April 26, 2025 • 12 mins
General Manager Eric DeCosta and Head Coach John Harbaugh speak to the media after Day 2.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The Ravens wrapped
up the second night of the NFL Draft and they
selected pass rusher Mike Green in the second round out
of Marshall, and they also selected offensive tackle Emery Jones
out of LSU in the third round. After the second
night of the draft, we heard from general manager Eric
Tacassa and head coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Okay, guys, welcome and excited. We've added two very good
football players today. Mike Green we think one of the
premiere pass rushers in this draft. Marshall fits us with
his playing style. Excited to get him at that point
in the draft. And then also Emmy Jones, a younger
(00:51):
player offensive tackle slash offensive guard from LSU.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Had a chance to.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
See him at the Senior Bowl. Physical, aggressive, tough, minded,
good length. I think he's a really really good, young,
physical prospect who should you know, be a really good
tackle at some point or transition to being a very
good guard.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Questions Eric, Those people thought Mike Green. I think many
people thought he was a top twenty type of prospect.
Was he even in Concercat.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I know you had Maltachaie Stark saying he was both
you know, the top player on your board at that point,
but was Mike Green you know, kind of given consideration,
possibly been the profil.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I mean, he's a talented player, you know, for sure.
He's a guy that you know, we looked at very closely,
spent a lot of time with Mike. Came to Baltimore,
spent a full day with Mike here, interviewed him at
the combine, and watched his tape. You know, uh, talented
guy for us, you know, looking at Malachi, we just
felt like his resume, what he did at Georgia, big games,
(01:51):
you know, tremendous competition, the needs of our defense, what
he brings, we thought he was the best pick.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Eric.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
There were two sexual assault allegations regarding Mike Breed when
he's younger.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I know we've denied them. There have been no charges.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Fans have already reached out instead this show's it doesn't
really matter as long as you can play.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
What do you say to those fans?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I would say that we investigated this situation very thoroughly.
I think we have the best scouts in the NFL.
We've got great scouts that go into Virginia. They go
into Marshall. We've got people that work force investigating different
incidents with players all the time, and we felt comfortable
(02:41):
taking him. We think he's a talented player. We understand
the severity of what these allegations were, of course, but
doing our due diligence, we are comfortable with Mike. I
personally spent an hour and a half with him in
my office and I think the best is yet to
come with them, and I'm glad we got them.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
When you give in the allegations obviously, just talker at
the moment. I know we separated in the teacher cases.
Look at individually. When you have a situation like that,
do you weigh does that play and have any way
when you're considering when you can get a different guy?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, you know, I don't think that would be fair
to either player. I mean that'd be like me asking you.
You know, you're writing styles similar to Jamous and you
both in the media, but you write differently, you know,
so it's two different situations, I think, Brian, and it's
you know, obviously, you know, allegations are severe. We take
it seriously. We look at them individually, and we do
as much homework as we can and you know, specifically
(03:45):
to Mike and Mike's case. I feel like we did
a good job talking to as many people as possible.
We talked to Mike at length. You know, we did
our own kind of work behind the scenes, looking at
all the different things, and we feel comfortable taking them.
I know, you guys, when you're putting your draft all together,
you you kind of separate things mixed off engines and
(04:05):
character and off the field issue when it came.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
To my I guess I mean you said you guys
kind of diligently investigated it.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
What made you get to the point to where you
were comfortable taking the chance with him?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah? I think you just answered your own question. I mean,
we diligently investigated it. We got as much information as
we could. We considered the facts, we considered the allegations,
We considered what the reports actually were and what they
actually weren't, and we made the decision based off of that.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Alright, what kind of feedback did you get from coaches
and people in his circle regarding his character?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I would say positive, John, would you.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Learn about them when you met? Was that? I imagined
you were part of that too? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (04:52):
Well, actually it wasn't here the day we met with him.
But uh, just echo what Eric said.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
I mean.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
It Eric could, I mean it was Eric, it was
our scouts. I was in all the meetings, I heard
all the reports. Uh, what Eric said was so interesting.
It's not so much what they were and what they
weren't is just as important. And the coaches and administrators
and teammates at Marshall were fully supportive of everything he
had done there, and the same at UVA. Wasn't any
(05:21):
different in uv It was exactly the same from that standpoint.
So it was it was I talk about due diligence.
It was exhaustive what these guys have done and and uh,
and we made a decision based on what we felt
was fair.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Is it still a tough decision when you're weighing that,
when you're wearing those things, even when you go through
those I.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Mean, I think every decision we'd make with the draft
is tough because we have a finite amount of picks,
and every pick is very valuable, and so you consider everything,
you scrutinize everything, you know, it does become you know,
our lives, you know, especially after the season ends, it's
a race to the finish and so it is. It
is a difficult decision. It's a difficult decision when I
got on. It's a slow forty. It's a difficult decision
when a guy has allegations. It's a difficult decision when
(06:04):
a guy has an injury that you think he can't overcome,
but maybe he can't overcome. That all kind of gets
factored in because in the end, you know, there is
an element of risk mitigation with everything we do, and
we want these guys to come in and be productive
right away. And they have to be talented, they've got
to be durable, and we have to have a lot
of trust in them. So it is a difficult decision.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
They showed him on TV. He was very emotional. Can
you share a little bit about the phone call? And
obviously he was waiting along time most people would be
long after.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Uh, you know, I think it leave that, you know,
conversation to us. I mean, you'll probably get a chance
to see it or hear it, you know, But you know,
I think he was with his family.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I think he was relieved.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Looks like he has a beautiful, wonderful family supporting him,
and I think the very excited for this next chapter.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
You expect that made available to us.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I would assume, so I'd view more of it. Chack Weston,
I think.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
In just looking at the tape of Green, what kind
of just kind of jumped.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
Out of in watching that, right, the first thing that
jumped out of me was his his motor. You know,
he's a relentless player like he is. He talked about
a guy that plays the way our fans like to
watch football play. Uh, he plays like a guy that
really cares. He is he comes off the ball, He's
very physical, and he does not stop playing until the
(07:27):
final echo of the whistle. He's physical, he's aggressive. He
plays the kind of football that we like to play.
And I think it's just the football iq. The football
character is very high.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Do you job, Do you look at him as kind
of like an insistant impact quite a guy for the defense.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Sure.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Absolutely, He's the guy that's gonna come in here day
one and he's gonna make a mark. You know, it's
gonna be exciting look at a whole draft really kind
of in total like that, these first two guys, defensive
guys are gonna You're gonna notice him when we get
after the first day. Malachy is gonna be he's gonna
be flying around taking charge and uh and then Mike's
gonna be flying around. You know, he won't be calling
defenses back there, but he'll be coming off the edge
(08:06):
and he's physical against the run. And and the other
thing is it's important to these two guys. I mean
both these two guys. Football really really matters to it,
and they want to be successful. They want it to
be in front of them. They want to make the
most of their chances. They have going forward, an opportunity
to do things the right way. They're both very determined
to do that. And I know that they both they
both express that. Mike really expressed that, you know, he really,
(08:27):
he really wants to make the most of this opportunity
and he's very grateful for the opportunity to say the
same thing. About Emory, he felt the same way. You know,
he's another guy that you know, he's got he's got
big goals, big aspirations, and all these guys, it's just
so meaningful when you get on the phone with them
afterwards and you know they're all they're all they're all
taking their journey, they're all fighting their fight. They're trying
(08:48):
to overcome and they kind of make their dreams come true.
And and these guys are very, very, very highly motivated
group of guys.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
With Emory, do you see I mean, it seems like
which he was primarily a right tackle, do you see
him as a possibility of competing for that card spinal
web side or do you see him more as.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
No, we see him as a possible swing guy. You know,
he's kind of That's what I thought. The pick was
so good that Eric made. He's got the chance to
be a swing backup tackle for us right away. But
he also has a chance to go in their guard
and play. So we're gonna put him in their guard too.
See how he does, and just get a feel for him,
you know, once he starts practicing, just get a feel
for where he can help us.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
And he can.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
We think he can play guard and tackle.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
He can work inside. Had the senior boat while you
guys were there.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
He did, he took some reps inside. You know, I
think I was just really impressed with his competitiveness in
the practices. You know, a lot of times some players
go down there and they sort of treat it as
a fun week, you know, And with Emory, the one
on ones. You know, this guy was fighting and battling
and all the competitive periods, he really showed a lot
of effort and tenacity, and it just seemed like watching him,
(09:57):
you know Jonas say he was He's the kind of
a A Ravens type of player, you know, just with
his attitude and his demeanor, his explosion, his physicality. He's
a guy that when we left, I just thought, you
know what, this guy would have a chance being pretty
good for us.
Speaker 6 (10:10):
Have you did you entertain at any point trade offers
for Mark Andrews And can you definitively say you'll be
on this team in the fall?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Well, I would never say if I entertained any trade
offers at this point. I would really expect Mark to
be on this team. Great player, love him, competitive, tough playmaker.
I would expect him be on the team.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Without overall player. Did you was were.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
You pretty committed to stay where you were or was
there thought at any point in the draft to maybe
moving out if you had to fall something to.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Pickular the god?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You know, I sweated the third round pick a little
bit just because you know, I think Emory was a
guy that we really liked and picking at the end
of the round, and I really didn't just trade up,
you know, I just really I thought there was a
chance that we get Emory down there. But it's a
long day and you start to see Lineman go, and uh,
(11:09):
I was just glad he was there. But you know,
I think it was a good It was a good day.
Excited about tomorrow, the opportunities that we have tomorrow with
all the picks that we have in the fourth and
fifth round, especially the sixth round. So I think we
have in the in the board looks, you know, pretty good.
We got wiped out, but because there's more players, you know,
looking at the that last category, we caught five nines. Uh,
(11:33):
there's a lot of names, which means that we should
have a chance to get some good players in the
sixth round.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
The Rays will wrap up the NFL Draft on Saturday.
They have eight picks remaining. You're listening to the Ravens
Press Pass podcast, make sure you hit subscribe. Also, head
over to the Lounge podcast feed and subscribe there. Thanks
to listening, We'll be back with you again tomorrow.
Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The Ravens wrapped
up the second night of the NFL Draft and they
selected pass rusher Mike Green in the second round out
of Marshall, and they also selected offensive tackle Emery Jones
out of LSU in the third round. After the second
night of the draft, we heard from general manager Eric
Tacassa and head coach John Harbaugh.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Okay, guys, welcome and excited. We've added two very good
football players today. Mike Green we think one of the
premiere pass rushers in this draft. Marshall fits us with
his playing style. Excited to get him at that point
in the draft. And then also Emmy Jones, a younger
(00:51):
player offensive tackle slash offensive guard from LSU.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Had a chance to.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
See him at the Senior Bowl. Physical, aggressive, tough, minded,
good length. I think he's a really really good, young,
physical prospect who should you know, be a really good
tackle at some point or transition to being a very
good guard.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Questions Eric, Those people thought Mike Green. I think many
people thought he was a top twenty type of prospect.
Was he even in Concercat.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I know you had Maltachaie Stark saying he was both
you know, the top player on your board at that point,
but was Mike Green you know, kind of given consideration,
possibly been the profil.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I mean, he's a talented player, you know, for sure.
He's a guy that you know, we looked at very closely,
spent a lot of time with Mike. Came to Baltimore,
spent a full day with Mike here, interviewed him at
the combine, and watched his tape. You know, uh, talented
guy for us, you know, looking at Malachi, we just
felt like his resume, what he did at Georgia, big games,
(01:51):
you know, tremendous competition, the needs of our defense, what
he brings, we thought he was the best pick.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Eric.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
There were two sexual assault allegations regarding Mike Breed when
he's younger.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I know we've denied them. There have been no charges.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Fans have already reached out instead this show's it doesn't
really matter as long as you can play.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
What do you say to those fans?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I would say that we investigated this situation very thoroughly.
I think we have the best scouts in the NFL.
We've got great scouts that go into Virginia. They go
into Marshall. We've got people that work force investigating different
incidents with players all the time, and we felt comfortable
(02:41):
taking him. We think he's a talented player. We understand
the severity of what these allegations were, of course, but
doing our due diligence, we are comfortable with Mike. I
personally spent an hour and a half with him in
my office and I think the best is yet to
come with them, and I'm glad we got them.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
When you give in the allegations obviously, just talker at
the moment. I know we separated in the teacher cases.
Look at individually. When you have a situation like that,
do you weigh does that play and have any way
when you're considering when you can get a different guy?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, you know, I don't think that would be fair
to either player. I mean that'd be like me asking you.
You know, you're writing styles similar to Jamous and you
both in the media, but you write differently, you know,
so it's two different situations, I think, Brian, and it's
you know, obviously, you know, allegations are severe. We take
it seriously. We look at them individually, and we do
as much homework as we can and you know, specifically
(03:45):
to Mike and Mike's case. I feel like we did
a good job talking to as many people as possible.
We talked to Mike at length. You know, we did
our own kind of work behind the scenes, looking at
all the different things, and we feel comfortable taking them.
I know, you guys, when you're putting your draft all together,
you you kind of separate things mixed off engines and
(04:05):
character and off the field issue when it came.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
To my I guess I mean you said you guys
kind of diligently investigated it.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
What made you get to the point to where you
were comfortable taking the chance with him?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah? I think you just answered your own question. I mean,
we diligently investigated it. We got as much information as
we could. We considered the facts, we considered the allegations,
We considered what the reports actually were and what they
actually weren't, and we made the decision based off of that.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Alright, what kind of feedback did you get from coaches
and people in his circle regarding his character?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I would say positive, John, would you.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Learn about them when you met? Was that? I imagined
you were part of that too? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (04:52):
Well, actually it wasn't here the day we met with him.
But uh, just echo what Eric said.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
I mean.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
It Eric could, I mean it was Eric, it was
our scouts. I was in all the meetings, I heard
all the reports. Uh, what Eric said was so interesting.
It's not so much what they were and what they
weren't is just as important. And the coaches and administrators
and teammates at Marshall were fully supportive of everything he
had done there, and the same at UVA. Wasn't any
(05:21):
different in uv It was exactly the same from that standpoint.
So it was it was I talk about due diligence.
It was exhaustive what these guys have done and and uh,
and we made a decision based on what we felt
was fair.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Is it still a tough decision when you're weighing that,
when you're wearing those things, even when you go through
those I.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Mean, I think every decision we'd make with the draft
is tough because we have a finite amount of picks,
and every pick is very valuable, and so you consider everything,
you scrutinize everything, you know, it does become you know,
our lives, you know, especially after the season ends, it's
a race to the finish and so it is. It
is a difficult decision. It's a difficult decision when I
got on. It's a slow forty. It's a difficult decision
when a guy has allegations. It's a difficult decision when
(06:04):
a guy has an injury that you think he can't overcome,
but maybe he can't overcome. That all kind of gets
factored in because in the end, you know, there is
an element of risk mitigation with everything we do, and
we want these guys to come in and be productive
right away. And they have to be talented, they've got
to be durable, and we have to have a lot
of trust in them. So it is a difficult decision.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
They showed him on TV. He was very emotional. Can
you share a little bit about the phone call? And
obviously he was waiting along time most people would be
long after.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Uh, you know, I think it leave that, you know,
conversation to us. I mean, you'll probably get a chance
to see it or hear it, you know, But you know,
I think he was with his family.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I think he was relieved.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Looks like he has a beautiful, wonderful family supporting him,
and I think the very excited for this next chapter.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
You expect that made available to us.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I would assume, so I'd view more of it. Chack Weston,
I think.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
In just looking at the tape of Green, what kind
of just kind of jumped.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
Out of in watching that, right, the first thing that
jumped out of me was his his motor. You know,
he's a relentless player like he is. He talked about
a guy that plays the way our fans like to
watch football play. Uh, he plays like a guy that
really cares. He is he comes off the ball, He's
very physical, and he does not stop playing until the
(07:27):
final echo of the whistle. He's physical, he's aggressive. He
plays the kind of football that we like to play.
And I think it's just the football iq. The football
character is very high.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Do you job, Do you look at him as kind
of like an insistant impact quite a guy for the defense.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Sure.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Absolutely, He's the guy that's gonna come in here day
one and he's gonna make a mark. You know, it's
gonna be exciting look at a whole draft really kind
of in total like that, these first two guys, defensive
guys are gonna You're gonna notice him when we get
after the first day. Malachy is gonna be he's gonna
be flying around taking charge and uh and then Mike's
gonna be flying around. You know, he won't be calling
defenses back there, but he'll be coming off the edge
(08:06):
and he's physical against the run. And and the other
thing is it's important to these two guys. I mean
both these two guys. Football really really matters to it,
and they want to be successful. They want it to
be in front of them. They want to make the
most of their chances. They have going forward, an opportunity
to do things the right way. They're both very determined
to do that. And I know that they both they
both express that. Mike really expressed that, you know, he really,
(08:27):
he really wants to make the most of this opportunity
and he's very grateful for the opportunity to say the
same thing. About Emory, he felt the same way. You know,
he's another guy that you know, he's got he's got
big goals, big aspirations, and all these guys, it's just
so meaningful when you get on the phone with them
afterwards and you know they're all they're all they're all
taking their journey, they're all fighting their fight. They're trying
(08:48):
to overcome and they kind of make their dreams come true.
And and these guys are very, very, very highly motivated
group of guys.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
With Emory, do you see I mean, it seems like
which he was primarily a right tackle, do you see
him as a possibility of competing for that card spinal
web side or do you see him more as.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
No, we see him as a possible swing guy. You know,
he's kind of That's what I thought. The pick was
so good that Eric made. He's got the chance to
be a swing backup tackle for us right away. But
he also has a chance to go in their guard
and play. So we're gonna put him in their guard too.
See how he does, and just get a feel for him,
you know, once he starts practicing, just get a feel
for where he can help us.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
And he can.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
We think he can play guard and tackle.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
He can work inside. Had the senior boat while you
guys were there.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
He did, he took some reps inside. You know, I
think I was just really impressed with his competitiveness in
the practices. You know, a lot of times some players
go down there and they sort of treat it as
a fun week, you know, And with Emory, the one
on ones. You know, this guy was fighting and battling
and all the competitive periods, he really showed a lot
of effort and tenacity, and it just seemed like watching him,
(09:57):
you know Jonas say he was He's the kind of
a A Ravens type of player, you know, just with
his attitude and his demeanor, his explosion, his physicality. He's
a guy that when we left, I just thought, you
know what, this guy would have a chance being pretty
good for us.
Speaker 6 (10:10):
Have you did you entertain at any point trade offers
for Mark Andrews And can you definitively say you'll be
on this team in the fall?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Well, I would never say if I entertained any trade
offers at this point. I would really expect Mark to
be on this team. Great player, love him, competitive, tough playmaker.
I would expect him be on the team.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Without overall player. Did you was were.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
You pretty committed to stay where you were or was
there thought at any point in the draft to maybe
moving out if you had to fall something to.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Pickular the god?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You know, I sweated the third round pick a little
bit just because you know, I think Emory was a
guy that we really liked and picking at the end
of the round, and I really didn't just trade up,
you know, I just really I thought there was a
chance that we get Emory down there. But it's a
long day and you start to see Lineman go, and uh,
(11:09):
I was just glad he was there. But you know,
I think it was a good It was a good day.
Excited about tomorrow, the opportunities that we have tomorrow with
all the picks that we have in the fourth and
fifth round, especially the sixth round. So I think we
have in the in the board looks, you know, pretty good.
We got wiped out, but because there's more players, you know,
looking at the that last category, we caught five nines. Uh,
(11:33):
there's a lot of names, which means that we should
have a chance to get some good players in the
sixth round.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
The Rays will wrap up the NFL Draft on Saturday.
They have eight picks remaining. You're listening to the Ravens
Press Pass podcast, make sure you hit subscribe. Also, head
over to the Lounge podcast feed and subscribe there. Thanks
to listening, We'll be back with you again tomorrow.
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