally,

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Speaker 3: no questions whatsoever. There were some other really good players

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Speaker 3: that were then when we picked, you know, and like,

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Speaker 3: for instance, you know, Josh Simmons Ohio State, tremendously talented,

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Speaker 3: probably the best feat in the draft coming off of

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Speaker 3: a teller injury. So that just, you know, in some ways,

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Speaker 3: just slightly muddies the water. That's a great player, Josh Simmons.

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Speaker 3: You know, they got a great player. The Chiefs got

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Speaker 3: a great player with a lot of upside. They're probably

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Speaker 3: to be I know, probably going to be a Pro

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Speaker 3: Bowl player at some point. But he suffered a serious

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Speaker 3: knee injury. So you have to you know, everything matters

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Speaker 3: when you're evaluating these guys and you're really trying to separate.

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Speaker 3: And so for us, Malachi, it was like, what can't

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Speaker 3: this guy do? He's going to play for us right away.

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Speaker 3: He's smart, he's tough, he's a ballhawk, tackles well, instinctual,

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Speaker 3: great kid, winning program. Sec like every box literally if

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Speaker 3: they were twenty boxes, he checked off all twenty boxes exactly. No.

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Speaker 1: Now you mentioned the name Ed Reid, and look, I

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Speaker 1: don't want to fit him for a gold jacket before

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Speaker 1: he's played an NFL game, right And I know we

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Speaker 1: don't want to overhype kids. But part of the reason

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Speaker 1: way back when that I was like, this guy is

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Speaker 1: my guy, and he looks he looks like a raven

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Speaker 1: to me is like I saw some shades the way

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Speaker 1: he goes up in his ball skills and makes plays

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Speaker 1: on the ball. I was like, I've seen this before.

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Speaker 1: You've been here a long time.

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Speaker 2: You were here with Ed.

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Speaker 1: Do you see any any shades of twenty in Malachi.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, I don't want to put that on

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Speaker 3: any I mean Ed probably, you know, don't. I don't

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Speaker 3: like to say I have favorites, like my kids, like

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Speaker 3: I don't have favorites. I don't have a favorite dog.

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Speaker 3: I don't have any favorite kids. But Ed, for me,

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Speaker 3: you know, one of my very favorites. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 3: I probably got three favorite Ravens over the years. Ed's

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Speaker 3: one of the three. That gives everybody else a chance

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Speaker 3: to be in the top three. But Ed's one of

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Speaker 3: my top three. So you know, I'm not gonna put

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Speaker 3: I'm not gonna put anybody up there with that. I

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Speaker 3: think Malachai on his own, he's he's an awesome player.

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Speaker 3: Excited about him, very excited about him. You know, this

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Speaker 3: draft gave me, particularly the first round. I had a

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Speaker 3: lot of anxiety in the first round this year. Last

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Speaker 3: year not as much. It's been a few years, you know,

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Speaker 3: even like the Z Draft, not as much this year.

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Speaker 3: There were a lot of potholes along the way with

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Speaker 3: the players in this draft. In the first round is

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Speaker 3: a very very flat draft. So you had players in

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Speaker 3: that just sort of dropped and then it was flat

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Speaker 3: for a long time. So I was nervous about this draft,

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Speaker 3: and you know, if people would have asked me, I

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Speaker 3: would have said, you know, one of the best possible

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Speaker 3: outcomes would be Malachi being there, and he was, and

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Speaker 3: so from that standpoint, there was tremendous relief for me.

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Speaker 4: At the end of that first round.

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Speaker 1: Did you think the Falcons traded up right ahead of us?

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Speaker 1: They ended up taking Xavier Watts in the third round

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Speaker 1: with their next pick, so they took James Pierce Junior.

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Speaker 1: When they when Atlanta, who had a safety need, trade

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Speaker 1: up right in front of us, were you sweat and

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Speaker 1: thinking they might take Malakai.

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Speaker 4: Not really.

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Speaker 3: I still felt like that because Atlanta's got some safety talent.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I just felt like they were going to come up

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Speaker 3: and get another edge player, another front seven player.

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Speaker 4: I wasn't too white about Atlanta.

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Speaker 3: I was more worried about, you know, some of the

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Speaker 3: other teams behind us, the Commanders, the Bills, teams like that.

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Speaker 4: Gotcha.

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Speaker 5: John Harbo said in the press conference that night after

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Speaker 5: drafting Malachi, you guys talked after the season about the

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Speaker 5: types of players you wanted to bring in the mindset

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Speaker 5: of guys who you wanted to add to this team.

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Speaker 6: How did Malki fit that?

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Speaker 5: And I'm just curious, like was that a specific conversation

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Speaker 5: or like was that part of a wh when you

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Speaker 5: lay out the blueprint for the off season, you and

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Speaker 5: John and Steve in the front office and everybody, Like,

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Speaker 5: was there a vision for the types of players that

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Speaker 5: you wanted to add to the team.

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Speaker 3: I just feel like when you look at like some

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Speaker 3: of our best players, they just wired a certain way.

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Speaker 3: They're very mature, minded, smart, accountable, self sufficient, dependable. I mean,

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Speaker 3: those are some qualities you know, growth mindset, always work

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Speaker 3: and they get better working on your weaknesses. Gritty, tough,

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Speaker 3: physical guys and you know, Malachi was just one of

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Speaker 3: those guys. And so you know, we go through and

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Speaker 3: you again, like we scrutinize everything. It might just be

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Speaker 3: one thing. You might have seen one thing at practice.

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Speaker 3: Maybe there was one rep in practice where the guy

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Speaker 3: goes to the back of the line and some scout

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Speaker 3: brings it up and I'm gonna say, well, what does

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Speaker 3: that mean? What do they say about him? How does

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Speaker 3: he practice? You know, those kind of things and oftentimes

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Speaker 3: it means nothing, but we approach it like it means everything.

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Speaker 3: At first, like we go through every little thing. If

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Speaker 3: one source has one concern, we're gonna investigate it. If

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Speaker 3: you know, one hand is ten inches in his other

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Speaker 3: hand is nine inches, we're gonna say and that happens sometimes,

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Speaker 3: not usually to that extent. We're gonna say, well, why

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Speaker 3: is one hand bigger than the other hand? Is he injured,

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Speaker 3: does he have a bad finger, or do we measure

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Speaker 3: it wrong, whatever that might be. We're gonna look at

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Speaker 3: every little question that we have and try to eliminate

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Speaker 3: those questions as much as we can, and it maybe hey,

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Speaker 3: go back to the school, talk to somebody else, get

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Speaker 3: more information. It's very like, you know, much like being

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Speaker 3: you know, an investigative journalist or something, and then you

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Speaker 3: have your editor telling you we don't have enough information,

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Speaker 3: we don't have enough sources. Talk to somebody else. That's

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Speaker 3: kind of what we do with Scouts, and we just

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Speaker 3: keep probing and pushing and answering questions and getting more

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Speaker 3: information to help us. At the end of the process.

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Speaker 1: You said that Malachi had one of the most impressive

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Speaker 1: Combine interviews that you've ever been a part of. How

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Speaker 1: rare is his intelligence and knowledge of the game, for

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Speaker 1: how young he is.

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Speaker 4: Well.

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Speaker 3: One of the things we do is we have we

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Speaker 3: have our giraffe conduct interviews. And you know, the giraffe

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Speaker 3: has been around since two thousand and eight in the

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Speaker 3: draft room and he's never been more impressed.

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Speaker 6: Has the draft been there since two thousand and eight.

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Speaker 3: The giraffe has been in the draft from since two

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Speaker 3: thousand and now this year the draft, the draft got

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Speaker 3: promoted for the TV he did and he was getting

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Speaker 3: a lot of coverage this year. Now in past years

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Speaker 3: he's been in the corner. He got promoted this year

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Speaker 3: to VP. We make a lot of people vps around here,

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Speaker 3: and yeah, VP of Animal Scouting Scouting.

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Speaker 6: Well, what's the real question is what's Malchi sign?

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's a good point.

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Speaker 6: Okay, you had to make sure that crossed. That was

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Speaker 6: one of the box.

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Speaker 3: He was too good. It didn't really make it.

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Speaker 6: So in the second round you get Mike Green.

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Speaker 5: And if I had told you at the start of

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Speaker 5: the draft that you would get him in the second round,

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Speaker 5: would you have thought that that was a possibility.

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Speaker 4: Probably not.

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Speaker 3: Let's face it. You know, there were there were allegations

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Speaker 3: made that on Mike that uh, he had to answer

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Speaker 3: to and and work that teams had to do, and

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Speaker 3: we knew that going in. It wasn't like in the fall,

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Speaker 3: we didn't know that there were some some issues with

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Speaker 3: Mike and but but as a player, you know, watching

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Speaker 3: him as a player, one of my favorite players this year, Like,

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Speaker 3: I think we do have a good idea what takes

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Speaker 3: brush the passer in the NFL, and we've had a

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Speaker 3: lot of really good players over the years as pass rushers,

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Speaker 3: and Mike is just well schooled his technique. He's got

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Speaker 3: a variety of moves, explosive off the football, tenacious player,

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Speaker 3: He's stronger than he looks. I mean, this is a

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Speaker 3: guy who can knock you back and set the edge

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Speaker 3: and do those kind of things. He can drop and

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Speaker 3: play in space. He's lightning quick on the backside, knife

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Speaker 3: and down. He can beat tackles. He can do anything

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Speaker 3: you want a guy to do, he can do it.

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Speaker 3: And so, like it wasn't like we weren't surprised by

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Speaker 3: how good he was, because starting out in September of

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Speaker 3: last year, he was one of the top rated players

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Speaker 3: on our board, and so.

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Speaker 6: We speak him before he played the season.

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Speaker 3: Well, as we got into the season, his tape was

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Speaker 3: just so impressive that we got as much information as

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Speaker 3: we could. We talked to as many people as we could.

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Speaker 3: We sent in multiple area scouts, We got information from Virginia,

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Speaker 3: we got information from Marshall, We talked to people in

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Speaker 3: his hometown. I mean, we basically did as much as

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Speaker 3: we could and in the end, we made the decision

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Speaker 3: to pick him. And we're excited about him as a player.

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Speaker 3: We think he's going to flourish here with us. We

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Speaker 3: think we have a great scheme for him to be

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Speaker 3: his very best, and we think he's going to have

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Speaker 3: a great career with us.

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Speaker 1: He led the nation with seventeen sacks this past season.

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Speaker 1: You know, he just blew up, you know that last year,

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Speaker 1: and he had a good year before that too. But

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Speaker 1: what do you feel like he because he has obviously

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Speaker 1: the moves like you were talking about, and he has

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Speaker 1: the athleticism, the explosion, what kind of came together for

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Speaker 1: him this last season when you were looking at him?

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Speaker 3: I just think maturity. You know, guys develop at different paces.

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Speaker 3: We see it with our own guys. Right, Why does

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Speaker 3: the player not do much for two years and then

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Speaker 3: all of a sudden make the Pro Bowl?

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Speaker 4: Right? We've seen that.

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Speaker 3: So guys, it just takes everybody different amount of time.

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Speaker 3: Some guys come in right away boom. Other guys develop

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Speaker 3: along the way two, three, four years. So I think

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Speaker 3: with Mike he just really kind of hit his stride

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Speaker 3: this year. He developed his game strategy of rushing the passer,

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Speaker 3: which you know, rushing the pass or does require a strategy.

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Speaker 4: It requires.

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Speaker 3: A game plan. It's like chess. It's not necessarily like

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Speaker 3: playing offensive line or playing corner. You are trying to

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Speaker 3: set your opponent up to beat him. And I think

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Speaker 3: for Mike it really just kind of all came together

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Speaker 3: this year and clicked.

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Speaker 5: You talked about just having a believing that he can

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Speaker 5: have a great career both this year and Miana, what

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Speaker 5: do you view for him this season? Like you've had

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Speaker 5: a lot of pass rushers who've had success some immediately

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Speaker 5: when you go back through this franchise's history, what do

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Speaker 5: you think he has a store for this year? And

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Speaker 5: what does a ceiling look like for him?

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Speaker 3: Well, we're blest, I mean, you know, I think you

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Speaker 3: know there are some people that might say, well, you know,

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Speaker 3: the Ravens don't have a true number one pass rusher,

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Speaker 3: and yet I think we finished second last year in

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Speaker 3: the league in sacks, and our whole room is back.

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Speaker 3: So you look at kyle Vin knowing what he's done

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Speaker 3: in two seasons. A great player plays like a raven. Tough, smart,

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Speaker 3: polished rushes, the passer can do all the different things.

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Speaker 4: He's a leader.

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Speaker 3: Odafe double digit sacks last year. Right just continues to

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Speaker 3: grow every single year, having a great offseason. Expect huge

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Speaker 3: things from him. Tavius is another guy. Like Tavias, was

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Speaker 3: a fourth round pick and he's like a real physical

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Speaker 3: He's a raven. I mean that way that guy plays.

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Speaker 4: He fits us. You know.

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Speaker 3: A Jabo has overcome injuries, still a very, very talented player.

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Speaker 3: He's so hungry right now. I expect big things from him.

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Speaker 3: You know it's right there for him. And then a

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Speaker 3: Disa last year, so a Desa comes in. He's one

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Speaker 3: of a higher players that we rated in the third round.

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Speaker 3: We get him last year, had some soft tissue things,

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Speaker 3: had some injuries, kind of had his first season derailed

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Speaker 3: a little bit by that. But again, like a Disa,

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Speaker 3: when you think about that, it's like getting an additional

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Speaker 3: draft pick this year, and then you take Mike Green,

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Speaker 3: you put him in the mix. We got six really

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Speaker 3: good intriguing football players at sam and rush linebacker.

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Speaker 1: Moving on to the third round, Emory Jenes Junior. You know,

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Speaker 1: he played great tackle at LSU. There's talk about sliding

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Speaker 1: in the guard, and he can certainly compete to be

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Speaker 1: our swing tackle and also compete at guard.

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Speaker 2: When you were.

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Speaker 1: Watching his tape, do you ultimately believe like kind of

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Speaker 1: like in a cliche Assemile kind of mold like that

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Speaker 1: guard ultimately ultimately will be his best position.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think it remains to be seen. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: he's got good length, arm length, he's physical, he's got

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Speaker 3: good feet. His game, you know, certainly, I would say,

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Speaker 3: like most of our picks needs some refinement, But like

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Speaker 3: watching Emery at the Senior Bowl and watching his physicality,

398
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Speaker 3: that to me tells you that he's going to be

399
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Speaker 3: excellent NFL offensive lineman. Whether it's right tackle, left tackle, guard,

400
00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:26,200
Speaker 3: doesn't really matter. He's got the strength, the competitiveness, the quickness,

401
00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:31,200
Speaker 3: the feet, the body, the frame, the experience, all those

402
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Speaker 3: things to be a starting offensive lineman. Then, like, honestly,

403
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Speaker 3: when you watch him finish plays, that's a separator from me.

404
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Speaker 3: You're looking at like, say, you got you know fifteen

405
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Speaker 3: or twenty twenty five offensive linemen that you have as

406
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Speaker 3: draftable players in this draft. When you really look at

407
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Speaker 3: his competitiveness in his physicality and his ability to finish,

408
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Speaker 3: that puts him for me in the top twenty of

409
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Speaker 3: all the offensive LINEMENUS draft class.

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Speaker 5: How do you when you're evaluating players, how do you

411
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Speaker 5: assess whether you think for him, as an example, he's

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Speaker 5: been a right tackle, but maybe you think he could

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Speaker 5: come in and compee at left guard. Like, how are

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Speaker 5: you making that assessment during the draft evaluation process?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think you have to look at the qualities

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Speaker 3: that make successful guards, and so you've got to have

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Speaker 3: some strength, ability to anchor body type. You know, it's hard,

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Speaker 3: generally speaking, in my opinion, to be a six foot

419
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Speaker 3: eight offensive guard because you're going to be linear. You're

420
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Speaker 3: gonna have a linear body. You want some guys that

421
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Speaker 3: have a base we call it an ass that you know,

422
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Speaker 3: that have some leverage and ability to stay low and

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Speaker 3: plays because that when you play guard, guys are getting

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Speaker 3: into your chest quickly, right, So you got to have

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Speaker 3: an anchor to you. You can't just be getting blown

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Speaker 3: back into the backfield. So there are some tackles who

427
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Speaker 3: can't play guard. The other thing is to play guard,

428
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Speaker 3: you gotta be smart because things happen so quickly. You're

429
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Speaker 3: getting there's always going to be stunting games, and guys

430
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Speaker 3: are jumping in gaps and things. So as a player,

431
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Speaker 3: as a guard, you've got to be able to process

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Speaker 3: more quickly then you might as a tackle. Like So

433
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Speaker 3: for me, when I think of tackles, I'm thinking of corners,

434
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,360
Speaker 3: and I'm thinking of guards, I'm thinking of safeties. Safeties

435
00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:27,600
Speaker 3: probably need to be more instinctive than corners. Corners it's

436
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,440
Speaker 3: like you cover that guy. Tackles is more like you're

437
00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,400
Speaker 3: gonna block that guy. When you play guard, things are

438
00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 3: happening so quickly. Guys are stunting, you know, guys are

439
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:39,080
Speaker 3: jumping down in gaps and things like that. So I

440
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 3: think intelligence is again important. And then the final piece

441
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:48,359
Speaker 3: is just physicality, right playing like a raven. You know,

442
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:52,280
Speaker 3: we're a physical downhill running team. We want guys that

443
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,280
Speaker 3: get off the ball, trying to push guys off the ball,

444
00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:59,639
Speaker 3: latching on the guys running their feet and finishing with intent.

445
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,280
Speaker 3: And I think I think Emory we can do that.

446
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,359
Speaker 1: You talk about like finishing the play And it really

447
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:09,040
Speaker 1: felt like throughout this year's draft class that the way

448
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,119
Speaker 1: in which guys play the game really jumped off the

449
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,520
Speaker 1: tape and with almost all of our picks right like

450
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,440
Speaker 1: it was. It was that fierceness, that way they finished

451
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:20,720
Speaker 1: and all those things. And Teddy Buchanan seems like a

452
00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,679
Speaker 1: great example of that is just like playing like his

453
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,480
Speaker 1: hairs on fire and he's all over the field. Was

454
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 1: that a big thing that like when you're watching the

455
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:30,919
Speaker 1: tape and when you were watching it on Teddy specifically,

456
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,320
Speaker 1: that you you just can pretty quickly say, oh, yeah,

457
00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:37,120
Speaker 1: that guy plays the game the way that we want

458
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:39,840
Speaker 1: our players to play. Yeah.

459
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:43,359
Speaker 3: So I say when I talk about that, it's like

460
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,119
Speaker 3: I want to see something, you know. I saw an

461
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:51,879
Speaker 3: interview one time with an art gallery owner and she

462
00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 3: was talking about an artist that she decided to buy

463
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:01,240
Speaker 3: his art and it like this artist took off and

464
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 3: they asked her like, what did you see? And she

465
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:08,879
Speaker 3: had a hard time answering the question other than saying

466
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,560
Speaker 3: I saw something. And that sometimes is all it takes

467
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,320
Speaker 3: with players, like I can't always tell you exactly what

468
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:18,640
Speaker 3: it is that level about the player, but I saw something.

469
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,800
Speaker 3: It's like an energy that you see. It's the way

470
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 3: they move, It's the way they strike, it's the way

471
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:27,520
Speaker 3: they finish. It's the tools they have. It's the upside potential.

472
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,360
Speaker 3: It's what are they going to do right away. It's

473
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:33,640
Speaker 3: they're getting beat forty four to nothing in the fourth

474
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,560
Speaker 3: quarter and the guy's making every play. It's the fact

475
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,800
Speaker 3: that he's playing defensive end and he's passing safeties and

476
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,840
Speaker 3: corners in pursuit. It's the lineman that, like after the

477
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 3: play you see him getting another shot. It's the running

478
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 3: back that is getting hit at the line of scrimmage

479
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,280
Speaker 3: and gains another two yards every time. So you're looking

480
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,439
Speaker 3: at his average, he's gaining two yards to carry, but

481
00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:59,880
Speaker 3: he's getting literally getting hit the line of scrimmage every time.

482
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,880
Speaker 3: It's like the most misleading two yards you'll ever see.

483
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,240
Speaker 3: Those are the things that scouts sometimes that we look for.

484
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,400
Speaker 3: They're hard to measure, they're hard to quantify, but when

485
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,639
Speaker 3: you see it, it resonates.

486
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,240
Speaker 5: Have you tried to put science behind that, because like

487
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,800
Speaker 5: when you see something in a player, Ozzie may see

488
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,080
Speaker 5: a different something like when you're looking for that something,

489
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,120
Speaker 5: or John may see a different something and your scouts

490
00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 5: may see, and so it's like quantifying that magic quality

491
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,239
Speaker 5: that you're kind of talking about. I assume it's just

492
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 5: really challenging. Have you tried with analytics and everything that

493
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 5: you do in this process to like put science behind

494
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 5: that thing that you're talking about.

495
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think we have and we do,

496
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 3: and we use the chip and we use some other

497
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 3: services that we subscribe to that measure things like movement

498
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,920
Speaker 3: and balance and acceleration and deceleration.

499
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:54,120
Speaker 4: And things like that.

500
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:56,960
Speaker 3: One of the things we do that I'm sure other

501
00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:01,199
Speaker 3: teams might do, we do it in camp, we do

502
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 3: it in June is sometimes just watch a player and

503
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:08,840
Speaker 3: I'll just point out things, especially with the younger guys,

504
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:12,679
Speaker 3: like what do you guys see in this play? And

505
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:15,640
Speaker 3: then I'll let them all kind of throw something out right,

506
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 3: and then I'll say, well, you're all missing this one thing.

507
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,560
Speaker 3: Look at look at this is what I see. Okay,

508
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:27,360
Speaker 3: this is what I see. And look at how he

509
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 3: gets bull rushed and doesn't give up any ground, right,

510
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 3: or look at this. You know, you guys are telling

511
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:42,080
Speaker 3: me that he's not fast and yet he's running by

512
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,880
Speaker 3: a corner on this play? Who runs a four to four.

513
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:48,400
Speaker 3: You tell me he's not fast. How's he doing that?

514
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:52,160
Speaker 3: There's something going on here, right, Those are the things.

515
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,840
Speaker 3: It's not just watching a guy's target tape as a

516
00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,879
Speaker 3: receiver and watching all sixty catches and saying, oh, he

517
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:00,400
Speaker 3: looks like an inside slot receiver.

518
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,159
Speaker 4: It's what does he.

519
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,720
Speaker 3: Do differently than everybody else. Maybe it's the way he

520
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 3: catches the ball right. Maybe it's he's got incredible coordination

521
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 3: near the sideline. He always makes the tough catch near

522
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 3: the sideline and gets both feet down right.

523
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:18,400
Speaker 4: Maybe it's that.

524
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:21,280
Speaker 3: But it's what makes this player stand out. And it's

525
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:25,679
Speaker 3: not always the most obvious things. It might be something like,

526
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 3: for instance, you know, say it's a fourth and twenty right,

527
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,639
Speaker 3: and the quarterback just throws the ball downfield and the

528
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 3: safety probably has a really good chance to intercept the pass,

529
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:42,960
Speaker 3: but instead he knocks it down because he knows they're

530
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 3: going to get the ball and the forty yard line

531
00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,280
Speaker 3: rather than the twenty yard line. It's all the little

532
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:49,920
Speaker 3: nuanced things that kind of go into it, and I

533
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 3: think the best scouts are able to parse those things

534
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 3: out and use those little glimpses of that player to

535
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:58,240
Speaker 3: evaluate the player.

536
00:27:58,280 --> 00:27:58,760
Speaker 4: The right way.

537
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,440
Speaker 1: And Vincent, you know you remained loyal to Alabama A

538
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:05,360
Speaker 1: and M. And I remember you talked about Zay Flowers

539
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 1: and how he remained loyal to Boston College when he

540
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,359
Speaker 1: had nil offers and he could have gotten money to

541
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:15,200
Speaker 1: go elsewhere, and that resonated with you with Carson, him

542
00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:19,119
Speaker 1: staying with Alabama A and M. Did that also show

543
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:23,200
Speaker 1: you something, especially in this age of nil and paid

544
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,360
Speaker 1: for play and all that stuff, like, did that show

545
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: you something?

546
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 3: I mean, I think anyone who knows me knows how

547
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:30,560
Speaker 3: I feel about loyalty, right And.

548
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:34,920
Speaker 4: You know, for me, I've said.

549
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:37,960
Speaker 3: It's a thousand times probably on this podcast, But growing

550
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,240
Speaker 3: up in Boston in the eighties and seeing all my

551
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 3: favorite players, Larry Bird, you know, Jim Rice, guys like

552
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:52,040
Speaker 3: that playing with one team. That's like a beautiful thing, right,

553
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 3: Like just that idea. Even in my career, you know,

554
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 3: myself having been here now this is my thirtieth year,

555
00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 3: so I value loyalty and when I see players that

556
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:09,080
Speaker 3: exhibit that to me, loyalty, humility, respect for others, those

557
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,240
Speaker 3: are the qualities you want and a great teammate and

558
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 3: so if you have that, you have something And those

559
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 3: kind of qualities make you a better player. So you

560
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 3: could be a good player, but if you've got humility

561
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 3: and loyalty, you'll be a better player, you know. And

562
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 3: so for me, that's something I really value.

563
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 5: You've gone more big school in your time as GM

564
00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:32,480
Speaker 5: rather than the smaller schools, and Vincent falls into the

565
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:35,440
Speaker 5: small school category at HBCU. He is your first not

566
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 5: FBS pick I believe. But what was it about him

567
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 5: that like made you feel like he's worth taking that

568
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 5: shot on and giving him an opportunity.

569
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:47,719
Speaker 4: I just think traits.

570
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 3: You know, we had a chance to see him a

571
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:51,840
Speaker 3: few times at the senior ball I studied him at length.

572
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 4: He came to Baltimore, we visited with him.

573
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:58,640
Speaker 3: George Warhop really liked him. You know, we had a

574
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 3: period where, you know, think, you know, maybe back in

575
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 3: like two thousand and six, we realized everybody was kind

576
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:07,840
Speaker 3: of scouting the same players, and we felt like small

577
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 3: school players were really.

578
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:12,520
Speaker 4: An opportunity for us to exploit.

579
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 3: And then we had a period of time where we

580
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:18,600
Speaker 3: took guys like Rebbee and Flacco and I mean we

581
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:19,200
Speaker 3: had a whole.

582
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:19,600
Speaker 4: Bunch of guys.

583
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, all those guys through that whole stretch where we

584
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:24,680
Speaker 3: took a lot of those guys and a lot of

585
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:26,719
Speaker 3: the guys ended up really good. Some guys didn't. You know,

586
00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 3: we had some we had some failures too, but we

587
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,000
Speaker 3: hit on some guys. And then I think with COVID.

588
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 3: When COVID hit, uh, we we did a lot of

589
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 3: work trying to figure out, like we understood what COVID

590
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 3: was going to mean for scouting, and there were different

591
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 3: things that were going to be greatly affected, one of course,

592
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:48,280
Speaker 3: which was no testing. You know, we weren't going to

593
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,040
Speaker 3: know how fast these guys were. We weren't going to

594
00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 3: know a lot about these players, so we had to

595
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 3: find ways to account for that. And I think with

596
00:30:55,640 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 3: the analytics and you know, David McDonald and Derek specifically

597
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 3: and James Hancie and you know, they did some amazing

598
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,760
Speaker 3: things to help us get more information. But then the

599
00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:15,959
Speaker 3: other idea was basically like smaller season, right, shorter season.

600
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 3: Guys weren't going to play as many games, maybe no games,

601
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:25,400
Speaker 3: and that for us, the acclamation of basically no football

602
00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:28,640
Speaker 3: or reduced football, it made all the sense in the world.

603
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:32,000
Speaker 3: They big school guys. So during COVID, if you really

604
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 3: go back to that what was that twenty twenty draft,

605
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:41,480
Speaker 3: all big school guys, biggest of big school guys, you know, LSU,

606
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 3: Ohio State, you know Texas saying like Texas, we just

607
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,240
Speaker 3: took as many big school guys as we could, and

608
00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 3: we've kind of been doing that.

609
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:53,080
Speaker 4: You know.

610
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 3: I do think that these guys that play at these

611
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:04,720
Speaker 3: bigger schools are probably just generally speaking, ready to play

612
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 3: faster because it's almost like a pro program. Now they're

613
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,440
Speaker 3: getting paid, the bigger schools are paying more, so it's

614
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 3: just like almost like you are able to go down

615
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 3: and just pluck a guy from a big school, a

616
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 3: big football powerhouse, and they come in and the transition

617
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,040
Speaker 3: is at a much faster pace, which is what we're

618
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 3: all about as a team that wants to develop, the

619
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,800
Speaker 3: faster we can develop these guys right, the faster they

620
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 3: can play, the faster they can help us win games.

621
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 3: Because generally speaking, you only get a guy for four

622
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 3: years before you're talking about either resigning him or he's

623
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 3: going to leave him free agency. So you really want

624
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:44,640
Speaker 3: to maximize that window of four years and get him

625
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:46,000
Speaker 3: on the field as quickly as possible.

626
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:49,920
Speaker 1: Right this draft, in some ways remind me a little

627
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 1: bit on day three of the twenty twenty two class

628
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:55,240
Speaker 1: when you had all the fourth round picks, and this

629
00:32:55,360 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 1: year you had this cluster of sixth round picks, and hey,

630
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:01,720
Speaker 1: it hits like the twenty twenty two class.

631
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 6: So you want to increase the challenge. You did well

632
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 6: on the twenty twenty Yeah, exactly, Let's make it tough

633
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:06,520
Speaker 6: for ex second round.

634
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 1: Let's run that back again. That worked out pretty darn

635
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 1: well that fourth round. How did you approach this year's

636
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,080
Speaker 1: sixth round? Because I remember when you were talking about

637
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 1: that fourth round, You're like, that's going to kind of

638
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,480
Speaker 1: define our draft, right, and we hit I say it

639
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 1: likely we hit file Leayle. You know, we hit Charlie

640
00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 1: like a bunch of guys. How did you look at

641
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 1: this year's cluster sixth round picks? Did you have kind

642
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 1: of a similar outlook on that cluster?

643
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 3: I think, you know, it wasn't intentional. I mean, I

644
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,240
Speaker 3: think the year we did the fourth round was pretty intentional.

645
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 3: In general, with the fourth round, you're going to hit

646
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,040
Speaker 3: on about twenty percent of your pick starter rate. Starter rate,

647
00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 3: can real contributors like go guys that really come in

648
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 3: contribute twenty to twenty five percent would be good, and

649
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 3: so we were like, okay, can we get three guys

650
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 3: out of that clump to really be contributors for US?

651
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,480
Speaker 3: Obviously sixth round of percentages of lower right, you know, yeah,

652
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 3: I mean you're talking like twelve to fifteen percent. Those

653
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 3: guys end up really being strong contributors for your team.

654
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:11,040
Speaker 3: So the challenge is set, Like, we go into it

655
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:16,640
Speaker 3: knowing that the odds are probably stacked against us, but

656
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 3: we swung and we took some really good football players

657
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:22,160
Speaker 3: and excited.

658
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:24,240
Speaker 4: About really all those guys.

659
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,360
Speaker 3: I mean, those two corners were guys that I looked

660
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:30,120
Speaker 3: at a couple of weeks ago, and you know, I

661
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:33,520
Speaker 3: saw them differently, but the same really good players, guys

662
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 3: that had they gone the fourth round, you'd have been like,

663
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:39,720
Speaker 3: that's a good pick. And both both corners very athletic guys.

664
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,760
Speaker 3: You know, Cone's taller, Longer Beam is a little shorter,

665
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 3: but Longer Beam is a great offman player, ball skills, ballhawk, tough.

666
00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:53,040
Speaker 4: Cone.

667
00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:58,200
Speaker 3: I think got a prototypical press corner size and speed ratio.

668
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:01,720
Speaker 3: We think both of those guys are really really good

669
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:10,160
Speaker 3: prospects for US. I think Wester, you know is another guy.

670
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 3: So we talked to Chris Horton and to Chris ranked

671
00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:18,719
Speaker 3: these guys who are the best returners, and he came

672
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 3: back with Wester as being one of the very best.

673
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,359
Speaker 3: And so we watched his returns impressive, watched him as

674
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:28,840
Speaker 3: a receiver, looked at his production very impressive. And I

675
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,960
Speaker 3: think it's when you see a guy and I call

676
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:38,960
Speaker 3: this the Addison phenomenon, Like Jordan Addison had been at

677
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:43,480
Speaker 3: PITT as a receiver and had like great production, like

678
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:47,520
Speaker 3: basically like I don't know how many catches, but eighty

679
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:50,360
Speaker 3: catches a year at Pitt. Right, it goes to USC.

680
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:53,799
Speaker 3: It's hard to go to a new school, right. Think

681
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:56,359
Speaker 3: about when we refreshmen in high school. Think about when

682
00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 3: refreshman in college. Right, there's an acclamation it's hard. He

683
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,720
Speaker 3: goes to USC first year and has an amazing season

684
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:07,200
Speaker 3: at USC. So when I look at Wester, I see

685
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 3: the same kind of thing. I see a first year

686
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 3: player at Colorado who goes there and has a great season.

687
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:16,360
Speaker 3: He's a talented receiver, excellent return man.

688
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 4: I'm excited about him.

689
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:21,120
Speaker 3: We've had a great success with South Florida players and

690
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:22,799
Speaker 3: very excited about him.

691
00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:27,000
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm curious about the strategy on I mean I

692
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:29,240
Speaker 5: even asked you before the draft. You have eleven picks,

693
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,160
Speaker 5: do you expect to use all eleven picks? And because

694
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,640
Speaker 5: eleven rookies making the team is going to be challenging,

695
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 5: especially when you have all the six round picks, And

696
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,279
Speaker 5: so I'm just interested in the strategy of that of

697
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:41,799
Speaker 5: keeping all of those picks rather than trying to move

698
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,040
Speaker 5: up in the whatever the second or the third round. Like,

699
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 5: what was the thought process on keeping those picks and.

700
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 6: Going that route.

701
00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:56,880
Speaker 3: Well, I could talk about that for twenty days. I

702
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:02,759
Speaker 3: think that you know, in our research, if you've ever

703
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 3: done any kind of bias study, one of the most

704
00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:09,800
Speaker 3: pervasive biases.

705
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:10,960
Speaker 4: I would say is consensus bias.

706
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 3: And it's basically the idea that everybody is seeing things

707
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:20,880
Speaker 3: like you see things, right, which you just can't believe

708
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 3: that people wouldn't see it like you see it. We

709
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 3: see that in all walks of life, right opinions on

710
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,760
Speaker 3: various things. You might think a TV show is insane

711
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:30,560
Speaker 3: and you're at a dinner party going it's the best

712
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:32,279
Speaker 3: show in the world. In some hot scholes, I hated it,

713
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:34,320
Speaker 3: but you can't imagine that they would hate it. You

714
00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 3: would just assume that they like it because you like it.

715
00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:39,239
Speaker 4: That happens with the draft every year.

716
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:45,000
Speaker 3: And years ago there was really, for me an important

717
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:53,560
Speaker 3: study called the Loser's Curse by Richard Thaylor, who's a economist,

718
00:37:53,840 --> 00:38:00,560
Speaker 3: and Cade Massey, who's a professor at pen Now. And

719
00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:05,800
Speaker 3: the idea of it basically is that teams simply don't

720
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,480
Speaker 3: do any better drafting than anyone else. You're all going

721
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,759
Speaker 3: to be about the same, right, So the idea that

722
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 3: you're going to trade up and basically that the draft

723
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:18,480
Speaker 3: is inherently sort of a luck driven process. Now I

724
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:22,320
Speaker 3: don't believe that, but there is an element of luck involved.

725
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:24,640
Speaker 3: So if you think about that, and if you accept

726
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:29,160
Speaker 3: that premise, then you're trading up for a player that

727
00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 3: you think is better than anyone else, right, and you

728
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:38,520
Speaker 3: think that that team's going to draft them. But most

729
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 3: of the time they're not going to draft that player.

730
00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:44,319
Speaker 3: And so what we've seen over the years is that

731
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:46,839
Speaker 3: player is probably going to fall to you. He could

732
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 3: he be selected, yes, but there's no guarantees that that

733
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 3: player is going to be better than the player that

734
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:56,400
Speaker 3: you end up getting. So they call it the loser's

735
00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:59,800
Speaker 3: curse because the team at the top, it's like, always

736
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:02,200
Speaker 3: got the first pick in the draft. Well, you know what,

737
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,560
Speaker 3: the player that they select, We've seen this many times.

738
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:08,319
Speaker 3: There's no guarantees that that player is going to be

739
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:10,480
Speaker 3: better than the player that gets selected at twenty five

740
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:14,200
Speaker 3: or thirty in the first round. And so, all things

741
00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:16,040
Speaker 3: being equal, I know I'm doing a lot of talking

742
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,560
Speaker 3: about this, but it's a passion of mine. All things

743
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,520
Speaker 3: being equal, right, the fact that no one really knows

744
00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:26,000
Speaker 3: who's going to be better than anyone else. The only

745
00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:31,360
Speaker 3: rational approach is to get more at bats, is to

746
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:37,240
Speaker 3: pick more. And so what we've seen over the last

747
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:41,040
Speaker 3: five years, but especially this year, everyone seems to be

748
00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 3: drafting players the same players. So it's like going to

749
00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:50,800
Speaker 3: a restaurant with twenty of your best friends and there's

750
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,600
Speaker 3: twenty things on the menu, but all twenty of you

751
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:58,560
Speaker 3: are ordering one of the same three andres. Right, you're

752
00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:00,800
Speaker 3: all getting the stake, and you all getting the Maybe

753
00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:03,800
Speaker 3: a few guys are getting the crab cakes, but nobody's

754
00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 3: going after the vegetarian option, right, and nobody's getting the lamb.

755
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,279
Speaker 3: Everybody's draft eating the same things. That's kind of what

756
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:16,160
Speaker 3: the draft has become in some ways. And I don't

757
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:21,960
Speaker 3: know if that's because of the incredible media coverage, all

758
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,640
Speaker 3: the so called draft experts, right, all the people that

759
00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:29,560
Speaker 3: are putting up mock drafts and consensus boards and things

760
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 3: like that.

761
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 4: But for me, the idea of having more.

762
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:38,520
Speaker 3: Picks means I have the chance of getting more players.

763
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:40,839
Speaker 3: If I have the chance of getting more players, then

764
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:43,239
Speaker 3: I have a better chance of finding more players that

765
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:45,160
Speaker 3: can play than my opponents.

766
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:46,480
Speaker 4: And so that's why we do it.

767
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 1: So I feel like we're always in the business of

768
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,759
Speaker 1: if the league is zigging or zagging, right, And so

769
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:55,799
Speaker 1: when you see teams all ordering the same thing off

770
00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:59,080
Speaker 1: the menu, you're saying that having more picks is like

771
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,600
Speaker 1: you ordering the salad right, like, like you're ordering something

772
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:04,760
Speaker 1: different from them. Is that kind of what you're saying.

773
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:08,239
Speaker 3: No, it just means that I can order more appetizers.

774
00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:10,279
Speaker 2: That's always a good idea.

775
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,840
Speaker 3: I got more food on the table, right, right, right, right,

776
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,320
Speaker 3: And so if I have more food on the table,

777
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:17,879
Speaker 3: there's a better chance I'm gonna find something than I like, yeah,

778
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:20,000
Speaker 3: because I might order that steak, or I might order

779
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:21,759
Speaker 3: that pasta with that crab cake.

780
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:24,320
Speaker 4: But I might not like it, right, I got you.

781
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:25,680
Speaker 4: So if I can order more.

782
00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:28,200
Speaker 3: Food than I'm gonna leave and make sure I'm not hungry,

783
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:29,879
Speaker 3: I'm gonna have enough to eat.

784
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody else is fighting over that's taking everything they

785
00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:36,680
Speaker 2: may not like right exactly, it might be well done.

786
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:38,760
Speaker 3: Yeah.

787
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:40,799
Speaker 1: So to kind of go a little further down the

788
00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 1: analytics rabbit hole here, because it is fascinating stuff. You

789
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:46,879
Speaker 1: talked about the trade that you made, you know, going

790
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:49,600
Speaker 1: back in the fourth round five spots to go up

791
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:52,879
Speaker 1: in the sixth round from five spots, and that gave

792
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:56,840
Speaker 1: you more picks in quick succession in the sixth round.

793
00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,440
Speaker 1: And I was trying to read between the lines during

794
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,440
Speaker 1: the press conference on this, and it felt like what

795
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,440
Speaker 1: you were saying you wanted to do was you were

796
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:07,279
Speaker 1: you were going to draft a kicker and you wanted

797
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:09,239
Speaker 1: to be in that sweet spot where you felt like

798
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:11,200
Speaker 1: kickers were going to be drafted and he didn't want

799
00:42:11,239 --> 00:42:14,520
Speaker 1: to get the third kicker. You didn't want to have

800
00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:16,919
Speaker 1: the top two kickers go and then you're you're going

801
00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:17,600
Speaker 1: with the third guy.

802
00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:19,840
Speaker 2: Is that? Am I reading that correctly?

803
00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:20,000
Speaker 1: Like?

804
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:21,440
Speaker 2: Can you take us inside that that?

805
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:24,320
Speaker 3: Yeah? So so that was really, I'll tell you. You know, honestly,

806
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:27,279
Speaker 3: I just made all that up. You know, I was like,

807
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,040
Speaker 3: you know, I made all that up. I mean, and

808
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,040
Speaker 3: people are still trying to figure that out. I just imagine,

809
00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:34,600
Speaker 3: like all these people going, what did he say? And

810
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:36,600
Speaker 3: you know, he said four or five different things, and

811
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:38,080
Speaker 3: none of those things really makes sense.

812
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:38,400
Speaker 4: Okah.

813
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:40,240
Speaker 3: The reality of it was, there were really two reasons

814
00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:43,799
Speaker 3: why we made that trade. One, they had just brought

815
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:47,799
Speaker 3: out the Buffalo chicken dip, and I really wasn't I

816
00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:50,920
Speaker 3: wasn't in in a mind frame to pick because I

817
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:53,040
Speaker 3: want to get some of that Buffalo chicken dip, and

818
00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:56,759
Speaker 3: I knew that George Coquinas and Marc Astaveda were going

819
00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:00,239
Speaker 3: to be out there eating that dip in that part.

820
00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:02,160
Speaker 3: And the second one was just and you know, this

821
00:43:02,239 --> 00:43:03,960
Speaker 3: happens every once in a while. This happened back when

822
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:08,000
Speaker 3: we drafted Flacco, but Chad Steele was in the bathroom

823
00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:11,040
Speaker 3: the time, and we couldn't make a pick without Chad

824
00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:13,720
Speaker 3: being in there, so we had to. I mean, basically,

825
00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:16,600
Speaker 3: that trade was like a timeout, that's.

826
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:18,440
Speaker 4: All it was. I mean, it really I meed just.

827
00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:21,920
Speaker 2: What's going on.

828
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:26,319
Speaker 3: What that trade was was like a time out, but

829
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 3: we didn't have any timeouts, so we faked an injury.

830
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:33,480
Speaker 3: That's what we may make that a penalty now, yeah,

831
00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:35,560
Speaker 3: but you got to catch them. So that's what that

832
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:37,839
Speaker 3: trade was, honestly, Like, if I really want to boil

833
00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:39,800
Speaker 3: it down, I know a lot of people have thought.

834
00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:40,759
Speaker 4: About that trade.

835
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:46,960
Speaker 3: That trade was a timeout for us, and it was

836
00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:50,080
Speaker 3: just basically, you know, faking an injury and the clock

837
00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:52,160
Speaker 3: stopped and gave us a chance to regroup.

838
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:52,800
Speaker 2: Okay.

839
00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:57,240
Speaker 1: And was that because like a pick before that, Vincent picked,

840
00:43:57,280 --> 00:43:59,080
Speaker 1: like somebody got taken that we really liked and were like,

841
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:01,200
Speaker 1: wait a second, where are we going here?

842
00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:06,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, uh, there's a lot going on. Yeah

843
00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:09,479
Speaker 3: at that point, and uh sometimes as I get older,

844
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:11,399
Speaker 3: I'm fifty four and now I just turned fifty four,

845
00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 3: and I get murky. Things get murky. And so that

846
00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:16,680
Speaker 3: was a period of time where I don't remember why

847
00:44:16,719 --> 00:44:21,040
Speaker 3: we had to take the time out. Yeah, but I

848
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:24,719
Speaker 3: think I know Chad was in the bathroom time, So

849
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:28,000
Speaker 3: that was a part of it. Because when we drafted Flacco,

850
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:33,799
Speaker 3: I think I think Kevin Byrne was unavailable missed it

851
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,480
Speaker 3: any and then we had to recreate some things after

852
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:39,200
Speaker 3: the fact. That's a true story. That is actually a

853
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,239
Speaker 3: true story be in the book someday. So I was

854
00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 3: worried about Chad. He didn't you know, he didn't look

855
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:46,680
Speaker 3: well and he wasn't you know anything. He was in

856
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:47,319
Speaker 3: the bathroom stall.

857
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:49,000
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, Well, if you.

858
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:50,239
Speaker 5: Know, you want to make sure that when that pit

859
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,719
Speaker 5: goes down in history that you want to have that documented.

860
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:53,839
Speaker 4: So Chad's got to be there.

861
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:55,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sureactly sure.

862
00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:57,240
Speaker 6: I'm curious.

863
00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:00,319
Speaker 5: You mentioned someone asked you after the draft about drafting

864
00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:04,360
Speaker 5: a quarterback on Day three and whether you were interested,

865
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 5: and you said that, you know, you you thought about it.

866
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:09,239
Speaker 5: There was a guy that you liked. Of course, a

867
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:11,520
Speaker 5: couple of quarterbacks went in the division. Should Or Sanders

868
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:14,120
Speaker 5: went to the Browns, Will Howard went to the Steelers

869
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:16,719
Speaker 5: on day three. I'm curious, are you willing to share

870
00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:18,960
Speaker 5: who you were thinking about drafting at quarterback as a

871
00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:19,879
Speaker 5: backup on day three?

872
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:22,120
Speaker 3: I mean, I think there was a couple of guys

873
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:24,160
Speaker 3: we liked, one guy in particular that we liked on

874
00:45:24,239 --> 00:45:25,640
Speaker 3: Day three. I mean, you could go back and you

875
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:27,480
Speaker 3: could look at it and see all those guys that

876
00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:31,359
Speaker 3: were drafted on day three and then you know, try

877
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:33,400
Speaker 3: to figure it out. But you know, there was definitely

878
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:35,680
Speaker 3: one guy that we thought was kind of interesting as

879
00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:39,600
Speaker 3: a day three pick, and we talked about it and

880
00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:42,719
Speaker 3: he got picked. But you know, again, it would have

881
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:46,359
Speaker 3: been a good prospect for us to develop. We still

882
00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:48,399
Speaker 3: believe Devon's going to really make a jump this year.

883
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:53,439
Speaker 3: But you know, again, like we people don't necessarily think

884
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:55,799
Speaker 3: this all the time, but we really do.

885
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:57,960
Speaker 4: Try to draft best available.

886
00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:01,359
Speaker 3: Player, and we ranked the player and we work off

887
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:05,960
Speaker 3: that list, and uh, you know, had this quarterback been there,

888
00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:07,520
Speaker 3: then we might have picked him.

889
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:10,760
Speaker 1: Right Tyler Loop, Uh you know, we know that Randy

890
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:13,799
Speaker 1: Brown went on a scouting mission. He was all over

891
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 1: the place drafted or scouting these Kickers. How much did

892
00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:19,480
Speaker 1: you hear about Tyler from Randy? Like?

893
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:20,640
Speaker 2: Was he was?

894
00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:22,960
Speaker 1: He in your office a lot giving you the full

895
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:25,560
Speaker 1: run down, the fool breakdown on the Kickers.

896
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:28,880
Speaker 3: Well, fortunately, because of all the construction going on in

897
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:31,560
Speaker 3: the building right now, my office was really really hard

898
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:31,920
Speaker 3: to get to.

899
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:34,160
Speaker 2: Did you have the ear plugs in when Randy y.

900
00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:38,360
Speaker 3: Well, my office was just like really really really really

901
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:39,080
Speaker 3: hard to find.

902
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:40,960
Speaker 6: Yeah, I gotta put a hard had on it was.

903
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:43,759
Speaker 3: Like Arc of the Covenant, hard to find, you know, like,

904
00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:49,280
Speaker 3: but it reminded me though, I will say, like years ago,

905
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,560
Speaker 3: you know, this is what these kicking coaches do.

906
00:46:54,080 --> 00:46:54,239
Speaker 4: You know.

907
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:58,080
Speaker 3: They just they go on on a tour basically, and

908
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:00,400
Speaker 3: they just evaluate all these kickers and they want to

909
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:05,959
Speaker 3: watch them live if they can, you know. And that's

910
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:08,160
Speaker 3: just what Randy did. He went all over the country

911
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:11,279
Speaker 3: looking at these guys. But it reminded me in some ways.

912
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:13,279
Speaker 3: Although I'll tell you a great kind of throwback story

913
00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:14,040
Speaker 3: that people don't know.

914
00:47:14,120 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 4: So years ago.

915
00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:19,880
Speaker 3: Back in I think it was two thousand and six,

916
00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:24,480
Speaker 3: one of my early drafts, and we were looking for

917
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:29,920
Speaker 3: a punter and we had this coach, Frank Ganz we

918
00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:35,360
Speaker 3: call the Machine Gun Gans and I called Frank down,

919
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:38,000
Speaker 3: you know, Frankie Ganz. I said, hey, coach, we got

920
00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 3: to find a punter. So I said, you know, just

921
00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:46,120
Speaker 3: go out and scout and do whatever you gotta do.

922
00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:48,120
Speaker 3: But I'm going to ask you in April who the

923
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:51,680
Speaker 3: best guy is and let me know. And they were

924
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:53,560
Speaker 3: a bunch of guys like the Combine, you know, they

925
00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:55,960
Speaker 3: had all these punters at the Combine and I'm at

926
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:58,359
Speaker 3: the workout and I'm watching all these guys boom the ball.

927
00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:00,520
Speaker 4: And so.

928
00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:06,440
Speaker 3: Frank comes back in April and he's like, hey, I

929
00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:07,080
Speaker 3: got the guy.

930
00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:08,279
Speaker 4: I got the guy.

931
00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:12,560
Speaker 3: And I'm thinking, okay, well who is it? And he goes, well,

932
00:48:13,200 --> 00:48:18,120
Speaker 3: it's a non combine guy. And I'm like, wait a minute.

933
00:48:18,160 --> 00:48:21,239
Speaker 3: There's twenty punters at the combine and you're telling me

934
00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:23,080
Speaker 3: that this is a non combine guy. He goes y,

935
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:28,520
Speaker 3: you know, he was a linebacker. And I'm like, what's

936
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:32,040
Speaker 3: his name? He said, Sam Cook. No, he goes he's

937
00:48:32,080 --> 00:48:36,040
Speaker 3: the best one. And I'm like, Frank, this is kind

938
00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:39,080
Speaker 3: of important. You're telling me that this is the best one.

939
00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:42,520
Speaker 3: And he's like, I'm telling you this guy is the

940
00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:44,839
Speaker 3: best punter in the draft. And I go he didn't

941
00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:48,160
Speaker 3: even freaking get invited to the combine at Nebraska. It's

942
00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:51,520
Speaker 3: not like he's at Mankato State. He's like, I'm telling

943
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:55,359
Speaker 3: you he's the best one, and we took him. What

944
00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:56,279
Speaker 3: was the sixth round pick?

945
00:48:56,440 --> 00:48:57,080
Speaker 4: I think it was.

946
00:48:57,680 --> 00:48:59,640
Speaker 3: He kicked for us for how many years? I don't know,

947
00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:07,080
Speaker 3: sixty years, whatever it is. So I tell you that

948
00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:12,080
Speaker 3: story because kicking is it's an aspect of scouting that

949
00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:19,000
Speaker 3: I will never truly understand or appreciate. I think Randy

950
00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:23,239
Speaker 3: Brown does a great job. I know he does, and

951
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:27,799
Speaker 3: I'm gonna usually defer to the coach, which I won't

952
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:30,359
Speaker 3: really do any other position. Right, I'm not gonna just say, Okay,

953
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:32,520
Speaker 3: we're drafting this. I'm gonna watch him and I'm going

954
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:35,759
Speaker 3: to form an opinion. It's just more challenging for me

955
00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:40,040
Speaker 3: to form an opinion of a punter or a kicker. Right,

956
00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:44,520
Speaker 3: And so Randy said this was the best guy, and

957
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:46,200
Speaker 3: not only I think this is the best guy, I

958
00:49:46,239 --> 00:49:49,200
Speaker 3: think this is the best guy over the last you know,

959
00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:52,240
Speaker 3: three or four years at least. So I'm like, okay,

960
00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:54,919
Speaker 3: that's interesting. And he ended up being the highest rated

961
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:57,560
Speaker 3: guy in the sixth round when he picked interesting.

962
00:49:58,120 --> 00:50:00,960
Speaker 5: I'm curious you talk to good amount coming into the

963
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:03,600
Speaker 5: draft about running back and the possibility of taking a

964
00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:05,359
Speaker 5: running back, and I don't know if that was all

965
00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 5: smoke screens, but you fooled me because I was like,

966
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:10,480
Speaker 5: they keep mentioning running back here, and even though it's

967
00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:13,680
Speaker 5: not a knee on paper, it reminded me of when

968
00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:15,680
Speaker 5: you took Dobbins and it wasn't a need that year

969
00:50:16,239 --> 00:50:17,880
Speaker 5: necessarily but he ended up taking him. So I was like,

970
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:19,239
Speaker 5: they're going to take a running back at some point,

971
00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:19,919
Speaker 5: you know, And.

972
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:21,240
Speaker 2: You were saying early.

973
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:22,520
Speaker 6: I thought early.

974
00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:23,680
Speaker 2: I thought this guy was saying early.

975
00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:25,600
Speaker 5: I thought maybe it could be in like the second round,

976
00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:28,680
Speaker 5: like it was with Dobbins. Were there any running backs

977
00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:31,520
Speaker 5: that you consider? Was that something that you were hoping

978
00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:33,560
Speaker 5: to do? What was your view of the running back position?

979
00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:37,759
Speaker 3: Well, we tried, you know, I chant on my owner,

980
00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:40,400
Speaker 3: Mike Ditka. We offered every draft pick this year and

981
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:42,080
Speaker 3: all of our draft picks next year to go up

982
00:50:42,120 --> 00:50:45,800
Speaker 3: to take Gent. You just couldn't find a trade partner.

983
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:46,520
Speaker 6: No one would do it.

984
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:46,799
Speaker 4: Huh.

985
00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:48,600
Speaker 3: I thought maybe there was a chance we could get

986
00:50:48,680 --> 00:50:51,319
Speaker 3: up to three, but they didn't want to do it.

987
00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:55,000
Speaker 3: They didn't want to do it. But no, I think

988
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:57,400
Speaker 3: this was a really really good draft class for running backs.

989
00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:01,279
Speaker 3: In saying that, as we look at our position group,

990
00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:04,600
Speaker 3: we're pretty blessed. I mean, we've got, you know, I

991
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:06,880
Speaker 3: think a great room. We've got four deep that we

992
00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:10,560
Speaker 3: feel really really strong about. And I think Rasheen last

993
00:51:10,600 --> 00:51:13,120
Speaker 3: year he hasn't really shown people what we think he

994
00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:13,560
Speaker 3: can do.

995
00:51:13,719 --> 00:51:15,080
Speaker 4: He's an explosive.

996
00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,560
Speaker 3: Running back and you know, Keaton coming off an injury,

997
00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:20,680
Speaker 3: Justice Hill, one of the probably most unsung players on

998
00:51:20,719 --> 00:51:23,359
Speaker 3: our team, and then of course Derrick Henry, who had

999
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:26,200
Speaker 3: any elite season last year. So we feel blessed to

1000
00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:27,880
Speaker 3: have like four backs that we feel like can go

1001
00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:31,719
Speaker 3: in and play play extremely well. Given the chance. Not

1002
00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:33,759
Speaker 3: to say we wouldn't have taken a back, it just

1003
00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:36,680
Speaker 3: had to be a situation where for us to value

1004
00:51:36,800 --> 00:51:38,440
Speaker 3: was too good to pass up. In other words, we're

1005
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:40,439
Speaker 3: not looking at a chalk player. We're not looking at

1006
00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:43,480
Speaker 3: oh yeah, this is a good second round pick. We're

1007
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:47,160
Speaker 3: looking at, oh my god, we gotta take this guy.

1008
00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:49,719
Speaker 3: He's too good for us to pass up on. And

1009
00:51:50,160 --> 00:51:53,359
Speaker 3: it just didn't really materialize that way based on which

1010
00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:54,760
Speaker 3: players were on the board when.

1011
00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:58,440
Speaker 1: We picked another just loaded room on this offense is

1012
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:01,000
Speaker 1: a tight end room. And there's of course a lot

1013
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:04,040
Speaker 1: of pre draft buzz about Mark Andrews and the possibility

1014
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:08,520
Speaker 1: of a trade there. Potentially did any team call us

1015
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:10,240
Speaker 1: asking about Mark?

1016
00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:13,640
Speaker 3: You know during the draft, we never really had those discussions.

1017
00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:20,719
Speaker 3: The phone never really rang, you know. Honestly, Mark is

1018
00:52:20,760 --> 00:52:23,719
Speaker 3: a great player, yeah, and we're not.

1019
00:52:23,719 --> 00:52:25,320
Speaker 4: Really in the business of.

1020
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:31,160
Speaker 3: Letting our great players leave unless we're going to get

1021
00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:35,640
Speaker 3: a lot for them, because our best team is with

1022
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:38,400
Speaker 3: Mark Andrews on it. Let's face it, our best chance

1023
00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:41,759
Speaker 3: to win a Super Bowl is with Mark Andrews on

1024
00:52:41,800 --> 00:52:45,279
Speaker 3: the team. And so I think teams knew that, you know,

1025
00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:49,160
Speaker 3: we had, you know, some discussion potentially early on in

1026
00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:52,279
Speaker 3: the process, back going back in March, and it just

1027
00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:55,440
Speaker 3: became apparent to me that I value Mark more than

1028
00:52:55,480 --> 00:52:58,760
Speaker 3: anybody else. We value Mark more than most teams anybody else.

1029
00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:02,279
Speaker 3: And so based on that, you know, we're going to

1030
00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:05,560
Speaker 3: keep our best players. And so, you know, it was

1031
00:53:05,600 --> 00:53:09,120
Speaker 3: a really good tight end draft class this year. You know,

1032
00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:13,200
Speaker 3: I think five or six guys that watching these guys,

1033
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:17,719
Speaker 3: you know, whether it's you know, Lovelin or Warren or

1034
00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:24,359
Speaker 3: a Royo or yeah, Taylor, I thought the Fanning kid,

1035
00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:28,080
Speaker 3: you know, Ferguson. You got six tight ends that really

1036
00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:31,160
Speaker 3: have a chance to contribute quickly. We would have considered

1037
00:53:31,160 --> 00:53:33,759
Speaker 3: those guys for sure, and just had you know, four

1038
00:53:33,800 --> 00:53:35,560
Speaker 3: tight ends on the roster.

1039
00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:39,080
Speaker 2: Well when you have three going into contract years this year.

1040
00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:42,360
Speaker 3: So we would have easily taken a tight end. The

1041
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:45,000
Speaker 3: way that those guys came off the board, you know,

1042
00:53:46,680 --> 00:53:51,319
Speaker 3: I think what maybe five of those guys came off

1043
00:53:51,360 --> 00:53:56,239
Speaker 3: the board, maybe before we picked in the second round. Yeah, right,

1044
00:53:57,040 --> 00:53:59,160
Speaker 3: Fantom might have been the last guy standing. He got

1045
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:01,959
Speaker 3: picked pretty quick to So yeah, I think the league

1046
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:04,040
Speaker 3: values tight ends. We're blast that we have some good

1047
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:07,839
Speaker 3: tight ends. Definitely something that we have to work on

1048
00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:11,319
Speaker 3: in the short term and long term given that they're

1049
00:54:11,320 --> 00:54:13,880
Speaker 3: all free agents. But I think right now, where we

1050
00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,279
Speaker 3: have an abundance of riches at both running back and

1051
00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:18,440
Speaker 3: tight end, we're gonna use those guys.

1052
00:54:18,520 --> 00:54:18,640
Speaker 4: Well.

1053
00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:20,879
Speaker 1: The takeaway here is, you know we could have taken

1054
00:54:20,920 --> 00:54:23,279
Speaker 1: a running back, a tight end you talked about you

1055
00:54:23,280 --> 00:54:26,239
Speaker 1: want a big run stuffing defensive. We need more picks, right,

1056
00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:29,959
Speaker 1: we had eleven. We need more picks, more appetizers, that's

1057
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:30,480
Speaker 1: the solution.

1058
00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:31,920
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1059
00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:33,799
Speaker 3: You know I really wanted the Bang Bang shrimp and

1060
00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:37,479
Speaker 3: we couldn't do it fire.

1061
00:54:37,560 --> 00:54:39,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, you gotta get the bank bank trip.

1062
00:54:40,120 --> 00:54:42,600
Speaker 5: Last question that I have, Eric, is the heavy lifting

1063
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:45,000
Speaker 5: of the off seasons done. You made these eleven picks

1064
00:54:45,239 --> 00:54:48,120
Speaker 5: in free agency, You keep Ronnie, you bring in DeAndre Hopkins,

1065
00:54:48,120 --> 00:54:51,680
Speaker 5: and so like, the roster is pretty much set going

1066
00:54:51,719 --> 00:54:54,839
Speaker 5: into this season for the most part, and this team

1067
00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:56,759
Speaker 5: is this team is so close. It's been right there,

1068
00:54:56,840 --> 00:54:58,840
Speaker 5: and the expectation, I'm sure is that this team is

1069
00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:00,680
Speaker 5: going to be right there back in that mix again

1070
00:55:00,760 --> 00:55:01,120
Speaker 5: this year.

1071
00:55:01,160 --> 00:55:04,239
Speaker 6: Like, what is your view of this team.

1072
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:06,240
Speaker 5: And what it can do going into this season.

1073
00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:09,480
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's a good team, you know. I

1074
00:55:09,600 --> 00:55:12,600
Speaker 3: like the depth that we have. You know, last year

1075
00:55:12,600 --> 00:55:14,880
Speaker 3: we took on some water with our depth, and I think,

1076
00:55:15,640 --> 00:55:17,279
Speaker 3: you know, we lost a lot of good players last

1077
00:55:17,360 --> 00:55:24,560
Speaker 3: year in free agency and started out owing too, came

1078
00:55:24,600 --> 00:55:26,919
Speaker 3: back and played great football, had a great season part

1079
00:55:26,920 --> 00:55:29,680
Speaker 3: of the team. I think this team is really poised

1080
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:32,680
Speaker 3: and we were strong at most position groups. Now there's

1081
00:55:32,680 --> 00:55:34,720
Speaker 3: a couple of things we want to do between now

1082
00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:39,600
Speaker 3: and probably when we break you know, before camp, a

1083
00:55:39,600 --> 00:55:42,799
Speaker 3: couple couple additions, maybe a couple of signings, you know,

1084
00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:44,200
Speaker 3: a couple of things we can do to make our

1085
00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:46,720
Speaker 3: team better. But you know, I think in the short

1086
00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:52,120
Speaker 3: term this year, we are you know, positioned extremely well.

1087
00:55:52,160 --> 00:55:55,400
Speaker 3: Now I think looking out, we've got some players that

1088
00:55:55,440 --> 00:55:59,839
Speaker 3: we want to extend, we we should have and now

1089
00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:05,200
Speaker 3: amount of draft picks next year. We didn't even talk

1090
00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:07,800
Speaker 3: about the other trade that we made with the Jets,

1091
00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:11,120
Speaker 3: where we gave up. You know, we went back ten

1092
00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:14,440
Speaker 3: spots and got their fifth for our sixth. Like, that's

1093
00:56:14,480 --> 00:56:17,200
Speaker 3: an opportunity I think for us to gain a lot

1094
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:20,040
Speaker 3: of spots in the draft next year. I think right now,

1095
00:56:20,120 --> 00:56:22,640
Speaker 3: if you assume that we.

1096
00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:27,560
Speaker 4: May get maybe get.

1097
00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:31,880
Speaker 3: Two fifth round compicks potentially for guys that we lost

1098
00:56:31,880 --> 00:56:35,840
Speaker 3: this year, mckerry and Stevens. If we do given that

1099
00:56:35,920 --> 00:56:38,799
Speaker 3: Jets trade, we should have four right now, four fifth

1100
00:56:38,880 --> 00:56:44,520
Speaker 3: round picks, which is nice, and you know, maybe an

1101
00:56:44,560 --> 00:56:47,200
Speaker 3: opportunity for us to corner the fifth round, which we haven't.

1102
00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:48,360
Speaker 2: You know, we've called.

1103
00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:51,600
Speaker 3: Maybe there's going to be a chance for us if

1104
00:56:51,600 --> 00:56:53,719
Speaker 3: we can get a couple more fifth round picks and

1105
00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:56,719
Speaker 3: just make that our around next year, you know, would

1106
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:59,120
Speaker 3: be kind of cool to do. But yeah, that's what

1107
00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:02,319
Speaker 3: we're focused on right now, and I we're excited about it,

1108
00:57:02,520 --> 00:57:05,840
Speaker 3: and I think the team looks strong, but it never ends.

1109
00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:08,279
Speaker 3: You know, this is a competitive business and if you

1110
00:57:08,320 --> 00:57:10,720
Speaker 3: ever get to the point where you think you're set,

1111
00:57:11,040 --> 00:57:13,040
Speaker 3: you're going to fail. So for us, it's all about

1112
00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:18,040
Speaker 3: challenging ourselves, looking at the short term challenges associated with that,

1113
00:57:18,120 --> 00:57:20,160
Speaker 3: but also the long term, what do we have to

1114
00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:23,040
Speaker 3: accomplish to make the long term look better and we'll

1115
00:57:23,040 --> 00:57:23,840
Speaker 3: work on that.

1116
00:57:23,920 --> 00:57:24,360
Speaker 4: Awesome.

1117
00:57:24,400 --> 00:57:26,440
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much, Eric, We really appreciate it.

1118
00:57:26,520 --> 00:57:28,240
Speaker 1: Congrats on another successful draft.

1119
00:57:28,240 --> 00:57:28,440
Speaker 4: Thank you.

1120
00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:32,360
Speaker 5: Thanks guys awesome you're listening to The Lounge podcast and

1121
00:57:32,400 --> 00:57:33,920
Speaker 5: we are coming to you from the Seat Geeks Studio.

1122
00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:35,920
Speaker 5: We want to mention our partners at Draft King Sportsbook.

1123
00:57:35,960 --> 00:57:38,600
Speaker 5: They are an official sports betting partner of the Baltimore

1124
00:57:38,680 --> 00:57:42,360
Speaker 5: Ravens Draft King Sportsbook. The Crown is yours so big.

1125
00:57:42,400 --> 00:57:44,480
Speaker 5: Thanks to Eric Costa for joining us on the podcast.

1126
00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:47,080
Speaker 5: It's one of my favorite episodes of the year every

1127
00:57:47,120 --> 00:57:49,400
Speaker 5: single year, and of course it did not disappoint. I

1128
00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:53,040
Speaker 5: will say for longtime listeners and viewers of The Lounge,

1129
00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:55,480
Speaker 5: Eric has a track record of pulling off some kind

1130
00:57:55,480 --> 00:57:58,880
Speaker 5: of prank, some kind of lie story whenever he comes

1131
00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:01,840
Speaker 5: on the pod. Us had our antendos up the entire time.

1132
00:58:02,000 --> 00:58:05,360
Speaker 1: Well, I felt myself, I thought that the whole Sam

1133
00:58:05,400 --> 00:58:06,160
Speaker 1: Cook story, you.

1134
00:58:06,160 --> 00:58:07,280
Speaker 6: Thought it was going down that path.

1135
00:58:07,960 --> 00:58:09,480
Speaker 1: At first, I was I was just you know, I

1136
00:58:09,520 --> 00:58:12,000
Speaker 1: was like no, and then and then the alarm bell

1137
00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:12,600
Speaker 1: started going off.

1138
00:58:12,600 --> 00:58:14,680
Speaker 2: I was like, wait, is this whole story fake?

1139
00:58:14,880 --> 00:58:15,440
Speaker 6: Yeah?

1140
00:58:15,560 --> 00:58:16,160
Speaker 2: But I don't I.

1141
00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:17,440
Speaker 6: Don't think you think I was real. I mean, we

1142
00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:19,520
Speaker 6: actually took right.

1143
00:58:19,600 --> 00:58:21,520
Speaker 1: You can sell the whole backstory at it, right, But

1144
00:58:21,560 --> 00:58:22,600
Speaker 1: I think I think that was all real.

1145
00:58:22,680 --> 00:58:25,000
Speaker 2: I think that's but my radar was up.

1146
00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:29,000
Speaker 5: We were definitely alert to the potential this year. So

1147
00:58:29,160 --> 00:58:31,280
Speaker 5: I don't think that any of those stories were fake.

1148
00:58:31,320 --> 00:58:33,320
Speaker 5: But I also can never be certain.

1149
00:58:33,120 --> 00:58:34,360
Speaker 2: The giraffe really was.

1150
00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:35,800
Speaker 6: He really was conducting.

1151
00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:37,320
Speaker 2: Interviews conducting interviews, so that was real.

1152
00:58:37,640 --> 00:58:40,320
Speaker 5: Check it, Yeah, but it was. It was a really

1153
00:58:40,360 --> 00:58:43,160
Speaker 5: good conversation with him. I mean, I think that as

1154
00:58:43,240 --> 00:58:46,720
Speaker 5: I've talked with him, we had a chance earlier this

1155
00:58:46,760 --> 00:58:49,560
Speaker 5: week to go through a film session with Joey Cleary

1156
00:58:49,600 --> 00:58:53,600
Speaker 5: and Andrew Rafael Raven Scouts, and I just think that overall,

1157
00:58:53,760 --> 00:58:55,720
Speaker 5: like I feel even better about this class, and you

1158
00:58:55,720 --> 00:58:57,840
Speaker 5: can tell the excitement that the Ravens have about this group.

1159
00:58:57,920 --> 00:58:58,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.

1160
00:58:58,840 --> 00:59:02,439
Speaker 1: I mean, look, the facts of the matter are, we've

1161
00:59:02,480 --> 00:59:06,480
Speaker 1: had some awesome draft classes here and Ozzie knew someone

1162
00:59:06,520 --> 00:59:09,520
Speaker 1: went out in a blaze of glory in his last

1163
00:59:09,600 --> 00:59:12,360
Speaker 1: year making the picks with Lamar Jackson that twenty eighteen

1164
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:15,600
Speaker 1: class was awesome, and Eric Decasta before the draft that

1165
00:59:15,720 --> 00:59:18,200
Speaker 1: I was every year, I go and I kind of

1166
00:59:18,280 --> 00:59:21,400
Speaker 1: rank the draft classes and the best in Ravens, So

1167
00:59:21,520 --> 00:59:23,840
Speaker 1: the best in Ravens history, all of the Ravens draft

1168
00:59:23,840 --> 00:59:27,000
Speaker 1: classes in rank them. And I'll tell you there's been

1169
00:59:27,040 --> 00:59:29,520
Speaker 1: a couple now in Eric DeCosta's ten years GM that

1170
00:59:29,680 --> 00:59:32,000
Speaker 1: are right up there near the top. Yeah, I mean

1171
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:35,840
Speaker 1: that twenty twenty two class, that twenty twenty class, awesome,

1172
00:59:36,000 --> 00:59:39,320
Speaker 1: awesome classes, and then these most recent ones. It's too

1173
00:59:39,400 --> 00:59:40,960
Speaker 1: early to say you need to give a draft class

1174
00:59:40,960 --> 00:59:43,920
Speaker 1: a little bit of time, but I think that this

1175
00:59:44,040 --> 00:59:46,360
Speaker 1: year's class, when all is said and done and I'm

1176
00:59:46,360 --> 00:59:48,720
Speaker 1: going back three four years from now and saying where

1177
00:59:48,720 --> 00:59:49,560
Speaker 1: does this some rank.

1178
00:59:49,880 --> 00:59:50,680
Speaker 6: I guess can be high.

1179
00:59:50,720 --> 00:59:52,800
Speaker 1: You know how much I love that Malachi Starks picked. Yeah,

1180
00:59:52,800 --> 00:59:54,920
Speaker 1: so it's off to it got off to a great start.

1181
00:59:55,040 --> 00:59:55,280
Speaker 2: Well.

1182
00:59:55,720 --> 00:59:58,600
Speaker 5: I always just find it interesting hearing process and when

1183
00:59:58,640 --> 01:00:01,160
Speaker 5: they talk about why they kept all eleven picks and

1184
01:00:01,320 --> 01:00:03,560
Speaker 5: the percentages of hit rate that they're going to have,

1185
01:00:03,600 --> 01:00:04,960
Speaker 5: and of course you try to be better than that,

1186
01:00:05,040 --> 01:00:07,600
Speaker 5: but they're looking at the averages on those things, and

1187
01:00:08,040 --> 01:00:10,080
Speaker 5: I just think that all of that is interesting perspective

1188
01:00:10,080 --> 01:00:11,960
Speaker 5: and it gives you an understanding of why the Ravens

1189
01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:15,400
Speaker 5: do what they do, and I think that, like the

1190
01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:20,760
Speaker 5: Eric is very processed, driven and very analytical in his approach,

1191
01:00:20,880 --> 01:00:23,040
Speaker 5: not just from a standpoint of like what does the

1192
01:00:23,120 --> 01:00:25,400
Speaker 5: number say, but wants to be like, look at things

1193
01:00:25,440 --> 01:00:29,880
Speaker 5: from a holistic view and make a sound decision with

1194
01:00:30,040 --> 01:00:34,360
Speaker 5: every pick and every strategy decision. And I think you

1195
01:00:34,400 --> 01:00:36,440
Speaker 5: see that, and I think that comes across when he

1196
01:00:36,480 --> 01:00:38,440
Speaker 5: sits down with us, and I think that's always enlightening.

1197
01:00:38,600 --> 01:00:41,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, so thank you for listening. As always, leave

1198
01:00:41,600 --> 01:00:44,400
Speaker 1: a rating and review. You can email us at the

1199
01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:47,920
Speaker 1: lounge at Ravens NFL dot net. And these rookies will

1200
01:00:47,960 --> 01:00:50,560
Speaker 1: be on campus here very soon, coming in for Rookie

1201
01:00:50,560 --> 01:00:54,280
Speaker 1: Mini Camp this weekend. We'll have all the coverage, first impressions.

1202
01:00:54,360 --> 01:00:56,880
Speaker 1: We'll have the photos, the videos, the social media clips.

1203
01:00:57,200 --> 01:00:57,680
Speaker 2: Make sure you.

1204
01:00:57,720 --> 01:00:59,440
Speaker 1: Tune in for that this weekend as we get our

1205
01:00:59,480 --> 01:01:01,960
Speaker 1: first taste of what this draft class is going to bring.

1206
01:01:02,040 --> 01:01:02,760
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.

1207
01:01:02,760 --> 01:01:05,520
Speaker 1: We'll be back early next week with our impressions from

1208
01:01:05,600 --> 01:01:06,280
Speaker 1: Rookie Minicamp.