Speaker 1: No college. More comfortable, aren't you with this new book secondary?
Speaker 1: Obviously guys who talked about he's being an upgrade, UM,
Speaker 1: I'm very comfortable. You know, when you got guys on
Speaker 1: the outside that holding their own and you don't mind
Speaker 1: leaving them on an island. Um. And then you put
Speaker 1: Walter Thurman next to me, who's who's making plays and
Speaker 1: it's instinctual and it's played a lot of football. Um.
Speaker 1: It takes a little bit of, um, the burden off
Speaker 1: of me being the quarterback of the secondary. When you
Speaker 1: got guys that, um, you know, put into work and
Speaker 1: know what they're doing and you can hold them accountable.
Speaker 1: So this this spring and then the first couple of
Speaker 1: practices we have so far, um have been really good.
Speaker 1: I think we're starting to jail a little bit as
Speaker 1: a as a unit, um, getting some new guys in
Speaker 1: that are some young guys too that are getting some
Speaker 1: reps and are fitting in well. Um, you know, and
Speaker 1: everybody's everybody's willing to compete day in and day out.
Speaker 1: And I think that's a good um mentality to have
Speaker 1: when we're trying to be the best unit uh in
Speaker 1: this league. And you know, every day we come out here, um,
Speaker 1: and lay it on the line. Is better off in
Speaker 1: your opinion today with this new look secondary than you
Speaker 1: were when you guys last played again, I mean I
Speaker 1: think so. I think if you take the guys that
Speaker 1: we have right now, with the work that we put in, UM,
Speaker 1: I think I think we're better than we were the
Speaker 1: last few games last year. And you know, whether that
Speaker 1: be with upgrades or just the understanding of the defense,
Speaker 1: I just think where we are one step ahead of
Speaker 1: where we were last year, especially even this time last year,
Speaker 1: is what is it the young players got a lot
Speaker 1: of obviously the secondary, the young players, what is it
Speaker 1: that they have to learn and to kind of get
Speaker 1: to where they happen for me to be able to
Speaker 1: get on the field. Well, the biggest thing is just
Speaker 1: it's just really two things. Just building up the confidence
Speaker 1: in themselves to go out and perform. Believe that you know,
Speaker 1: they're here for a reason, they're talented enough, and that
Speaker 1: they can go out and compete against whoever we line
Speaker 1: up against. And then the second part is just the
Speaker 1: nuances of their particular role in the deference. You know,
Speaker 1: some of these guys have been you know the number
Speaker 1: one corners or safeties wherever they've been at in school,
Speaker 1: but we might actually come play the nickel role and
Speaker 1: they got to be the best nickel on the team
Speaker 1: for us, and UM, you know, that's what we're going
Speaker 1: to demand out of them, and that's what we expect
Speaker 1: them to understand. And so the fact that they can
Speaker 1: wrap their minds around their role, the better we are,
Speaker 1: you know, because you know, I, you know, I play
Speaker 1: safety in this in this thing, as much as I
Speaker 1: would like to play corners. Sometimes, you know, they don't
Speaker 1: need me to be a corner in this in this scheme.
Speaker 1: They need me to be the best safety out here.
Speaker 1: And so, UM, I think we've got guys that understand
Speaker 1: how they're gonna fit it in this defense. And the
Speaker 1: better we are individually, um, at our own positions, the
Speaker 1: better we are as a unit. About playing more press
Speaker 1: if that happens to be the case. What kind of
Speaker 1: mentality is that kind of break the defense? Does a
Speaker 1: change anything to make you feel more aggressive? Does it?
Speaker 1: I mean they're in that kind of approach. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: we try to play a lot. Well, we played a
Speaker 1: lot of press last year, and that's always been really
Speaker 1: what we wanted to do. Um, I just think we're
Speaker 1: better at it right now. Um. And you know, offense
Speaker 1: is all about spacing and timing, and press throws off
Speaker 1: spacing and timing. And when we have the front like
Speaker 1: we do, I think from a secondary standpoint, we know
Speaker 1: we don't have to cover long, you know, and and
Speaker 1: we have faith in the guys, you know, through technique
Speaker 1: and ability, that we can line up and press against
Speaker 1: whoever we play against. And you know, it's it's definitely
Speaker 1: a more aggressive style of defense, but when you have
Speaker 1: the talent, you have the technique, it's really not that
Speaker 1: much of the risk that that's that's all we talk about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's you know, if we're gonna get up and press,
Speaker 1: we don't want to be imposters where we go to
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and then let you have a
Speaker 1: free run. If we're gonna move up, you know, we
Speaker 1: want to put our hands on you and disrupt you
Speaker 1: at the line of scrimmage and get some hands on
Speaker 1: And that's something that we didn't do well last year.
Speaker 1: We try to play a lot of press, but with
Speaker 1: bad technique, we just had guys running down the sideline
Speaker 1: and that's what those big plays come from. Some of these,
Speaker 1: you know, I think, um, I think a lot of
Speaker 1: the guys have really stepped up and they've been they've
Speaker 1: been competing. UM. I think Shepherd has probably been the
Speaker 1: one that's stood out the most. You know, he's the
Speaker 1: last two days gotten reps with the with the ones
Speaker 1: at the nickel position, UM, and hadn't missed a beat.
Speaker 1: He knows what he's doing, and that's the most encouraging thing,
Speaker 1: especially from a rookie this early in camp. Usually you
Speaker 1: have a lot of mental errors. Haven't been in it yet. UM.
Speaker 1: Now it's just about kind of teaching them that the
Speaker 1: tricks of the trade, how to use your leverage, how
Speaker 1: to use your help, um, the different tools and different coverages. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know, all of them have really been out
Speaker 1: there competing. UM. Eric Rose played well. UM. We've had
Speaker 1: a bunch of the guys really just come out and
Speaker 1: play hard. And so you know, each day they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to compete because we don't have a certain amount
Speaker 1: of spots and as much talent as we have with
Speaker 1: these veterans and the younger players, we can't keep everybody.
Speaker 1: So you every day we're competing against our offense and
Speaker 1: against ourselves essentially, Well, I think it's just been um,
Speaker 1: you know, in all phases of his preparation has been outstanding.
Speaker 1: And we talk about the weight room, the film room,
Speaker 1: the what he's doing as far as his technique, he's
Speaker 1: you know, he's being coachable. So you know, in the
Speaker 1: weight room, he's probably had the best offseason out of
Speaker 1: all the dbs. You know, we're competing every day and
Speaker 1: he's probably one of our strongest, most explosive dbs we have.
Speaker 1: Then we come out here and he's taking the coach
Speaker 1: and he's changed his entire technique as far as pressing,
Speaker 1: he's doing what Corey Underland is asking them do. He's
Speaker 1: been very, very disciplined in that technique. He's competing every day. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's in the film room, he's participating, he
Speaker 1: knows what he's doing. And it showed up on the tape.
Speaker 1: You know, it's yesterday. He had an awesome day and um,
Speaker 1: you know it's continuing today and we you know, we
Speaker 1: expect big things out of them. So coming into the year,
Speaker 1: we knew that there was gonna be some competition for
Speaker 1: that other corner spot. Um, and I think he saw
Speaker 1: his opportunity and he's taking full advantage of them when
Speaker 1: the pads go on as they work tomorrow. So what changes, uh,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, obviously the intensity goes up a
Speaker 1: little bit, and tomorrow we'll have some fans out there,
Speaker 1: so you know, guys won't want to get embarrassed and
Speaker 1: want to show out a little bit. But you know,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's still all about technique.
Speaker 1: It's not like we're gonna go live and be taking
Speaker 1: each other to the ground. It's um, you know, it's
Speaker 1: for for a defensive back. You don't want to put
Speaker 1: the pads on it and all of a sudden change something.
Speaker 1: It's still all about your technique. You're finished, you're competing, um,
Speaker 1: you know. But it's real football. You get to put
Speaker 1: the pads on for the first time since the season ended. Um,
Speaker 1: you know you want to feel that that um you know,
Speaker 1: those collisions and in some of those live reps. But
Speaker 1: it just makes it fun, just you know what football
Speaker 1: is back. Some of the new personal personal allows to
Speaker 1: play press word, whether Maxwell or the three rookie dvs
Speaker 1: as opposed to say Bradley or Carrie last season. H Well,
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna play press just as much. I
Speaker 1: think we're just gonna be better at it, and I
Speaker 1: think with the personnel we add it and um, you know,
Speaker 1: our technique that we're focusing on with our new coach,
Speaker 1: um has met. Yeah, that's all we saw we're working on,
Speaker 1: you know, because we had tight coverage last year, we
Speaker 1: were really good and uh completion percentage, but we're was
Speaker 1: obviously we gave up too many big plays and when
Speaker 1: you go back and look at the tape, it's really
Speaker 1: most of the time just bad technique. And so our
Speaker 1: press technique is what we're gonna emphasize because we're gonna
Speaker 1: play just as much press as we did last year.
Speaker 1: That's how saw this defense is. And that's why we
Speaker 1: brought in guys like Maxwell. That's why I know when
Speaker 1: Carols in there, because these guys can play press and
Speaker 1: we're very confident in their ability. No problem