March 4, 2025 • 33 mins
General Manager Eric DeCosta and Head Coach John Harbaugh address the media at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The twenty twenty
five NFL Scouting Combine is now in the books. The
Ravens had a chance to take a look at the
incoming class of prospects and put in some work to
build out the draft board for the upcoming draft in April.
Now during the week in Indianapolis, we had a chance
to hear from several of the Ravens executives, including GM
(00:27):
Eric Costa.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hello, everyone, We'll get started with questions. Thanks for coming man,
that's a that's a that's a deep question. I've been
blessed to be a part of an organization where we've
had three head coaches and two gms. I think that that,
(00:54):
you know, continuity is huge in decision making, having support
from ownership, putting processes, play systems, feeling good about the process,
knowing the other people in the room.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I think that's a big part of it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think shared experience, calling on historical things that have
happened in the past to help you make decisions. I
think factors in the biggest thing is really just having
an owner that believes in you and has put you
in place to succeed and believes you will succeed, and
I've been blessed to have Steepashaty in my life for
a long time. Here. Well, I think you're always you know,
(01:33):
every smart team is always looking for quarterbacks. It's a
quarterback league, and whether you're looking for a backup, a
practice squad quarterback, a starting quarterback, you know, it's it's
hard to win without one. We're blessed to have Lamar Jackson.
Before that, we were blessed to have Joe Flacco. You know,
living in a world without a quarterback is a tough
world to live in.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
We understand that.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
These guys drive the league, and so you know, it's
a tough position to be in.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
But I think if you've got to write people and.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Trust the process, you can find one. Well, I think
a lot goes into that. First of all, a good question.
Appreciate the question. The allegations are serious, concerning the amount
(02:27):
of allegations are serious and concerning. I think we're fortunate
that the league is doing an investigation. We'll wait as
patiently as we can for as much information as we can,
and we'll make a decisions based on that. Well, I think,
(02:50):
like every position, we're going to evaluate rank the board.
We've been doing that for the last twenty nine years.
We're blessed to have a really good kickers coach and
Randy Brown, who does a phenomenal job evaluating punters and
kickers and long snappers for us every single season. We'll
meet with Randy throughout the process. Over the coming weeks,
(03:11):
he'll travel all over the country looking at these guys,
and we'll build the best board that we can give it.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Zero that.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Well, I think again, it's a good question.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I think the biggest thing that we have to do
first of all is look at every single case differently.
There are no absolutes, and I think in this case,
we're still a waiting as much information as possible. Again,
we're fortunate that the league is it's come down to Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I met with the league.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I believe the league is meeting with other people in
Baltimore as well. We'll wait for the details of that
investigation and we'll make a decision based on that. I
really can't because again, we look at every case differently,
(04:04):
and the facts in every single case.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
We do this for a living.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
We study players, we look at background, we consider all
these different things. Every case is entirely different, different facts,
different situations. So we'll wait for the investigation to take
place and we'll make a decision based off of that.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So, we were aware that local media outlet was getting
prepared to do a story on Justin Tucker, and that
was the first time that we became aware of those allegations,
of the potential allegations.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
That might result.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So, I think, you know, I've answered what four questions
on this situation. I did meet with Justin. I'm gonna
keep those comments to myself and personal conversations with Justin.
I think is probably the smart thing to do. But
at that point, we did, you know, meet, and that's
what I'm gonna say about that.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Don't know, I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, I think it's a good, you know, a pretty
good class draft wise, free agency wise as well.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I think we do a really good job.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I'm very happy to see the development that our young
receivers have made the last couple of years. Greg Lewis
does a great job coaching those guys up. Our players
really did a good job this year. I feel like
there's a good opportunity for us to find some good talent,
either through free agency or the draft.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Uh, in every round, uh and every.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Price point and uh, and you know, I think the
other point is that we've got some really good tight
ends as well. And I think this year we really
he did see kind of our vision for the offense
come together with playmakers across the board, whether it's running back, receiver,
tight end, backup running back, back up receivers, backup tight ends.
I think, Uh, it was kind of what we've hoped
for the last couple of years, and we had a
chance to see that come to fruition. Well, Ronnie and
(06:24):
I did a deal the last time, so that's great.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Uh. He and I have a good friendship. We've known
each other for a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
He's got a great agent in Kim Miale. You know,
you know, never want to say one hundred percent, but
I feel good that we'll have a good, healthy debate,
a good process. We're going to meet with Kim in
Indy this week, and Uh, I'm optimistic that we'll be
able to get a deal done. Well, that's a coaching question.
(06:59):
I mean, we've seen you know, we think Roger had
a great year last year. He's a very good athlete.
He's way mature than a typical young player. I think
he proved that this year with how he played and
competed the week in week out, whether it was on
field performance against good players coming back from injuries and
things like that. So he's definitely a factor on the
left side if need be. I think we'll try to
(07:21):
find the best five guys we can. I think there
were a lot of questions about the offensive line last year,
and I think we did a pretty good job of
putting a pretty competitive offensive line together on the field
last year, and I would expect the same to be
whole true this year. Yeah, I mean, I think Cliff
(07:46):
it really just comes down to the best player at
the time, and we're always gonna say that. I mean,
it's something that we've said every single year, he's starting
back to nineteen ninety six with Ozzie as the GM.
We're gonna draft best available players. So I think if
we're picking at you know, twenty seven, and there's an
edge rusher and he's the best guy, we're probably gonna
pick him and it's gonna hold through with every round.
I think it's an important position. I think we were
(08:10):
maybe second in the league in sacks last year, but
having a continuous influx of young pass rush talent, guys
that can set the edge and play the run, guys
that play like Ravens, physical players who can.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Get to the quarterback. I think that's a priority for
us for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Derrick Henry, I mean, Derek is just a phenomenal worker.
He's a pro, does everything the right way, the way
that he practices, the way that he takes care of
his body, his mentality on the field, his leadership, his talent.
I mean, he's freakishly talented. I mean his combination of
size and speed. So he was just the perfect player
(08:51):
for us. I think last year the right addition, and
he brought a lot to the table on the field
and also off the field with intangible qualities. We're blessed
to have him, and I would expect his successes last
year to continue this year.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You know, it's a tough question.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I mean it's you know, running backs are kind of
like the stock market. They've been up. When I was
a kid, running back was was was arguably the most
important position on the field. You know, I grew up
a Cowboys fan, and you know, Tony dors said, Emmitt Smith,
guys like that were my idols. And then we went
through this period of the last what five ten years,
(09:35):
the analytics emphasis sort of de emphasized the position. And
I think last year you saw the impact that some
of these guys had. And you know, Howie Roseman a
great GM went out and got Saquon and they won
a Super Bowl. And you know a lot of credit
to Howie, and but I think you know, these are
(09:56):
guys that touched the ball. These are guys that impact games.
I think they're looked at is probably replaceable by some people,
but if you've got a great one, if you've got
a historic one, you can't replace those guys. They impact
the game in many different ways and they create nightmares
for defenses. Well, I think that you always want to
(10:34):
be strong, you know, through your middle, and something that
I think we've prioritized with Kyle as a safety, Rokwan,
our defensive tackles, Travers, Nmd, Linderbaum, Lamar, all those guys.
I mean, I believe in that as well being strong
up the middle. It's always going to be an allocation
(10:56):
of resources and where you spend your money every year.
There's different schools of thought, but you've got to be physical.
We've always prided ourselves on being a physical football team
that can stop to run, run the ball, protect the quarterback,
rush the passer, and win games in the fourth quarter.
I think this draft class is pretty strong, you know.
(11:18):
I think you've got on the defensive line, You've got
some guys, some defensive ends that when we say defensive end,
we mean outside linebackers. So that's you might hear me
reference outside linebackers. Other clubs might calm defensive ends. But
I think you've got some defensive tackles that are fine prospects.
And then on the interior, we see a number of
(11:38):
guards that could get picked in the first and second
round and probably provide early value and start right away
for their drafting clubs like to do.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Well. I see Michelle over here.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
She helps Deck rate my office wall, and I think
we have a picture of Derek going up on my wall.
So what does that tell you? Lamar's got a great voice,
and uh, he's a student of the game. He watches players,
(12:19):
he knows talent. Now we do does love the Miami
guys and the Florida guys, but listen, Lamar has a
he's a stakeholder, he's a partner. He's earned that right
to be to have that type of input and opinion,
and a lot of guys haven't earned that right, but
Lamar has earned that right. It's important, it's necessary, and
(12:42):
I welcome his input and I'll get texts from him.
And there have been some years where I've gone down
and visited visited with him and probably do to do
to do that again, to take a trip down to
Florida and spend some time with him. But he's got
a great command of the offense. He made great strides
this year in every fact. You know, he's my MVP,
(13:02):
and uh, I think his impact on our team is
is impossible to measure.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
I don't know how to answer that. I mean, you know,
I mean Lamar is Lamar.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
He's a two time MVP, in my opinion, should have
been a three time MVP, so different status.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
So that's what I would say.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I think you have to earn those kind of rights.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I mean, upside is how good can this guy be?
Position need is like we need a player to play
right away my opinion. You know, with positional need, it
sounds great at the time you draft the player, you
pencil him in, but if he doesn't have the ability
to play at a high level. Then typically you're gonna
be disappointed, your fans are gonna be disappointed.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You're gonna look at.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
As a as A as a bad pick. So you
want the best player in any given situation. You need
to change day to day. I mean, We've been in situations.
I've been on teams where I felt like we had
great depth at corner, great depth at tight end. In
the matter of a couple of weeks, we had no depth.
I go back to the year that in a matter
of a couple of weeks we lost you know, JK
Gus Edwards and Justice and had no running backs. Literally
(14:14):
a Friday afternoon calling agents, trying to find somebody to
come to Baltimore. And fortunately we're able to get a
couple of guys that came in and really saved us
that year in many different ways.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
And so, you know, need changes. But you win with talent,
you win with players.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And I always, if I have my choice, I'm always
going with upside and I'm always going with talent. What
was that, I mean, you guys know the Ravens. I mean,
you know, right player at the right price. You know,
we don't have a lot of cap room we have
Nick Mattio working tirelessly to find some space for us.
(14:51):
We call it couch cushion coins. You know, like we're
just we're trying to find fifty grand here, seventy five
grand there in a couch cushion. But you know, not
a team that's gonna make a lot of big splashes
generally speaking, I mean, we're probably gonna have eleven draft
picks this year. My goal would be to hit on
a large percentage of those draft picks, to find good, young,
(15:11):
inexpensive talent to put guys in for the future, because
the reality of it is, when you're paying guys like
Lamar Jackson and the Marlon Humphreys and the Namdi Mattabeks
and the Rokwan Smiths and guys like that, and the
guys like someday probably Tyler Linderbaum and guys like Kyle Hamilton,
you've got a draft well every single year so that
(15:33):
you always have an open window. It gives us a
little bit more, but when you're starting with as few
dollars as we have, it's it's a savior, but we
still would like to have more money, and then we're
(15:55):
a victim of our own success. In some ways because
you know, when you guys, remember when when I did
become GM, one of my main priorities was to retain
as much of our own homegrown talent as possible. And
we have a lot of homegrown talent, which is a
good problem to have, but it also means that we
don't have as much money to go out and go
after players that are on homegrown talent. So any addition
(16:18):
of money we can get is very helpful. It still
doesn't mean that we're going to break the bank and
free agency. We're still going to be going after those
Vetri minimum guys, which you know, Joy's Cokeyness and Mark
Asseveda do a great job finding those type of players.
We're still going to be trying to find the guys
that we can get that we think are good value,
(16:39):
that may be come to us and play better than
what we expected. And we have a lot of those guys,
right And you know those guys that come in and
you're like, man, this guy's really good. I can't believe
the Raven's got this guy for a million and a
half dollars. Those guys are critical for us to sustain
the success that we've had because the reality is we
just can't go out and spend two hundred million dollars
(16:59):
then offseason on players like some teams do.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
We're just not gonna be able to do that.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Comp Yeah, I mean, I think Mark is a great player.
We're blessed to have three really good tight ends under
contract this year.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
They all contributed in different ways.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Their chemistry, their camaraderie, their impact on the offense, the
relationship with the other skill guys is great. I mean,
Mark's gonna go down as one of our great players.
He'll be in the Ring of Honors someday. I love
having Mark on the team. He's an awesome player. I
know he's gonna have an amazing season.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
We'll figure out all the roster machinations over the coming weeks,
but I can tell you there's no bigger fan of
Mark Andrews than me.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And Uh. He's been a blessing to have on the team.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
His leadership, the way he approaches the game, his attention
to detail.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
He's just one of those guys. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
We also heard from head coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 6 (18:21):
All right, good seeing everybody appreciate you all being here
for us.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
What you got you focused on high school age students.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
What draws you in a high school experience and what
makes it special?
Speaker 6 (18:34):
That's the best question that we're going to have all
day to day. The best the high school experience. We're
doing something we all came through high school. We all
understand how formative that is, right, and the high school experience,
whether it's uh sports, football or basketball, or band or
theater or clubs or whatever, make a huge difference in
(18:56):
young lives, right, you know that? And the impact that
you have is a coach in any of those areas,
just like a teacher, can be life transformational. It can
be transformational for amazing things. It can be transformational for
not so good things or bad things too. And the
idea that that we want to help coaches in every
way we can to be the best they can be
for the young people that they're responsible for because they
took on that job of coaching them is something that's
(19:19):
really important to all of it. It should be important to
all of us. It's important to the Hardball Coaching Academy
to us, and we want to help out where we
can high schools. To take one piece of advice I
got from my high school coach. We had a coach
that his name was Pete Palmer. He was called push
up Pete. And if you did, he was my baseball coach.
(19:39):
And if you didn't run out of ground ball or
a fly ball, you got to run around the football stadium,
which is about a half a mile. You know, baseball
players don't like running too much sometimes, so hustle, you know, hustle.
That's probably the best advice I got early on. The
hustle serves you well in life.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
Thanks.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
You know, NFL investigators on going earlier here when out
and a little the allegation serious and it's certain has
had does that sort of some up your reaction to.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Absolutely, Uh, you know it's uh, it's not what you
want to wake up and read. You know, you don't
want to read about it. It's not something you want
to see. I don't care what it is in terms of,
you know, things that are are hurtful and harmful to people.
There's too many headlines like that, too many stories that
you hear that just make you just just sad, you know,
and disappointed. And you don't want to ever see a
(20:32):
circumstance of situation, especially as if it relates to you know,
your world where you know, anybody's made to feel less
than great when they come and are involved in a
work experience somewhere, you know, and as it touches all
of us in our lives, we want to do everything
we can to make sure that this is just the
opposite that everybody feels like they have a great work experience.
You guys have been in our place every day and
(20:52):
you know, you know what we try to do with that.
So that's just really a tough deal. And the NFL
is looking into it. Uh, they're gonna come up, but
they're gonna review it. They're gonna try to gather all
the facts and hopefully we'll have a I'm sure we'll
have an understanding of it at that time. And then
once there's an understanding of it, then you have a
chance to you know, uh make some decisions and determinations
and things like that.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
And that's where we're at right now.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
That's what you can fail.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
First point of the yeah, and that's that's what we're
waiting to try to do, is reconcile it.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
You know. It's uh, it's uh, that's what the process
is for. You know.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
That's why you've got to You've got to come to
an understanding if you can, about what happened. You know,
we've all got questions, but nobody knows exactly what happened.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
So let's see where the review takes us.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
When did you first learn deplication? And second when you're
that confers.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
Sitting there, Chelsea, Yeah, I learned after Eric told me.
I think right before it came out. Maybe the banner
had called Eric and told him that there was something
coming out. We didn't know anything about what it was
gonna be, so I knew what it was when I
read it, and then, uh, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
A week and a half.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
Two weeks after that, I gave Justin a call on
a Sunday morning and we had a conversation about it
and talked about it more about you know, just more
from a perspective of being together for all these years.
You know kind of what he was going through and
you know what he was dealing with with that and
kind of how he was handled with his family and
things like that, and that was really what we talked about.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Can you say it again?
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Assuation likes frien.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Sa year great question.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
When it rises to a national level, how do you
approach it Really it's not so much about like what
level national or what level of attention something gets. It's
the fact that it's so important to somebody in our program.
I mean, to me, it's like people walk in the
door in this job, you know, kind of you know,
god appointment sometimes we call it, but things come up
all the time. You could be dug deep in the
middle of some football related task and someone walks in
(22:55):
your door with something that's number one important to them
and they're talking to you know, the boss, so to speaker,
the head or whatever, and they just they need your
time and they need your attention.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
So to me, it's exactly the same as any one
of those conversations that you'd.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Have lost drafts going on.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Yeah, well sure it's uh, you know, every position isupport
and we're gonnaok at every single position, but certainly different
years you look at different positions. Uh we we we're
looking at kickers. I mean, we're looking at a lot
of positions. We're looking at every position. But I'd say
the kicker position would have been a priority no matter what,
because you know, our Justin's our kicker.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
We love him and I expect him.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
Would have you know always expected him to keep keep
going forever, but nobody goes forever. So we've got to
look at every position like we do, not what you
all the big picture of the coaching changes. Yeah, that's
(23:58):
the thing that we found in the last three, four
or five years, we've had a lot of coaching changes,
and uh, different reasons for different coaching changes. Guys have
gotten opportunities. We've had a lot of success, and uh
that's a good thing, but it's a challenging thing because
you know, as the from the coaching side, there's nothing
more important than your staff. And we have a great
coaching staff. We've had great coaches come through. I'm gonna
(24:19):
be talking to Anthony Weaver and Mike McDonald later today. Uh,
and those guys are two of the great coaches that
kind of have helped us become what we are as
a program. So I'm excited about Chuck mcgonald. Chuck's been
there before, he's coming back. He's a great coach, he's
a great guy. He's he's uh, he started he helped
start it back in two thousand and eight, in twenty eleven,
you know, so love Chuck and I think he's gonna
bring a lot to the table. Then Donald Delacio is
(24:41):
a young guy who's got a lot of talent, and
Ty Santucci's gonna do a great job with the linebackers.
And Matt Peas really happy with all those guys.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Uh frendick chack.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Vs go. He's be gravitation was twenty er, you see him.
It's very sensive, tagular class and the fine.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Years.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
Yeah, it starts, Cliff, It starts there. You know, it
starts on the offensive defensive line. So we're gonna be
looking at both lines really hard. You look at every position.
It gets a deep running back classroom, I've been told to,
so we'll be looking at that position too. But yeah,
game wrecking defensive tackles kind of a big deal, you know,
you know, past past pressuring defensive ends.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
That's kind of a big deal too.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Checks down. If you guys had the largest projects down
with the team last year and at.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Least your thought process may be halved on a sail legs.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
Flying Yeah, well we we our analysts are in that
in that list.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
So just so you know, we have about the same
number of guys on the field and coaches women coaches too.
On the field, we have the most women coaches in
the league, which I'm really proud of that. We've got
a very diverse coaching staff. I'm really proud of that.
And we have a great coaching staff most importantly, and
that's the thing I'm most proud of. So many well
everybody's got them, everybody's got them, but they're just not
(26:04):
listed under the coaching staff. We just we just give
them coaching staff credit. You know, I think the Browns
have twenty four people in their analytics department, so that
would make them the biggest coaching staff in the league.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
John mentioned coaches gation, you guys have.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Oh the women's coach are Yeah, yeah, you guys conversation.
Our women coaches are doing a great job. They're coaching football. Uh,
they're they're they're contributing to our team. They're learning their
their younger coaches. Uh, in the weight room, on the
football side, through the administrative, through the analytic part of it.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Uh, we have we have some great young people coaching
for us. I'm excited about that. It's that me check you.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
Yeah, that's probably a better Eric quest I've I've I
personally watched the tackles and guards right now so far
on offense.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
That's what I've gotten through. And I like a lot
of those guys, so that's what I can speak to.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Jim learned about himself in his first year back, and.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Jim learned about himself.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
I don't know, man, he's he seems like the same
gym to me.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
I you know, I think maybe I think people people
maybe in uh, but the Chargers learned much how good
he is, how much funny is to be around.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Every day. You're around him a lot, you know, and
he's he's he's Uh.
Speaker 6 (27:39):
I was just talking to Joe Rties in the way
coming down the hallway here, and he said, we work
really hard and we have a lot of fun doing it,
you know. And I think that's something that Jim has
always been about. He's he's fun to be around. He's
he's all he's all ball. If you like football, you know,
you like being you like being a Charger. And I
feel the same way about the Ravens kind of run
similar type programs.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
And and uh, you know, it's kind of what it's
got a ship about. I say, some changes to play
also the same years taking a step off. I'm talking
to you, colleague league and trying to express that.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Your viewpoint, man, I don't know how it goes from
the idea.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
That's a great question.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
I have been very involved in that, and you can
ask anybody that and they'll probably tell you that they
are they yeah, yeah, yeah. He's been a little bit
of a pain about that. But you know, the thing
I appreciate about the league is there's a great dialogue
with that and they do like Roger wants to hear
everybody's opinion and Troy wants to hear everybody's opinion. And
those guys are kind of at the top of the
food chain there and it kind of works from there
(28:45):
through the competition committee on.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
So they're great.
Speaker 6 (28:48):
You know, No, I haven't always gotten what I've suggested.
You know, I think most of the time that they
should be doing what I think is right. But the
coaches talk a lot too. And as far as replay,
you know, I'm I'm a I'm about I'm just as
much replays we can that makes sense, you know, some
things don't make sense and replay. But to me, the
idea at the end of the end of the deal
should be to get it right as much as we can,
(29:08):
and with technology that allows you more and more to
get it right through different avenues of replay.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
When you have in your organization.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
Got one vote right. Yeah, you guys ever have to
kind of come to an agree with.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
You we do.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
You know, Steve is the boss.
Speaker 6 (29:24):
You know, Steve ultimately makes a call, but he listens
to all of us and then he it's not too
often we're like, he doesn't.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
We all come to an agreement. I think one of
our philosophies is that we agree to agree.
Speaker 6 (29:33):
You know, and you've got to come to the you know,
it might be it's either or a third option or
a fourth option or some you know, some way of
looking at that melds all the ideas together.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
But we always try to agree to agree.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Because of that. Also priding you take it.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
And hid it developing.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
Yeah, thanks, Now, I do you take a lot of
pride in that, you know, you take a lot of
pride in the fact that your coaches are going off
and they're doing well, and you kind of see the
the personality of the teams that they coach or the
units they coach, and you feel like.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
Man, that looks familiar to me, you know, and that's
something that you do.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
You take a lot of pride in that, and especially
as you get older, you start feeling better and better
about that. So I love our guys, and you know,
I don't love playing against him all the time. That's
not so much fun. But you love what they're building.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Earlier.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
And you've heard this question as you know, he's a
good the questions all after you.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Now, yeah, yea work with a free agency.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Would you become going to Roger in a.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
Year or two on the web side, absolutely, Yeah, Yeah,
that'd be one of the options we could go to.
It would depend on the draft and different things like
that and free agency. You know, I think we'll probably
keep Ronnie, hopeful that we will, but if we don't,
we'll have an option and that would be one of
them for sure.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Oh yeah, boy, he's got a great shot at that.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
He looked really good at the end of the year
when he played and uh and there's other guys in
there too in.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
That mix.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Rotation.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Yeah, it was early in his career, and you know
it just someone came in there and played really well.
I mean, you know, Pat went in there and played great,
and that was a better option. But Andrew was working
all all the way through and developing then all of
a sudden boom, he's back on the field. You guys
don't see the practices. But then he's back on the field,
and he played really well, you know, and that was
because of all the work between then and when he
got his opportunity.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
To push.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
Okay, well, to me, it's okay, you got to take
all those rules holistically. Okay, what effect is one rule
change having the next thing? So if you take out
the touch push, then you've got to take out all pushing. Okay,
So you can't. Guy can't be downfield and the offensive
lineman come running in and push the ball carrier five
more yards.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
You can't take one out and not the other. They're
they're the same.
Speaker 6 (31:39):
Just like you're not supposed to be able to grab
a running back and pull them into the end zone.
That hasn't been officiated. They've allowed that to happen. That's
already against the rules. How you can officiate that. So
if we want to say that you can't, like you
can't you can't help push it back, then you can't.
Then you can take out the touch push if you
if you're going to say that that's still allowed.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
In my opinion, you can't take out the touch push.
So I'm good. I'm good with you. I'm okay with
the touch push. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
How employant is.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
This offseason at the pass rusher and being able to
get home four or not having.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
The center in the bodies in the way.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
Yeah, we believe in both.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
I think you want to be able to You want
to be able to get there with three, you know,
maybe make them hold a little longer. You want to
be able to get there with stimulated where you bring four,
but it's not the guy they expect to come and
make them hold the ball to coverage the guys. You
want to be able to get there with four rushers,
like some teams, the teams that have those guys, they
do a great job.
Speaker 5 (32:24):
And we have those guys too, We've done that a lot.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
You want to be able to get home with zone blitzes,
with man blitzeres, with all our blitzes, we like to
keep it moving, We like to keep people guessing. That's
kind of our format and for man rush, absolutely big
part of that.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
Four minuts thous two thousand and two of ours, Aaron
was today humans play in.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
The policy and definitely in your mind where if that
policy is a paid stuff.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
That's that's to be determined. I think that's to be determined, right,
you know, that's something we got to find out. That's
what the reviews for it again, understanding of what we're
even talking about. You can't make a can't take an
act without understanding, right. You got to get the facts
and understand what happened as best you can, and then
you take the situation for what it is. But the
principle is the same. How do you define that principle
(33:11):
that term a little bit? Maybe we will come out
and make a definition of that at some point in time.
You know, that's something that you know that would be
interesting to me. But I think everybody understands the idea there,
and let's see where the review takes us.
Speaker 5 (33:24):
No, no, absolutely not absolutely not. Okay, great, Thanks, all right.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
You're listening to The Raven's Press Past podcast. Make sure
you subscribe. Also head over to the Lounge podcast feed
and subscribe there as well. Thanks for listening, and we
will talk with you again soon.
Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The twenty twenty
five NFL Scouting Combine is now in the books. The
Ravens had a chance to take a look at the
incoming class of prospects and put in some work to
build out the draft board for the upcoming draft in April.
Now during the week in Indianapolis, we had a chance
to hear from several of the Ravens executives, including GM
(00:27):
Eric Costa.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hello, everyone, We'll get started with questions. Thanks for coming man,
that's a that's a that's a deep question. I've been
blessed to be a part of an organization where we've
had three head coaches and two gms. I think that that,
(00:54):
you know, continuity is huge in decision making, having support
from ownership, putting processes, play systems, feeling good about the process,
knowing the other people in the room.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I think that's a big part of it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think shared experience, calling on historical things that have
happened in the past to help you make decisions. I
think factors in the biggest thing is really just having
an owner that believes in you and has put you
in place to succeed and believes you will succeed, and
I've been blessed to have Steepashaty in my life for
a long time. Here. Well, I think you're always you know,
(01:33):
every smart team is always looking for quarterbacks. It's a
quarterback league, and whether you're looking for a backup, a
practice squad quarterback, a starting quarterback, you know, it's it's
hard to win without one. We're blessed to have Lamar Jackson.
Before that, we were blessed to have Joe Flacco. You know,
living in a world without a quarterback is a tough
world to live in.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
We understand that.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
These guys drive the league, and so you know, it's
a tough position to be in.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
But I think if you've got to write people and.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Trust the process, you can find one. Well, I think
a lot goes into that. First of all, a good question.
Appreciate the question. The allegations are serious, concerning the amount
(02:27):
of allegations are serious and concerning. I think we're fortunate
that the league is doing an investigation. We'll wait as
patiently as we can for as much information as we can,
and we'll make a decisions based on that. Well, I think,
(02:50):
like every position, we're going to evaluate rank the board.
We've been doing that for the last twenty nine years.
We're blessed to have a really good kickers coach and
Randy Brown, who does a phenomenal job evaluating punters and
kickers and long snappers for us every single season. We'll
meet with Randy throughout the process. Over the coming weeks,
(03:11):
he'll travel all over the country looking at these guys,
and we'll build the best board that we can give it.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Zero that.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Well, I think again, it's a good question.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I think the biggest thing that we have to do
first of all is look at every single case differently.
There are no absolutes, and I think in this case,
we're still a waiting as much information as possible. Again,
we're fortunate that the league is it's come down to Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I met with the league.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I believe the league is meeting with other people in
Baltimore as well. We'll wait for the details of that
investigation and we'll make a decision based on that. I
really can't because again, we look at every case differently,
(04:04):
and the facts in every single case.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
We do this for a living.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
We study players, we look at background, we consider all
these different things. Every case is entirely different, different facts,
different situations. So we'll wait for the investigation to take
place and we'll make a decision based off of that.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So, we were aware that local media outlet was getting
prepared to do a story on Justin Tucker, and that
was the first time that we became aware of those allegations,
of the potential allegations.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
That might result.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So, I think, you know, I've answered what four questions
on this situation. I did meet with Justin. I'm gonna
keep those comments to myself and personal conversations with Justin.
I think is probably the smart thing to do. But
at that point, we did, you know, meet, and that's
what I'm gonna say about that.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Don't know, I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, I think it's a good, you know, a pretty
good class draft wise, free agency wise as well.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I think we do a really good job.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I'm very happy to see the development that our young
receivers have made the last couple of years. Greg Lewis
does a great job coaching those guys up. Our players
really did a good job this year. I feel like
there's a good opportunity for us to find some good talent,
either through free agency or the draft.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Uh, in every round, uh and every.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Price point and uh, and you know, I think the
other point is that we've got some really good tight
ends as well. And I think this year we really
he did see kind of our vision for the offense
come together with playmakers across the board, whether it's running back, receiver,
tight end, backup running back, back up receivers, backup tight ends.
I think, Uh, it was kind of what we've hoped
for the last couple of years, and we had a
chance to see that come to fruition. Well, Ronnie and
(06:24):
I did a deal the last time, so that's great.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Uh. He and I have a good friendship. We've known
each other for a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
He's got a great agent in Kim Miale. You know,
you know, never want to say one hundred percent, but
I feel good that we'll have a good, healthy debate,
a good process. We're going to meet with Kim in
Indy this week, and Uh, I'm optimistic that we'll be
able to get a deal done. Well, that's a coaching question.
(06:59):
I mean, we've seen you know, we think Roger had
a great year last year. He's a very good athlete.
He's way mature than a typical young player. I think
he proved that this year with how he played and
competed the week in week out, whether it was on
field performance against good players coming back from injuries and
things like that. So he's definitely a factor on the
left side if need be. I think we'll try to
(07:21):
find the best five guys we can. I think there
were a lot of questions about the offensive line last year,
and I think we did a pretty good job of
putting a pretty competitive offensive line together on the field
last year, and I would expect the same to be
whole true this year. Yeah, I mean, I think Cliff
(07:46):
it really just comes down to the best player at
the time, and we're always gonna say that. I mean,
it's something that we've said every single year, he's starting
back to nineteen ninety six with Ozzie as the GM.
We're gonna draft best available players. So I think if
we're picking at you know, twenty seven, and there's an
edge rusher and he's the best guy, we're probably gonna
pick him and it's gonna hold through with every round.
I think it's an important position. I think we were
(08:10):
maybe second in the league in sacks last year, but
having a continuous influx of young pass rush talent, guys
that can set the edge and play the run, guys
that play like Ravens, physical players who can.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Get to the quarterback. I think that's a priority for
us for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Derrick Henry, I mean, Derek is just a phenomenal worker.
He's a pro, does everything the right way, the way
that he practices, the way that he takes care of
his body, his mentality on the field, his leadership, his talent.
I mean, he's freakishly talented. I mean his combination of
size and speed. So he was just the perfect player
(08:51):
for us. I think last year the right addition, and
he brought a lot to the table on the field
and also off the field with intangible qualities. We're blessed
to have him, and I would expect his successes last
year to continue this year.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You know, it's a tough question.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I mean it's you know, running backs are kind of
like the stock market. They've been up. When I was
a kid, running back was was was arguably the most
important position on the field. You know, I grew up
a Cowboys fan, and you know, Tony dors said, Emmitt Smith,
guys like that were my idols. And then we went
through this period of the last what five ten years,
(09:35):
the analytics emphasis sort of de emphasized the position. And
I think last year you saw the impact that some
of these guys had. And you know, Howie Roseman a
great GM went out and got Saquon and they won
a Super Bowl. And you know a lot of credit
to Howie, and but I think you know, these are
(09:56):
guys that touched the ball. These are guys that impact games.
I think they're looked at is probably replaceable by some people,
but if you've got a great one, if you've got
a historic one, you can't replace those guys. They impact
the game in many different ways and they create nightmares
for defenses. Well, I think that you always want to
(10:34):
be strong, you know, through your middle, and something that
I think we've prioritized with Kyle as a safety, Rokwan,
our defensive tackles, Travers, Nmd, Linderbaum, Lamar, all those guys.
I mean, I believe in that as well being strong
up the middle. It's always going to be an allocation
(10:56):
of resources and where you spend your money every year.
There's different schools of thought, but you've got to be physical.
We've always prided ourselves on being a physical football team
that can stop to run, run the ball, protect the quarterback,
rush the passer, and win games in the fourth quarter.
I think this draft class is pretty strong, you know.
(11:18):
I think you've got on the defensive line, You've got
some guys, some defensive ends that when we say defensive end,
we mean outside linebackers. So that's you might hear me
reference outside linebackers. Other clubs might calm defensive ends. But
I think you've got some defensive tackles that are fine prospects.
And then on the interior, we see a number of
(11:38):
guards that could get picked in the first and second
round and probably provide early value and start right away
for their drafting clubs like to do.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Well. I see Michelle over here.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
She helps Deck rate my office wall, and I think
we have a picture of Derek going up on my wall.
So what does that tell you? Lamar's got a great voice,
and uh, he's a student of the game. He watches players,
(12:19):
he knows talent. Now we do does love the Miami
guys and the Florida guys, but listen, Lamar has a
he's a stakeholder, he's a partner. He's earned that right
to be to have that type of input and opinion,
and a lot of guys haven't earned that right, but
Lamar has earned that right. It's important, it's necessary, and
(12:42):
I welcome his input and I'll get texts from him.
And there have been some years where I've gone down
and visited visited with him and probably do to do
to do that again, to take a trip down to
Florida and spend some time with him. But he's got
a great command of the offense. He made great strides
this year in every fact. You know, he's my MVP,
(13:02):
and uh, I think his impact on our team is
is impossible to measure.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
I don't know how to answer that. I mean, you know,
I mean Lamar is Lamar.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
He's a two time MVP, in my opinion, should have
been a three time MVP, so different status.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
So that's what I would say.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I think you have to earn those kind of rights.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I mean, upside is how good can this guy be?
Position need is like we need a player to play
right away my opinion. You know, with positional need, it
sounds great at the time you draft the player, you
pencil him in, but if he doesn't have the ability
to play at a high level. Then typically you're gonna
be disappointed, your fans are gonna be disappointed.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You're gonna look at.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
As a as A as a bad pick. So you
want the best player in any given situation. You need
to change day to day. I mean, We've been in situations.
I've been on teams where I felt like we had
great depth at corner, great depth at tight end. In
the matter of a couple of weeks, we had no depth.
I go back to the year that in a matter
of a couple of weeks we lost you know, JK
Gus Edwards and Justice and had no running backs. Literally
(14:14):
a Friday afternoon calling agents, trying to find somebody to
come to Baltimore. And fortunately we're able to get a
couple of guys that came in and really saved us
that year in many different ways.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
And so, you know, need changes. But you win with talent,
you win with players.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And I always, if I have my choice, I'm always
going with upside and I'm always going with talent. What
was that, I mean, you guys know the Ravens. I mean,
you know, right player at the right price. You know,
we don't have a lot of cap room we have
Nick Mattio working tirelessly to find some space for us.
(14:51):
We call it couch cushion coins. You know, like we're
just we're trying to find fifty grand here, seventy five
grand there in a couch cushion. But you know, not
a team that's gonna make a lot of big splashes
generally speaking, I mean, we're probably gonna have eleven draft
picks this year. My goal would be to hit on
a large percentage of those draft picks, to find good, young,
(15:11):
inexpensive talent to put guys in for the future, because
the reality of it is, when you're paying guys like
Lamar Jackson and the Marlon Humphreys and the Namdi Mattabeks
and the Rokwan Smiths and guys like that, and the
guys like someday probably Tyler Linderbaum and guys like Kyle Hamilton,
you've got a draft well every single year so that
(15:33):
you always have an open window. It gives us a
little bit more, but when you're starting with as few
dollars as we have, it's it's a savior, but we
still would like to have more money, and then we're
(15:55):
a victim of our own success. In some ways because
you know, when you guys, remember when when I did
become GM, one of my main priorities was to retain
as much of our own homegrown talent as possible. And
we have a lot of homegrown talent, which is a
good problem to have, but it also means that we
don't have as much money to go out and go
after players that are on homegrown talent. So any addition
(16:18):
of money we can get is very helpful. It still
doesn't mean that we're going to break the bank and
free agency. We're still going to be going after those
Vetri minimum guys, which you know, Joy's Cokeyness and Mark
Asseveda do a great job finding those type of players.
We're still going to be trying to find the guys
that we can get that we think are good value,
(16:39):
that may be come to us and play better than
what we expected. And we have a lot of those guys,
right And you know those guys that come in and
you're like, man, this guy's really good. I can't believe
the Raven's got this guy for a million and a
half dollars. Those guys are critical for us to sustain
the success that we've had because the reality is we
just can't go out and spend two hundred million dollars
(16:59):
then offseason on players like some teams do.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
We're just not gonna be able to do that.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Comp Yeah, I mean, I think Mark is a great player.
We're blessed to have three really good tight ends under
contract this year.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
They all contributed in different ways.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Their chemistry, their camaraderie, their impact on the offense, the
relationship with the other skill guys is great. I mean,
Mark's gonna go down as one of our great players.
He'll be in the Ring of Honors someday. I love
having Mark on the team. He's an awesome player. I
know he's gonna have an amazing season.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
We'll figure out all the roster machinations over the coming weeks,
but I can tell you there's no bigger fan of
Mark Andrews than me.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And Uh. He's been a blessing to have on the team.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
His leadership, the way he approaches the game, his attention
to detail.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
He's just one of those guys. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
We also heard from head coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 6 (18:21):
All right, good seeing everybody appreciate you all being here
for us.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
What you got you focused on high school age students.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
What draws you in a high school experience and what
makes it special?
Speaker 6 (18:34):
That's the best question that we're going to have all
day to day. The best the high school experience. We're
doing something we all came through high school. We all
understand how formative that is, right, and the high school experience,
whether it's uh sports, football or basketball, or band or
theater or clubs or whatever, make a huge difference in
(18:56):
young lives, right, you know that? And the impact that
you have is a coach in any of those areas,
just like a teacher, can be life transformational. It can
be transformational for amazing things. It can be transformational for
not so good things or bad things too. And the
idea that that we want to help coaches in every
way we can to be the best they can be
for the young people that they're responsible for because they
took on that job of coaching them is something that's
(19:19):
really important to all of it. It should be important to
all of us. It's important to the Hardball Coaching Academy
to us, and we want to help out where we
can high schools. To take one piece of advice I
got from my high school coach. We had a coach
that his name was Pete Palmer. He was called push
up Pete. And if you did, he was my baseball coach.
(19:39):
And if you didn't run out of ground ball or
a fly ball, you got to run around the football stadium,
which is about a half a mile. You know, baseball
players don't like running too much sometimes, so hustle, you know, hustle.
That's probably the best advice I got early on. The
hustle serves you well in life.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
Thanks.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
You know, NFL investigators on going earlier here when out
and a little the allegation serious and it's certain has
had does that sort of some up your reaction to.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Absolutely, Uh, you know it's uh, it's not what you
want to wake up and read. You know, you don't
want to read about it. It's not something you want
to see. I don't care what it is in terms of,
you know, things that are are hurtful and harmful to people.
There's too many headlines like that, too many stories that
you hear that just make you just just sad, you know,
and disappointed. And you don't want to ever see a
(20:32):
circumstance of situation, especially as if it relates to you know,
your world where you know, anybody's made to feel less
than great when they come and are involved in a
work experience somewhere, you know, and as it touches all
of us in our lives, we want to do everything
we can to make sure that this is just the
opposite that everybody feels like they have a great work experience.
You guys have been in our place every day and
(20:52):
you know, you know what we try to do with that.
So that's just really a tough deal. And the NFL
is looking into it. Uh, they're gonna come up, but
they're gonna review it. They're gonna try to gather all
the facts and hopefully we'll have a I'm sure we'll
have an understanding of it at that time. And then
once there's an understanding of it, then you have a
chance to you know, uh make some decisions and determinations
and things like that.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
And that's where we're at right now.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
That's what you can fail.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
First point of the yeah, and that's that's what we're
waiting to try to do, is reconcile it.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
You know. It's uh, it's uh, that's what the process
is for. You know.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
That's why you've got to You've got to come to
an understanding if you can, about what happened. You know,
we've all got questions, but nobody knows exactly what happened.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
So let's see where the review takes us.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
When did you first learn deplication? And second when you're
that confers.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
Sitting there, Chelsea, Yeah, I learned after Eric told me.
I think right before it came out. Maybe the banner
had called Eric and told him that there was something
coming out. We didn't know anything about what it was
gonna be, so I knew what it was when I
read it, and then, uh, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
A week and a half.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
Two weeks after that, I gave Justin a call on
a Sunday morning and we had a conversation about it
and talked about it more about you know, just more
from a perspective of being together for all these years.
You know kind of what he was going through and
you know what he was dealing with with that and
kind of how he was handled with his family and
things like that, and that was really what we talked about.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Can you say it again?
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Assuation likes frien.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Sa year great question.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
When it rises to a national level, how do you
approach it Really it's not so much about like what
level national or what level of attention something gets. It's
the fact that it's so important to somebody in our program.
I mean, to me, it's like people walk in the
door in this job, you know, kind of you know,
god appointment sometimes we call it, but things come up
all the time. You could be dug deep in the
middle of some football related task and someone walks in
(22:55):
your door with something that's number one important to them
and they're talking to you know, the boss, so to speaker,
the head or whatever, and they just they need your
time and they need your attention.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
So to me, it's exactly the same as any one
of those conversations that you'd.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Have lost drafts going on.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Yeah, well sure it's uh, you know, every position isupport
and we're gonnaok at every single position, but certainly different
years you look at different positions. Uh we we we're
looking at kickers. I mean, we're looking at a lot
of positions. We're looking at every position. But I'd say
the kicker position would have been a priority no matter what,
because you know, our Justin's our kicker.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
We love him and I expect him.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
Would have you know always expected him to keep keep
going forever, but nobody goes forever. So we've got to
look at every position like we do, not what you
all the big picture of the coaching changes. Yeah, that's
(23:58):
the thing that we found in the last three, four
or five years, we've had a lot of coaching changes,
and uh, different reasons for different coaching changes. Guys have
gotten opportunities. We've had a lot of success, and uh
that's a good thing, but it's a challenging thing because
you know, as the from the coaching side, there's nothing
more important than your staff. And we have a great
coaching staff. We've had great coaches come through. I'm gonna
(24:19):
be talking to Anthony Weaver and Mike McDonald later today. Uh,
and those guys are two of the great coaches that
kind of have helped us become what we are as
a program. So I'm excited about Chuck mcgonald. Chuck's been
there before, he's coming back. He's a great coach, he's
a great guy. He's he's uh, he started he helped
start it back in two thousand and eight, in twenty eleven,
you know, so love Chuck and I think he's gonna
bring a lot to the table. Then Donald Delacio is
(24:41):
a young guy who's got a lot of talent, and
Ty Santucci's gonna do a great job with the linebackers.
And Matt Peas really happy with all those guys.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Uh frendick chack.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Vs go. He's be gravitation was twenty er, you see him.
It's very sensive, tagular class and the fine.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Years.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
Yeah, it starts, Cliff, It starts there. You know, it
starts on the offensive defensive line. So we're gonna be
looking at both lines really hard. You look at every position.
It gets a deep running back classroom, I've been told to,
so we'll be looking at that position too. But yeah,
game wrecking defensive tackles kind of a big deal, you know,
you know, past past pressuring defensive ends.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
That's kind of a big deal too.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Checks down. If you guys had the largest projects down
with the team last year and at.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Least your thought process may be halved on a sail legs.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
Flying Yeah, well we we our analysts are in that
in that list.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
So just so you know, we have about the same
number of guys on the field and coaches women coaches too.
On the field, we have the most women coaches in
the league, which I'm really proud of that. We've got
a very diverse coaching staff. I'm really proud of that.
And we have a great coaching staff most importantly, and
that's the thing I'm most proud of. So many well
everybody's got them, everybody's got them, but they're just not
(26:04):
listed under the coaching staff. We just we just give
them coaching staff credit. You know, I think the Browns
have twenty four people in their analytics department, so that
would make them the biggest coaching staff in the league.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
John mentioned coaches gation, you guys have.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Oh the women's coach are Yeah, yeah, you guys conversation.
Our women coaches are doing a great job. They're coaching football. Uh,
they're they're they're contributing to our team. They're learning their
their younger coaches. Uh, in the weight room, on the
football side, through the administrative, through the analytic part of it.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Uh, we have we have some great young people coaching
for us. I'm excited about that. It's that me check you.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
Yeah, that's probably a better Eric quest I've I've I
personally watched the tackles and guards right now so far
on offense.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
That's what I've gotten through. And I like a lot
of those guys, so that's what I can speak to.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Jim learned about himself in his first year back, and.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Jim learned about himself.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
I don't know, man, he's he seems like the same
gym to me.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
I you know, I think maybe I think people people
maybe in uh, but the Chargers learned much how good
he is, how much funny is to be around.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Every day. You're around him a lot, you know, and
he's he's he's Uh.
Speaker 6 (27:39):
I was just talking to Joe Rties in the way
coming down the hallway here, and he said, we work
really hard and we have a lot of fun doing it,
you know. And I think that's something that Jim has
always been about. He's he's fun to be around. He's
he's all he's all ball. If you like football, you know,
you like being you like being a Charger. And I
feel the same way about the Ravens kind of run
similar type programs.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
And and uh, you know, it's kind of what it's
got a ship about. I say, some changes to play
also the same years taking a step off. I'm talking
to you, colleague league and trying to express that.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Your viewpoint, man, I don't know how it goes from
the idea.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
That's a great question.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
I have been very involved in that, and you can
ask anybody that and they'll probably tell you that they
are they yeah, yeah, yeah. He's been a little bit
of a pain about that. But you know, the thing
I appreciate about the league is there's a great dialogue
with that and they do like Roger wants to hear
everybody's opinion and Troy wants to hear everybody's opinion. And
those guys are kind of at the top of the
food chain there and it kind of works from there
(28:45):
through the competition committee on.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
So they're great.
Speaker 6 (28:48):
You know, No, I haven't always gotten what I've suggested.
You know, I think most of the time that they
should be doing what I think is right. But the
coaches talk a lot too. And as far as replay,
you know, I'm I'm a I'm about I'm just as
much replays we can that makes sense, you know, some
things don't make sense and replay. But to me, the
idea at the end of the end of the deal
should be to get it right as much as we can,
(29:08):
and with technology that allows you more and more to
get it right through different avenues of replay.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
When you have in your organization.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
Got one vote right. Yeah, you guys ever have to
kind of come to an agree with.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
You we do.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
You know, Steve is the boss.
Speaker 6 (29:24):
You know, Steve ultimately makes a call, but he listens
to all of us and then he it's not too
often we're like, he doesn't.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
We all come to an agreement. I think one of
our philosophies is that we agree to agree.
Speaker 6 (29:33):
You know, and you've got to come to the you know,
it might be it's either or a third option or
a fourth option or some you know, some way of
looking at that melds all the ideas together.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
But we always try to agree to agree.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Because of that. Also priding you take it.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
And hid it developing.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
Yeah, thanks, Now, I do you take a lot of
pride in that, you know, you take a lot of
pride in the fact that your coaches are going off
and they're doing well, and you kind of see the
the personality of the teams that they coach or the
units they coach, and you feel like.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
Man, that looks familiar to me, you know, and that's
something that you do.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
You take a lot of pride in that, and especially
as you get older, you start feeling better and better
about that. So I love our guys, and you know,
I don't love playing against him all the time. That's
not so much fun. But you love what they're building.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Earlier.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
And you've heard this question as you know, he's a
good the questions all after you.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Now, yeah, yea work with a free agency.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Would you become going to Roger in a.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
Year or two on the web side, absolutely, Yeah, Yeah,
that'd be one of the options we could go to.
It would depend on the draft and different things like
that and free agency. You know, I think we'll probably
keep Ronnie, hopeful that we will, but if we don't,
we'll have an option and that would be one of
them for sure.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Oh yeah, boy, he's got a great shot at that.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
He looked really good at the end of the year
when he played and uh and there's other guys in
there too in.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
That mix.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Rotation.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Yeah, it was early in his career, and you know
it just someone came in there and played really well.
I mean, you know, Pat went in there and played great,
and that was a better option. But Andrew was working
all all the way through and developing then all of
a sudden boom, he's back on the field. You guys
don't see the practices. But then he's back on the field,
and he played really well, you know, and that was
because of all the work between then and when he
got his opportunity.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
To push.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
Okay, well, to me, it's okay, you got to take
all those rules holistically. Okay, what effect is one rule
change having the next thing? So if you take out
the touch push, then you've got to take out all pushing. Okay,
So you can't. Guy can't be downfield and the offensive
lineman come running in and push the ball carrier five
more yards.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
You can't take one out and not the other. They're
they're the same.
Speaker 6 (31:39):
Just like you're not supposed to be able to grab
a running back and pull them into the end zone.
That hasn't been officiated. They've allowed that to happen. That's
already against the rules. How you can officiate that. So
if we want to say that you can't, like you
can't you can't help push it back, then you can't.
Then you can take out the touch push if you
if you're going to say that that's still allowed.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
In my opinion, you can't take out the touch push.
So I'm good. I'm good with you. I'm okay with
the touch push. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
How employant is.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
This offseason at the pass rusher and being able to
get home four or not having.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
The center in the bodies in the way.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
Yeah, we believe in both.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
I think you want to be able to You want
to be able to get there with three, you know,
maybe make them hold a little longer. You want to
be able to get there with stimulated where you bring four,
but it's not the guy they expect to come and
make them hold the ball to coverage the guys. You
want to be able to get there with four rushers,
like some teams, the teams that have those guys, they
do a great job.
Speaker 5 (32:24):
And we have those guys too, We've done that a lot.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
You want to be able to get home with zone blitzes,
with man blitzeres, with all our blitzes, we like to
keep it moving, We like to keep people guessing. That's
kind of our format and for man rush, absolutely big
part of that.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
Four minuts thous two thousand and two of ours, Aaron
was today humans play in.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
The policy and definitely in your mind where if that
policy is a paid stuff.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
That's that's to be determined. I think that's to be determined, right,
you know, that's something we got to find out. That's
what the reviews for it again, understanding of what we're
even talking about. You can't make a can't take an
act without understanding, right. You got to get the facts
and understand what happened as best you can, and then
you take the situation for what it is. But the
principle is the same. How do you define that principle
(33:11):
that term a little bit? Maybe we will come out
and make a definition of that at some point in time.
You know, that's something that you know that would be
interesting to me. But I think everybody understands the idea there,
and let's see where the review takes us.
Speaker 5 (33:24):
No, no, absolutely not absolutely not. Okay, great, Thanks, all right.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
You're listening to The Raven's Press Past podcast. Make sure
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