Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. It is Tuesday, April ninth. Today, the Ravens held their annual pre draft press conference with head coach John Harbaugh and general manager Eric to Costam. They talked about some of the moves of the offseason, their strategy going into this draft, and how they're building this roster to compete for a championship in twenty twenty four. There's a lot of good insight from them, So let's go ahead and jump into that press.
All right, everyone, Well, thanks for coming. We are in the literally in the middle of draft meetings. We started yesterday with our coaches. We took an early break today so we can come down here and grace you out with our appearance and we'll get started back at one point fifteen. We'll probably finish our draft meetings sometime on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, and at that point the
board will be pretty much set. We'll have a few days the week of the draft to just kind of tweak things little bit based on workouts and some additional interviews that we conduct, but I think by the end of this week we'll be in very good shape to figure out who we're going to draft at pick thirty questions, Eric, with three.
Starters calling on the offensive line, how much do you think the draft will be used to address some of those those horses.
Well, I mean, I certainly think it's a big factor for us in terms of team building this year. I mean, we spent the entire day yesterday, just to give you an idea, all of yesterday, starting at nine o'clock in the morning to six o'clock at night, was spent on the offensive line. And that's not necessarily because it's a big priority for us as much as the volume of players at those positions this year took us a long time to cover through all those players and go through
all the information and get them ranked. So it's a very deep pool of players. We see a lot of different opportunities in different rounds to get players to tackle, guard, and center, and we're excited about that.
Okay, Eric, how pleased were you to be able to sign Kyle Vannoy last week? And you just look at the outside lineback position.
You guys do have quite a few young guys first, second, third year.
Where do you think you are just at that position as you as you.
Get closer to the season, Well, first, we were very excited to bring Kyle back. You know, it was a great experience for us last year with Kyle, and I think Kyle would say the same. He's certainly a player that helped us quite a bit. Love his mentality, leadership, physicality that he brings, versatility as a player. I think it's great to have a veteran in the room. And
we do have a lot of younger guys. We have a lot of younger guys that we think have a lot of potential, and we would expect those guys to resetir potential this year. We're very excited about really all those young players and we've seen some quality play. We've seen some flashes of quality play, and we're very excited and we can't wait to get started.
Deepsiness Tramp as far as age rush goes, and how is it difficult to sort to see how you're the passers and skills in college translated nfl.
Oh Man, Well, I think it's a it's an average draft. I would say, uh for edge pass rushers, certainly some guys at the top. For us, we've had success throughout the years and finding some guys in the mill rounds that have been good players for us, you know, and it just it really depends on what you're looking for. You've got your speed rushers, your power guys, guys that can do both, Guys that have to play a three point stance, guys that can plan two point two point stance.
Uh So, a lot of it has to do with this your fit and what you're looking for. Our coaches play a big part in that in their evaluation. Chuck Smith does a really really good job evaluating pass rushers and has done a good job for us coaching those guys as well. So we'll get the board squared away, and certainly some guys at the top that probably won't
be there when we pick. And so the challenge for us to be who's that next tier group of guys and that sweet spot between you know, the twenty fifth player to the forty fifth player that we have a chance to get either at thirty or at sixty two.
Right now? Is that the number that you want to be it?
And when to add that?
And I guess as part of that, how much value you put on the fifth year option, you know, in the first for having to trade act that you use that as pastors in.
The city, you know all altern of trade that, well, it's great to have additional picks, you certainly have to have players that you cover it and that you want a draft, and so that's always a factor with every draft. And you could have fifteen picks, and sometimes you're there and at the end of the draft and you're looking at the board and you have no idea who you want to pick. You just don't see anybody that you
really cover it. So, you know, I always think about it as like what picks do you need to get the players that you want to take. So you can have some great picks, but if the board doesn't fall the right way and you're looking at much of players that aren't any better than the players you have in your roster, those picks really don't help you very much. So I like the idea have more picks, but I want to have more picks in a specific range I
think in the draft. And if we can get that done, then I could see us, you know, be in a good position to really maximize our chances to find good players. As far as the fifth year goes, I mean, yeah, there is an advantage of having an extra year if you want that extra year. So all things being equal, if you trade out of the first round, I think that you should get a premium if you're gonna do that to give up that additional year or speaking of.
The fifth year option. About a month away from the deadline from a shot dating and a dot, they always fift decision you anticipating and taking either of those up.
Yeah, I think we're about a month away from that decision, right, So that's probably when we'll make that decision, I would think. But yeah, you know, we'll have more to say about that probably after the draft.
Eric, we've been here a year.
After years, the two of the plus Joe brties, there's only two of you up here today.
How has his absence effected that you.
Think it's brave?
Well, there's definitely more leg room up here, probably more comfortable because he was always kind of button into us. Now it's it's been a different it's been a change for me. Definitely. I missed Joe. I missed his personality. Joe's a great evaluator and so first and foremost for me, the comfort that I would have with Joe saying, hey, Joe, take a look at these guys and let me know what you think. Great instincts a great feel as an evaluator and saying that we've got other guys that are
excel at that as well. You know, John is a great evaluator, Ozzie Knws was a Hall of Fame evaluator, George Cokenis, David Blackburn. Our coaches do a great job, so we definitely have guys who can pick up the slack. I was thinking about it today coming in. I think
this is my twentieth year running the draft. I think my first year was two thousand and five, two thousand and five draft, the Mark Clayton Draft, and so it's crazy to think that you know everything that goes into it twenty years and Joe was with me for I think nineteen of those twenty years. So obviously it's a big change, but I think one that is exciting, and we have certainly have people who can step up and really get it done.
Eric, what are the challenges that come with picking this late in the draft? You guys have the thirtieth pick, kind of have to let the board play itself out.
And feels like, yeah, you know, I don't see any unique challenges picking early, picking late, It's really the same, you know, it's just having the players that you really want be there when you have to pick. And you know, if you have a typical draft, if you're picking tenth, you maybe have four or five guys you really want.
You're picking twenty eighth or thirtieth, you might only have fifteen or twenty guys that you really want, And the way your brain works, you kind of like abscribe of value to players and you're hoping to get that value at that pick. You really want to get value, and so for us, it's just like you just hope and pray that you know, one of those, you know, top twenty guys might be there for us at thirty, so
we have some additional value associated with that. But in the end, you just grade the players and you rank the players bad.
What's it been like for you two in terms of collaborating on you know, and discussing with.
Your staff about the fix, and in terms of also how the commonbine and the interviewing process has gone. Have you guys had different opinions and stuff of that age or about players that maybe go at it until.
It's draft there.
Well, that's just a part of it, you know, Jerry, I think one thing I learned from Ozzie and watching Ozzie over the years. With coach Marchibrod and coach Billock and then with coach arbaugh Is it's a partnership and you work together, you discuss you know. I love my day to day meetings with John and his coaches, talking about our players, talking about the draft, talking about strategies. That's one of the very biggest joys of this job
for me day to day. And you know, we disagree sometimes John and I we disagree, but I think we appreciate each other's perspective on things. We trust each other and we both know that we're coming from the right place. And for me, that's one of the most rewarding aspects of being a general manager.
John.
There's so much attention of offensive line and who could you draft. I know you don't you like these who were comfortable, But are there internal young options now that on the russ are ready that you feel like are ready to step in and be starting offensive lineman.
Yeah.
Absolutely, It's going to be competitive. There's going to be a competition for those spots. I mean, the best whoever plays the best. You always say who's the best player, it's the player who plays the best you know, and you could have been the best player five years ago, but you're not the best player now. So every day you go out to practice, every game you play, there's an accumulated, established aspect of it. But right now we're
a little more open. So those guys that you're talking about are going to be competing with whoever comes in here, and we'll just see who does it. But I think those guys are ready to compete and do well, and they'll be in here Monday. Can't wait to see them. It's gonna be great to see those guys in here Monday, working hard. See what happens here.
Hary, we kind of a.
Related no air last year you jumped back and grabbed Andrew boardies.
Could you go back to kind of recount how that came about.
And with the year lay off where she had what can you realisms?
But yeah, well I I did that just cause I knew all you guys want to go home, and so I was hoping to catch you guys as you were leaving the facility to so you'd all have to come back and cover the draft. But now, seriously, you know, Andrew was a guy that I had seen on tape, and I thought that he was a good player and that he would have a chance long term to be a player for us and be a starter force potentially
a physical, tough guy that loves football. So, you know, we were just sitting there and we hadn't made a trade and he was still available, and I just had this idea that if we cause we cause we had already had our kind of end end of the day press conference, and I was watching and I thought I was gonna go upstairs and just call the uh ended up being Andrew Berry, which typically we wouldn't do a lot of trades with in divisional opponents, but he was happy to do it, and so it made all the
sense and the will for us to do it. So it just seemed to me that we would get some value with him as a player that had he been in the draft and been healthy, he'd have been a higher pick. And I saw ability potentially for him to be a starter at guard in the league. So we'll see. He's done a fantastic job with rehab. He's very very strong and physical. If you guys have seen him, the strength coaches and the trainers and the doctors were all very excited about him, and so we'll see what he does.
Eric, I think you've got twenty picks if you include the compis between this year's draft in next year's draft, somewhere in that neighborhood. Curious how important given sort of the financial constructor the roster now and I'm sure it was intentional, but just maybe the value of that from your perspective for.
These this year and that.
Right, So we you know, looking out last year, we felt like we could trade a couple draft picks. Last year we did that. We got Rokwan with the idea that we would have to start to build up again. You know, we've always been you guys have covered us for a long time. We've always been a team that's been built through the draft primarily. We've always had a lot of draft picks. I think we probably have had, if not the most draft picks in the last ten years.
Definitely in the top you know, quarter of all the teams in the league. Probably near the top though, for sure, And that's by design. That's we feel that's the best way to build your team long term from a you know, a cost standpoint. Obviously cheaper players, but also young players that you know a lot about who can develop and become good players. And so we see this year, this year's draft, and we see next year's draft, there's real opportunities for us to begin to build that depth up again.
You know, I think this this past year is we had tremendous depth, and the challenge now is for these younger players on the roster right now to be a part of that depth and for us to find additional players who can come in and compete to start and be good depth players for us moving forward.
There's been a lot of talk about the offensive line class and the wide receiver class.
We haven't talked a lot about the cornerback class.
How do you view that year?
You know, I think it's a solid class. Certainly, probably not at the level of the receiver and offensive line, you know, very cyclical, but definitely some players who can come in right away and probably compete to start for us. We would love to add a talented corner at some point in the draft, whether that's first round or second round, third round, whatever, that might be a talented player who can help us. That's a position, as you all know that you know, typically you never have enough due to
injuries and different things. The guys will break down throughout the course of the season. I think a depth has always been tested in the secondary. This year was no exception, and we were blessed to have some guys like, for instance, Ronald Darby come in and really help us. And so, yeah, if we have a chance to draft the corner this year, you can you can count on us doing that.
Eric, how relevant is it there with less SEUs You so like one position in the first round and wide received the three times in the recent pass. Does that enjoy in the conversation this year? Well, we've we've done that already three times in the last five years or whatever. Is that part of the conversation or just best player regardless?
Well, I think it depends on you know, best player and also team need both. I mean, so you know, if there's a player that's there that we think is too good to pass up on, we're gonna take that player. We've proven that, We've shown that. That's started with Ozzie Newsome and that's gonna continue. Uh as far as I'm concerned, as long as I'm here, we're gonna take the best
available player. So, now that being said, you know, if you're picking in the first round, you have an MVP quarterback and there's a quarterback that's the best available player. Chances are we're not gonna draft the quarterback, but all things being equal, we're gonna draft the best available player.
When we're round o'clock, Eric, in terms of evaluate with this new kickoff rule, does that change how you value potential returns?
Or the skill sets are what they are and that's the evaluation process won't change in all those players.
Well, that's a good question, and I would say this, I've been blessed to have a head coach who's a special teams coach, and we've got excellent special teams coaches upstairs. Those guys are really invaluable to me whenever we discuss special teams and what these rule changes might mean, and the type of players that we're looking for and the skill sets that we're looking for. So, you know, we
want athletes and we want playmakers. We want they have to catch the ball, they gotta be able to break tackles, they gotta be able to make guys miss, and so you know, I think we're in the process of addressing that in different ways. There's certainly some skilled guys in the draft, some excellent returners. We've talked about a few guys already and I think will be in good shape on on in September.
John, when you get your roster, now, what part of it do.
You think would be billed through the draft.
And maybe that you're kind of a little bit with your opinions your basket.
I feel like you're trying to get You're trying to get to Eric, the one he won't ask. You're trying to come through me on that. See if I'll give it up right, you know, maybe Harball or Chirp, you know, maybe he'll be the canary. I'm the canary.
I guess.
The best available player.
What we said there's it depends again, it depends on We do have some needs and me I got I've got my depth chart, there's no doubt. And Eric and I talk about that all the time. Where that where the blocks are and what the roles are specifically for those guys. I mean, kind of what type of player do we need and what type of spot to build our team from the top to the bottom. There's a lot of a lot of thought that goes into that, a lot of conversation that goes into that. So it's
not just the position. It's not just hey, an offensive lineman, a guard, attackle, a wide receiver or corner, a pass rusher or whatever, a tight end. It's what type of player do we need and what roles do we need filled, even right through from offense or defense, right down through
special teams. It's just is these are all the jobs that need to be done, and who fills those jobs the best and in a way they can win for It's not just he can do that, it's who's going to excel at what And so that kind of is part of the team building process. And that goes with a scheme too, you know. So sometimes you get players that are a little bit different, so you want to
move your scheme that way. Sometimes you have a way you want to play, you have needs on your roster, so you move your draft a little bit that way. Like that kind of all part of the art of the whole thing.
One of those lines we talked about this a couple of weeks ago with Lar kind of providing his insight on receiver. We saw the last jobs you could day. What's that dialogue been like, is you guys get closer and what you know, we know that you guys have had some guys here for free draft visits and so forth that a position. You know, I guess either one of you that you guys are looking at and more sort of input there.
Yeah.
Man, we talked right at the beginning of the off season, right to the season about you know, the type of guy, type of role that that he felt would fit. And we were all on the same page with that part of it, you know, like in terms of our roster kind of what would be comfortable who were looking for style wise, But it doesn't always work out that way.
So Lamar, you know, he's he's been he's been tasked over the text, you know world with a couple couple of assignments, right, So we'll see who he likes, you know, and he looks at guys on tape and and he's never been shy aboutet him his opinion on free agents or the or the draft. So uh, he hasn't he hasn't weighed in quite yet, but he will.
Eric.
He talked earlier about Andrew Vord. He's a guy you drafted last year hoping that he can make an impact this year. It seem like Chren Simpson is another one of those guys. How do you feel about that went on backer spot. Is that another one of those spots that maybe you can look with depth into this draft as well?
Well. First, I think you know, Trenton is going to have a great season. He's great attitude. I think he grew as much as anybody this year. It's tough, you know for young players. He showed up on special teams, when he played on defense, he made some plays late in the year, got a lot of talent. I mean, he's as talented as any inside linebacker in this year's
draft class for sure, So excited about him. I think we've got some other young players that you know can emerge as well that we're excited about at that position. The draft. We've looked at some guys, definitely some talent in this year's draft class. You know, I think it's a pretty good class. There's no lake top ten probably
inside linebackers in this draft class. But there's a lot of depth in the second and third and fourth rounds, and so certainly a position we'll look at, particularly if they can play on special teams and help us that way too, which is a really important part of the inside linebacker position evaluation wise, But we like our young guys that we have excited about those guys and we'll see how the whole thing kind of plays out.
Along those same lenes, running backs probably haven't been primary and a lot of the draft off this year. But I mean when you look at that for you see some players that maybe you could get on Day three, who could maybe come in.
Right away and help.
I think so, I mean, you know, I think it was an interesting dynamic this year in free agency. You saw whatever it was, maybe nine or ten guys get signed in the first day a free agency, and I think part of that was probably you know, how people looked at this running back class in the draft. There's no like top tier first round necessarily type talents this year.
That being said, there's a lot of guys. If you're looking at the prospects in the second, third, and fourth round, there's a lot of those guys, particularly third, fourth, fifth round clumps. So we've looked at those guys very closely.
We're excited about some of those players. You know, there's probably a pretty strong chance we will draft a running back at some point, you know, round obviously to be determined, but we do think there's a chance for us to get a good young player who can help us in different ways as a running back, in the passing game, and also on special teams.
I think, Eric, and if you guys are one game away from the super Bowl, your made some acquisition, you retain some players. The prayers are going around in the NFL a lot all in, Ravens all in as far as twenty.
Twenty four, Well, I'd like to think, Jay, we're always all in. You know, in this business, if you're not all in, then you're all out as far as I'm concerned. So we're going to be in every single year. And I that's what John expects, That's what I expect, That's what Steve expects, and I think that's what our fans expect. So I think you know you should expect that too, Jerry.
Eric.
When you do lose, you know, it's a very type of players.
That you lost in free agency, but it was about a dozen players in free agency.
How do you view where this team though, is because you're here here in terms like retooling, you know, reloading where you know, as a guy that's building this team, where do you kind of feel what kind of description say.
That the team is right there.
Well, we're in the same place as we were last year at this time. I mean, go back and look at what some of you wrote last year and see how we ended up. Right, We have a lot of time to make moves. A lot of these players that we lost excellent players. A lot of these guys were quite in August, right, some of these guys were quite in September. So you know, we're still building and a big part of that is going to be through the draft,
which is why we're all here today. But there's a lot of different opportunities along the way to add players. We've traded for players, We've drafted players, we signed guys unrestricted free agents, we signed guys street players who have made it. We've worked guys out. George Cokeenis and Mark
Assevador do a phenomenal job bringing players in. Our coaches do a great job working guys out, giving us a chance to find guys like I mentioned them again, Ronald Darby, you know those type of players, Arthur Mollett, players like that. So I think we're just really getting started, you know, and a big part of that is certainly going to be the draft. But the destination is September, not May.
To that point, Where does that philosophy kind of come from being able to kind of wait until Like you mentioned signing guys in all of these in the case of Anoid, that was after the season, and these guys, you know, a lot of these guys have panted out and some of them are at premium positioned. Where does I guess the patients and that philosophy come from to kind of wait until that time of the year.
Well, Number one, I'm not a patient person. I've learned from Ozzie, who is extremely patient, to be more patient. But I don't think it's a philosophy necessarily as much as the opportunity. So I look at every single year as being different. Every opportunity is different, every situation might be different. But we've got to be able to pounce when there is an opportunity that we think is beneficial
to the club. And so whether that's doing something in March or April or May, or September or November, we're going to do that given the parameters of the situation and where we are at as a team at that time.
Not a lot of underclassmen in this year's draft pool. How is that kind of affecting how you looking Day three and you guys feel like you're do enough homework. Look at next year's draft pools. Maybe side we don't put the libra we are let's say sixth rounds. Maybe look at possibly into next year pool.
Yeah, that's a good question. There are less juniors this year, you know, I think guys for whatever reason, I think because of COVID partly and because of NIL. You know, this whole draft landscape has changed. There's less players in the draft this year. There's less probably draftable players this year on our board, less juniors, less underclassmen, and so yeah, I think it is. And we've talked about doing this. We haven't done it as much as maybe I'd like
to do it. Potentially. We've talked about the idea as you get into the later rounds of the draft, if there's nobody there that you cover it potentially trading that pick for a better pick. You know, that's one of the nuances of the draft. And you trade a pick in a given round for next year's pick, you get the benefit of increased value. So if you trade a fifth round pick this year, you get a fourth round
pick hypothetically next year. That discount is actually, if you think about it, it only makes sense because the picks a year away. But a pick is a pick, so it's hard to wrap your fingers around the idea that you get more for next year's pick. You would know the pick is worth whatever it's worth, so but there is an opportunity there, and some teams do it pretty well. We always tend to look at the board and see players that we like that we cover it, and we
haven't done it quite as much. We've done it a couple of times, but that's always an interesting thing. I think Steve would love us to do that. He's excited about that. His idea would be not to give anything away.
But he has what he calls the Bishatti Reign of terror, and that would basically be that you trade a seventh round pick and any given year for a sixth round pick next year, and then take that sixth round pick and trade for five, and then trade that five for four, and so like in seven or eight years you have a first round pick. And we've always talked about that, but we never get to that.
Points have worked in that AFL history.
That's why it's called the Bashatti Reign of Terror.
It's unique if you anticipate any moves being made over the next couple of weeks that could impact your prominent needs heading.
Into the draft.
Oh man, you never know, Jeff, You just never know. I mean, just depends if the phone rings, maybe there is a move to be made. If there's a player that a coach comes in and says this guy's really good, or George comes in or whatever it might be, then
we could make a move. I think in general, you know, Kyle was one of the last things on my checklist trying to get that done because I think he checked off a lot of different boxes for US veteran presence on defense, multiple roles on defense, you know, just a good solid player for US position where we could use some depth. So, uh, you know, I don't know that we'll do a lot in the next couple of weeks other than really kind of polished the board up and get ready for the process.
Eric Analytics has become such a part of you know, not just the game, but this process and going back in a handful of years or so, but probably when it sort of started to blossom. Curious like how that's shaped your philosophy when it you know, when it comes to draft picks and so forth, and is there maybe examples where it's swayed you and a guy or a direction that sort of thing.
Uh, you know, it's a tool. It's a tool that we use like anything else. It's a part of the process, evaluation process. We've got some really skilled people upstairs who help in a lot of different ways. I think we have so much information now that processing the information and organized the information I think is extremely important and critical
in the end. In my opinion. Now I'm an old school guy, it still comes down to turning the TV on and watching the player over and over and over and over again until you know exactly what he is. And you know, I think that's a really important part of the scouting process and that will always remain a very important part of the scouting process.
John I know you guys brought back to Charles Johnson to be the backup quarterback. You still have only cutting Ham. We saw him play a little wide receiver on the back end of the season. Is the plan still to develop him as a quarterback? Order is in a transition?
Yeah, that's a good question. I think it remains to be seen. You know, we're going to take a look at him and see how he does and just get to know him better and evaluate him. He's definitely developmental as a quarterback. He's developmental as a wide receiver too. But he's a good athlete. He's a good person, he's
a competitive guy. He wants to do well. Kind of just I was just thinking listening to the questions back about the team and the parts and all that and the math of the whole thing, and I think it's really interesting and good to look at the parts, like you say, Okay, they lost this many guys, Yeah, I just made guys are not gonna be as good as a team, you know, and or how they're gonna fill these pieces. And that's kind of a math equation. But in the end, it's not just about the parts. It's
about the sum of the parts, you know. It's this, can the some be greater than the parts? And it's how you put the parts together and how you piece them together. So the process is it's about getting the best players you can. And I do agree, you know, they say it's not about the ex's and no's, it's about the Jimmies and Joe's that's real clever and it rhymes. But it really is about more than just the Jimmies
and the Joe's too. It's how the Jimmy's and the Joe's fit together, and how they're piece together, and how you build the schemes and how you build the whole machine. So we've got the parts, but we're also building the whole machine, you know, and we've done that in the last three months with our scheme. You do that with your culture, with your work ethic, with your character, type of people you bring into your program, what type of vision you have, what type of identity you're gonna have
as a football team. All those things go into it, and it's not just a math equation. At the end of the year. Like Eric said, these same questions we're being asked last year, they were being asked a year before, and year before that, year before that, and year before that, all the way back. Every year it's the same questions, and it's kind of a rolling type of a thing. Some years you're gonna lose more free agents, but you're gonna pick up more compensatory picks than two years from now.
You're gonna have more picks in the draft you're gonna get younger, and you're gonna have younger players you cost less, but you're gonna have to pay the guys that turn out to be great players that you want to keep as many as you can. So that ongoing process is part of this whole big picture, and the goal is to be in all in to the question every single year as best as you can be. You can't just be, oh, we're gonna we're gonna put all chips on the table
this year. Next year we're gonna fold and not play any games. No, we're gonna try to win the championship every single year as many games as we can. And it's the sum of the parts that we put together and what we build around those guys and go out there and play on Sundays and lay it all out there, you know, and with a bunch of fans yelling and screaming in the background to support your football team. That's what we're all about. That's what football is. It's not
just a math equation. It's more than that, and that's what makes it so exciting and so interesting. And we're gonna have a heck of a team next year. You wait, you watch, you wait, and see what we do.
What positions in this draft do you fe'll have more value in depth for days two and three?
I think offensive line is pretty stacked across the board in most rounds. I think receiver is a is a really deep draft this year. You know, those would be two I think, you know I mentioned running back. I think that you'll see a lot of running backs get drafted, probably starting in the third round. You know, through the
seventh you'll see a lot of guys get picked. You know, those would beat positions that when I look at the assess the draft I think are pretty deep positions in the draft this year.
Sharon, how do you like the new well the kick off and also the challenges of teaching tackling you when you posted to hit drop at it now?
Any uh Yeah, as far as the new kickoff FRO, I love the the kickoff returns and be back in the game. You know, I'm kind of on records saying, you know, I wish they would have looked at a couple of other things before taking the line of scrimmage O of the kickoff kickoff for turn play, because you know, the onside kicks and all that are are still pretty cool. And they had already taken the wedges out and the
double teams out. You know, if you create some space for the kickoff return team to operate, maybe that would have slowed the kickoff team down. That was a theory. But they went all in with this new rule, and I'd rather have this than what we had in the pass where they were going all in for fair catches. That was you know, we were never in favor of that. So I think Roger really wanted to kickoff for turn back in the game, and that's good. That's a good thing.
As far as the hip drop tackle, the challenge of tackling, I don't I don't even understand the question. I mean, the hip drop tackle. When did you ever hear about the hip drop tackle until like two years ago, three years ago. Right, that's because it was discovered, probably in rugby and started being executed as a standalone technique. It's a three part movement. You've got to execute that play.
You gotta be close enough to that ball carry to actually get him around the hip, all right, pull him close to yourself, swing your hips through and drop on the back of his legs. If you're that close, wrap him up and tackle him and take him to the ground like where you used to do and everybody did for one hundred years before that. But you're talking about a tackle that the ball carrier has no method of
escape from. He can't escape, so when you drop down on the back of his legs, it's a mass and it's twenty five times more likely to have a serious injury. So it's really a bad play and it needed to be out And guys are gonna tackle just fine without the quote unquote hip drop tackle because they tackled just fine without it for one hundred years of football before that when you never saw it. Really, So that's my answer to that.
Eric.
With offensive liven, there's gonna be maybe a few offensive Lien prospects that could fall to the bottom first film because they don't have as much starting experience as some of the other guys that are taking around.
How difficult and what's kind of the challenge to project, especially offensivelive and when they need not have as much game film game tape as some of the other guys.
Yeah, that's always a challenge at any position, you know, lack of production, whether that's catchers, tackles, interceptions, ball plays, stars As an offensive line, and that's always you know, in my opinion, those are one of the greatest challenges is that the other one might be you know, level of competition is a big challenge too, I think as an evaluator, so those are things you just fight through and you'll watch, you talk to people, you assess, you
watch the workouts. I think in some cases, you know, positional workouts are very very important. You know, you go back and you'll watch as much tape as you can. Maybe that means you have to go back to other years and watch a guy play as well, talk to people, talk to coaches and things. But it's definitely a challenge Jamison, for sure.
Horrible.
Eric.
Last year at the draft you announced the Lamar Jackson contract extension.
Does going into this year's draft feel a little bit lighter now that you don't have to drop any big news on drap by you feel a little bit more clear how to going into it? Well right now? Yeah, I mean it's it's been great, you know, I mean, John and.
I there's still plenty of time for stuff to happen.
John and I were down the last week down and at the owner's meetings in the pool, hanging out. You know, drinking champagne cocktails, you know, getting some suns. So you know, it's it's been a good vibe so far. Obviously, it's always hard to see some of your favorite players go to other teams. I mean, that's that's been a challenge, But you know, I think in terms of just being in a good spot, the vibe has been good. We're
building this team the right way. We're very excited to get started up next week with our players coming back, and we think the future is extremely bright.
Eric, given the fact that there has been some depth that has left to building this offseason. Having more draft picks this year, could this rookie draft class be primed.
For bigger roles.
Oh, there's no question. I mean, opportunities what it's all about. And so we'll have some opportunities, for sure. There's gonna be some spots that can be filled, and I think it's the burden is on me to find those players who can fill it and fill it with winning football. And we've got the coaches and support staff to put them in position to succeed. But we've got to find the players that have the right makeup and the right ability to actually perform and do that.
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