He is the conversation right now. Having gone through a lot of this yourself last year, do you see parallels? Do you have you reached out to Brandon? Would you read on the situation?
It's brutal, especially when you're here and you have that extra pressure on you. I've talked to him a few times just as a friend, and but when it comes to what's actually going on behind closed doors, I have no knowledge or input. So it'll get worked out.
I just confirmed that they are allowing Brandon to talk to other teams that are pretty close to possibly him being traded.
Do you what.
Kind of loss would that be if he's not on this team.
I think it'd be huge. I trust John and Kyle, but he's a very tough player to replace.
So yeah, do you never have any doubts last summer, Nick, whether you might get traded or I think we're not.
Gonna get done?
Yeah? Yeah, I mean, as it got closer and closer, it gets pretty dicey. But uh, I definitely didn't want to be traded. It's a good place to be, for sure. I'm very, very thankful and grateful to be paid in here because I don't think there's many other organizations that are as good as this one. So but yeah, there's a few moments.
Ers I noticed fair. I think we're talking negotiators when it comes to this stuff.
Do you feel like a good blank you won year.
I'm not gonna comment too much on it, but they are tough, that's for sure.
Just how valuable the reps against Trent are in this camp. Obviously he's not there. You weren't there last year, But what what do you lose by not having that?
I definitely lose a good battle. I sleep better at night. But Jalen is very talented and getting a lot better Dave day and day, like every single day, I see him getting better. So for Jalen, it's great. And I'm sure. I'm sure Trent will be back, but uh, and I'll get plenty of reps against him, But Jalen's tough, so it's it's a battle with him too, And and I think for him, he's he's working his way into a position of being a starting caliber tackle for sure.
The conversations you have with Trent kind of sharing tips and things like that, do you have similar conversations with with Jalen?
A little bit, not as much. I'd say, but we're going at it every day. We have a good working relationship for sure. He's a great dude, and him and mckivitt's both very solid players and fun to work against. Hey, Nick, how is you tur gross matostit into the rotation with you guys up front? He's doing great.
Uh.
We've been on him every single day, me and Chris and the rest of the guys, and he's starting to really buy into the scheme and play it the way it's supposed to. And he's got a ton of talent, So I think this scheme will bring the best out of him for sure.
Chris Casurrik yesterday about Leonard Floyd and when he's out there like in shorts and with a shirt cutoff, and you see how Finny looks, it's almost like a basketball player. How does he hold leverage?
What's your your observation on how he survives and not only survives, but thrives with that kind of build its vent.
Have you seen him up close? He's pretty built. He's about two forty five, shredded probably like five percent body fat, and he could run. So I think he'll be just fine in this scheme. And and he's proved that he could rush the passer. So it's good to have him.
He's played I think over one hundred string games. I know everyone in the NFL is tough, and maybe you don't get a sense of guy's tough in his strength camp or whatever, But does he have that reputation or the things you've seen from where that has explained how he's able to stand the field.
Well, for guy at his age to work as hard as he does and then come in with a mindset of trying to get better every day, it's impressive to see. He doesn't like missing days. I think he had an off day to day for the first time of camp, and and you kind of have to force it on him because he's that type of guy. But some guys are just more resilient and uh and there's a lot of luck that goes into playing the sports. So but it's good to have a guy who's reliable and and really talented.
A couple of times in camp where he looked like he tweaks up or something, he kind of went off to the side and then looking in like five minutes later, he'd be back out there. I don't know if you were around him and that do you do you talk to him in those moments or kind of hear what his process is like.
Yeah, I mean there's uh, you're always dealing with something and uh, he's been in the league a long time, so it's not like he's out there feeling amazing. Every reputakes so nothing serious. So that's good and and he's very tough.
Some of the coaches yesterday obviously they would Brandon coming and potentially, you know, mixing three four looks a little more. Obviously you've mostly stayed, you know, not dropping in the coverage. What would your perspective be and how comfortable would you be if you were asked to run some three or four looks.
I'm liking our changeups that we're doing. I think in the NFL you have to evolve every year. And we've had a lot of success with what we do, and teams are starting to gain plant and and and have answers for us. So we have to evolve and we're doing that. And I think we have a lot of athletic defensive ends And I don't mind dropping. It's kind
of fun. Not something I do often, but it's it keeps them honest and it could it could end up getting you more sex by them not knowing exactly what we're doing.
Thanks like