April 26, 2025 • 47 mins
General Manager Eric DeCosta, Head Coach John Harbaugh, LB Teddye Buchanan, OT Carson Vinson, CB Bilhal Kone & K Tyler Loop speak with the media.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The twenty twenty
five NFL Draft is complete for the Ravens. They made
eleven picks over the course of three days. Let's run
through the list. The first round, they took safety Malachi Starks.
They follow that up with outside linebacker Mike Green in
the second round and offensive tackle Emery Jones in the third.
On Day three, the Ravens took linebacker Teddy Buchanan from
(00:24):
cal then offensive tackle Carson Vincent from Alabama A and M.
In the sixth round, they took cornerback balal Kone from
Western Michigan. They then took kicker Tyler Loop from Arizona,
wide receiver Lejohntay Wester from Colorado, defensive lineman and Unice
Peebles from Virginia Tech, cornerback Robert Longerbeam from Rutgers, and
finally they took offensive lineman most likely a guard, Garrett
(00:47):
Dellinger out of LSU. After the draft, we got a
chance to hear from general manager Eric Tacosta and head
coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
It was a long day, a couple of days, but
today was a long day. Happy the way that it transpired,
I think we added some really interesting, good developmental players,
some guys that can come in and help us right away,
and some guys that like looking out. You know, I
think we'll be looking back and saying, hey, these guys
(01:20):
really helped our team. So just quickly, some quick things
on these guys. Buchanan was a guy that I did
late in the process. The coaches and scouts like them.
I saw a guy that played very hard, very gifted mover, explosive,
excellent coverage linebacker. Should translate well to special teams. I
(01:42):
think he's a really polished, tough, tenacious guy. Carson Vincent
coach warhop one of his favorite prospects. A small school guy,
a tremendous size and strength. I can tell you he
came into my office last week. He visited last week
and almost broke my hand and then he tried to
shake my hand and just leave my office, and I
just looked at him said I'm good. But he's just
(02:04):
a big, strong, physical athletic player. I think coach Warhawp's
excited to work with him. B K from Western Michigan,
as he likes to be known, tall, long corner. I
think he runs really well, good ball skills. I think
he can, you know, get stronger, but I think he's
(02:24):
got really good coverage ability. Think he's a guy that
can play from off and play from press, good developmental
corner with the size that we look for and the
speed that we look for.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Tyler Loop, the kicker.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
We told you guys that we would consider drafting a
kicker if the right one was there, and this was
a guy that you know, for the last I don't know,
three weeks, Randy Brown, our kicking coach, has been out
canvassing the country looking at kickers and evaluating guys, and
I gotta be honest, it was kind of nice having
him out of the office for an extended period of time.
Oh no, just a joke, But I think Randy does
(02:57):
a phenomenal job evaluating these kickers. And he came back
and he said, really, hey, Eric, there's one guy that
I really covert and it's Loop. And so, you know,
I think for us, we've kind of felt like we
had to draft him and it was just a matter
of getting the right spot and kind of working the
picks and kind of come up with the right combination.
And we think he's got a really strong leg and
(03:18):
He's got a lot of potential. I think Wester is
a guy that you know, what stands out about him
is really his returnability. If you watch him, I think
he's a twitchy, explosive punt returner. I think, you know,
last year, it became evident that we could probably get
better there at that position. I feel like last year's
probably I didn't do a good enough job making sure
(03:41):
that we had a good punt return around the team.
We had some guys, but we couldn't get the right mix,
the right guy to really do it. And we think
Wester has a chance to really come in here and
be an impact punk returner for us. So excited about him.
Ania's peoples is coach Arbot one of his guys. He
loved his tape. We loved his explosion and he's a
little undersized, but he's a twitchy, disruptive player who can
(04:03):
rush the passer, who plays hard. I think he's got
a really, really good skill set for us as a
third down sub rusher who runs to the football and
can make some plays that way longer beam I think
another corner as I was looking at it, you know,
the last couple of weeks for me, the two guys
that were most intriguing corner wise well with BK and
(04:24):
Longer Beam. And you know, I think we were kind
of going back and forth because they were so close
and both so talented in different ways. And I think
our goal was to get one of those two guys.
And as we got to the end of the draft,
Longer Beam was still there. It was like a no
brainer for us to take him. He's just a really
really quick footed, good corner who can play off coverage.
He supports the run, he plays bigger than his size,
(04:47):
and he's got tremendous speed. You know, one thing we
know here in Baltimore is you can never have enough corners.
We think now we have a really really good mix
of veteran corners and also younger developmental guys too who
can help us get better. And then the final guy
is Garrett Dellinger, another offensive lineman from LSU. We watched
him this year at the Senior Bowl. He's in get
the talented athlete, a big, wide body guy, a true guard.
(05:10):
He's physical, he's tough. I think he's a smart player. Incidentally,
born in the state of Maryland, so that was kind
of cool. A guy that we're excited about. We think
he has traits and we like the way he plays questions.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Okay, you know, area, it seemed like it was a
very heavy defensive draft.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
How you got especially early on. How much do you
think you impacted the defense with this rap?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, I think, you know, we went into it, you know,
thinking maybe that we would allocate some resources to that
side of the football. You know, I think it's very cyclical.
Some years we spend most of our picks on offense,
some years more so on defense. Some years were balanced.
You know, I think early on this year we did
spend some some picks on defense. I think we got
some great football players at important position, you know, uh,
(06:01):
guys that can make plays on the football, Guys who
can get to the quarterback. You know, I think that's
that's great. And probably the one thing we couldn't do
is get that big, wide body type guy. And I think,
you know, that's something that will assess and the address
after the draft, and you know, we're already starting to
talk about that, so we're aware of that. But I
(06:22):
think the guys we took can really impact the defense
for short and we're excited about him.
Speaker 5 (06:27):
Like the back of him nos Te to make up from.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Michael Pearce's a big, you know, first and second down
run stuffing type of guy. Probably have a place for
a guy like that. We had a couple of guys
late that got picked in the late in the draft
that we were targeting potentially and and they got picked.
But I think we do have some options. Yeah, you know,
with street free agents and different things that we will
have an opportunity to address that in some way.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
The selection of a kicker, I mean, is the expectation
that you would, i mean compete with Justin Is the
expedition that he would come in and be the kicker?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Is it too early to say with what you're thinking
on that.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, I think he's a really talented player, and I
think that you know, right now, they're both on the
on the roster, and you know, it was a situation
for us where we're just trying to find the best
football players. So we're excited to see what he can do.
I've actually never met you know, uh Tyler. I'm looking
forward to that he'll be here next week, get a
chance to see his leg and that will help us
(07:29):
address you know, what our decision making is going to
be moving forward.
Speaker 7 (07:33):
Do you guys get carried outic updates from the d's
investigation into Tucker?
Speaker 5 (07:38):
And have you gotten any ballpark idea when?
Speaker 7 (07:41):
Why do you concluded, you know, June training him?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, you know, so I'm not a part of that loop,
so to speak. Uh, you know, I do get some
updates from Sashi periodically. I haven't gotten anything recently, and
we're not really under any you know, idea when that
timeline is going to be. We're just kind of waiting.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Hearing a fire you do attracting the kicker? How much
that what does that do to impact you Justin's roster
spot at all?
Speaker 8 (08:11):
Now?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I haven't really thought about that at this point. I
just thought he was a really talented player, and uh
it made sense for us to do that for a
lot of different reasons, you know. I mean we've we've
told you guys multiple times this spring that we would
look at kickers, and so for us, it's like any
other position this year. We evaluated all these guys, we
felt like he was draftable, we felt like he was
(08:32):
the best kicker, and uh it made sense for us
to take.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Him any trade.
Speaker 9 (08:37):
The decision for you guys to make your move when
you did or was it all planned when.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
You had Uh, you know, that's a good question, Jerry.
I think it certainly. You know, it's it's like this
with every position, right, So you have a player that
maybe you like, and you know you're certainly aware of
runs and we see that all the time, and you know,
it's something that we're very attuned to, and that's really
a thing. It's like it's like momentum in sports, right,
It's it's there was a run, and so you know, uh,
(09:03):
we had sort of targeted if we were going to
take this guy, it was going to be somewhere probably
in the third day of the draft and probably in
one of the latter rounds. But when you see sort
of the toothpaste open up, you know, you have to
be aware that, hey, this could start a run. And
you know we've seen it with other positions. We saw
it last year with offensive lineman in the second round.
You know, we saw it a few years ago when
(09:24):
we drafted Jordan Stout with punters. So it does happen.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Aware of that.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
I wouldn't say it necessarily like, uh, increase the urgency
for us necessarily, but it was definitely like Okay, this
is the time and we probably have to go ahead
and do it.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
You close relationship with just and it's see someone you
talk to give my heads out that you're playing a
drafting kicker.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
You think he's been around a long time. When he
understands that's right.
Speaker 10 (09:52):
Both, you know, I don't think we would have to,
but we we had talked to him. He was he
was in this week kicking and working out. So we
had conversations and he already understood. He knew the situation
and you guys knew he had seen all those kind
of quotes too, so he knew that was possibility.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Kind of stood out, you know, and you've you've put
Hi around a few kickers.
Speaker 11 (10:11):
What stood out to you when and looking at what
you saw from from Tyler?
Speaker 10 (10:16):
Yeah, well yeah, I watch the tape with Randy took
me through it. Randy saw him in person. Also, we
looked through all the guys and uh, he's good. I mean,
he's talented guy. He's he's strong, and he's very consistent
with his leg swing. I think he's one of these guys.
He's a he's a kicking nerd. Do you like to
see that? I mean he's really into every detail and
technique and he studied, Uh he studied justin a lot,
(10:37):
you know, and a lot of other guys too, and
he studied our operations, so he I know, he's excited too.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
He signed Cooper Russia.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
You have a veteran backup.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Was there any consideration of drafting a developmental quarterback during
this draft?
Speaker 5 (10:50):
We did look at that.
Speaker 12 (10:50):
We had a few guys that we liked.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
We were probably in a situation on a third day
when we might have done that, and uh, you know,
I can I can tell you one guy got paid
that we really did like. We talked about it. I mean,
we still think Devan has a chance to develop, and
I think he improved over the course of the year.
But again, there were some guys we liked, one in
particular that we might have taken, but he got picked.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Or can you.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Explain the rationale? Be kind that one trade with the Titans?
What was see kind of odd to move back five
in one round and then move out five in the past.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
It's kind of an analytics thing for us. I know,
I agree it kind of looked weird, but it also
had to do with our draft board and where we
thought we had to take guys and that just a
combination of picks, you know, potentially tied to the kicker,
just for us to gain some additional flexibility in the
sixth round and maneuver a little bit that way. It
(11:51):
really wasn't anybody that we really coveted that specific point
when we picked, so we just liked the movement in
the sixth round for us to kind of get some
things accomplished, and also we felt like it might be
an opportunity for us to actually use potentially use some
(12:12):
of those six round picks potentially to acquire some picks
next year, which we we sort of did by by
trading a sixth round pick and then as part of
another deal but to get a fifth round pick. So
it was really an analytics thing, a strategy that we
used based on the board, the type of players that
we thought were there, and then also the percentages that
(12:32):
we not to get to geeky.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
But we we.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Have this list that Derek gam does which gives us
percentages of when guys are going to be there in
each round at each point at each pick. So for us,
based on that and the players that we wanted, we
thought it made some sense.
Speaker 9 (12:52):
Since we're not been talking for a while, do you
have any uptake on your offer?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I do not, thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
We also heard from some of the prospects today, including
linebacker Teddy Buchanan out of Cal, the Ravens fourth round pick.
They were ables took him at pick number one twenty nine.
Here's what he had to say about joining the Ravens.
Speaker 13 (13:16):
Congratulations Teddy, thank you your your final season that Cal
really seemed like you really came on, had a very
strong season. What really do you feel like led to
that where it all kind of came together that last season?
Speaker 14 (13:31):
Man, I feel like, you know, I worked extremely hard
four years at Davis, and I feel like all that
work just kind of, you know, came to a came
to a point, and you know, I was just able
to show what I was able to do on the
national stage. You know, I had great coaches, great teammates
around me, and yeah, just getting a chance to shut
that and really just put it all out there and
I think put together a really good season.
Speaker 15 (13:54):
We'll go to Gianahan, I said, Rats, I was wondering
how much you have talked with Ravens defensive coordinator and
Zach or what it means don't have a DC has
inside linebacker experience.
Speaker 14 (14:09):
Yeah, honestly, haven't. Haven't talked to the Ravens as much
as other teams, but you.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Know, I'm just super grateful to to get the.
Speaker 14 (14:18):
Opportunity, and you know, I'm just gonna give everything I
got to this organization and I'm just blessed to be here.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
We'll go to Garret Downey.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Did you say you haven't talked to them that much,
so it sounds like you were maybe surprised when they
were the team that called. What was your reaction when
you found out it was the Ravens, Oh.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Man, I was exciting.
Speaker 14 (14:39):
You know, Ravens are a team that, you know, just
a great organization and a team that I followed my
whole life as a football fan.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
You know, I think about raven.
Speaker 14 (14:51):
Linebackers, you know, obviously, you know ray Lewis just kind
of epitomizes what a middle linebacker was for me growing up.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
So so you know, I wasn't surprised.
Speaker 14 (15:03):
I kind of had a gut feeling that it was
going to be a team that I didn't talk to.
So I'm just grateful for the opportunity and just excited
to give everything I got.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Brian Whacker.
Speaker 16 (15:14):
Hey, Teddy, congrats mentioned you know, following the Ravens a
little bit, just how familiar argue with their defense and
their schemes and some of their players, and what do
you think you add in that respect?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 14 (15:27):
I mean for me, really, I'm just gonna add whatever
whatever coach wants needs me to add. First of all,
it's just gonna be effort and and toughness and just consistency.
And you know, I'm not really really looking to do
anything outside of my realm, just doing whatever whatever coach
needs for me, and just whatever the team needs.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Ran Mink.
Speaker 13 (15:53):
Yeah, Teddy, I saw that you have a little bit
of a quarterback background, uh or linebacker. How do you
feel like that helped you as a linebacker?
Speaker 14 (16:02):
Yeah, I helped in a bunch of ways, just you know,
understanding first of all, the mentality of a quarterback.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
You know what things affect them.
Speaker 14 (16:10):
You know, the processing speed of playing quarterback definitely translates
right over to defense. And then you know, just understanding
offense and how they're trying to attack RPOs and different
things like that, especially in college.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
So definitely was definitely was helpful.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Go back to Brian Whacker.
Speaker 16 (16:28):
Yeah, real quick, Teddy, just on your first name, a
little bit of an unusual spelling. I guess at the
at the end, is there anything to that or just
just the way you guys spelled it.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Or that's just that's a question for my parents.
Speaker 14 (16:39):
But you know, I like it if if I feel
like it makes my name unique, you note to me
if it's the Teddy with the E.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
So yeah, Clifton Brown, Yeah, Teddy, congratulations.
Speaker 17 (16:53):
One, I know a lot of Ravens players, rookies come
in as special teamers. Just want to know you're reacting
to that maybe you experience on special teams. And two
about you know, being learning from a guy like Rokwan
Smith who's in the linebacker room with the Ravens.
Speaker 14 (17:09):
Yeah, I mean for me, special teams is you know,
going to be your priority for me, I'm super excited
to play special teams. I played special team in college,
you know, played all four of them.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
So I'm super excited in that regard.
Speaker 14 (17:22):
And you know, I'm I'm super excited to learn from
guys like Rocon and just pick their brain and do
everything I can to you know, see how they're pros
and and just follow their lead.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
And then we will close it out with Jonas Schaeffer.
Speaker 9 (17:37):
Hey, Teddy, congrats. I saw from your UC Davis profile
that you were a design major there. I guess could
you kind of talk about just your interest there and
what did you did you continue those studies when you
got to Cality or did you take up the track.
Speaker 14 (17:50):
Yeah, so I have a bit of an art background,
so you know, I went into design at Davis and
you know, I learned learned a lot of cool things
about design there and then I follow that up with
I got my certificate and business administration at cal SO.
A bit of a different route, but yeah, design definitely
stemmed from our background.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
All right.
Speaker 18 (18:13):
Well, Teddy, congratulations again, thank you for joining us, and
we look forward to meeting you here in Baltimore soon.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Thanks.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I appreciate it, all right.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Thank you everybody.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Next up, we heard from offensive tackle Carson Vincent out
of Alabama A and M.
Speaker 18 (18:34):
It's our pleasure to introduce Cartson Vincent from the newest
Raven from Alabama A and M. Carson, thank you for
taking the time to join us today. As always, please
utilize the ray's hand function if you have a question,
and we will call on you and with that we
will kick things off with Ryan Minks.
Speaker 13 (18:58):
Carson, can you talk about Yeah, can you talk about
your your emotions being selected by the Ravens and how
much pre draft contact you have with them.
Speaker 19 (19:08):
Did you think you could end up in Baltimore?
Speaker 20 (19:09):
You know, I had my thirty visit with them and
it was an amazing time. And you know, you always
think in the back of your head, but especially coming
from a small school, like it's almost surreal, like you
never like you think it's gonna happen, but you never
really know. So, like I seen the bottomorren number pop up,
and everything kind of slowed.
Speaker 19 (19:24):
Down a little bit. It kind of slowed down. I said,
let me answer this call. But it's just it's been
a blessing.
Speaker 20 (19:29):
I don't know if it's even still hit me yet,
but I can't put in the words how much I'm
blessed to be putting into this position.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
Luke Jones, congratulations Carson. Going through the pre draft process,
you said it coming from a small school, what kind
of feedback did you get the teams liked and where
do you feel you need to improve the most for
your game to translate to the next level.
Speaker 19 (19:54):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 20 (19:54):
So, like the biggest thing with me is like I
bring tenacity and I'm an athlete. Those two things I
really hang my hat on. And a lot of things
that the Ravens organization can help me with other things
that I need to work on, as like my technique.
Coach Warharp, he's a great coach. So it's a lot
of things like that where I feel like I'm in
a perp position to be the best player that I can.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
We'll go to Brian whacker th Parson.
Speaker 16 (20:15):
Congratulations, man, things just you know how familiar argue with
the Ravens just as an organization in terms of what
they'd like to do on offensive line and obviously getting
a chance to work with guy you know, veteran All
Pro guy like Ronnie Stanley and so forth.
Speaker 20 (20:32):
Yes, Sir, like Ronnie Stanley, he's a great He's a
guy that I watched a lot of tape on because
I feel like me and him had a lot of
similarities and.
Speaker 19 (20:38):
Stuff like that. So I watched a lot of tons
of tape on him.
Speaker 20 (20:40):
And when I think of the Ravens, I think of fast,
physical players and like getting up and down the field,
and that's really who I am as a person. I'm fast,
I'm violent, That's really what I do. So it's a
blessing made of heaven. And I just can't thank you
guys enough.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Garrett Downy than Garrison, just as you went through this process,
were the Ravens a team, he kind of circled and
hoped that you would end up here. How did you
view the possibility of potentially coming to Baltimore.
Speaker 20 (21:09):
It's so it's so crazy because my agent and he's
gonna love it. Because my agent he literally tellts me
before the JEV he says, I can literally envision you
in the Ravens jersey and it's happened.
Speaker 19 (21:19):
So I guess he's the man. This is man I taught.
Speaker 20 (21:22):
You know, this process is a long process, but you
know that I was able to get up there for
a visiting and it really felt like home. It really
felt like a place that I can live with, I
can live grow up in. So is an amazing.
Speaker 9 (21:35):
Jonas Schaefer, Hey, Garson, congratulations, Uh what what? How important
do you think was the Senior Bowl? Your experience there?
I saw that you were the only HBCU player invited there.
I mean, did do you feel like that was a
kind of, you know, a momentum changer for you during
this pre draft process.
Speaker 20 (21:55):
Yeah, so I really think it was that Senior Bowl
was able to put me on a on the stage
where I can really prove myself against the best of
the best athletes, especially like when you're coming from a
smaller school. That's one thing that a lot of people
have questions on is if it can translate into a
higher level. So the Senior Bowl was a blessing to
get the invite and then to prepare myself to play
well at it.
Speaker 19 (22:15):
With just the ice on the cake.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
We'll go to Jionahan and then Brian Wicker.
Speaker 15 (22:20):
Again kind of going off the fact that you came
from an HBCU.
Speaker 21 (22:25):
What does it mean to have the chance to represent
them at the sex level being.
Speaker 20 (22:29):
From an HBCU. Is it's so special because you're been
like over this entire process. When HBCU guys get past
our space, you know, we have our rivalries and we
have the teams that we go at each other, but
after when we get past it, like we're all one
big family, We're all one big thing. So I mean,
I've got support from every single team from a HBCU
especially after I got the Singing Bowl invite. After games,
(22:50):
they would say, hey, you're gonna do great things at
the So it's all one big family, and you know
what the transport on the way things is a lot
of guys feel like they have to transfer up to
go to where they want to go. But it's really
important to me that, you know, I say that Alabama
A and M for all four years. You know, it
was the best four years of my life. And you
can go anywhere you want to from the institution that
you're at. So it was really it was really important
(23:12):
for me.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Brian Wacker and then Ryan Mink.
Speaker 16 (23:16):
Yeah, Curvison, speaking of A and M, I think you're
the first player get drafted from there in like thirty years. Yes, sir,
what does that kind of mean to you? You know,
is it sunk in? And and you know, does it
doesn't matter where a guy comes from, ie small school
versus big school and so forth.
Speaker 20 (23:34):
Man, you know, football is just an amazing sport that
there's people from all walker life. That's why football is
the ultimate team sport. There's people from all watks of life,
every single background, and that's the really thing that brings
the sport together. So, you know, being from a smaller school,
it was so amazing, just like the family feel that
I got from there, and then they built me up
(23:54):
because everything I am right now is that Alabama A
and M built So you know, I credited them and
my coaches and those training staff and they got me together.
And you know, it's really just to be a blessing
that can not only be coming from those institutions, but
when I get to where I'm at, I can give
it back.
Speaker 19 (24:10):
Because that's one of the most important things too, is
giving back.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Ryan and then created parks.
Speaker 13 (24:16):
Yeah, Carson, I'm curious about your decision not to leave
A and M and enter the portal and try to
go somewhere else. Why did you make that decision specifically?
And then secondarily, why how did everybody miss on recruiting
you out of high school? Like how did that happen
given your size and everything? Why were you so lately recruited?
Speaker 20 (24:35):
Yeah, you know, I'm from Carry, North Carolina and n
C State's right here, Duke's right here, North Carolina's right here.
Speaker 19 (24:40):
None of them wanted me. None of them wanted me.
Speaker 20 (24:42):
I slipped through the crass. But ada been in A
and m They found me. They found me, and they
took me in with open arms. So especially like when
those schools came back around calling I grew up in
North Carolina, man, I wanted to go to Carolina and
they came back all around my junior same year, and
I wasn't gonna go because you didn't want me out
of high school. So it was really just a chip
on my shirt that I took through about college and
I said, Okay, I'm gonna do it from the school
(25:02):
that wanted me first.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Created do you have a question I do?
Speaker 22 (25:08):
Hi, Carson, I just wanted to circle back you were
when you were talking about being from an HPP. You
said it's supportant for you to give back.
Speaker 19 (25:14):
So I'm just.
Speaker 22 (25:15):
Curious if you could just tell me what it is
that you're looking to do, Just give me more insight
on that piece.
Speaker 20 (25:22):
Yeah, so I want to pour into it, like when
you when you get past the HPC. It's really important
not only just to give money. Anybody can give a check,
but it's really important to be there and give be
hands on because you know a lot of times when
we make it from these spaces, we might give a
check back or might give some money back, but I
really want to go back to my institution and be
there where they could see me because it's important. I
know when Robert Mathis came to practices, when we had
(25:45):
John Saliver come to practices. It's really easy when gods
say like, Okay, this guy's did it, this guy's get it,
But when you see them in the flesh, it becomes real.
So I knew it was real because I've seen Robert
Mathis in person and he went to the same institution
I did. I seen John Stalwart, So it's really important
to be there, and that's how I really wanted to
give back. It's about me being hands on.
Speaker 18 (26:05):
We have time for two more, so we'll go to
Jonas Schaeffer and then wrap it up with Ryan mink.
Speaker 9 (26:11):
Hey Carson. Yesterday, one of the picks that the Ravens
made was on one of your fellow Senior bowlers, of
Mike Green. I don't know if you guys ever matched
up when on one or in practice, but what were
your impersions of him as a player and a person?
Speaker 19 (26:23):
Man that due is a dog, you know.
Speaker 20 (26:25):
I we didn't get to match up at the Senior Bowl,
but I saw clips now especially dabaira one that everybody
was talking about. So, you know, and that man is
he's an animal, he's a dog. He's going to help
our organization. We're going to Super.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Bowl, Ryan mink, Ryan un mute please.
Speaker 19 (26:49):
Sorry?
Speaker 13 (26:50):
Yeah, Carson, I know you went against a couple of
SEC teams Vandy and Auburn. You know during your career,
how'd you feel like that that went when you kind
of had this big teams as opponents.
Speaker 20 (27:02):
Yeah, those are amazing experiences because you really see how
you match up against those guys, and you really see
on what you're made of, and you know, those are
great experiences for me. Those are games that a lot
of scouts and a lot of people wanted to see
from me. So it was just an amazing experience to
play against those players and really show that, you know,
I can do this, and then you go to a
space out of Singer Bowl, which is the best of
those best and it just is just exponentially better.
Speaker 18 (27:26):
Well, Carson, we are appreciative of your time today. Thank
you very much, and again, congratulations. Look forward to meet
you in person soon.
Speaker 19 (27:33):
Yes, sir, I appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Next up is cornerback Balalcone. Out of Western Michigan.
Speaker 18 (27:44):
It's our pleasure to welcome balal Cone, the newest member
of the Baltimore Ravens. Blall, thank you very much for
joining us today. So finder, please use the race hand
function if you have a question. And to start things off,
we will go with Ryan mink.
Speaker 13 (28:00):
Well, congratulations below. Uh, you just talk about your your
connection with the Ravens and the pre jaft process and
and whether you thought that they could be the team
for you.
Speaker 23 (28:13):
Well, I've always been a fan, you know, the defense
has always been just a great defense to watch. They
got Dogars, you got Kyle Hamilton, and then you just
got Malachi Stars with someone who I've had a relationship
with about the last couple of months. We've been working
out at the same spot over in Tampa, so we've
been competing against each other and making each other better
(28:34):
for joking around.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
So we got we got close throughout there.
Speaker 23 (28:37):
So like being able to come here with him and
getting right back to it is really really great, really great.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
We'll go to Garrett Downing.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I guess just along those lines, what happened your impressions
of Malachi and the two of you working together and
and just kind of the thoughts of of certainly you'll
be connected and coming here to Baltimore, but then action
that the two of you will share here as rookies
coming here.
Speaker 5 (29:03):
Yeah from can you guys still see me? Yeah?
Speaker 23 (29:08):
For me, the connection we got already is just going
after everything, just going going at each other, learning about
each other, the type of type of player we are,
the type of type of attitude we come in with.
So yeah, I can't wait to see what it brings.
Speaker 13 (29:28):
Go back to Ryan Manker, Yeah, can you just tell
us you know what you're gonna bring here to Baltimore,
what kind of player you are.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
So you're gonna get a dog. You're gonna get a
guy who's wanting to play whatever it is.
Speaker 23 (29:44):
That's a that's about winning, that doesn't that doesn't care
when it is he has to lace up.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
You're gonna get that type of player. You're gonna get
a dog with a chip on his shoulder.
Speaker 23 (29:52):
You're gonna get a guy who's been through the longest journey.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
You're gonna get a guy who has fought through every
type of adversity.
Speaker 23 (29:58):
You could probably think of a guy who's seen a
lot of different perspectives and is grateful and humble, but
at the same time willing to work and ready for
that spot at any time.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
That's that's the type of guy you get in.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Giannahan.
Speaker 17 (30:15):
Congrats.
Speaker 21 (30:16):
I was wondering if you know or have watched any
of the current Ravens cornerbacks and what you're excited about
working with them once you got here.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
Honestly, for me, it's.
Speaker 23 (30:30):
I'm grateful to be working with anybody who's in who's
in the NFL. You know, guys, I'm going to be
able to learn from you. Guys have a tremendous group,
always been known as a great defensive defensive team. So
I'm I'm ready for whoever is willing to help me out,
you know, be a be a mentor in that room.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
That's that's all I'm ready for.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Go back to Garrett Downing.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
You mentioned the journey and the university, and I'm sure
that's going through your head when you get a moment
like this. How have you Is that something you kind
of thought about in the moment of getting this pick,
of the culmination of all that led up to this moment.
Speaker 5 (31:10):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 23 (31:12):
I mean, just going from Juco to art to Indiana
State to Western Michigan.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
All those flashbacks are definitely reminiscent around.
Speaker 23 (31:21):
These times right now, especially just sitting down and washing
Washington happened in front of me. It is a surreal
full circle moment as well, you know, just just seeing
all this and then having my family here and seeing
what I've been through, seeing the challenges that overcame throughout football.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
Yeah, that's real.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
It just on the Juke route, Like, how what does
that mean to go from the Juco route to make
it to this point to the NFL.
Speaker 23 (31:49):
Yeah, so the Juco route it's where you find out
how much you really love football, you know. It's a
place where you just sit, put your feet in the
dirt and work every day, you know, and if you
don't really like football, you're probably gone before the end
of the week. So it showed me my purpose. It
showed me how much purpose I really have. It showed
(32:10):
me how much I'm willing to sacrifice, and I found
my consistency there.
Speaker 5 (32:15):
So I'm grateful for sure.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
We'll go to sam.
Speaker 8 (32:19):
Con Able all congratulations. I saw you would you would
post it on Twitter. I believe it's your your late
baby brother's birthday. Just serious, how special it is to
be drafted on today, of all days.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
I me and my brother got on the phone.
Speaker 23 (32:40):
My brother plays basketball over in Australia, so we got
on the phone and he told me, like, there's no
coincidence about this happening to day, and we know that
for a fact, and we're just so blessed that I
was able to get picked on this day. And it's
also my little brother's birthday, so not two births with
one that's my it's another day to celebrate my birthday,
(33:03):
my brother's birthday.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
I was thinking about that all morning.
Speaker 23 (33:08):
Honestly, that was that was more on my mind than
a lot of things.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
So I'm really grateful.
Speaker 23 (33:14):
And I know he's watching above, just guiding all of us,
so I'm appreciated for him.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
We'll go to Ryan and then wrap things up with Gianna.
Speaker 13 (33:24):
Please, Yeah, can you talk a little bit more about
your upbringing childhood. I read that you know your your
family was on house for a bit and you you know,
found kind of different housing and moved in with some people.
Can you talk about the challenges that you've already overcome
in your life and how that has shaped you as
a person.
Speaker 23 (33:42):
Yeah, I mean a lot of challenges I mean coming
here first from Ivory Coast, I mean I was born here,
but I came, I came back to the US.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
I had to learn English, you know, I.
Speaker 23 (33:54):
Had my first language was French, so picking up English.
Going from my freshman year, my little brother passed away,
and that's that's when like the motive came, That's when
the purpose came a little bit, and I had an
idea of how how great a person he was unshard.
But then that's when perspectives came in. And I grew
up a little quicker than most guys had to. And
(34:17):
so carrying that onto to Juco was was kind of
what willed me a little more than other guys. That
kept me around and knowing that I had something that
I wanted to make something out of people that I
wanted to make proud of my little brother. And so
me and my brother always fought like that for him.
(34:38):
We always put our best foot in front, not for us,
but because of my little brother.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
You know.
Speaker 23 (34:43):
That's what we do every day, and that's what my
mom does every day, and we just we lived through
him as well. So going through through that, going to Juco,
that's that's honestly when it started for me. But then
in high school, Yeah, I did end up moving out
out of my mom's place because we can't we couldn't
be together because of financial reasons. So I moved in
(35:05):
with some other people who really helped me out throughout
the way, and I was grateful for that as well,
And so a lot of perspectives have have really helped
me until this day, which I'm super grateful.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Ford and Gianna will close it out with you please.
Speaker 15 (35:24):
I saw the university that you suffered injury last year
where I guess you weren't able to eat for a while.
Speaker 21 (35:31):
Can you talk about that and what it was like
to fight back through that and then get to the
point you are now?
Speaker 5 (35:38):
You said what, I'm sorry.
Speaker 21 (35:40):
The injury that you suffered at the end of last
season that had you missed the end of the season.
Speaker 12 (35:45):
What was it like to fight back through too?
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Sorry?
Speaker 21 (35:48):
Oh yeah, and going from I guess like a liquid
diet and then getting.
Speaker 5 (35:53):
Yeah, that was It was a crazy time.
Speaker 23 (35:56):
Honestly, it happened during the game when I was at
Indiana State, and but I didn't feel until after the
game was over. And after the game was over, I
had I told them I couldn't.
Speaker 5 (36:07):
I couldn't. I could barely breathe, I could barely eat.
Speaker 23 (36:10):
So I stayed the night when we were I think
we're in South Dakota and I.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
Stayed the night there instead of flying back with the team.
Speaker 23 (36:17):
And they told me that I kind of like fractured
something in my hyoid I think it was, and so
that that took me out for just like a month
or something, a month maybe, but yeah, I didn't finish
the rest of that season. But I mean I could
barely eat, so I was on liquid diet.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
Yeah, and it was it was not fun.
Speaker 23 (36:40):
I was I was missing my burgers, I was missing,
missing a lot of those.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
Types of things that I usually eat.
Speaker 23 (36:45):
So but I bounced back quick just because I wanted
to heal and I knew I needed to transfer. I
needed to get to my new situation. So I bounced
back pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
And finally we heard from kicker Tyler Loop out of Arizona.
It sound like congratulations. Just what was the yeah, what
was the reaction when you got the call in? You know,
the Ravens Rainny Brown, I know had been looking at
different kickers. Had you met with him during the process,
and what were your impressions throughout those process.
Speaker 24 (37:22):
Oh dude, total elation getting the call. I saw saw
the area code come across my phone and I was like,
let's go.
Speaker 12 (37:30):
I'm going to Baltimore.
Speaker 24 (37:33):
But yeah, total totally awesome, big big fan of Randy,
and this whole process has been really fun.
Speaker 12 (37:41):
Uh, just getting.
Speaker 24 (37:42):
To learn learn from him, even just in the conversation
of like, Hey, you know, no, no guarantee that we
you know that we end up together, but I, you know,
here's what here's how I've helped guys find success in
the league.
Speaker 12 (37:55):
And you know, here's what I think you do.
Speaker 24 (37:57):
Well, here's where you know, if you're with us, we
can improve and go try and win games and make
kicks and be successful in Baltimore. And it's been a
it's been a really cool, cool process getting to know
Randy and it's been special.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
James and Hansley.
Speaker 11 (38:15):
Hey, graduation, Tyler, how many total total times did you
meet with the Ravens and what was kind of did
you think what was kind of your confidence level that
you would be getting taken by the Ravens today.
Speaker 24 (38:30):
Oh, as far as times we've met, I don't have
a great ballpark.
Speaker 12 (38:36):
Howd a good like good amount of phone.
Speaker 24 (38:39):
Calls, conversations, like I met with a scout at the
Hula Bowl and then at the at the combine, I
got to chat with Randy during the specialist workout and then.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
He came.
Speaker 24 (38:51):
You know, we got to got to chat a bunch
and got to exchange film and just talk about that
and just through the process, especially the draft. I think
the moment that was like all right, hey, I think
I think we're gonna We're gonna end up at Baltimore
was right after the Patriots took Andy other right here
(39:13):
goes like yeah, here, here we goa Baltimore raven and
going to.
Speaker 12 (39:19):
Be with Randy and Harvlle and uh, Pete the raven
Is is pump and pumped.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Pete Gilbert the congratulations.
Speaker 18 (39:31):
I'm curious, what does it mean to you to be
the first kicker ever drafted by the Ravens.
Speaker 12 (39:38):
Oh, it's so special. That was that was a cool thing.
My my dad had mentioned.
Speaker 24 (39:45):
It's like, hey, like the Ravens never drafted a kicker,
and uh, it's it's really special.
Speaker 5 (39:51):
I mean just.
Speaker 12 (39:53):
You know, to get to get drafted in itself.
Speaker 24 (39:57):
Is just so cool, and especially in organization like the Ravens.
Speaker 12 (40:01):
That's I mean, it's you couldn't you couldn't dream of
anything cooler.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
We'll go to Child's Walker.
Speaker 6 (40:11):
Congratulations. Obviously there's uncertainty around justin Tucker's situation. Are you
thinking that you might end up competing for the job
with a guy that many people regard as the greatest
kicker of all time? What's your what's your sense of
that situation as of right now?
Speaker 24 (40:28):
I'm just excited to get there and be be around
the be around those guys and learn from you know,
be be with the team and find ways to make
kicks in Baltimore, you know, finding be being successful up
there is what matters the most, going and making kicks
and winning games and uh, just taking it one day
(40:49):
at a time. So I'm gonna celebrate today and tomorrow,
get right back to work and stack some days and
figure out how we can, you know, be have success
up there.
Speaker 12 (41:00):
Gianahan, congratulations.
Speaker 21 (41:04):
I know a lot of NFL kickers have said that
the AFC North is a really hard division to kick in.
What sort of experience do you have kicking in weather
like that and anticipation you have to be in this division?
Speaker 24 (41:16):
Yeah, you know, I've being in the pac twelve got
to go up to Washington and Washington stay Oregon and
play up there and some some cold weather and some
wind and crazy conditions, and it's it's something that gets
me excited, you know. I think having having a challenge
to go conquer and you know, a skill set to
(41:39):
to refine and really work on and become an expert
of kicking in those conditions is something that gets me
fired up. You know, learning from learning from coaches who
have been up there for a long time and learned
how to be successful in the AFC North kicking like that,
that's something that the sound of gets me pumped up.
Speaker 12 (42:01):
So we're looking forward to it and learning all that.
Speaker 16 (42:06):
Brian Whacker, Hey, Tyler, congratulations. Obviously it's curious who were
maybe some of your favorite kickers growing up and and
and knowing, you know, kind of alluding to the question
about Justin Tucker earlier, is that you know, is that
something you just have to set aside or how do
(42:27):
you kind of apartmentalize that?
Speaker 24 (42:30):
I guess, Yeah, So as far as kickers that I
really looked up to growing up, you know, especially especially
like getting into college. Nick Folk, uh Beel Arizon a Wildcat.
Speaker 11 (42:47):
Uh.
Speaker 24 (42:47):
You know, obviously Justin Tucker's from from Texas and I
was I was a long horn fan growing up, so uh,
you know, there's elements of guys like that who have
passed success in the league and been regarded as like
the elite place kickers in the NFL.
Speaker 12 (43:03):
You know, I admire a lot of parts of their games,
but it's.
Speaker 24 (43:08):
One of those where it's like, hey, I you know
the I've got I've got things that i can do
to to learn from them, but I've also got my own,
my own style and my own kicking and just figuring
out what's gonna work to be successful in Baltimore and
it kicks and win games.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Uh.
Speaker 24 (43:26):
You know what that looks like is, you know, just
stacking days and learning and taking input and just competing
every day.
Speaker 12 (43:34):
So that's that's what.
Speaker 5 (43:35):
I'm gonna do.
Speaker 12 (43:36):
That's what I'm ready for.
Speaker 13 (43:38):
Ryan Mink, congratulations, Tyler. You talk about your style of kicking.
Can you describe what your style is and did you
feel like you had the biggest leg of any kicker
in this year's draft.
Speaker 24 (43:54):
I'd say the one thing that I my hat on
is U loving like being a student of the craft.
You know, guys in golf and baseball, you have a
swing coach because we're doing the same thing, trying to
hit the same.
Speaker 12 (44:12):
Ball every time.
Speaker 24 (44:13):
And so I was super fortunate to have a coach
here in Texas through Cole's kick and Morgan Laneberry and
uh from my sophomore years, like, Hey, we're going to
figure out, we're gonna learn your swing, we're gonna learn
what works, what keys worked for you, and we're going
to be.
Speaker 12 (44:31):
As efficient as possible.
Speaker 24 (44:33):
And that's something that that I really enjoy because there
are days where you don't feel good. There are days
where you're not in a groove, and if you're not
feeling it, you know you can always fall back run
your mechanics to be to be successful, to make kicks,
and so that that gets me excited knowing that that's
just something that I enjoy, is the mechanics of the
(44:55):
game and how kicking works. And as far as life strength, Like, dude,
there's some rest of legs in this class, I definitely
would think I'm up there, but man, it was it
was really fun like competing with those.
Speaker 12 (45:07):
Guys at the combine and just seeing how talented they are.
Speaker 24 (45:09):
And just that that brotherhood is really special, so it
was fun.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
Jameson Ensley.
Speaker 11 (45:19):
I mean, you know everyone talks about Justin Talker and
how he's the most accurate kicker in NFL history. How
much pressure would it be?
Speaker 5 (45:28):
Do you would you feel whether.
Speaker 11 (45:30):
It's competing against him or following in his footsteps. I'm
just trying to gate how much pressure you would feel
in that type of situation.
Speaker 24 (45:39):
I think it's I think it's really exciting more than pressure,
just because it gives me something to shoot for. Right
There's you know, we always want to be improving, We
always want to be chasing, chasing perfection and learning how
to adjust well and make kicks, and you know, getting
to get him to fall in the footsteps of a
guy like that has been and so elite and get
(46:02):
to compete with him and they learn from him like
that just gets me. That gets me fired up and
I'm ready to get up there and start start competing
and final ways to win games, to make kicks.
Speaker 21 (46:14):
Giannahn Tyler, I know this snapping and holding is a
really big part of what you do. I was wondering
if you've had a chance to follow the Ravens seven
hold operational or if it's something that you've talked with
Grandy Brown about.
Speaker 24 (46:31):
Yeah, we've we've chatted about it a little bit.
Speaker 12 (46:35):
Now, I'm I'm excited.
Speaker 24 (46:36):
I think the operation they got up there is is
top level.
Speaker 12 (46:41):
You know, those guys care deeply about their.
Speaker 24 (46:43):
Job and they take it, take it seriously, their true
professionals and just getting the I'm so excited to get
up there and work with them and start building that
chemistry and find ways to be finally to be successful
with them.
Speaker 18 (46:58):
We have time for two more. We'll go to Brian
Wacker and then close it with Jonah's Shafer.
Speaker 16 (47:05):
Sorry, I'm good, actually, thank you good guess.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
Okay, all right, Jonas close this out please.
Speaker 5 (47:11):
Sure thing um.
Speaker 9 (47:13):
Tell Sorry if I hopped on late, did you already
have that raven shirt handy or were you just kind
of heading your bet and had a bunch of shirts?
Speaker 12 (47:21):
No, we were, we were ready with it.
Speaker 5 (47:23):
We were ready with it.
Speaker 12 (47:24):
It was Andy Well order it ordered a couple of
days ago.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
So yeah, you're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast.
Make sure you're subscribe here. Also head over to the
Ravens Lounge podcast feed. Riyan making I do a full
breakdown of the draft with everything you need to know
about these prospects and how they're going to impact the
Ravens this year. That's it for us, Thanks for listening,
(47:51):
and we will be back with you again soon
Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The twenty twenty
five NFL Draft is complete for the Ravens. They made
eleven picks over the course of three days. Let's run
through the list. The first round, they took safety Malachi Starks.
They follow that up with outside linebacker Mike Green in
the second round and offensive tackle Emery Jones in the third.
On Day three, the Ravens took linebacker Teddy Buchanan from
(00:24):
cal then offensive tackle Carson Vincent from Alabama A and M.
In the sixth round, they took cornerback balal Kone from
Western Michigan. They then took kicker Tyler Loop from Arizona,
wide receiver Lejohntay Wester from Colorado, defensive lineman and Unice
Peebles from Virginia Tech, cornerback Robert Longerbeam from Rutgers, and
finally they took offensive lineman most likely a guard, Garrett
(00:47):
Dellinger out of LSU. After the draft, we got a
chance to hear from general manager Eric Tacosta and head
coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
It was a long day, a couple of days, but
today was a long day. Happy the way that it transpired,
I think we added some really interesting, good developmental players,
some guys that can come in and help us right away,
and some guys that like looking out. You know, I
think we'll be looking back and saying, hey, these guys
(01:20):
really helped our team. So just quickly, some quick things
on these guys. Buchanan was a guy that I did
late in the process. The coaches and scouts like them.
I saw a guy that played very hard, very gifted mover, explosive,
excellent coverage linebacker. Should translate well to special teams. I
(01:42):
think he's a really polished, tough, tenacious guy. Carson Vincent
coach warhop one of his favorite prospects. A small school guy,
a tremendous size and strength. I can tell you he
came into my office last week. He visited last week
and almost broke my hand and then he tried to
shake my hand and just leave my office, and I
just looked at him said I'm good. But he's just
(02:04):
a big, strong, physical athletic player. I think coach Warhawp's
excited to work with him. B K from Western Michigan,
as he likes to be known, tall, long corner. I
think he runs really well, good ball skills. I think
he can, you know, get stronger, but I think he's
(02:24):
got really good coverage ability. Think he's a guy that
can play from off and play from press, good developmental
corner with the size that we look for and the
speed that we look for.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Tyler Loop, the kicker.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
We told you guys that we would consider drafting a
kicker if the right one was there, and this was
a guy that you know, for the last I don't know,
three weeks, Randy Brown, our kicking coach, has been out
canvassing the country looking at kickers and evaluating guys, and
I gotta be honest, it was kind of nice having
him out of the office for an extended period of time.
Oh no, just a joke, But I think Randy does
(02:57):
a phenomenal job evaluating these kickers. And he came back
and he said, really, hey, Eric, there's one guy that
I really covert and it's Loop. And so, you know,
I think for us, we've kind of felt like we
had to draft him and it was just a matter
of getting the right spot and kind of working the
picks and kind of come up with the right combination.
And we think he's got a really strong leg and
(03:18):
He's got a lot of potential. I think Wester is
a guy that you know, what stands out about him
is really his returnability. If you watch him, I think
he's a twitchy, explosive punt returner. I think, you know,
last year, it became evident that we could probably get
better there at that position. I feel like last year's
probably I didn't do a good enough job making sure
(03:41):
that we had a good punt return around the team.
We had some guys, but we couldn't get the right mix,
the right guy to really do it. And we think
Wester has a chance to really come in here and
be an impact punk returner for us. So excited about him.
Ania's peoples is coach Arbot one of his guys. He
loved his tape. We loved his explosion and he's a
little undersized, but he's a twitchy, disruptive player who can
(04:03):
rush the passer, who plays hard. I think he's got
a really, really good skill set for us as a
third down sub rusher who runs to the football and
can make some plays that way longer beam I think
another corner as I was looking at it, you know,
the last couple of weeks for me, the two guys
that were most intriguing corner wise well with BK and
(04:24):
Longer Beam. And you know, I think we were kind
of going back and forth because they were so close
and both so talented in different ways. And I think
our goal was to get one of those two guys.
And as we got to the end of the draft,
Longer Beam was still there. It was like a no
brainer for us to take him. He's just a really
really quick footed, good corner who can play off coverage.
He supports the run, he plays bigger than his size,
(04:47):
and he's got tremendous speed. You know, one thing we
know here in Baltimore is you can never have enough corners.
We think now we have a really really good mix
of veteran corners and also younger developmental guys too who
can help us get better. And then the final guy
is Garrett Dellinger, another offensive lineman from LSU. We watched
him this year at the Senior Bowl. He's in get
the talented athlete, a big, wide body guy, a true guard.
(05:10):
He's physical, he's tough. I think he's a smart player. Incidentally,
born in the state of Maryland, so that was kind
of cool. A guy that we're excited about. We think
he has traits and we like the way he plays questions.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Okay, you know, area, it seemed like it was a
very heavy defensive draft.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
How you got especially early on. How much do you
think you impacted the defense with this rap?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, I think, you know, we went into it, you know,
thinking maybe that we would allocate some resources to that
side of the football. You know, I think it's very cyclical.
Some years we spend most of our picks on offense,
some years more so on defense. Some years were balanced.
You know, I think early on this year we did
spend some some picks on defense. I think we got
some great football players at important position, you know, uh,
(06:01):
guys that can make plays on the football, Guys who
can get to the quarterback. You know, I think that's
that's great. And probably the one thing we couldn't do
is get that big, wide body type guy. And I think,
you know, that's something that will assess and the address
after the draft, and you know, we're already starting to
talk about that, so we're aware of that. But I
(06:22):
think the guys we took can really impact the defense
for short and we're excited about him.
Speaker 5 (06:27):
Like the back of him nos Te to make up from.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Michael Pearce's a big, you know, first and second down
run stuffing type of guy. Probably have a place for
a guy like that. We had a couple of guys
late that got picked in the late in the draft
that we were targeting potentially and and they got picked.
But I think we do have some options. Yeah, you know,
with street free agents and different things that we will
have an opportunity to address that in some way.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
The selection of a kicker, I mean, is the expectation
that you would, i mean compete with Justin Is the
expedition that he would come in and be the kicker?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Is it too early to say with what you're thinking
on that.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, I think he's a really talented player, and I
think that you know, right now, they're both on the
on the roster, and you know, it was a situation
for us where we're just trying to find the best
football players. So we're excited to see what he can do.
I've actually never met you know, uh Tyler. I'm looking
forward to that he'll be here next week, get a
chance to see his leg and that will help us
(07:29):
address you know, what our decision making is going to
be moving forward.
Speaker 7 (07:33):
Do you guys get carried outic updates from the d's
investigation into Tucker?
Speaker 5 (07:38):
And have you gotten any ballpark idea when?
Speaker 7 (07:41):
Why do you concluded, you know, June training him?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, you know, so I'm not a part of that loop,
so to speak. Uh, you know, I do get some
updates from Sashi periodically. I haven't gotten anything recently, and
we're not really under any you know, idea when that
timeline is going to be. We're just kind of waiting.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Hearing a fire you do attracting the kicker? How much
that what does that do to impact you Justin's roster
spot at all?
Speaker 8 (08:11):
Now?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I haven't really thought about that at this point. I
just thought he was a really talented player, and uh
it made sense for us to do that for a
lot of different reasons, you know. I mean we've we've
told you guys multiple times this spring that we would
look at kickers, and so for us, it's like any
other position this year. We evaluated all these guys, we
felt like he was draftable, we felt like he was
(08:32):
the best kicker, and uh it made sense for us
to take.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Him any trade.
Speaker 9 (08:37):
The decision for you guys to make your move when
you did or was it all planned when.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
You had Uh, you know, that's a good question, Jerry.
I think it certainly. You know, it's it's like this
with every position, right, So you have a player that
maybe you like, and you know you're certainly aware of
runs and we see that all the time, and you know,
it's something that we're very attuned to, and that's really
a thing. It's like it's like momentum in sports, right,
It's it's there was a run, and so you know, uh,
(09:03):
we had sort of targeted if we were going to
take this guy, it was going to be somewhere probably
in the third day of the draft and probably in
one of the latter rounds. But when you see sort
of the toothpaste open up, you know, you have to
be aware that, hey, this could start a run. And
you know we've seen it with other positions. We saw
it last year with offensive lineman in the second round.
You know, we saw it a few years ago when
(09:24):
we drafted Jordan Stout with punters. So it does happen.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Aware of that.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
I wouldn't say it necessarily like, uh, increase the urgency
for us necessarily, but it was definitely like Okay, this
is the time and we probably have to go ahead
and do it.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
You close relationship with just and it's see someone you
talk to give my heads out that you're playing a
drafting kicker.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
You think he's been around a long time. When he
understands that's right.
Speaker 10 (09:52):
Both, you know, I don't think we would have to,
but we we had talked to him. He was he
was in this week kicking and working out. So we
had conversations and he already understood. He knew the situation
and you guys knew he had seen all those kind
of quotes too, so he knew that was possibility.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Kind of stood out, you know, and you've you've put
Hi around a few kickers.
Speaker 11 (10:11):
What stood out to you when and looking at what
you saw from from Tyler?
Speaker 10 (10:16):
Yeah, well yeah, I watch the tape with Randy took
me through it. Randy saw him in person. Also, we
looked through all the guys and uh, he's good. I mean,
he's talented guy. He's he's strong, and he's very consistent
with his leg swing. I think he's one of these guys.
He's a he's a kicking nerd. Do you like to
see that? I mean he's really into every detail and
technique and he studied, Uh he studied justin a lot,
(10:37):
you know, and a lot of other guys too, and
he studied our operations, so he I know, he's excited too.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
He signed Cooper Russia.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
You have a veteran backup.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Was there any consideration of drafting a developmental quarterback during
this draft?
Speaker 5 (10:50):
We did look at that.
Speaker 12 (10:50):
We had a few guys that we liked.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
We were probably in a situation on a third day
when we might have done that, and uh, you know,
I can I can tell you one guy got paid
that we really did like. We talked about it. I mean,
we still think Devan has a chance to develop, and
I think he improved over the course of the year.
But again, there were some guys we liked, one in
particular that we might have taken, but he got picked.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Or can you.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Explain the rationale? Be kind that one trade with the Titans?
What was see kind of odd to move back five
in one round and then move out five in the past.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
It's kind of an analytics thing for us. I know,
I agree it kind of looked weird, but it also
had to do with our draft board and where we
thought we had to take guys and that just a
combination of picks, you know, potentially tied to the kicker,
just for us to gain some additional flexibility in the
sixth round and maneuver a little bit that way. It
(11:51):
really wasn't anybody that we really coveted that specific point
when we picked, so we just liked the movement in
the sixth round for us to kind of get some
things accomplished, and also we felt like it might be
an opportunity for us to actually use potentially use some
(12:12):
of those six round picks potentially to acquire some picks
next year, which we we sort of did by by
trading a sixth round pick and then as part of
another deal but to get a fifth round pick. So
it was really an analytics thing, a strategy that we
used based on the board, the type of players that
we thought were there, and then also the percentages that
(12:32):
we not to get to geeky.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
But we we.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Have this list that Derek gam does which gives us
percentages of when guys are going to be there in
each round at each point at each pick. So for us,
based on that and the players that we wanted, we
thought it made some sense.
Speaker 9 (12:52):
Since we're not been talking for a while, do you
have any uptake on your offer?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I do not, thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
We also heard from some of the prospects today, including
linebacker Teddy Buchanan out of Cal, the Ravens fourth round pick.
They were ables took him at pick number one twenty nine.
Here's what he had to say about joining the Ravens.
Speaker 13 (13:16):
Congratulations Teddy, thank you your your final season that Cal
really seemed like you really came on, had a very
strong season. What really do you feel like led to
that where it all kind of came together that last season?
Speaker 14 (13:31):
Man, I feel like, you know, I worked extremely hard
four years at Davis, and I feel like all that
work just kind of, you know, came to a came
to a point, and you know, I was just able
to show what I was able to do on the
national stage. You know, I had great coaches, great teammates
around me, and yeah, just getting a chance to shut
that and really just put it all out there and
I think put together a really good season.
Speaker 15 (13:54):
We'll go to Gianahan, I said, Rats, I was wondering
how much you have talked with Ravens defensive coordinator and
Zach or what it means don't have a DC has
inside linebacker experience.
Speaker 14 (14:09):
Yeah, honestly, haven't. Haven't talked to the Ravens as much
as other teams, but you.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Know, I'm just super grateful to to get the.
Speaker 14 (14:18):
Opportunity, and you know, I'm just gonna give everything I
got to this organization and I'm just blessed to be here.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
We'll go to Garret Downey.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Did you say you haven't talked to them that much,
so it sounds like you were maybe surprised when they
were the team that called. What was your reaction when
you found out it was the Ravens, Oh.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Man, I was exciting.
Speaker 14 (14:39):
You know, Ravens are a team that, you know, just
a great organization and a team that I followed my
whole life as a football fan.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
You know, I think about raven.
Speaker 14 (14:51):
Linebackers, you know, obviously, you know ray Lewis just kind
of epitomizes what a middle linebacker was for me growing up.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
So so you know, I wasn't surprised.
Speaker 14 (15:03):
I kind of had a gut feeling that it was
going to be a team that I didn't talk to.
So I'm just grateful for the opportunity and just excited
to give everything I got.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Brian Whacker.
Speaker 16 (15:14):
Hey, Teddy, congrats mentioned you know, following the Ravens a
little bit, just how familiar argue with their defense and
their schemes and some of their players, and what do
you think you add in that respect?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 14 (15:27):
I mean for me, really, I'm just gonna add whatever
whatever coach wants needs me to add. First of all,
it's just gonna be effort and and toughness and just consistency.
And you know, I'm not really really looking to do
anything outside of my realm, just doing whatever whatever coach
needs for me, and just whatever the team needs.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Ran Mink.
Speaker 13 (15:53):
Yeah, Teddy, I saw that you have a little bit
of a quarterback background, uh or linebacker. How do you
feel like that helped you as a linebacker?
Speaker 14 (16:02):
Yeah, I helped in a bunch of ways, just you know,
understanding first of all, the mentality of a quarterback.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
You know what things affect them.
Speaker 14 (16:10):
You know, the processing speed of playing quarterback definitely translates
right over to defense. And then you know, just understanding
offense and how they're trying to attack RPOs and different
things like that, especially in college.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
So definitely was definitely was helpful.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Go back to Brian Whacker.
Speaker 16 (16:28):
Yeah, real quick, Teddy, just on your first name, a
little bit of an unusual spelling. I guess at the
at the end, is there anything to that or just
just the way you guys spelled it.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Or that's just that's a question for my parents.
Speaker 14 (16:39):
But you know, I like it if if I feel
like it makes my name unique, you note to me
if it's the Teddy with the E.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
So yeah, Clifton Brown, Yeah, Teddy, congratulations.
Speaker 17 (16:53):
One, I know a lot of Ravens players, rookies come
in as special teamers. Just want to know you're reacting
to that maybe you experience on special teams. And two
about you know, being learning from a guy like Rokwan
Smith who's in the linebacker room with the Ravens.
Speaker 14 (17:09):
Yeah, I mean for me, special teams is you know,
going to be your priority for me, I'm super excited
to play special teams. I played special team in college,
you know, played all four of them.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
So I'm super excited in that regard.
Speaker 14 (17:22):
And you know, I'm I'm super excited to learn from
guys like Rocon and just pick their brain and do
everything I can to you know, see how they're pros
and and just follow their lead.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
And then we will close it out with Jonas Schaeffer.
Speaker 9 (17:37):
Hey, Teddy, congrats. I saw from your UC Davis profile
that you were a design major there. I guess could
you kind of talk about just your interest there and
what did you did you continue those studies when you
got to Cality or did you take up the track.
Speaker 14 (17:50):
Yeah, so I have a bit of an art background,
so you know, I went into design at Davis and
you know, I learned learned a lot of cool things
about design there and then I follow that up with
I got my certificate and business administration at cal SO.
A bit of a different route, but yeah, design definitely
stemmed from our background.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
All right.
Speaker 18 (18:13):
Well, Teddy, congratulations again, thank you for joining us, and
we look forward to meeting you here in Baltimore soon.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Thanks.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I appreciate it, all right.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Thank you everybody.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Next up, we heard from offensive tackle Carson Vincent out
of Alabama A and M.
Speaker 18 (18:34):
It's our pleasure to introduce Cartson Vincent from the newest
Raven from Alabama A and M. Carson, thank you for
taking the time to join us today. As always, please
utilize the ray's hand function if you have a question,
and we will call on you and with that we
will kick things off with Ryan Minks.
Speaker 13 (18:58):
Carson, can you talk about Yeah, can you talk about
your your emotions being selected by the Ravens and how
much pre draft contact you have with them.
Speaker 19 (19:08):
Did you think you could end up in Baltimore?
Speaker 20 (19:09):
You know, I had my thirty visit with them and
it was an amazing time. And you know, you always
think in the back of your head, but especially coming
from a small school, like it's almost surreal, like you
never like you think it's gonna happen, but you never
really know. So, like I seen the bottomorren number pop up,
and everything kind of slowed.
Speaker 19 (19:24):
Down a little bit. It kind of slowed down. I said,
let me answer this call. But it's just it's been
a blessing.
Speaker 20 (19:29):
I don't know if it's even still hit me yet,
but I can't put in the words how much I'm
blessed to be putting into this position.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
Luke Jones, congratulations Carson. Going through the pre draft process,
you said it coming from a small school, what kind
of feedback did you get the teams liked and where
do you feel you need to improve the most for
your game to translate to the next level.
Speaker 19 (19:54):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 20 (19:54):
So, like the biggest thing with me is like I
bring tenacity and I'm an athlete. Those two things I
really hang my hat on. And a lot of things
that the Ravens organization can help me with other things
that I need to work on, as like my technique.
Coach Warharp, he's a great coach. So it's a lot
of things like that where I feel like I'm in
a perp position to be the best player that I can.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
We'll go to Brian whacker th Parson.
Speaker 16 (20:15):
Congratulations, man, things just you know how familiar argue with
the Ravens just as an organization in terms of what
they'd like to do on offensive line and obviously getting
a chance to work with guy you know, veteran All
Pro guy like Ronnie Stanley and so forth.
Speaker 20 (20:32):
Yes, Sir, like Ronnie Stanley, he's a great He's a
guy that I watched a lot of tape on because
I feel like me and him had a lot of
similarities and.
Speaker 19 (20:38):
Stuff like that. So I watched a lot of tons
of tape on him.
Speaker 20 (20:40):
And when I think of the Ravens, I think of fast,
physical players and like getting up and down the field,
and that's really who I am as a person. I'm fast,
I'm violent, That's really what I do. So it's a
blessing made of heaven. And I just can't thank you
guys enough.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Garrett Downy than Garrison, just as you went through this process,
were the Ravens a team, he kind of circled and
hoped that you would end up here. How did you
view the possibility of potentially coming to Baltimore.
Speaker 20 (21:09):
It's so it's so crazy because my agent and he's
gonna love it. Because my agent he literally tellts me
before the JEV he says, I can literally envision you
in the Ravens jersey and it's happened.
Speaker 19 (21:19):
So I guess he's the man. This is man I taught.
Speaker 20 (21:22):
You know, this process is a long process, but you
know that I was able to get up there for
a visiting and it really felt like home. It really
felt like a place that I can live with, I
can live grow up in. So is an amazing.
Speaker 9 (21:35):
Jonas Schaefer, Hey, Garson, congratulations, Uh what what? How important
do you think was the Senior Bowl? Your experience there?
I saw that you were the only HBCU player invited there.
I mean, did do you feel like that was a
kind of, you know, a momentum changer for you during
this pre draft process.
Speaker 20 (21:55):
Yeah, so I really think it was that Senior Bowl
was able to put me on a on the stage
where I can really prove myself against the best of
the best athletes, especially like when you're coming from a
smaller school. That's one thing that a lot of people
have questions on is if it can translate into a
higher level. So the Senior Bowl was a blessing to
get the invite and then to prepare myself to play
well at it.
Speaker 19 (22:15):
With just the ice on the cake.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
We'll go to Jionahan and then Brian Wicker.
Speaker 15 (22:20):
Again kind of going off the fact that you came
from an HBCU.
Speaker 21 (22:25):
What does it mean to have the chance to represent
them at the sex level being.
Speaker 20 (22:29):
From an HBCU. Is it's so special because you're been
like over this entire process. When HBCU guys get past
our space, you know, we have our rivalries and we
have the teams that we go at each other, but
after when we get past it, like we're all one
big family, We're all one big thing. So I mean,
I've got support from every single team from a HBCU
especially after I got the Singing Bowl invite. After games,
(22:50):
they would say, hey, you're gonna do great things at
the So it's all one big family, and you know
what the transport on the way things is a lot
of guys feel like they have to transfer up to
go to where they want to go. But it's really
important to me that, you know, I say that Alabama
A and M for all four years. You know, it
was the best four years of my life. And you
can go anywhere you want to from the institution that
you're at. So it was really it was really important
(23:12):
for me.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Brian Wacker and then Ryan Mink.
Speaker 16 (23:16):
Yeah, Curvison, speaking of A and M, I think you're
the first player get drafted from there in like thirty years. Yes, sir,
what does that kind of mean to you? You know,
is it sunk in? And and you know, does it
doesn't matter where a guy comes from, ie small school
versus big school and so forth.
Speaker 20 (23:34):
Man, you know, football is just an amazing sport that
there's people from all walker life. That's why football is
the ultimate team sport. There's people from all watks of life,
every single background, and that's the really thing that brings
the sport together. So, you know, being from a smaller school,
it was so amazing, just like the family feel that
I got from there, and then they built me up
(23:54):
because everything I am right now is that Alabama A
and M built So you know, I credited them and
my coaches and those training staff and they got me together.
And you know, it's really just to be a blessing
that can not only be coming from those institutions, but
when I get to where I'm at, I can give
it back.
Speaker 19 (24:10):
Because that's one of the most important things too, is
giving back.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Ryan and then created parks.
Speaker 13 (24:16):
Yeah, Carson, I'm curious about your decision not to leave
A and M and enter the portal and try to
go somewhere else. Why did you make that decision specifically?
And then secondarily, why how did everybody miss on recruiting
you out of high school? Like how did that happen
given your size and everything? Why were you so lately recruited?
Speaker 20 (24:35):
Yeah, you know, I'm from Carry, North Carolina and n
C State's right here, Duke's right here, North Carolina's right here.
Speaker 19 (24:40):
None of them wanted me. None of them wanted me.
Speaker 20 (24:42):
I slipped through the crass. But ada been in A
and m They found me. They found me, and they
took me in with open arms. So especially like when
those schools came back around calling I grew up in
North Carolina, man, I wanted to go to Carolina and
they came back all around my junior same year, and
I wasn't gonna go because you didn't want me out
of high school. So it was really just a chip
on my shirt that I took through about college and
I said, Okay, I'm gonna do it from the school
(25:02):
that wanted me first.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Created do you have a question I do?
Speaker 22 (25:08):
Hi, Carson, I just wanted to circle back you were
when you were talking about being from an HPP. You
said it's supportant for you to give back.
Speaker 19 (25:14):
So I'm just.
Speaker 22 (25:15):
Curious if you could just tell me what it is
that you're looking to do, Just give me more insight
on that piece.
Speaker 20 (25:22):
Yeah, so I want to pour into it, like when
you when you get past the HPC. It's really important
not only just to give money. Anybody can give a check,
but it's really important to be there and give be
hands on because you know a lot of times when
we make it from these spaces, we might give a
check back or might give some money back, but I
really want to go back to my institution and be
there where they could see me because it's important. I
know when Robert Mathis came to practices, when we had
(25:45):
John Saliver come to practices. It's really easy when gods
say like, Okay, this guy's did it, this guy's get it,
But when you see them in the flesh, it becomes real.
So I knew it was real because I've seen Robert
Mathis in person and he went to the same institution
I did. I seen John Stalwart, So it's really important
to be there, and that's how I really wanted to
give back. It's about me being hands on.
Speaker 18 (26:05):
We have time for two more, so we'll go to
Jonas Schaeffer and then wrap it up with Ryan mink.
Speaker 9 (26:11):
Hey Carson. Yesterday, one of the picks that the Ravens
made was on one of your fellow Senior bowlers, of
Mike Green. I don't know if you guys ever matched
up when on one or in practice, but what were
your impersions of him as a player and a person?
Speaker 19 (26:23):
Man that due is a dog, you know.
Speaker 20 (26:25):
I we didn't get to match up at the Senior Bowl,
but I saw clips now especially dabaira one that everybody
was talking about. So, you know, and that man is
he's an animal, he's a dog. He's going to help
our organization. We're going to Super.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Bowl, Ryan mink, Ryan un mute please.
Speaker 19 (26:49):
Sorry?
Speaker 13 (26:50):
Yeah, Carson, I know you went against a couple of
SEC teams Vandy and Auburn. You know during your career,
how'd you feel like that that went when you kind
of had this big teams as opponents.
Speaker 20 (27:02):
Yeah, those are amazing experiences because you really see how
you match up against those guys, and you really see
on what you're made of, and you know, those are
great experiences for me. Those are games that a lot
of scouts and a lot of people wanted to see
from me. So it was just an amazing experience to
play against those players and really show that, you know,
I can do this, and then you go to a
space out of Singer Bowl, which is the best of
those best and it just is just exponentially better.
Speaker 18 (27:26):
Well, Carson, we are appreciative of your time today. Thank
you very much, and again, congratulations. Look forward to meet
you in person soon.
Speaker 19 (27:33):
Yes, sir, I appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Next up is cornerback Balalcone. Out of Western Michigan.
Speaker 18 (27:44):
It's our pleasure to welcome balal Cone, the newest member
of the Baltimore Ravens. Blall, thank you very much for
joining us today. So finder, please use the race hand
function if you have a question. And to start things off,
we will go with Ryan mink.
Speaker 13 (28:00):
Well, congratulations below. Uh, you just talk about your your
connection with the Ravens and the pre jaft process and
and whether you thought that they could be the team
for you.
Speaker 23 (28:13):
Well, I've always been a fan, you know, the defense
has always been just a great defense to watch. They
got Dogars, you got Kyle Hamilton, and then you just
got Malachi Stars with someone who I've had a relationship
with about the last couple of months. We've been working
out at the same spot over in Tampa, so we've
been competing against each other and making each other better
(28:34):
for joking around.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
So we got we got close throughout there.
Speaker 23 (28:37):
So like being able to come here with him and
getting right back to it is really really great, really great.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
We'll go to Garrett Downing.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I guess just along those lines, what happened your impressions
of Malachi and the two of you working together and
and just kind of the thoughts of of certainly you'll
be connected and coming here to Baltimore, but then action
that the two of you will share here as rookies
coming here.
Speaker 5 (29:03):
Yeah from can you guys still see me? Yeah?
Speaker 23 (29:08):
For me, the connection we got already is just going
after everything, just going going at each other, learning about
each other, the type of type of player we are,
the type of type of attitude we come in with.
So yeah, I can't wait to see what it brings.
Speaker 13 (29:28):
Go back to Ryan Manker, Yeah, can you just tell
us you know what you're gonna bring here to Baltimore,
what kind of player you are.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
So you're gonna get a dog. You're gonna get a
guy who's wanting to play whatever it is.
Speaker 23 (29:44):
That's a that's about winning, that doesn't that doesn't care
when it is he has to lace up.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
You're gonna get that type of player. You're gonna get
a dog with a chip on his shoulder.
Speaker 23 (29:52):
You're gonna get a guy who's been through the longest journey.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
You're gonna get a guy who has fought through every
type of adversity.
Speaker 23 (29:58):
You could probably think of a guy who's seen a
lot of different perspectives and is grateful and humble, but
at the same time willing to work and ready for
that spot at any time.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
That's that's the type of guy you get in.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Giannahan.
Speaker 17 (30:15):
Congrats.
Speaker 21 (30:16):
I was wondering if you know or have watched any
of the current Ravens cornerbacks and what you're excited about
working with them once you got here.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
Honestly, for me, it's.
Speaker 23 (30:30):
I'm grateful to be working with anybody who's in who's
in the NFL. You know, guys, I'm going to be
able to learn from you. Guys have a tremendous group,
always been known as a great defensive defensive team. So
I'm I'm ready for whoever is willing to help me out,
you know, be a be a mentor in that room.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
That's that's all I'm ready for.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Go back to Garrett Downing.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
You mentioned the journey and the university, and I'm sure
that's going through your head when you get a moment
like this. How have you Is that something you kind
of thought about in the moment of getting this pick,
of the culmination of all that led up to this moment.
Speaker 5 (31:10):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 23 (31:12):
I mean, just going from Juco to art to Indiana
State to Western Michigan.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
All those flashbacks are definitely reminiscent around.
Speaker 23 (31:21):
These times right now, especially just sitting down and washing
Washington happened in front of me. It is a surreal
full circle moment as well, you know, just just seeing
all this and then having my family here and seeing
what I've been through, seeing the challenges that overcame throughout football.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
Yeah, that's real.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
It just on the Juke route, Like, how what does
that mean to go from the Juco route to make
it to this point to the NFL.
Speaker 23 (31:49):
Yeah, so the Juco route it's where you find out
how much you really love football, you know. It's a
place where you just sit, put your feet in the
dirt and work every day, you know, and if you
don't really like football, you're probably gone before the end
of the week. So it showed me my purpose. It
showed me how much purpose I really have. It showed
(32:10):
me how much I'm willing to sacrifice, and I found
my consistency there.
Speaker 5 (32:15):
So I'm grateful for sure.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
We'll go to sam.
Speaker 8 (32:19):
Con Able all congratulations. I saw you would you would
post it on Twitter. I believe it's your your late
baby brother's birthday. Just serious, how special it is to
be drafted on today, of all days.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
I me and my brother got on the phone.
Speaker 23 (32:40):
My brother plays basketball over in Australia, so we got
on the phone and he told me, like, there's no
coincidence about this happening to day, and we know that
for a fact, and we're just so blessed that I
was able to get picked on this day. And it's
also my little brother's birthday, so not two births with
one that's my it's another day to celebrate my birthday,
(33:03):
my brother's birthday.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
I was thinking about that all morning.
Speaker 23 (33:08):
Honestly, that was that was more on my mind than
a lot of things.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
So I'm really grateful.
Speaker 23 (33:14):
And I know he's watching above, just guiding all of us,
so I'm appreciated for him.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
We'll go to Ryan and then wrap things up with Gianna.
Speaker 13 (33:24):
Please, Yeah, can you talk a little bit more about
your upbringing childhood. I read that you know your your
family was on house for a bit and you you know,
found kind of different housing and moved in with some people.
Can you talk about the challenges that you've already overcome
in your life and how that has shaped you as
a person.
Speaker 23 (33:42):
Yeah, I mean a lot of challenges I mean coming
here first from Ivory Coast, I mean I was born here,
but I came, I came back to the US.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
I had to learn English, you know, I.
Speaker 23 (33:54):
Had my first language was French, so picking up English.
Going from my freshman year, my little brother passed away,
and that's that's when like the motive came, That's when
the purpose came a little bit, and I had an
idea of how how great a person he was unshard.
But then that's when perspectives came in. And I grew
up a little quicker than most guys had to. And
(34:17):
so carrying that onto to Juco was was kind of
what willed me a little more than other guys. That
kept me around and knowing that I had something that
I wanted to make something out of people that I
wanted to make proud of my little brother. And so
me and my brother always fought like that for him.
(34:38):
We always put our best foot in front, not for us,
but because of my little brother.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
You know.
Speaker 23 (34:43):
That's what we do every day, and that's what my
mom does every day, and we just we lived through
him as well. So going through through that, going to Juco,
that's that's honestly when it started for me. But then
in high school, Yeah, I did end up moving out
out of my mom's place because we can't we couldn't
be together because of financial reasons. So I moved in
(35:05):
with some other people who really helped me out throughout
the way, and I was grateful for that as well,
And so a lot of perspectives have have really helped
me until this day, which I'm super grateful.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Ford and Gianna will close it out with you please.
Speaker 15 (35:24):
I saw the university that you suffered injury last year
where I guess you weren't able to eat for a while.
Speaker 21 (35:31):
Can you talk about that and what it was like
to fight back through that and then get to the
point you are now?
Speaker 5 (35:38):
You said what, I'm sorry.
Speaker 21 (35:40):
The injury that you suffered at the end of last
season that had you missed the end of the season.
Speaker 12 (35:45):
What was it like to fight back through too?
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Sorry?
Speaker 21 (35:48):
Oh yeah, and going from I guess like a liquid
diet and then getting.
Speaker 5 (35:53):
Yeah, that was It was a crazy time.
Speaker 23 (35:56):
Honestly, it happened during the game when I was at
Indiana State, and but I didn't feel until after the
game was over. And after the game was over, I
had I told them I couldn't.
Speaker 5 (36:07):
I couldn't. I could barely breathe, I could barely eat.
Speaker 23 (36:10):
So I stayed the night when we were I think
we're in South Dakota and I.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
Stayed the night there instead of flying back with the team.
Speaker 23 (36:17):
And they told me that I kind of like fractured
something in my hyoid I think it was, and so
that that took me out for just like a month
or something, a month maybe, but yeah, I didn't finish
the rest of that season. But I mean I could
barely eat, so I was on liquid diet.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
Yeah, and it was it was not fun.
Speaker 23 (36:40):
I was I was missing my burgers, I was missing,
missing a lot of those.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
Types of things that I usually eat.
Speaker 23 (36:45):
So but I bounced back quick just because I wanted
to heal and I knew I needed to transfer. I
needed to get to my new situation. So I bounced
back pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
And finally we heard from kicker Tyler Loop out of Arizona.
It sound like congratulations. Just what was the yeah, what
was the reaction when you got the call in? You know,
the Ravens Rainny Brown, I know had been looking at
different kickers. Had you met with him during the process,
and what were your impressions throughout those process.
Speaker 24 (37:22):
Oh dude, total elation getting the call. I saw saw
the area code come across my phone and I was like,
let's go.
Speaker 12 (37:30):
I'm going to Baltimore.
Speaker 24 (37:33):
But yeah, total totally awesome, big big fan of Randy,
and this whole process has been really fun.
Speaker 12 (37:41):
Uh, just getting.
Speaker 24 (37:42):
To learn learn from him, even just in the conversation
of like, Hey, you know, no, no guarantee that we
you know that we end up together, but I, you know,
here's what here's how I've helped guys find success in
the league.
Speaker 12 (37:55):
And you know, here's what I think you do.
Speaker 24 (37:57):
Well, here's where you know, if you're with us, we
can improve and go try and win games and make
kicks and be successful in Baltimore. And it's been a
it's been a really cool, cool process getting to know
Randy and it's been special.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
James and Hansley.
Speaker 11 (38:15):
Hey, graduation, Tyler, how many total total times did you
meet with the Ravens and what was kind of did
you think what was kind of your confidence level that
you would be getting taken by the Ravens today.
Speaker 24 (38:30):
Oh, as far as times we've met, I don't have
a great ballpark.
Speaker 12 (38:36):
Howd a good like good amount of phone.
Speaker 24 (38:39):
Calls, conversations, like I met with a scout at the
Hula Bowl and then at the at the combine, I
got to chat with Randy during the specialist workout and then.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
He came.
Speaker 24 (38:51):
You know, we got to got to chat a bunch
and got to exchange film and just talk about that
and just through the process, especially the draft. I think
the moment that was like all right, hey, I think
I think we're gonna We're gonna end up at Baltimore
was right after the Patriots took Andy other right here
(39:13):
goes like yeah, here, here we goa Baltimore raven and
going to.
Speaker 12 (39:19):
Be with Randy and Harvlle and uh, Pete the raven
Is is pump and pumped.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Pete Gilbert the congratulations.
Speaker 18 (39:31):
I'm curious, what does it mean to you to be
the first kicker ever drafted by the Ravens.
Speaker 12 (39:38):
Oh, it's so special. That was that was a cool thing.
My my dad had mentioned.
Speaker 24 (39:45):
It's like, hey, like the Ravens never drafted a kicker,
and uh, it's it's really special.
Speaker 5 (39:51):
I mean just.
Speaker 12 (39:53):
You know, to get to get drafted in itself.
Speaker 24 (39:57):
Is just so cool, and especially in organization like the Ravens.
Speaker 12 (40:01):
That's I mean, it's you couldn't you couldn't dream of
anything cooler.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
We'll go to Child's Walker.
Speaker 6 (40:11):
Congratulations. Obviously there's uncertainty around justin Tucker's situation. Are you
thinking that you might end up competing for the job
with a guy that many people regard as the greatest
kicker of all time? What's your what's your sense of
that situation as of right now?
Speaker 24 (40:28):
I'm just excited to get there and be be around
the be around those guys and learn from you know,
be be with the team and find ways to make
kicks in Baltimore, you know, finding be being successful up
there is what matters the most, going and making kicks
and winning games and uh, just taking it one day
(40:49):
at a time. So I'm gonna celebrate today and tomorrow,
get right back to work and stack some days and
figure out how we can, you know, be have success
up there.
Speaker 12 (41:00):
Gianahan, congratulations.
Speaker 21 (41:04):
I know a lot of NFL kickers have said that
the AFC North is a really hard division to kick in.
What sort of experience do you have kicking in weather
like that and anticipation you have to be in this division?
Speaker 24 (41:16):
Yeah, you know, I've being in the pac twelve got
to go up to Washington and Washington stay Oregon and
play up there and some some cold weather and some
wind and crazy conditions, and it's it's something that gets
me excited, you know. I think having having a challenge
to go conquer and you know, a skill set to
(41:39):
to refine and really work on and become an expert
of kicking in those conditions is something that gets me
fired up. You know, learning from learning from coaches who
have been up there for a long time and learned
how to be successful in the AFC North kicking like that,
that's something that the sound of gets me pumped up.
Speaker 12 (42:01):
So we're looking forward to it and learning all that.
Speaker 16 (42:06):
Brian Whacker, Hey, Tyler, congratulations. Obviously it's curious who were
maybe some of your favorite kickers growing up and and
and knowing, you know, kind of alluding to the question
about Justin Tucker earlier, is that you know, is that
something you just have to set aside or how do
(42:27):
you kind of apartmentalize that?
Speaker 24 (42:30):
I guess, Yeah, So as far as kickers that I
really looked up to growing up, you know, especially especially
like getting into college. Nick Folk, uh Beel Arizon a Wildcat.
Speaker 11 (42:47):
Uh.
Speaker 24 (42:47):
You know, obviously Justin Tucker's from from Texas and I
was I was a long horn fan growing up, so uh,
you know, there's elements of guys like that who have
passed success in the league and been regarded as like
the elite place kickers in the NFL.
Speaker 12 (43:03):
You know, I admire a lot of parts of their games,
but it's.
Speaker 24 (43:08):
One of those where it's like, hey, I you know
the I've got I've got things that i can do
to to learn from them, but I've also got my own,
my own style and my own kicking and just figuring
out what's gonna work to be successful in Baltimore and
it kicks and win games.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Uh.
Speaker 24 (43:26):
You know what that looks like is, you know, just
stacking days and learning and taking input and just competing
every day.
Speaker 12 (43:34):
So that's that's what.
Speaker 5 (43:35):
I'm gonna do.
Speaker 12 (43:36):
That's what I'm ready for.
Speaker 13 (43:38):
Ryan Mink, congratulations, Tyler. You talk about your style of kicking.
Can you describe what your style is and did you
feel like you had the biggest leg of any kicker
in this year's draft.
Speaker 24 (43:54):
I'd say the one thing that I my hat on
is U loving like being a student of the craft.
You know, guys in golf and baseball, you have a
swing coach because we're doing the same thing, trying to
hit the same.
Speaker 12 (44:12):
Ball every time.
Speaker 24 (44:13):
And so I was super fortunate to have a coach
here in Texas through Cole's kick and Morgan Laneberry and
uh from my sophomore years, like, Hey, we're going to
figure out, we're gonna learn your swing, we're gonna learn
what works, what keys worked for you, and we're going
to be.
Speaker 12 (44:31):
As efficient as possible.
Speaker 24 (44:33):
And that's something that that I really enjoy because there
are days where you don't feel good. There are days
where you're not in a groove, and if you're not
feeling it, you know you can always fall back run
your mechanics to be to be successful, to make kicks,
and so that that gets me excited knowing that that's
just something that I enjoy, is the mechanics of the
(44:55):
game and how kicking works. And as far as life strength, Like, dude,
there's some rest of legs in this class, I definitely
would think I'm up there, but man, it was it
was really fun like competing with those.
Speaker 12 (45:07):
Guys at the combine and just seeing how talented they are.
Speaker 24 (45:09):
And just that that brotherhood is really special, so it
was fun.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
Jameson Ensley.
Speaker 11 (45:19):
I mean, you know everyone talks about Justin Talker and
how he's the most accurate kicker in NFL history. How
much pressure would it be?
Speaker 5 (45:28):
Do you would you feel whether.
Speaker 11 (45:30):
It's competing against him or following in his footsteps. I'm
just trying to gate how much pressure you would feel
in that type of situation.
Speaker 24 (45:39):
I think it's I think it's really exciting more than pressure,
just because it gives me something to shoot for. Right
There's you know, we always want to be improving, We
always want to be chasing, chasing perfection and learning how
to adjust well and make kicks, and you know, getting
to get him to fall in the footsteps of a
guy like that has been and so elite and get
(46:02):
to compete with him and they learn from him like
that just gets me. That gets me fired up and
I'm ready to get up there and start start competing
and final ways to win games, to make kicks.
Speaker 21 (46:14):
Giannahn Tyler, I know this snapping and holding is a
really big part of what you do. I was wondering
if you've had a chance to follow the Ravens seven
hold operational or if it's something that you've talked with
Grandy Brown about.
Speaker 24 (46:31):
Yeah, we've we've chatted about it a little bit.
Speaker 12 (46:35):
Now, I'm I'm excited.
Speaker 24 (46:36):
I think the operation they got up there is is
top level.
Speaker 12 (46:41):
You know, those guys care deeply about their.
Speaker 24 (46:43):
Job and they take it, take it seriously, their true
professionals and just getting the I'm so excited to get
up there and work with them and start building that
chemistry and find ways to be finally to be successful
with them.
Speaker 18 (46:58):
We have time for two more. We'll go to Brian
Wacker and then close it with Jonah's Shafer.
Speaker 16 (47:05):
Sorry, I'm good, actually, thank you good guess.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
Okay, all right, Jonas close this out please.
Speaker 5 (47:11):
Sure thing um.
Speaker 9 (47:13):
Tell Sorry if I hopped on late, did you already
have that raven shirt handy or were you just kind
of heading your bet and had a bunch of shirts?
Speaker 12 (47:21):
No, we were, we were ready with it.
Speaker 5 (47:23):
We were ready with it.
Speaker 12 (47:24):
It was Andy Well order it ordered a couple of
days ago.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
So yeah, you're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast.
Make sure you're subscribe here. Also head over to the
Ravens Lounge podcast feed. Riyan making I do a full
breakdown of the draft with everything you need to know
about these prospects and how they're going to impact the
Ravens this year. That's it for us, Thanks for listening,
(47:51):
and we will be back with you again soon
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.