Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn, wide receiver Puka Nacua, and outside linebacker Jared Verse address the media in Phase 3 Week 2 of Organized Team Activities (OTAs).
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, guys, good to see everybody. Been a while. Good,
I'm doing great. Thanks, all right. It's been great. Got
a great group to work with, love coming to work
every day, love the coaching staff. We're all connected, and
we got a bunch of players that love to work
hard and have fun. And and when you do that
(00:20):
and you love football every day is good.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
They're exactly what we what we asked for, you know.
So Puna Ford has been great. You know, he runs
the ball, he's got the easy power he gets off,
he plays a run, he's he's probably a better rusher
than we anticipated. Nathan Landman has been excellent with his
communication on the second level, and we had heard great
things about him from Atlanta. So we feel really good
about everybody that's coming.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It's especially what's the processes?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Definitely, yeah, and that was a part. And Hoyt became
one of our best eleven players we thought last year,
so some of that stuff creating that for him was to.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Get our best eleven on the field. And I think as.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
We go through, we're still obviously very early, just finished
Ota number four, so earlier in that process, not necessarily
to that point yet, but we're gonna find and give
them each guy a chance to be the best eleven
and if that's the case, we want to do stuff
to essentialize their skill sets and get him on the grass.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Kurt. How elevating games, it's not really elevate Kurt, you know,
And we were just talking about it this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
We don't want him to put any extra pressure on himself,
just like we talked about with Kobe Turner last year.
You don't got to replace Aaron Donald, you don't got
to do anything else.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Just be the best version of yourself.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
And that's all we're challenging him to do is understanding
his ops within the scheme of the defense, which we
started to do in the middle of the season last year,
and just be himself. And you know, we're not looking
for any stats, not looking for anything. We just wanted
to play hard and be his best self every single day.
No I I do, I do. I think I see
(02:11):
a more complete understanding of the defense. When you watch
his individual drills with with Joe, he does an excellent job.
He's playing fast all the time. You can tell he's
really taking the techniques that that Joe and Giffer really
teaching him and apply himent on the field, and I
think things have slowed down for him a little bit
and he's playing really fast right now. Yeah, he's put
(02:39):
himself in great position so far to have a really
good o T As you know, it was unfortunate last year.
We were, you know, really excited about him and he
got a hamsterring pretty early in training camp, just like
you're saying. And then you know, it's kind of hard
when you're in and out trying to try to kind
of get in the mix of things, and that's really
what happened with him last year. So this year, you know,
he's had a great offseason to put himself in position.
His body's feeling great, and he's looked really good these
(03:00):
last few days.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
How about and what did you see from each of
them so far?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
What would you like.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
To see see them?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Now? Fisk has been you know, he was rehabbing his knees,
so he's been here I think more than the coaches
in the offseason. So uh, but he's been awesome. He's
gotten out there on the grass taking a few reps
he's last few days and uh, he looks just like
himself and just like verse. We just want him to
be himself and continue to elevate, you know, the strengths
in his games and work on the weaknesses in his games.
And that's exactly what he's doing. And then Forbes has
(03:31):
done a great job as far you know, we were
really I'll be excited about him in the middle of
the year. And it kind of is similar to to
b Jack, where you know you're trying to incorporate him
in all the stuff, but it's really such an accelerated process.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's nice to see how smart he is, see him communicate,
and he's done a really nice chap.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
A chance really year with great granddad. I love just
wondering how much interactions did you have with him? Did
you were you able to take in his experience it
at all?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Oh, definitely. And and it's a lot of the stuff.
You know, you hear stories that almost every single day,
especially coaching in the NFL. It's one of my favorite
parts is you know, going playing a road game, someone
grabbing you and say, hey, I you know I coached
against your grandpa or I worked for your grandpa or
things like that, and and yeah, he was a grandfather
to me. Obviously, a ton of interaction, not necessarily while
he was coaching. When he was coaching the Dolphins retired,
(04:22):
I was living in Cincinnati still, so obviously not as much.
But then we moved to South Florida and he was
living in Miami and so you know, obviously got pretty
close with him, and you know, he's the best guy.
And my uncle, you know, and my dad always kind
of said about him, Hey, you know, you could set
your watch on where he was going to be on
a certain day. You knew exactly it was so disciplined.
You knew exactly what he was going to be doing
every single day. And I've tried to model myself.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
Coaching standpoint and all that. Like he get his advice.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, it's you know, the trust gets smart players and
let them go play. And that's always the thing is
give him a good game plan and.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Get out of the way.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And that's what we try to do. This is a
to tell us good seasons with it's saying on like
the first off.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Season program, Yeah, what do you feel like that?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
It's everything.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And he's always kind of been a leader, you know
in that room and a great communicator, especially at the
cornerback position. And you know, it's been huge some of
the little details, some of the little things that you know,
you might kind of miss when you add a mid
season like we did last year. So that's exactly what
we're doing right now. And you know, it's great to
have him around and you know, we love having him.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Would have been the early impressions for Terrence's first couple of.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Weeks, Uh, not too big for him. You know, he's
just he's got a good demeanor about himself.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Uh you could see that from the right ups of
our scouting staff and all that and what kind of
guy he was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
But then obviously the.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Speaks or the film speaks more for itself in terms
of what he did at Oregon. Uh, he's just got
a cool, calm, kind of swaggy demeanor about himself. Uh,
fitting in real well with these guys, and he just
continue to get better, like you kind of change.
Speaker 7 (06:10):
The reputation about as a black block or serl materials
like how seen him from the tape of the.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Organ and so soon.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, sure you could say that.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
You know, I mean we're out here and playing flag football, right,
I mean we're in street close with some helmets on.
So I'm not going to evaluate that one way or
the other, good or bad. You know, you just want
to see guys that are willing to get better in
their fundamentals and then when they are asked maybe once
a day to go attack a defense end without the
pads on.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Just to still go for it.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
And you know he's not shy with DeVante and you
know Mountea.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
It's just cool to watch two vets north of thirty.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
You know already kind of get a connection with each
other both you know off the field and you know
on the field. So those two have got a lot
of wisdom. They've played a lot of good foot ball,
a lot of meaningful football, a lot of productive football,
you know, so it's I think it's been fun for
both those guys. What's kind of I kind of have
a past history with him and you know, per se
(07:12):
of watching him from Afar and somewhat.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Knowing what was going on behind the scenes.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Always had a ton of respect for him as a
player and the way he went about things.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
He's a professional through and through.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
You know he's out here, he's working, no surprises, so
just excited he's here.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
You learn from your brother in law on him that
helps in this transition coming to a new team.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, throw them the football.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
So yeah, it's pretty pretty simple with the guys that
are are talented, you know, find ways.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
To get them to football.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
And I feel like we got a lot of those
guys right now. I feel like it's just got a
little bit more and more each year. So you know,
i'd say that.
Speaker 8 (07:53):
One thing to know his basketball background, because you said
you knew him from the bar and all the obvious whatever.
With being here, do you see his protict different than
what you see on tape or anything that he's doing here.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Yeah, I mean just to s you know any time again,
I I yes, I was never with 'em, but you know,
you played against him.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
You saw him in warm ups and stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
So you know, the guys that are just a little
bit different when the balls in the air and how
they can toort their body and and just go up
and get it like basketball players.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
You know.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
So again he's he's uh north of thirty, but the
way he's out there, it it doesn't look like it.
You know, he's got a lot of juice in the tank.
And uh, it's been fun to watch you this you
know came through. I had to keep it quiet, right,
so you knowed he knew he got a good football player.
You know, he was happy for DeVante. They had a
lot of good years there. Uh, a lot of wins,
(08:46):
a lot of good times and uh, you know, so
he he was happy.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
He's here.
Speaker 6 (08:51):
What are uh you from, Puka?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (08:54):
So far?
Speaker 9 (08:54):
You know, Tas and what what would you be your
bearers for again?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Going into Yeah, just to be what I've seen from
him is I think a guy that's just continuing to
work on his craft and get better. I've been really
impressed with where he was when when he came back
for Phase one. He's always going to put in the work,
but I just I think he was better in Phase
one this year than he was the year before, and
just like he was obviously and when we first drafted
(09:22):
him a couple of years ago. So you know, it's
just for him just getting into the best physical shape
that he possibly can so you can go have the
best possible year he can, you know. And that's all
these guys, you know, that's what we're doing right now,
building foundations, not just mental schematic, not just relationships, but
physically so that these guys can go into the summer
in the best shape possible, you know, continue that trend,
(09:42):
because that's a scary forty days for anybody, so that
when they come back in August, they're in tip top shape,
ready to attack it, build to it, and then get
to September.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Noted the difference with him now being one of the
most tender guys in the world.
Speaker 10 (09:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
I mean, he's always had a pretty cool demeanor by himself.
It's just now he knows exactly what he's doing right.
Last year, I don't see I would say too big
of a difference from last year. I think he's always
been a pretty confident guy. We all saw what he
did his rookie year. He's naturally just a leader just
by the way he goes about, you know, his process
and himself. And you guys see the effects a smile
(10:16):
that this guy always has, you know. So now he's
in he's in a good spot and uh, you know,
we're lucky to have.
Speaker 6 (10:21):
Him at this point. How do you see that His growth.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
A ton of growth, particularly from two years ago.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
A lot of credit to him, you know, working on
what he needed to work on to get himself to
this situation, but a ton of credit that Dave are
going to and I'll say even Jimmy and Matthew, I
think they've done a great job of just you.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Know, kind of putting arm around him, mentoring him.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
You know what, what awesome two quarterbacks to learn from
that have won a crap ton of games in this league.
So really, proud would be the wrong word, but for
lack of a better term, proud of where he's at
and he's just continuing to go.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
Is he ready, in your opinion, to do.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
What he needs to play? Just football? Right?
Speaker 5 (11:02):
You know? So we're out here again, we're out playing
flag football and in shorts right now. But I know this,
he's going about his process in a professional way each
and every day to give himself the best chance when
he inevitably gets his ops in August. Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
You know, in the preseason, I have twice, what are you.
Speaker 6 (11:20):
Most looking forward to? Because it doesn't seem like there's
gonna be a ton of football?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
You want to talk off the record or no? I Uh?
We went. We went.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
In twenty nineteen, two and eighteen. Going into that nineteen
we went twice to Mali actually and had had a
great time. Was with my wife one time, and then
the whole family brothers and her brother and nephews and
stuff like that. So good time, great food there, obviously
awesome weather. Haven't been back since, so it'll be uh,
it'll just be fun to just be with the guys,
(11:55):
be with uh, you know, other families, be with all
the kids and all the kids running around and stuff
at the WHO Hotel. I don't really know what the
schedule looks like.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I'm not really concerned.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
It's just I'll just kind of get in order and
go from there.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
You're better, say that you're better.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
Yeah, I just think he's just fine tune some things,
you know. I think if we watched his routes on
air from a year ago, I think he's cutting a
little bit better than he was a year ago. I
think he's breaking down a little bit better. I think
he's even he's always been. He's always had incredible hands.
That's an elite skill set of his, on top of
toughness and you know, his physicality. But uh, I think
he's even more confident. You know, A joke with that
(12:34):
he like swallows the football, you know, and that's it's
he's looking for the next move before he even catches it.
And a lot of people like see it through. It's
like not when you have that those kind of skill set.
That's that's why he's unique. And I'm not right, So
that's you know, I guess a couple of examples.
Speaker 8 (12:50):
You want to see if he gets.
Speaker 10 (12:53):
Resigned, and.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yeah, just go out and be the best too too.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
You can be you know, he we all know what
his superpower is, you know, because he can run, and
that's a trait that you know, especially at his level
and his elite level of speed, it scares defenses. The
scares defenders, So just go out there, you know, use
that elite trade. And what we do know about him
is he's not obviously weight the biggest guy, right he
(13:18):
might be one hundred and fifty five soaken wet, but
he is rangey, he's long, he's not a hard target
to hit because he is loose in the upper body.
You can throw it around and he doesn't feel like
a small guy. So it's when he's gotten his opportunities,
he's made the most of it, and you know, you
would think the way it is on paper right now,
he's going to get, you know, the most opportunities he's
(13:39):
had and we'll see how it on oil unfolds.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
But he's had a really good offseason and you.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Just love to too, so happy he's back with us.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Thanks guys, the biggest group of the year.
Speaker 10 (13:52):
Love that I did.
Speaker 6 (13:55):
Sure. So what makes your special team special this year?
How fast?
Speaker 10 (14:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (14:01):
I think having the continuity of the three specialists together obviously,
that's a big thing. Keeping the operation consistent and getting
more in tune with one another.
Speaker 10 (14:09):
That always helps out.
Speaker 11 (14:10):
And then I honestly, I think as a whole group,
the depth that we have the young guys that are
coming in as well as the guys that were here
last year, and adding competition for different positions always helps out.
I think it competition breeds success, So it's a good
thing for us.
Speaker 6 (14:26):
What what a new decisions?
Speaker 11 (14:29):
Yeah, I mean I think anytime again, just bring in competition.
It's gonna help help bring.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Just clarity to the.
Speaker 11 (14:39):
Situation, a little bit of like, hey, what do I
need to do? What can I improve?
Speaker 10 (14:42):
How how do I need to win this job?
Speaker 11 (14:44):
And when you see another guy competing, you're naturally gonna rise.
Speaker 10 (14:48):
The stars rise to the top.
Speaker 6 (14:50):
So that's what I look at.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Is there a specific thing you do need to improve
that is an absolute priority?
Speaker 6 (14:57):
From last season.
Speaker 10 (14:57):
Yeah, I think a couple of things. Obviously can't give
up block kick.
Speaker 11 (15:01):
I think that's first and foremost, and our protection, punt protection,
field goal protection, having no block kicks to be a
ground zero to start.
Speaker 10 (15:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (15:20):
Yeah, we've continued with that with some other types of
kicks and different things that we can do and utilize
some of his leg strength in different areas of the
field and try to be more not showing and giving
away our punt direction, but being able to utilize some
things that'll allow us to kind of disguise and flip
a field in a different way. I think again, the
(15:46):
continuity of it, I think it's he's done a great job.
He's come out, he looks great coming starting away, hit
the ground running right where he left off. Obviously, the
way he finished last year was was tremendous of him
to respond from the adversity early in the year, and
that's what we expected from when we got them. And
I just think with the continuity of the group it
always helps, Like just being able to go into the
(16:06):
film room and talk more openly about.
Speaker 10 (16:09):
Hey, this is real, I really want this is you know.
Speaker 11 (16:12):
Last year is kind of feeling it out and adjusting
and making the adjustments and making kicks, and now it's like, hey,
how do we put how do we become better? What
are what all three of us? How do we you know,
the three of them plus us as coaches? Like, how
do we become better and improve? And I think that's
been a great position to start with, having some clarity
and open connectivity of the group being together for a year.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Is consistency the one thing know that they're looking for
more than anything with Josh or is there anything else
specific that he needs to warn out?
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 10 (16:43):
I mean I think consistency obviously is always.
Speaker 11 (16:45):
That's for every kicker, right, if you're if you're top consistency,
you're gonna be an all pro. Like, there's the reason
that year to year these guys are up and down
and every situation is different. Every kick has built different
environment situation when whether.
Speaker 10 (16:59):
All those things play.
Speaker 11 (17:00):
Into fact two, Right, you didn't have a year where
you have thirty field goals and go twenty eight for
thirty but they're all inside of thirty yards, Like.
Speaker 10 (17:07):
It all looks differently. And the way he finished and
the best.
Speaker 11 (17:10):
Thing again LinkedIn him out as the season went and
hitting a lot of fifty yard field goals and going
six for seven down the stretch from fifty plus was
a huge step in the right direction and a lot
of confidence built for him and equity for the team
to see what he can do.
Speaker 10 (17:24):
So I think those combinations are powerful.
Speaker 11 (17:26):
And then you look at the kickoff and the touch
back at the thirty five yard line as opposed to
thirty and really making that as a weapon, how do
we do that as a kickoff unit?
Speaker 10 (17:36):
A kickoff return is going to be.
Speaker 11 (17:37):
More plays of high quality football that are going to
be need to be had in that phase than we've
had in the past. And I think being able to
get the ball in different areas where you want with
the hangtime and different types of kicks and everything else
is going to be paramount because we can't go as
a kickoff coverage unit till the ball is either caught
or hits the ground in that landing zone.
Speaker 10 (17:57):
And so really, when we got a how do you
take advantage of it? You get the ball on the
ground and.
Speaker 11 (18:02):
Let the clock start, let the coverage team start to
go down the field and gain a step or two
on the on the return group. And so being able
to do that at a high level will be paramount
for our success for sure.
Speaker 9 (18:13):
Just at the first year of the new kick up,
different playoff mostly how.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
You expected or were there any surprises you saw on what.
Speaker 11 (18:23):
There was probably less of the on the ground ball
than I expected. And when people did kick it on
the ground, they were successful. When we did it on
the ground, we were successful. And but there was a
there's a risk reward inherently with that about being able
to control that ball and being short of kicking out
of bounds, And so you got a weigh those based
(18:45):
upon game situations and different things and where our offensive defense,
how we're playing, what's the score of the game, whether
obviously we play indoors, but those outdoor games, playing in
Philly in the snow, you're not really gonna try to
take some of those risks in those situations where I.
Speaker 10 (19:00):
Think there wasn't probably quite as many explosives.
Speaker 11 (19:03):
But if you look as the season as it progressed,
I feel like just going back and going through it
over and over again. As earlier in the year, teams
were trying to figure out both sides of it, and
it was kind of more vanilla schemes. Then you started
getting some of the power and pool schemes and inside
zones and some more offensive style plays and kick return
groups started picking.
Speaker 10 (19:22):
Up and having a little more success. And I think
we hit our stride.
Speaker 11 (19:24):
As the back half of the year progressed and having
Jay went back there and Xavier and Blake korm and
the number of guys we use back there for different
skill sets and different return styles.
Speaker 10 (19:37):
We can use that stuff to our advantage.
Speaker 11 (19:38):
And I think more teams found that out as the
season progressed.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
It's a fairly small fraternity among the coaches.
Speaker 8 (19:44):
Are you expecting any significant changes to the rule of
this offseason or you were planning for more of the same.
Speaker 11 (19:51):
Yeah, I mean I think the touchback line to the
thirty five would be about it. And I heard something,
you know again, I don't know what else, what's pasted
or what's speculation. I read, you know some different articles
about you know, having a third off the ball player
on the kickoff return unit in between the hashes, all
those type of things, which I think is past. We're
operating under that assumption that it's going to and so
(20:14):
coming up some different unique schemes. Again, that second level
of the up back off the ball player gives you
some more versatility for what you would call poolers or
trappers or different things like that to put more in
the offensive scheme.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
How limited are you though, as far as adjusting to
this and continuing to grow, I mean, is there's this
sort of a limit.
Speaker 11 (20:33):
There that Yeah, I mean, I think it's a great question. Honestly,
I don't think there's a limit. I think you can
kind of move and maneuver different ways, so you can
go man blocking double team schemes. You can overload a
front as long as you have three on the back side,
and then it just depends about how you react of
how where they place the kick, and you know, if
they're getting the ball on the ground, you got to
(20:53):
have returners that can get to it, play like a
short stop, scoop it up and keep it on the move,
prevent a touchback minors to the twenty yard line.
Speaker 10 (20:59):
That's key and critical element.
Speaker 11 (21:02):
And then you know being able to you know, if
you overload a side and try to run a double
double scheme to the sideline and think you're getting a
boundary kick and you get it or do you want
to run it.
Speaker 10 (21:10):
To the field.
Speaker 11 (21:10):
There was some sex success where they ran it all
the way back across the field and got it started
and not created big plays, but a lot of times
they end up going to what do you call straight
call or whatever, and you basically take it up the
near boundary and just kind of convert over with your blocks.
Speaker 10 (21:24):
And so there's there's a lot of ways you can
go with it.
Speaker 11 (21:28):
And so it's pretty cool to see and talk to
the offensive coaches about different things and Sean and what
possibilities we have. And obviously we didn't even see like
the throwbacks and the reverses and all that. I mean
we saw reverse a fake reverse, but like some of
the stuff that was in the XFL with the end
around and the throwbacks and the hideout guy, and we
didn't see that stuff really come to fruition this year.
(21:49):
Not that people didn't have it in maybe they just
didn't feel in that situation to call it. But I
think they'll continue to be an evolution of that as well.
Speaker 8 (21:57):
When you were talking about Carter's success fifty down to scratch,
how much was that him slowing down that approach versus
the continuity.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Of I think it's both.
Speaker 11 (22:09):
I think it's just a comfortability with the group first
and foremost about trusting that they're gonna execute their two thirds,
that you can execute.
Speaker 10 (22:16):
Your one third.
Speaker 11 (22:16):
And then really when you look at the success that
he had, continue to build confidence and then enough for
us to put him out there in those situations and
instead of going for a fourth and five maybe at
the you know, on a fifty eight yard field goal,
we say hey, we'll kick it instead of going for
it and different, you know, obviously again the game situation
is coming to play tighter ball games, you're you know,
(22:37):
more inclined to try to get points and different things
like that, and how your defense is playing.
Speaker 10 (22:41):
And trust that they're gonna hold them if we do miss.
Speaker 11 (22:43):
And but again, just going out there doing it, executing
it day and day out in practice leads to confidence
in himself and confidence from us as an organization to
put him out there in those situations.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
I wanted to ask you about the confidence thing we
had him last year as the mez kicker coming out
of you decided to get him here.
Speaker 10 (23:01):
Yeah, I'm a confidence Now.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
Do you notice something different than you know, he was
a rookie, so yeah, getting nobody had confidence.
Speaker 11 (23:10):
Yeah, I think that when you just talked about the
commidentt he's more he's more confident to speak up or
to see what he's feeling or to say it out loud,
And like our asked questions that maybe last year he
kind of just kind of was like, Okay, yeah, I'll adapt,
Like hey, if if the laces were a quarter off
or if there was something like, I'll adapt. But how
do we Now it's like how do we make it better?
(23:30):
And that was always that was always the goal. But
like he's more open to to speak and I think
he just from that group being together and you know,
them to go hang out and have dinners and different
stuff like that, and being around each other more.
Speaker 10 (23:43):
You just grow closer.
Speaker 11 (23:45):
And you can't help but want the best for the
person beside you. And I think when you first come in,
you're kind of like that they you know, Ethan and
Alex came in together and so they already had that
little bit of a bond and then you're kind of
like the new new one coming in and how to
develop that quick And I think he did a great
job of of doing that, And it's just carrying forward
to right now.
Speaker 7 (24:04):
It's for my playing and how much do you use
the backs also try to help the pair for those days.
Speaker 10 (24:10):
Yeah, I mean we've have a few different things going
with analytics.
Speaker 11 (24:13):
Uh you know, different hangtimes, different ball locations, different style
of returns.
Speaker 10 (24:19):
We've yeah, run a lot a lot of different things there.
Speaker 11 (24:23):
I'll say it's a good starting point is the way
I look at it, and then you got to look
at the tape and see what it was, cause sometimes
something can happen. For example, the uh Dallas Cowboys, Uh
Turpin you know, drops the ball, rolls around, he's gonna
get tackled the twelve, he makes three guys miss, spins
out and goes for a touchdown. Like that's not a
(24:45):
scheme I want to put in just so we're all
clearly it's but you if you have a player that
could come up and make something like that happen, like, hey,
what is what was real and what wasn't And so
that's kind of where it's a good starting point. Great
question that we use, and then we'll we had wash
the tape and evaluate from there.
Speaker 10 (25:02):
Awesome, Thank you guys.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Thank oh all right, life is good. It's a little
warm over here, trying to get used to it.
Speaker 10 (25:16):
Tell us how things.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Are going with the group now that you guys are
back together.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
It's been good.
Speaker 7 (25:21):
We got the rookies in, so it's been nice to
have a little bit more bodies while we're running around
and uh, I think everybody's trying to hit the ground running.
I I know too too is always feeling fast, So
it's always good.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
To see him out there.
Speaker 7 (25:30):
But then especially uh when we get days to work
with Jimmy and all the other quarterbacks, I'm making sure
everybody's on the same page and the the quarterbacks are
seeing something consistent from our room.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
How different is it been there we have?
Speaker 7 (25:42):
It definitely is a little bit different. There's uh the
uh the the spot that he used to sit in.
I think it's it's definitely occupied by somebody now, so
everybody's getting used to it.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
But uh, it's been fun.
Speaker 8 (25:50):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Davante's coming and been a great leader, obviously, somebody who's
played at a super high level his whole career, and uh,
the knowledge he has is is something different from what
we're used to having somebody like Coop in the system
for a long time.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
So it's been great.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
To have him around and I feel like I were
learning something new every day.
Speaker 6 (26:05):
So what's the story behind uh giving up your number.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
It.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
It was uh something that w at the NFL. They
make you file.
Speaker 7 (26:13):
File out some paperwork uh before uh switching over your
jersey number. And it was gonna cost me a a
pretty hefty amount my rookie year, and uh uh I
didn't have that money, so I said, I'll wait the
whole year to it. Just kind of how the timing
worked out on when the they stopped making the jerseys
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
So seventeen was free for Davante when he came over.
Speaker 6 (26:33):
To her. Uh to the.
Speaker 11 (26:40):
Year speed on respector can injured you in your young
career in the positive impact Dante DeVante?
Speaker 7 (26:50):
And I think the the positive impact has already been
felt from DeVante from the the moment he walked in.
He has has been willing to offer information to to
c have new drill to a complete different mindset of
somebody who's played in various offenses, very different schemes and
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So it's been exciting to hear from him. But then
it's been great.
Speaker 7 (27:09):
I think of guys my rookie year of Van Jefferson,
Bens Karonic as long as as well as having Coop
and Matthew who helped me learn the nuances of our
offense and allowed me to ask the right questions and
provide that that comfortable space to be willing to learn right.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Next to them. I think comfortful, No, I don't think so.
Speaker 7 (27:29):
I think when speaking with coach it's it's to be
to be who I am. I think I love the
physicality the game of football, and I love being around
these guys. They make it so fun and to learn
to have new faces and it's weird to they're asking
me questions and I'm like, wait, Coach Robs, you want
me to answer this for real?
Speaker 2 (27:43):
And like I feel like I have still have some
of these similar questions.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
But it's been good because it's it's a teaching moment
for me as well to to kind of solidify some
of those things that we talk over and things that
we've run in years past to where we are now
are not exactly the same. So it's been a great
moment for me to learn.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
And confirm some of these stuff as well.
Speaker 10 (27:58):
We got your advice that.
Speaker 7 (28:04):
H I think some s things, the the suddenness and
the the ability to steal leverage at the line of
scrimmage has been something that he thrives at and everybody
in the in the NFL and knows that that's something
that is one of his greatest assets and to be
able to figure that out and how that works in
our route concepts and the timing of our offense. So
I'd say that's been one of the biggest things.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
Today Mike was telling us you thought you were running
even more to Christmas routes, you were eve elevated. Can
you kind of speak to what your mindset was once
the season ended to.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
When you show up in your feat.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
I think lateral quickness has been something that's been huge
for me. I mean at the line of scrimmage or
I f I feel like I love the physicality, but
there also is well, especially when watching Davante, there is
a an art form of excuse me being elusive about
the line of scrimmage with with with less contact and
being a little bit more efficient instead of having to
run through guys and just rely on the strength.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
And I feel like I have with the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
So I think that's been something and it's given me
confidence to put my foot in the ground while running
some of these different routes and uh, breaking away from
defenders and just the confidence and being able to with
my foot in the ground.
Speaker 8 (29:04):
Being having someone who said, what's it mean for you
to go to Hawaii and you're going to be like
the Beatles.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
I'm excited.
Speaker 7 (29:11):
I can't wait for everybody to go out there, have
some some shaved ice. I'm sure they'll be they'll be
waiting for us some spam musubes and it'll be good.
I can't wait. I know the McDonald's over there, they
serve Portuguese sausage. I don't know for as a national
let us go, but it'll be good for everybody to
get to try some food. I might have to go
on a fast effort because we're gonna have so much.
We'll have rice with breakfast, lunch, and dinner something like.
It might not be a great recipe.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah, So I got to go.
Speaker 7 (29:38):
Me and my mom we got to go back and
we went to go visit my grandma's village. And we
had went with the hospital group from the Utah Valley University,
a group of graduated nurses, and they went to go
do testing at two elementary schools in a high school.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
They had to open clinic over there.
Speaker 7 (29:52):
In a po Samoa and it was a It was
a truly great experience to be able to experience that
with my mom, my first time out of the country,
to go back to my great AMA's village. My grandma
came from western Sawmoa to California and that's where my
parents were met, and so just to have the kind
of full circle moment and to be able to experience
my father passed away from diabetes, so it was something
that is very common in the Polynesian culture, and so
(30:14):
to be able to go improve that situation in the
homeland was something sweet.
Speaker 11 (30:19):
To clarify, you were already changing your number before Devonte
got here.
Speaker 7 (30:24):
Demonte asked, no, yeah, I had already planned to make
the switch over to number twelve.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
It was just it was perfect time.
Speaker 10 (30:34):
Pretty much willingness to share information, hum.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
And help the Crows and players.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
I think it's been open for our our entire our
offense and some of the route conversions of the things
that he's put on tape and given confidence to our
coaches to maybe see how it can fit our skill
group and stuff like that. So it's been exciting to
see I think some of the vertical threat that we
are going to be able to provide with him and
the routes that he's run and put on tape and
boring all those options for every other receiver as well.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Cooky, You've been to like a lot of games since
he came to an end. You have to meet like.
Speaker 10 (31:07):
Lebron and Blue play thing.
Speaker 8 (31:09):
What's been sort of the highlight for you in terms
of going to all these things?
Speaker 10 (31:13):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (31:14):
I know, meeting Lebron was definitely pretty high on my
lists as a kid, but that the just the time
I got to spend with my mom and going back
to visit my grandma's village, I think was something very
special for me and for my family. I can't wait
for the for next year to come around and to
get that trip planned a little bit earlier so I'm
not missing any football, but to take my family on
for everybody to experience that.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Did Lebron give you any did you talk to Did
you have a chance to talk to Lebron about things.
Speaker 7 (31:38):
I wish I probably I probably would have capped his
year where he probably would have got out of there
too quick, but he said keep doing your things, So
that was that was honestly all I needed. I'm excited.
I think the Thunder they played great team basketball, it's fine.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I mean, even though they have the MVP of the league,
it's it's great when you see it.
Speaker 7 (31:59):
There's seven guys in the team going on for fifteen
twenty points and they all play their role and they
play it fullheartedly. And it's something that I feel like
that that fits my kind of play style.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Thank you guys.
Speaker 11 (32:09):
Thanks Jared, you heard your little quieter at practice this
years that.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I don't know what, Pat, how does it feel?
Speaker 7 (32:21):
You know, second year, you know, got a full off
season instead of draft, rap for school and all those things.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Just how do you feel?
Speaker 9 (32:28):
And during this season, I feel more prepared than I've
ever been because you know, you get the whole off season,
you get time to work on this. That the third
you know, I had one of my one of the
alumni at Floyd's State got to reach out to me.
You know, he played in the NFL for a long time,
and he told me the number one thing I should
do was watch all my past film unsolicited, unlike you know,
trying to be high on myself and only watching good players,
watch more of the bad plays than the good, and
realized why I could work on I did that and
(32:49):
I feel more prepared than I've ever been.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
Well, we're here.
Speaker 9 (32:51):
Takeaways from that, it was probably the biggest thing I
realized was how many secks and like not even just
sex with big players I missed out on, you know,
dropping in coverage. I could have done this, or you know,
rushing the pass. I could have done that. Even in
the run game a couple of times, there's a couple
of things where I'm a little too far inside, I'm
a little too far outside and I could have made
a big impact play. So realizing that this really is
a game of inches, whether it's just like you know,
stopping the ball or actually just doing your job, there's
(33:12):
a couple of things I could have done better.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
For sure, was.
Speaker 8 (33:14):
Telling yes and that you was reiterating just for you,
just for you. But is there a lack of a
better word, when you have the year you had last year,
pressure to exceed that.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
No, it's just me.
Speaker 9 (33:26):
I don't really feel too much pressure if I'm who
I am and I think the strides needed to take.
You know, I'm gonna be the best version of me
and I'm gonna you know, be able to help the
team in any faster the way that they need.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
So what do you.
Speaker 9 (33:38):
Think are in top Yeah, you know, I think there's
everything that we can do better. We can be better
than the run, we can be better in the past.
We can be better, you know, eating plays. We can
be better getting out the stack and getting after the ball.
But I mean, I feel like that's just me kind
of be a perfectionist. You can ask me anything. I'm
think we can always be better. I can get a
sack and get there, back there in a second, and
I'll be like a false step or I I didn't
(34:00):
go quick enough. Like yeah, I'm always gonna think we
can be better than if you ask it.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
You do you feel like you and Brandon obviously you
know you did it against each other for a long time.
Speaker 10 (34:10):
Do you feel like last season you guys achieve and.
Speaker 9 (34:13):
What you would have liked to do collectively?
Speaker 6 (34:15):
You know, as a parent, you.
Speaker 9 (34:16):
Know, I think we did good, but I think we
became more so focused on helping the team to trying
to do our own little thing and have a good
little duo going on. But I think we kind of
have learned the op opportunities that we have to work
together and be like, well look at you other. He'll
be like, oh, to shake his head. Yes, I'm like, alright,
I know what this is. Well, he'll look at me
and I'll be like, so now we finally, you know,
took another step with having another year together to figure
out and this is how I worked this out?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
He worked or what?
Speaker 9 (34:36):
But I feel like this year is gonna be a
good one for us to play together.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
Do you already have along those same ones?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
What's it?
Speaker 11 (34:40):
What is it like as you guys have passed for
us for recording.
Speaker 8 (34:43):
And about how to rush off one another or what
you're ops.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
For and how is that kind of impass the way
you guys are going.
Speaker 7 (34:49):
About the US.
Speaker 9 (34:51):
Oh yeah, nah, definitely. You gotta learn your ops before anything.
You gotta learn it. I can take a high rush
here and now it's just my job to you know,
eat the double team or the chips coming my way.
I gotta just you know, force that you know, trying
to get back past that. So you gotta learn your opportunities,
that's the number one thing. But then you also gotta
learn who you're rushing with. Like rushing with Kobe and
rushing with Fists. They're both very athletic Russians, but they
rushed very different rush with me and Russia with b
Whi's two completely different things. So they have to learn
(35:12):
the difference between us two. Now I have to learn
the difference between them two. Now I got learn the
difference between rushing with tie versus rushing with Fist, And
now they gott learn the difference between russaing with Joe
Siah and rushing with me.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
Do you think the leader in year two?
Speaker 7 (35:25):
Is that something that's you be breaking?
Speaker 10 (35:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (35:28):
No, I think it's definitely something that you know, I
just naturally have taken on, you know, after the year
I had. That's not really kind of the big concern
to me. But it's also like now I have a
better understanding of the team and what my position inside
of it is. Yeah, it was I actually went for
the first time, uh this past you know during the
off season.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Yeah, I love Mali.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
I love So you're leading out there saying it's how
you hit a bag?
Speaker 3 (35:49):
You leading Maori, say we're doing this or that.
Speaker 9 (35:52):
Yeah, I've been doing any whatever it's gotta be done,
I mean, or any of that. Now, you ain't gonna
see me in the water to me on the WAE,
I ain't gonna lie to you.
Speaker 10 (36:03):
No, I don't know what. I don't know what. I'm good.
Speaker 9 (36:06):
I ain't about to be colving out.
Speaker 6 (36:09):
That in the first season that you can't never would
have expected this. Wow, that was different.
Speaker 10 (36:16):
Nah.
Speaker 9 (36:16):
I mean the number one thing you hear is how
much faster the game is at this level versus college,
and you always everybody's always like, oh, it's.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Not Manah, the hell it is.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Man, You're thrown in that fire.
Speaker 10 (36:25):
Now it's a lot faster.
Speaker 9 (36:27):
So yeah, it was surprising, but you know, once I
got the hang of it, became just like college became
just like high school, be slowed down a lot more
Okay, guys, good to see everybody. Been a while. Good,
I'm doing great. Thanks, all right. It's been great. Got
a great group to work with, love coming to work
every day, love the coaching staff. We're all connected, and
we got a bunch of players that love to work
hard and have fun. And and when you do that
(00:20):
and you love football every day is good.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
They're exactly what we what we asked for, you know.
So Puna Ford has been great. You know, he runs
the ball, he's got the easy power he gets off,
he plays a run, he's he's probably a better rusher
than we anticipated. Nathan Landman has been excellent with his
communication on the second level, and we had heard great
things about him from Atlanta. So we feel really good
about everybody that's coming.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It's especially what's the processes?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Definitely, yeah, and that was a part. And Hoyt became
one of our best eleven players we thought last year,
so some of that stuff creating that for him was to.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Get our best eleven on the field. And I think as.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
We go through, we're still obviously very early, just finished
Ota number four, so earlier in that process, not necessarily
to that point yet, but we're gonna find and give
them each guy a chance to be the best eleven
and if that's the case, we want to do stuff
to essentialize their skill sets and get him on the grass.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Kurt. How elevating games, it's not really elevate Kurt, you know,
And we were just talking about it this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
We don't want him to put any extra pressure on himself,
just like we talked about with Kobe Turner last year.
You don't got to replace Aaron Donald, you don't got
to do anything else.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Just be the best version of yourself.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
And that's all we're challenging him to do is understanding
his ops within the scheme of the defense, which we
started to do in the middle of the season last year,
and just be himself. And you know, we're not looking
for any stats, not looking for anything. We just wanted
to play hard and be his best self every single day.
No I I do, I do. I think I see
(02:11):
a more complete understanding of the defense. When you watch
his individual drills with with Joe, he does an excellent job.
He's playing fast all the time. You can tell he's
really taking the techniques that that Joe and Giffer really
teaching him and apply himent on the field, and I
think things have slowed down for him a little bit
and he's playing really fast right now. Yeah, he's put
(02:39):
himself in great position so far to have a really
good o T As you know, it was unfortunate last year.
We were, you know, really excited about him and he
got a hamsterring pretty early in training camp, just like
you're saying. And then you know, it's kind of hard
when you're in and out trying to try to kind
of get in the mix of things, and that's really
what happened with him last year. So this year, you know,
he's had a great offseason to put himself in position.
His body's feeling great, and he's looked really good these
(03:00):
last few days.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
How about and what did you see from each of
them so far?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
What would you like.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
To see see them?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Now? Fisk has been you know, he was rehabbing his knees,
so he's been here I think more than the coaches
in the offseason. So uh, but he's been awesome. He's
gotten out there on the grass taking a few reps
he's last few days and uh, he looks just like
himself and just like verse. We just want him to
be himself and continue to elevate, you know, the strengths
in his games and work on the weaknesses in his games.
And that's exactly what he's doing. And then Forbes has
(03:31):
done a great job as far you know, we were
really I'll be excited about him in the middle of
the year. And it kind of is similar to to
b Jack, where you know you're trying to incorporate him
in all the stuff, but it's really such an accelerated process.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's nice to see how smart he is, see him communicate,
and he's done a really nice chap.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
A chance really year with great granddad. I love just
wondering how much interactions did you have with him? Did
you were you able to take in his experience it
at all?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Oh, definitely. And and it's a lot of the stuff.
You know, you hear stories that almost every single day,
especially coaching in the NFL. It's one of my favorite
parts is you know, going playing a road game, someone
grabbing you and say, hey, I you know I coached
against your grandpa or I worked for your grandpa or
things like that, and and yeah, he was a grandfather
to me. Obviously, a ton of interaction, not necessarily while
he was coaching. When he was coaching the Dolphins retired,
(04:22):
I was living in Cincinnati still, so obviously not as much.
But then we moved to South Florida and he was
living in Miami and so you know, obviously got pretty
close with him, and you know, he's the best guy.
And my uncle, you know, and my dad always kind
of said about him, Hey, you know, you could set
your watch on where he was going to be on
a certain day. You knew exactly it was so disciplined.
You knew exactly what he was going to be doing
every single day. And I've tried to model myself.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
Coaching standpoint and all that. Like he get his advice.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, it's you know, the trust gets smart players and
let them go play. And that's always the thing is
give him a good game plan and.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Get out of the way.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And that's what we try to do. This is a
to tell us good seasons with it's saying on like
the first off.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Season program, Yeah, what do you feel like that?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
It's everything.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And he's always kind of been a leader, you know
in that room and a great communicator, especially at the
cornerback position. And you know, it's been huge some of
the little details, some of the little things that you know,
you might kind of miss when you add a mid
season like we did last year. So that's exactly what
we're doing right now. And you know, it's great to
have him around and you know, we love having him.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Would have been the early impressions for Terrence's first couple of.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Weeks, Uh, not too big for him. You know, he's
just he's got a good demeanor about himself.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Uh you could see that from the right ups of
our scouting staff and all that and what kind of
guy he was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
But then obviously the.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Speaks or the film speaks more for itself in terms
of what he did at Oregon. Uh, he's just got
a cool, calm, kind of swaggy demeanor about himself. Uh,
fitting in real well with these guys, and he just
continue to get better, like you kind of change.
Speaker 7 (06:10):
The reputation about as a black block or serl materials
like how seen him from the tape of the.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Organ and so soon.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, sure you could say that.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
You know, I mean we're out here and playing flag football, right,
I mean we're in street close with some helmets on.
So I'm not going to evaluate that one way or
the other, good or bad. You know, you just want
to see guys that are willing to get better in
their fundamentals and then when they are asked maybe once
a day to go attack a defense end without the
pads on.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Just to still go for it.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
And you know he's not shy with DeVante and you
know Mountea.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
It's just cool to watch two vets north of thirty.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
You know already kind of get a connection with each
other both you know off the field and you know
on the field. So those two have got a lot
of wisdom. They've played a lot of good foot ball,
a lot of meaningful football, a lot of productive football,
you know, so it's I think it's been fun for
both those guys. What's kind of I kind of have
a past history with him and you know, per se
(07:12):
of watching him from Afar and somewhat.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Knowing what was going on behind the scenes.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Always had a ton of respect for him as a
player and the way he went about things.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
He's a professional through and through.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
You know he's out here, he's working, no surprises, so
just excited he's here.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
You learn from your brother in law on him that
helps in this transition coming to a new team.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, throw them the football.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
So yeah, it's pretty pretty simple with the guys that
are are talented, you know, find ways.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
To get them to football.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
And I feel like we got a lot of those
guys right now. I feel like it's just got a
little bit more and more each year. So you know,
i'd say that.
Speaker 8 (07:53):
One thing to know his basketball background, because you said
you knew him from the bar and all the obvious whatever.
With being here, do you see his protict different than
what you see on tape or anything that he's doing here.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Yeah, I mean just to s you know any time again,
I I yes, I was never with 'em, but you know,
you played against him.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
You saw him in warm ups and stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
So you know, the guys that are just a little
bit different when the balls in the air and how
they can toort their body and and just go up
and get it like basketball players.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
You know.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
So again he's he's uh north of thirty, but the
way he's out there, it it doesn't look like it.
You know, he's got a lot of juice in the tank.
And uh, it's been fun to watch you this you
know came through. I had to keep it quiet, right,
so you knowed he knew he got a good football player.
You know, he was happy for DeVante. They had a
lot of good years there. Uh, a lot of wins,
(08:46):
a lot of good times and uh, you know, so
he he was happy.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
He's here.
Speaker 6 (08:51):
What are uh you from, Puka?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (08:54):
So far?
Speaker 9 (08:54):
You know, Tas and what what would you be your
bearers for again?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Going into Yeah, just to be what I've seen from
him is I think a guy that's just continuing to
work on his craft and get better. I've been really
impressed with where he was when when he came back
for Phase one. He's always going to put in the work,
but I just I think he was better in Phase
one this year than he was the year before, and
just like he was obviously and when we first drafted
(09:22):
him a couple of years ago. So you know, it's
just for him just getting into the best physical shape
that he possibly can so you can go have the
best possible year he can, you know. And that's all
these guys, you know, that's what we're doing right now,
building foundations, not just mental schematic, not just relationships, but
physically so that these guys can go into the summer
in the best shape possible, you know, continue that trend,
(09:42):
because that's a scary forty days for anybody, so that
when they come back in August, they're in tip top shape,
ready to attack it, build to it, and then get
to September.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Noted the difference with him now being one of the
most tender guys in the world.
Speaker 10 (09:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
I mean, he's always had a pretty cool demeanor by himself.
It's just now he knows exactly what he's doing right.
Last year, I don't see I would say too big
of a difference from last year. I think he's always
been a pretty confident guy. We all saw what he
did his rookie year. He's naturally just a leader just
by the way he goes about, you know, his process
and himself. And you guys see the effects a smile
(10:16):
that this guy always has, you know. So now he's
in he's in a good spot and uh, you know,
we're lucky to have.
Speaker 6 (10:21):
Him at this point. How do you see that His growth.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
A ton of growth, particularly from two years ago.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
A lot of credit to him, you know, working on
what he needed to work on to get himself to
this situation, but a ton of credit that Dave are
going to and I'll say even Jimmy and Matthew, I
think they've done a great job of just you.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Know, kind of putting arm around him, mentoring him.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
You know what, what awesome two quarterbacks to learn from
that have won a crap ton of games in this league.
So really, proud would be the wrong word, but for
lack of a better term, proud of where he's at
and he's just continuing to go.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
Is he ready, in your opinion, to do.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
What he needs to play? Just football? Right?
Speaker 5 (11:02):
You know? So we're out here again, we're out playing
flag football and in shorts right now. But I know this,
he's going about his process in a professional way each
and every day to give himself the best chance when
he inevitably gets his ops in August. Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
You know, in the preseason, I have twice, what are you.
Speaker 6 (11:20):
Most looking forward to? Because it doesn't seem like there's
gonna be a ton of football?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
You want to talk off the record or no? I Uh?
We went. We went.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
In twenty nineteen, two and eighteen. Going into that nineteen
we went twice to Mali actually and had had a
great time. Was with my wife one time, and then
the whole family brothers and her brother and nephews and
stuff like that. So good time, great food there, obviously
awesome weather. Haven't been back since, so it'll be uh,
it'll just be fun to just be with the guys,
(11:55):
be with uh, you know, other families, be with all
the kids and all the kids running around and stuff
at the WHO Hotel. I don't really know what the
schedule looks like.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I'm not really concerned.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
It's just I'll just kind of get in order and
go from there.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
You're better, say that you're better.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
Yeah, I just think he's just fine tune some things,
you know. I think if we watched his routes on
air from a year ago, I think he's cutting a
little bit better than he was a year ago. I
think he's breaking down a little bit better. I think
he's even he's always been. He's always had incredible hands.
That's an elite skill set of his, on top of
toughness and you know, his physicality. But uh, I think
he's even more confident. You know, A joke with that
(12:34):
he like swallows the football, you know, and that's it's
he's looking for the next move before he even catches it.
And a lot of people like see it through. It's
like not when you have that those kind of skill set.
That's that's why he's unique. And I'm not right, So
that's you know, I guess a couple of examples.
Speaker 8 (12:50):
You want to see if he gets.
Speaker 10 (12:53):
Resigned, and.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yeah, just go out and be the best too too.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
You can be you know, he we all know what
his superpower is, you know, because he can run, and
that's a trait that you know, especially at his level
and his elite level of speed, it scares defenses. The
scares defenders, So just go out there, you know, use
that elite trade. And what we do know about him
is he's not obviously weight the biggest guy, right he
(13:18):
might be one hundred and fifty five soaken wet, but
he is rangey, he's long, he's not a hard target
to hit because he is loose in the upper body.
You can throw it around and he doesn't feel like
a small guy. So it's when he's gotten his opportunities,
he's made the most of it, and you know, you
would think the way it is on paper right now,
he's going to get, you know, the most opportunities he's
(13:39):
had and we'll see how it on oil unfolds.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
But he's had a really good offseason and you.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Just love to too, so happy he's back with us.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Thanks guys, the biggest group of the year.
Speaker 10 (13:52):
Love that I did.
Speaker 6 (13:55):
Sure. So what makes your special team special this year?
How fast?
Speaker 10 (14:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (14:01):
I think having the continuity of the three specialists together obviously,
that's a big thing. Keeping the operation consistent and getting
more in tune with one another.
Speaker 10 (14:09):
That always helps out.
Speaker 11 (14:10):
And then I honestly, I think as a whole group,
the depth that we have the young guys that are
coming in as well as the guys that were here
last year, and adding competition for different positions always helps out.
I think it competition breeds success, So it's a good
thing for us.
Speaker 6 (14:26):
What what a new decisions?
Speaker 11 (14:29):
Yeah, I mean I think anytime again, just bring in competition.
It's gonna help help bring.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Just clarity to the.
Speaker 11 (14:39):
Situation, a little bit of like, hey, what do I
need to do? What can I improve?
Speaker 10 (14:42):
How how do I need to win this job?
Speaker 11 (14:44):
And when you see another guy competing, you're naturally gonna rise.
Speaker 10 (14:48):
The stars rise to the top.
Speaker 6 (14:50):
So that's what I look at.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Is there a specific thing you do need to improve
that is an absolute priority?
Speaker 6 (14:57):
From last season.
Speaker 10 (14:57):
Yeah, I think a couple of things. Obviously can't give
up block kick.
Speaker 11 (15:01):
I think that's first and foremost, and our protection, punt protection,
field goal protection, having no block kicks to be a
ground zero to start.
Speaker 10 (15:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (15:20):
Yeah, we've continued with that with some other types of
kicks and different things that we can do and utilize
some of his leg strength in different areas of the
field and try to be more not showing and giving
away our punt direction, but being able to utilize some
things that'll allow us to kind of disguise and flip
a field in a different way. I think again, the
(15:46):
continuity of it, I think it's he's done a great job.
He's come out, he looks great coming starting away, hit
the ground running right where he left off. Obviously, the
way he finished last year was was tremendous of him
to respond from the adversity early in the year, and
that's what we expected from when we got them. And
I just think with the continuity of the group it
always helps, Like just being able to go into the
(16:06):
film room and talk more openly about.
Speaker 10 (16:09):
Hey, this is real, I really want this is you know.
Speaker 11 (16:12):
Last year is kind of feeling it out and adjusting
and making the adjustments and making kicks, and now it's like, hey,
how do we put how do we become better? What
are what all three of us? How do we you know,
the three of them plus us as coaches? Like, how
do we become better and improve? And I think that's
been a great position to start with, having some clarity
and open connectivity of the group being together for a year.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Is consistency the one thing know that they're looking for
more than anything with Josh or is there anything else
specific that he needs to warn out?
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 10 (16:43):
I mean I think consistency obviously is always.
Speaker 11 (16:45):
That's for every kicker, right, if you're if you're top consistency,
you're gonna be an all pro. Like, there's the reason
that year to year these guys are up and down
and every situation is different. Every kick has built different
environment situation when whether.
Speaker 10 (16:59):
All those things play.
Speaker 11 (17:00):
Into fact two, Right, you didn't have a year where
you have thirty field goals and go twenty eight for
thirty but they're all inside of thirty yards, Like.
Speaker 10 (17:07):
It all looks differently. And the way he finished and
the best.
Speaker 11 (17:10):
Thing again LinkedIn him out as the season went and
hitting a lot of fifty yard field goals and going
six for seven down the stretch from fifty plus was
a huge step in the right direction and a lot
of confidence built for him and equity for the team
to see what he can do.
Speaker 10 (17:24):
So I think those combinations are powerful.
Speaker 11 (17:26):
And then you look at the kickoff and the touch
back at the thirty five yard line as opposed to
thirty and really making that as a weapon, how do
we do that as a kickoff unit?
Speaker 10 (17:36):
A kickoff return is going to be.
Speaker 11 (17:37):
More plays of high quality football that are going to
be need to be had in that phase than we've
had in the past. And I think being able to
get the ball in different areas where you want with
the hangtime and different types of kicks and everything else
is going to be paramount because we can't go as
a kickoff coverage unit till the ball is either caught
or hits the ground in that landing zone.
Speaker 10 (17:57):
And so really, when we got a how do you
take advantage of it? You get the ball on the
ground and.
Speaker 11 (18:02):
Let the clock start, let the coverage team start to
go down the field and gain a step or two
on the on the return group. And so being able
to do that at a high level will be paramount
for our success for sure.
Speaker 9 (18:13):
Just at the first year of the new kick up,
different playoff mostly how.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
You expected or were there any surprises you saw on what.
Speaker 11 (18:23):
There was probably less of the on the ground ball
than I expected. And when people did kick it on
the ground, they were successful. When we did it on
the ground, we were successful. And but there was a
there's a risk reward inherently with that about being able
to control that ball and being short of kicking out
of bounds, And so you got a weigh those based
(18:45):
upon game situations and different things and where our offensive defense,
how we're playing, what's the score of the game, whether
obviously we play indoors, but those outdoor games, playing in
Philly in the snow, you're not really gonna try to
take some of those risks in those situations where I.
Speaker 10 (19:00):
Think there wasn't probably quite as many explosives.
Speaker 11 (19:03):
But if you look as the season as it progressed,
I feel like just going back and going through it
over and over again. As earlier in the year, teams
were trying to figure out both sides of it, and
it was kind of more vanilla schemes. Then you started
getting some of the power and pool schemes and inside
zones and some more offensive style plays and kick return
groups started picking.
Speaker 10 (19:22):
Up and having a little more success. And I think
we hit our stride.
Speaker 11 (19:24):
As the back half of the year progressed and having
Jay went back there and Xavier and Blake korm and
the number of guys we use back there for different
skill sets and different return styles.
Speaker 10 (19:37):
We can use that stuff to our advantage.
Speaker 11 (19:38):
And I think more teams found that out as the
season progressed.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
It's a fairly small fraternity among the coaches.
Speaker 8 (19:44):
Are you expecting any significant changes to the rule of
this offseason or you were planning for more of the same.
Speaker 11 (19:51):
Yeah, I mean I think the touchback line to the
thirty five would be about it. And I heard something,
you know again, I don't know what else, what's pasted
or what's speculation. I read, you know some different articles
about you know, having a third off the ball player
on the kickoff return unit in between the hashes, all
those type of things, which I think is past. We're
operating under that assumption that it's going to and so
(20:14):
coming up some different unique schemes. Again, that second level
of the up back off the ball player gives you
some more versatility for what you would call poolers or
trappers or different things like that to put more in
the offensive scheme.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
How limited are you though, as far as adjusting to
this and continuing to grow, I mean, is there's this
sort of a limit.
Speaker 11 (20:33):
There that Yeah, I mean, I think it's a great question. Honestly,
I don't think there's a limit. I think you can
kind of move and maneuver different ways, so you can
go man blocking double team schemes. You can overload a
front as long as you have three on the back side,
and then it just depends about how you react of
how where they place the kick, and you know, if
they're getting the ball on the ground, you got to
(20:53):
have returners that can get to it, play like a
short stop, scoop it up and keep it on the move,
prevent a touchback minors to the twenty yard line.
Speaker 10 (20:59):
That's key and critical element.
Speaker 11 (21:02):
And then you know being able to you know, if
you overload a side and try to run a double
double scheme to the sideline and think you're getting a
boundary kick and you get it or do you want
to run it.
Speaker 10 (21:10):
To the field.
Speaker 11 (21:10):
There was some sex success where they ran it all
the way back across the field and got it started
and not created big plays, but a lot of times
they end up going to what do you call straight
call or whatever, and you basically take it up the
near boundary and just kind of convert over with your blocks.
Speaker 10 (21:24):
And so there's there's a lot of ways you can
go with it.
Speaker 11 (21:28):
And so it's pretty cool to see and talk to
the offensive coaches about different things and Sean and what
possibilities we have. And obviously we didn't even see like
the throwbacks and the reverses and all that. I mean
we saw reverse a fake reverse, but like some of
the stuff that was in the XFL with the end
around and the throwbacks and the hideout guy, and we
didn't see that stuff really come to fruition this year.
(21:49):
Not that people didn't have it in maybe they just
didn't feel in that situation to call it. But I
think they'll continue to be an evolution of that as well.
Speaker 8 (21:57):
When you were talking about Carter's success fifty down to scratch,
how much was that him slowing down that approach versus
the continuity.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Of I think it's both.
Speaker 11 (22:09):
I think it's just a comfortability with the group first
and foremost about trusting that they're gonna execute their two thirds,
that you can execute.
Speaker 10 (22:16):
Your one third.
Speaker 11 (22:16):
And then really when you look at the success that
he had, continue to build confidence and then enough for
us to put him out there in those situations and
instead of going for a fourth and five maybe at
the you know, on a fifty eight yard field goal,
we say hey, we'll kick it instead of going for
it and different, you know, obviously again the game situation
is coming to play tighter ball games, you're you know,
(22:37):
more inclined to try to get points and different things
like that, and how your defense is playing.
Speaker 10 (22:41):
And trust that they're gonna hold them if we do miss.
Speaker 11 (22:43):
And but again, just going out there doing it, executing
it day and day out in practice leads to confidence
in himself and confidence from us as an organization to
put him out there in those situations.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
I wanted to ask you about the confidence thing we
had him last year as the mez kicker coming out
of you decided to get him here.
Speaker 10 (23:01):
Yeah, I'm a confidence Now.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
Do you notice something different than you know, he was
a rookie, so yeah, getting nobody had confidence.
Speaker 11 (23:10):
Yeah, I think that when you just talked about the
commidentt he's more he's more confident to speak up or
to see what he's feeling or to say it out loud,
And like our asked questions that maybe last year he
kind of just kind of was like, Okay, yeah, I'll adapt,
Like hey, if if the laces were a quarter off
or if there was something like, I'll adapt. But how
do we Now it's like how do we make it better?
(23:30):
And that was always that was always the goal. But
like he's more open to to speak and I think
he just from that group being together and you know,
them to go hang out and have dinners and different
stuff like that, and being around each other more.
Speaker 10 (23:43):
You just grow closer.
Speaker 11 (23:45):
And you can't help but want the best for the
person beside you. And I think when you first come in,
you're kind of like that they you know, Ethan and
Alex came in together and so they already had that
little bit of a bond and then you're kind of
like the new new one coming in and how to
develop that quick And I think he did a great
job of of doing that, And it's just carrying forward
to right now.
Speaker 7 (24:04):
It's for my playing and how much do you use
the backs also try to help the pair for those days.
Speaker 10 (24:10):
Yeah, I mean we've have a few different things going
with analytics.
Speaker 11 (24:13):
Uh you know, different hangtimes, different ball locations, different style
of returns.
Speaker 10 (24:19):
We've yeah, run a lot a lot of different things there.
Speaker 11 (24:23):
I'll say it's a good starting point is the way
I look at it, and then you got to look
at the tape and see what it was, cause sometimes
something can happen. For example, the uh Dallas Cowboys, Uh
Turpin you know, drops the ball, rolls around, he's gonna
get tackled the twelve, he makes three guys miss, spins
out and goes for a touchdown. Like that's not a
(24:45):
scheme I want to put in just so we're all
clearly it's but you if you have a player that
could come up and make something like that happen, like, hey,
what is what was real and what wasn't And so
that's kind of where it's a good starting point. Great
question that we use, and then we'll we had wash
the tape and evaluate from there.
Speaker 10 (25:02):
Awesome, Thank you guys.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Thank oh all right, life is good. It's a little
warm over here, trying to get used to it.
Speaker 10 (25:16):
Tell us how things.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Are going with the group now that you guys are
back together.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
It's been good.
Speaker 7 (25:21):
We got the rookies in, so it's been nice to
have a little bit more bodies while we're running around
and uh, I think everybody's trying to hit the ground running.
I I know too too is always feeling fast, So
it's always good.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
To see him out there.
Speaker 7 (25:30):
But then especially uh when we get days to work
with Jimmy and all the other quarterbacks, I'm making sure
everybody's on the same page and the the quarterbacks are
seeing something consistent from our room.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
How different is it been there we have?
Speaker 7 (25:42):
It definitely is a little bit different. There's uh the
uh the the spot that he used to sit in.
I think it's it's definitely occupied by somebody now, so
everybody's getting used to it.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
But uh, it's been fun.
Speaker 8 (25:50):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Davante's coming and been a great leader, obviously, somebody who's
played at a super high level his whole career, and uh,
the knowledge he has is is something different from what
we're used to having somebody like Coop in the system
for a long time.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
So it's been great.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
To have him around and I feel like I were
learning something new every day.
Speaker 6 (26:05):
So what's the story behind uh giving up your number.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
It.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
It was uh something that w at the NFL. They
make you file.
Speaker 7 (26:13):
File out some paperwork uh before uh switching over your
jersey number. And it was gonna cost me a a
pretty hefty amount my rookie year, and uh uh I
didn't have that money, so I said, I'll wait the
whole year to it. Just kind of how the timing
worked out on when the they stopped making the jerseys
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
So seventeen was free for Davante when he came over.
Speaker 6 (26:33):
To her. Uh to the.
Speaker 11 (26:40):
Year speed on respector can injured you in your young
career in the positive impact Dante DeVante?
Speaker 7 (26:50):
And I think the the positive impact has already been
felt from DeVante from the the moment he walked in.
He has has been willing to offer information to to
c have new drill to a complete different mindset of
somebody who's played in various offenses, very different schemes and
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So it's been exciting to hear from him. But then
it's been great.
Speaker 7 (27:09):
I think of guys my rookie year of Van Jefferson,
Bens Karonic as long as as well as having Coop
and Matthew who helped me learn the nuances of our
offense and allowed me to ask the right questions and
provide that that comfortable space to be willing to learn right.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Next to them. I think comfortful, No, I don't think so.
Speaker 7 (27:29):
I think when speaking with coach it's it's to be
to be who I am. I think I love the
physicality the game of football, and I love being around
these guys. They make it so fun and to learn
to have new faces and it's weird to they're asking
me questions and I'm like, wait, Coach Robs, you want
me to answer this for real?
Speaker 2 (27:43):
And like I feel like I have still have some
of these similar questions.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
But it's been good because it's it's a teaching moment
for me as well to to kind of solidify some
of those things that we talk over and things that
we've run in years past to where we are now
are not exactly the same. So it's been a great
moment for me to learn.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
And confirm some of these stuff as well.
Speaker 10 (27:58):
We got your advice that.
Speaker 7 (28:04):
H I think some s things, the the suddenness and
the the ability to steal leverage at the line of
scrimmage has been something that he thrives at and everybody
in the in the NFL and knows that that's something
that is one of his greatest assets and to be
able to figure that out and how that works in
our route concepts and the timing of our offense. So
I'd say that's been one of the biggest things.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
Today Mike was telling us you thought you were running
even more to Christmas routes, you were eve elevated. Can
you kind of speak to what your mindset was once
the season ended to.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
When you show up in your feat.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
I think lateral quickness has been something that's been huge
for me. I mean at the line of scrimmage or
I f I feel like I love the physicality, but
there also is well, especially when watching Davante, there is
a an art form of excuse me being elusive about
the line of scrimmage with with with less contact and
being a little bit more efficient instead of having to
run through guys and just rely on the strength.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
And I feel like I have with the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
So I think that's been something and it's given me
confidence to put my foot in the ground while running
some of these different routes and uh, breaking away from
defenders and just the confidence and being able to with
my foot in the ground.
Speaker 8 (29:04):
Being having someone who said, what's it mean for you
to go to Hawaii and you're going to be like
the Beatles.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
I'm excited.
Speaker 7 (29:11):
I can't wait for everybody to go out there, have
some some shaved ice. I'm sure they'll be they'll be
waiting for us some spam musubes and it'll be good.
I can't wait. I know the McDonald's over there, they
serve Portuguese sausage. I don't know for as a national
let us go, but it'll be good for everybody to
get to try some food. I might have to go
on a fast effort because we're gonna have so much.
We'll have rice with breakfast, lunch, and dinner something like.
It might not be a great recipe.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah, So I got to go.
Speaker 7 (29:38):
Me and my mom we got to go back and
we went to go visit my grandma's village. And we
had went with the hospital group from the Utah Valley University,
a group of graduated nurses, and they went to go
do testing at two elementary schools in a high school.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
They had to open clinic over there.
Speaker 7 (29:52):
In a po Samoa and it was a It was
a truly great experience to be able to experience that
with my mom, my first time out of the country,
to go back to my great AMA's village. My grandma
came from western Sawmoa to California and that's where my
parents were met, and so just to have the kind
of full circle moment and to be able to experience
my father passed away from diabetes, so it was something
that is very common in the Polynesian culture, and so
(30:14):
to be able to go improve that situation in the
homeland was something sweet.
Speaker 11 (30:19):
To clarify, you were already changing your number before Devonte
got here.
Speaker 7 (30:24):
Demonte asked, no, yeah, I had already planned to make
the switch over to number twelve.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
It was just it was perfect time.
Speaker 10 (30:34):
Pretty much willingness to share information, hum.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
And help the Crows and players.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
I think it's been open for our our entire our
offense and some of the route conversions of the things
that he's put on tape and given confidence to our
coaches to maybe see how it can fit our skill
group and stuff like that. So it's been exciting to
see I think some of the vertical threat that we
are going to be able to provide with him and
the routes that he's run and put on tape and
boring all those options for every other receiver as well.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Cooky, You've been to like a lot of games since
he came to an end. You have to meet like.
Speaker 10 (31:07):
Lebron and Blue play thing.
Speaker 8 (31:09):
What's been sort of the highlight for you in terms
of going to all these things?
Speaker 10 (31:13):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (31:14):
I know, meeting Lebron was definitely pretty high on my
lists as a kid, but that the just the time
I got to spend with my mom and going back
to visit my grandma's village, I think was something very
special for me and for my family. I can't wait
for the for next year to come around and to
get that trip planned a little bit earlier so I'm
not missing any football, but to take my family on
for everybody to experience that.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Did Lebron give you any did you talk to Did
you have a chance to talk to Lebron about things.
Speaker 7 (31:38):
I wish I probably I probably would have capped his
year where he probably would have got out of there
too quick, but he said keep doing your things, So
that was that was honestly all I needed. I'm excited.
I think the Thunder they played great team basketball, it's fine.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I mean, even though they have the MVP of the league,
it's it's great when you see it.
Speaker 7 (31:59):
There's seven guys in the team going on for fifteen
twenty points and they all play their role and they
play it fullheartedly. And it's something that I feel like
that that fits my kind of play style.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Thank you guys.
Speaker 11 (32:09):
Thanks Jared, you heard your little quieter at practice this
years that.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I don't know what, Pat, how does it feel?
Speaker 7 (32:21):
You know, second year, you know, got a full off
season instead of draft, rap for school and all those things.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Just how do you feel?
Speaker 9 (32:28):
And during this season, I feel more prepared than I've
ever been because you know, you get the whole off season,
you get time to work on this. That the third
you know, I had one of my one of the
alumni at Floyd's State got to reach out to me.
You know, he played in the NFL for a long time,
and he told me the number one thing I should
do was watch all my past film unsolicited, unlike you know,
trying to be high on myself and only watching good players,
watch more of the bad plays than the good, and
realized why I could work on I did that and
(32:49):
I feel more prepared than I've ever been.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
Well, we're here.
Speaker 9 (32:51):
Takeaways from that, it was probably the biggest thing I
realized was how many secks and like not even just
sex with big players I missed out on, you know,
dropping in coverage. I could have done this, or you know,
rushing the pass. I could have done that. Even in
the run game a couple of times, there's a couple
of things where I'm a little too far inside, I'm
a little too far outside and I could have made
a big impact play. So realizing that this really is
a game of inches, whether it's just like you know,
stopping the ball or actually just doing your job, there's
(33:12):
a couple of things I could have done better.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
For sure, was.
Speaker 8 (33:14):
Telling yes and that you was reiterating just for you,
just for you. But is there a lack of a
better word, when you have the year you had last year,
pressure to exceed that.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
No, it's just me.
Speaker 9 (33:26):
I don't really feel too much pressure if I'm who
I am and I think the strides needed to take.
You know, I'm gonna be the best version of me
and I'm gonna you know, be able to help the
team in any faster the way that they need.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
So what do you.
Speaker 9 (33:38):
Think are in top Yeah, you know, I think there's
everything that we can do better. We can be better
than the run, we can be better in the past.
We can be better, you know, eating plays. We can
be better getting out the stack and getting after the ball.
But I mean, I feel like that's just me kind
of be a perfectionist. You can ask me anything. I'm
think we can always be better. I can get a
sack and get there, back there in a second, and
I'll be like a false step or I I didn't
(34:00):
go quick enough. Like yeah, I'm always gonna think we
can be better than if you ask it.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
You do you feel like you and Brandon obviously you
know you did it against each other for a long time.
Speaker 10 (34:10):
Do you feel like last season you guys achieve and.
Speaker 9 (34:13):
What you would have liked to do collectively?
Speaker 6 (34:15):
You know, as a parent, you.
Speaker 9 (34:16):
Know, I think we did good, but I think we
became more so focused on helping the team to trying
to do our own little thing and have a good
little duo going on. But I think we kind of
have learned the op opportunities that we have to work
together and be like, well look at you other. He'll
be like, oh, to shake his head. Yes, I'm like, alright,
I know what this is. Well, he'll look at me
and I'll be like, so now we finally, you know,
took another step with having another year together to figure
out and this is how I worked this out?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
He worked or what?
Speaker 9 (34:36):
But I feel like this year is gonna be a
good one for us to play together.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
Do you already have along those same ones?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
What's it?
Speaker 11 (34:40):
What is it like as you guys have passed for
us for recording.
Speaker 8 (34:43):
And about how to rush off one another or what
you're ops.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
For and how is that kind of impass the way
you guys are going.
Speaker 7 (34:49):
About the US.
Speaker 9 (34:51):
Oh yeah, nah, definitely. You gotta learn your ops before anything.
You gotta learn it. I can take a high rush
here and now it's just my job to you know,
eat the double team or the chips coming my way.
I gotta just you know, force that you know, trying
to get back past that. So you gotta learn your opportunities,
that's the number one thing. But then you also gotta
learn who you're rushing with. Like rushing with Kobe and
rushing with Fists. They're both very athletic Russians, but they
rushed very different rush with me and Russia with b
Whi's two completely different things. So they have to learn
(35:12):
the difference between us two. Now I have to learn
the difference between them two. Now I got learn the
difference between rushing with tie versus rushing with Fist, And
now they gott learn the difference between russaing with Joe
Siah and rushing with me.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
Do you think the leader in year two?
Speaker 7 (35:25):
Is that something that's you be breaking?
Speaker 10 (35:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (35:28):
No, I think it's definitely something that you know, I
just naturally have taken on, you know, after the year
I had. That's not really kind of the big concern
to me. But it's also like now I have a
better understanding of the team and what my position inside
of it is. Yeah, it was I actually went for
the first time, uh this past you know during the
off season.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Yeah, I love Mali.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
I love So you're leading out there saying it's how
you hit a bag?
Speaker 3 (35:49):
You leading Maori, say we're doing this or that.
Speaker 9 (35:52):
Yeah, I've been doing any whatever it's gotta be done,
I mean, or any of that. Now, you ain't gonna
see me in the water to me on the WAE,
I ain't gonna lie to you.
Speaker 10 (36:03):
No, I don't know what. I don't know what. I'm good.
Speaker 9 (36:06):
I ain't about to be colving out.
Speaker 6 (36:09):
That in the first season that you can't never would
have expected this. Wow, that was different.
Speaker 10 (36:16):
Nah.
Speaker 9 (36:16):
I mean the number one thing you hear is how
much faster the game is at this level versus college,
and you always everybody's always like, oh, it's.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Not Manah, the hell it is.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Man, You're thrown in that fire.
Speaker 10 (36:25):
Now it's a lot faster.
Speaker 9 (36:27):
So yeah, it was surprising, but you know, once I
got the hang of it, became just like college became
just like high school, be slowed down a lot more
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