Speaker 1: Zach. I know coming into this season, you quote unquote
Speaker 1: transformed your body. How much did that help you? I
Speaker 1: think it helped me a lot, you know, just being
Speaker 1: able to bulk up during this last offseason and kind
Speaker 1: of put on functional, functional weight that I knew I
Speaker 1: was gonna be able to, you know use for my
Speaker 1: different role is more so blocking and um, I guess
Speaker 1: being able to be a little harder to bring down
Speaker 1: after I catch the ball. So I think it helped
Speaker 1: me out a lot. And I kind of felt that.
Speaker 1: I think when we talked this last summer, Um, I
Speaker 1: knew that it was going to help me going forward
Speaker 1: and be an advantage for me, and I think it was.
Speaker 1: Was it easy to maintain throughout the season as well? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was surprisingly. I didn't think I was gonna be
Speaker 1: able to maintain it. Um Uh. Coach Tomlin was just
Speaker 1: talking to the other day. You know, now that I'm
Speaker 1: twenty five years old, you know, it's a little easier
Speaker 1: to hold the weight on. You know, you don't need
Speaker 1: to go through all the different fluctuations of being a
Speaker 1: younger guy. So now that kind of made me feel
Speaker 1: old with that conversation. But it's it's it's easier to
Speaker 1: hold onto you for sure. Now, Um, what do you
Speaker 1: plan to do this offseason? And have you even thought about,
Speaker 1: you know, looking back after talking to coaches and just
Speaker 1: wrapping a bow for this season, what you were able
Speaker 1: to accomplish? Well, my off season plan is to just
Speaker 1: work on work on some things that I feel like
Speaker 1: I need to work on. Flexibility, core, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: just continue to stay conditioned. Um. I'll be back home
Speaker 1: in Albuquerque with my parents for a little while and
Speaker 1: I'll be back here, and you know, I never liked
Speaker 1: it to get away from this building for too long,
Speaker 1: so I'll be kind of back and forth. Um. You know, UM,
Speaker 1: I was. I was happy with with some of the
Speaker 1: things I was able to accomplish this season. I think, um,
Speaker 1: coach Fredo and coach t or Um complimentary some of
Speaker 1: those things. But we also, um, you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: mentioned some things I need to work on. So I'm
Speaker 1: excited to get after that. What was it like having
Speaker 1: Pat friar Muth joined the team and it seems, you know,
Speaker 1: you guys got along instantly and your room was I
Speaker 1: would say, fun, Yeah, yeah, I had I had a
Speaker 1: blast with the room this year. Um, we had some
Speaker 1: great personalities, and yeah, the addition of Pat was is
Speaker 1: huge for me. And he's like, you know, he's he's
Speaker 1: obviously he's you know, one of my best friends and um,
Speaker 1: a heck of a ball player. So it's a whole
Speaker 1: lot of fun. You know. I think we kind of
Speaker 1: compliment each other on and off the field, and I'm
Speaker 1: just excited to continue need to work and play with him.
Speaker 1: The physicality of the blocking, Um, how much do you
Speaker 1: like that? And have you had to grow into liking that?
Speaker 1: I do like it a lot, um, And you know,
Speaker 1: it's something that I used to be real physical, like
Speaker 1: when I was younger, I played a little defense, but
Speaker 1: you know, that was something I got away from for
Speaker 1: so long playing quarterback. And I think especially for the
Speaker 1: last couple of years, I'm kind of finding myself really
Speaker 1: enjoying that aspect of it again. And um, so yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm having fun with it and I do enjoy it
Speaker 1: and enjoy the position that I've been. Right now, speaking
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks, Ben Roethlisberger's last throw in the NFL was
Speaker 1: to you, did you think about it? Where's that ball? Um?
Speaker 1: Do you have it? So? I should have? There was
Speaker 1: eleven seconds on the clock or something like that. When
Speaker 1: we snapped the ball and I was tackled on the field,
Speaker 1: and so I got up in a hurry. I wasn't
Speaker 1: thinking about it immediately, so I threw the ball to
Speaker 1: the reft to try to get lined up again. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I should have just held on tight to
Speaker 1: the ball that the time is going to run out. Um,
Speaker 1: I do remember I was There were three or four
Speaker 1: Kansas City defenders but near the goal line, and for
Speaker 1: for a fleeting second, I thought I should go airborne
Speaker 1: and try to score for his last one. But I
Speaker 1: made a business decision to stay down. And I told
Speaker 1: him about that. He said it was fine. Um, what
Speaker 1: is it going to be like not having Ben Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: around the facility, around the team moving forward? Oh, it's
Speaker 1: going to be an adjustment. Um. You know, I was
Speaker 1: talking to some of the equipment guys the other day.
Speaker 1: I said, it's gonna be weird not having seven around,
Speaker 1: But it'll be even weirder for them, you know. They mean,
Speaker 1: he's been around here for so long, and there's there's
Speaker 1: so many people in this building that are used to
Speaker 1: having him and seeing him every single day for the
Speaker 1: last eighteen years and I've been fortunate enough to be
Speaker 1: around for three years, so it'll be bizarre for me,
Speaker 1: But um, I can't imagine how weird it's going to
Speaker 1: be for everybody involved. It's been here as long as
Speaker 1: he has What is it going to be like? You probably,
Speaker 1: you know, would have to think about this a little bit.
Speaker 1: But knowing that there's going to be a quarterback competition,
Speaker 1: no matter if it's guys that are here, guys they
Speaker 1: bring in draft free agency, what does that do to
Speaker 1: a team and maybe even if it's the off season
Speaker 1: O T A s for instance, Well, we'll see. You know,
Speaker 1: you have to build a rapport with whoever these guys
Speaker 1: are going to be. You know, we have Mason and
Speaker 1: Duyne here right now, and um so we know that
Speaker 1: they're going to be here, and so obviously guys are
Speaker 1: gonna be trying to work with them, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: be working hard this offseason. But it'll be interesting to
Speaker 1: see what, you know, what shakes out. Um. I know
Speaker 1: that our organization is going to make the best decision
Speaker 1: going forward, and so whoever we have back there, I
Speaker 1: know it's going to be a capable and um talented quarterback.
Speaker 1: Are you an option at quarterback? I'd like to think
Speaker 1: I am. I'll have to put my name in the
Speaker 1: hat for that. UM. I throw in pretium warm ups
Speaker 1: a little bit, so I'll have to keep my arm loose.