Both of you.
I start off, just what do you kind of feel like the overall stamp that this draft class can make on this team.
Yeah, I'd say this draft class was probably one of our most collaborative just with the coaches and the scouts and everybody together. It's gotten better each year. Last year was great, This year got even better, and and there was so much just talk within the draft room and getting everybody's opinions, and it was really I think, I think it felt about as collaborative as it can be and we're really happy about that, you guys, And there.
Are a lot of cornerbacks, you know, on the on the board. What was it about Looterer that that made him the pick?
Yeah, Looter He came on a thirty visit Matt and actually Tark and I talked to him out on the deck and I remember it because we've been stuck in this draft room for weeks and there's no son in there, so it's like, instead of meeting in an office, let's go stand on the deck in the sun for a while. And he was probably the most mature guy we met probably in the whole process. He's married, he's just he's
a man. Already, and he impressed the heck out of me, and I know he impressed you too, And that was probably the thing that stood out with Looting the most. Obviously the stuff on the field. We love his physicality, his strength is upside. Junior college guy's got a lot of upside still, So yeah, we're real excited about Looter.
Yeah, and then part of that evaluation processed at the Senior Bowl. He really stood out to us. We thought he separated himself from a lot of different prospects there.
And it made a big impact. Yeah.
Strong, he's very strong, he's very sticky. At the Senior Bowl, he fitting very well down there to get some of the top competition.
Yeah, he's a man already. Is that something that you look for? I mean, in terms of maturity, How important does that become when you're looking.
At it is a lot. It's a hard game. It's hard. NFL is really hard. Got to be you got to be tough, you got to be mature in order to do this at your job. So we found on our team, the mature guys do really really well. You know, the guys that are they are physical, they're tough to do really well. And he fit that bill.
What goes into scouting a kicker. I mean for us, it just looks like, you know, doesn't go through the upris. What goes into that and what led you ultimately to Jamie?
Yeah, I thought the kicker questions were done yesterday. But yeah, Jake, you know, we really lean on our special teams coaches for that. And I think John and Kyle told you. Brian Schneider loved him. I absolutely loved him. Was sold
on them. And it starts with the scouts during the fall, identifying them and giving the coaches a list of of of who the best kickers are and understanding that Robbie was coming up and we didn't know what we're gonna do with Robbie at the time, so you have to be very thorough and so they gave him really the top five or so kickers, and he stood out right
away and throughout the process. For some reason, he didn't go to the Senior Bowl, but he goes to the East West and he's the MVP of the East West, which was probably the most boring game. If you guys watch that, it's like all field goals and it was terrible. But he stood out, and so that does you a little bit about Jake, but really we lean a lot on our special teams coaches for that and they did a great job. They were real thorough when it comes to beale.
Can you expand on the GTFO and just the two yard burst that he that he showed you.
Guys, Yeah, the GTFO is something that our R and D group came up with and really just mimicking what coach Casarak wants. And you guys know what the acronym means, or I assume you know, but it's something we look for and it's something they measure and they do a great job of that. And when you get to the later rounds and you see guys like him stand out on that, and then it matches up with his forty
and all the different athletic measurements. It's it's something that separated him from the other guys at that point on the board. Yeah.
Thanks, we're covering Robbie the last you know, six seasons that he's supremely confident he wants to be out there with the game.
On the line. Do you do you get that sense that that Moody has that that same I mean that same confidence and how do you sort of assess that it seems like a very important thing to find out about it.
Yeah, I think you're right that that's something that Robbie had and he was awesome for six years, Like sent him out there and you I mean, he thought it was gonna be good, and that's hard to replicate with Jake. I think that's one of the things that coach Knight really liked is the kid just just wasn't scared of anything. He'd go out there and kick it and kick it as hard as he could every time. You can try to replicate that in a practice or something, but that's
not real. But you see him make big kicks and games and I reference the East West, but he made big kicks. I think was Illinois won the game and there's I think three game winning kicks that he had. So those are the things you see under pressure, he did it, and that's past performance is the best predictor of future performance, and that's what he's done. We try to replicate it in a workout and he did the
same thing. And I don't know if they told you the specific incident, but when we worked him out privately, he did like a last second rush out on the field field goal thing was all messed up, laces are the wrong way, he didn't care, kicked it right through the uprights fifty yards. So those are the things you can do, but you don't really know until they're in that moment.
And then part of the evaluation process with the people that we talked to that are inside that building, that was one of the things they emphasized. How this guy is ice in his bands. This guy's as consistent as any position player that they had there. So it's something that we felt really good about.
Yeahs a roster that you know, it looks like there's virtually a starter at every spot. You know, the depth looks pretty good. Does it change like how you approach it and where your eyes go when it comes to evaluating the talent, Yes.
It doesn't change the process. Right, So we're evaluating everyone through the fall as if we're starting the roster from scratch to get the value exactly correct. But as we talk about the players as we go in the winter and then during the April meetings, we compare them to the guys on our roster and how they would fit in. So initially it doesn't change at all, but then we have to be able to clearly communicate what their exact value is a little bit later in the.
Process, basically in the essence scouting your own guys too, to figure.
Out exactly So everyone has a specialty that they focus on in those April meetings, and that's one of the things that we ask them to evaluate our own roster and stack those guys amongst the guys on our roster.
When you're kind of stacking those guys, say you've got two guys that are pretty close to one guy, maybe have more traits, more upside, but may not get it for a year, versus a guy who kind of a little more polished, you know what he's getting. Do you have to think about, like, you know, it might be worth going for the guy that might take a year because and we'll have a spot for him. Like does that factory into it at all?
Yeah, I would say our job is to communicate exactly what you just said, Communicate those differences, also understand who that person is who can reshare potential and clearly communicate that to the assistant GM, to the GM, to the coaching staff and just help make a good decision.
Thanks very including me. Yeah, it's really communicating that to John and Kyle and making sure they know the total package and what this player can be now and then in the future, give them all the information to make the best decision.
Seemed like two themes that were through a lot of your draft picks. Work, speed and then also guys that were team captains. How important are all of those futures. I mean, I know that doesn't mean that they're going to be successful on the field, but those are reoccurring things.
That we saw.
Yeah, OK, I got it. Sure.
Those are two things that are very important to us. The forty nine or the what it takes to be as successful forty nine or football player is something that we emphasize. We emphasized in the preseason, we emphasize it during winter meetings, we emphasize it prior to our April meetings. And those are two things that are extremely important to us.
So it is communicated. It's something that they try to gather as much information on as possible, like a captain, but what is a captain and captain is a leader that can connect, can motivate, and so those are things that we're working on as we get into the schools, and that's what we're communicating when we get into those meetings.
The collaborative process. I noticed there was a lot of talk about Steve Wilks. It seemed that he was calling prospects even letting them know some of the good news. I think, yes, Jay or Jerry Brown, when a new coach does come in, is it hard to get him kind of integrated into that whole flow? How did that whole process work? Because it seemed that he was very involved in the get go.
Yeah, but Steve, it was real seamless, and I think we talked about it before. Maybe I talked with you, Matt about how seamless it was from the get go, from free agency and then and then going into the draft is the same way. And he just it was. He was like he was part of us right away, and he was a really smart guy. He communicates exactly what he's looking for, eyes, hands hips, and feet and I've heard that about thirty times, but it's the real
thing because it was But he is. He's been about as integral as he could be in such a short time, and he's not afraid to speak his mind, but he's also real respectful of everybody else's opinions. And it's been it's been really good so far.
Yeah, well, he obviously has break it off in length and speed. I understand George has been a lot of players, but you know, you look at his packages. How company didn't do more in college for what what was kind of behind that other than talented roster.
Yeah, I think bial really looking more at him for how he fits us and with what they did at Georgia, they had him dropping a lot, they had him doing a lot of different things, and talking to the people at Georgia, talking to Kirby Smart, he says, the best thing he does is get off the ball GTFO and get the quarterback and set the edge. And those are the things we do. As you know, Chris Casara, you see him at practice every day. So those are the
things that fit us really well. So maybe it didn't fit other teams as well, but his skill set fits us really really well. All Right, thank you guys.
You want to be guy work