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Press Pass | Ethan Waugh Meets with the Media · Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I guess, Okay, terms of the nine draftics, I know you.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Sort of the high or hold of those draftings.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: So was there one of the nine in particular that
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: you were rightly involved with shouting the identifra only process
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: that that's the guy that you came right from the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: draft saying are are guy?
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: N I I guess not necessarily.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: I'd like to think it was kind of involved in
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: most of them, you know, at least in the in
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: the film review process, and obviously our area scouts out
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: on the road kind of doing.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: The the the.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: The boots on the ground digging through and finding guys.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: But uh, you know, I think I think, uh, Brian
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Thomas has obviously got that stood out right away, whether
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: it's on tape, whether it's at the combine with how
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: well he performed. Uh, that's certainly somebody that stands out
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: and you're you're like, wow, this is this is a
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: guy you'd love to have on your team.
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: More virtual out or guard offside, just due to multiple movie.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: I think it's extremely important.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: I think if you just look at the the really
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: kind of the numbers of Corners and Nichols drafted, uh
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: in the in and years, it's kind of it's it's
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: on the rise, right. Really, everything that we do we
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: kind of have to see how it affects the run game,
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: and but really more so how it affects the passing game,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: because that's how you score points in this league. That's
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: how you win in this league is by throwing the
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: footballer defending the pass, and so a guy that can
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: go inside out gives us more flexibility to you know,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: as as offenses move there their slots and their big
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: guys around, having that flexibility is key. How much is
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: the evaluation process help by having guys like Matt Hows
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: and other college guys and maybe you know some of
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: these guys are recruiting and just having those connections, it's tremendous.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Coach Houston and really all of the coaches and all
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: of the scouts, with the work they do. The better
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: connection that you have at a school or with a
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: certain position coach or coach, you can get the maybe
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: not the company line, you get the you get the
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: real truth, right, And I think the closer we can
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: get to that the better. The hardest thing for us.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think everyone can see, you know, talent
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: and speed and some of those things by finding out
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: what's at the core of a guy, how he practices,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: how he handles himself in the meetings. Those kind of
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: things are really key to what makes a good professional.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: From a scouting perspective. How do you sort of value
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: players that played multiple sports, maybe in high school like
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Ride played basketball for example. How much value do you
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: place on that and.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: What does it mean I guess to the future of
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: the NFL players. Well, I think it's we look at
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: it quite a bit. One of the starting points we
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: work at is like high school track times high school basketball.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: You know, hey, when you talk to Brian and who
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: offered him and playing basketball, that should show you what
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: kind of athlete he is, So that that is important.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: So we try and we try and follow up. How
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: how it translates to the NFL, I think is different
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: in terms of the sport, But I think the big
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: thing is is kids that like to go out and
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: compete and play sports and have fun and be with
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: teammates and be with teammates of different you know, kind
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: of different takes, right, tracks different than football.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: So I think that's that's all.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Part of building like a well rounded person in player exciting.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: You were launching Brian Thomas running kind of close down there,
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: and you came back and you were like, wow, you.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Can kind of run us through that.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Sure, well, I can start with how the you guys
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: see how the combine is set up, right, and each
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: team has a suite that they can watch from, and
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: our suite was, you know, the exact diagonal corner from
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: the start of the forty, so I couldn't even see
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: really what was happening. So I kind of went down
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: and sat by the by the starting line and just feeling,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: you know, you, when you're that close, you can feel
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: them get out of the blocks and you see a
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: guy that's that's six ' three, he's over two hundred
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: pounds and really exploding out with not just speed but power,
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: and you can feel that when you're that close, and
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: maybe you can't further away. But that was that was
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: really kind of my quick one second review of him
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: in that in that instance.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: He felt that or experience that with any other player
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: who's downed before or peeing lost the forty before, whether
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: it was that a prod or.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: There or sure, yeah, I mean I can think of
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: a couple off the top of my head, like one
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: of the first one of the first guys you early
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: my SKYT career was Vernon Davis, who was you know,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: right it up for four oh, but a heavier guy.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Obviously a tight end, but it's not just speed, but
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: it was power with him, and quite frankly, you could
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: feel the same with Evan Ingram when he was coming out.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: When when you watch all of the tight ends run
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: and then you watch Evan Ingram run, there's a different
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: feeling to it, so you can, I think you can
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: get a good feel of a guy's you know, pure
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: pure powered speed at that point.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: What's your thought on the edge rush position behind Josh
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Allen and Trayvon Walker right now.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: I think we've got we've got some guys that are
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: in the hunt right that that are in the mix
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: to make us better. I think we've added you know,
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: we had a Trayvon, Trevis Gibson, we had some uh.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Some guys there.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: We have some guys that were on the practice squad previously,
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: DJ Coleman types. You know, you see Abdula is playing
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: the sam spot which is really kind of a kind
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: of an edge rusher too at times. So it's uh,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: you know, what we want to do is see those guys,
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: Uh see those guys fight it out and developed, because
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: I think you do really need, uh you really need
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: to come up with four edge rushers, you know, if
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: you want to if you want to play this Super
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Bowl level, and finding guys that can affect the quarterback
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: in waves is really key to what we're trying to do.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Was there a part of the Mason Smith's evaluation that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: stood out to you, whether it was somebody did on
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: film or the combine or in a private work.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Sure. I think there are a couple of things.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: The first one being is his his tape as a freshman,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: as an you know, eighteen year old freshman in the
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: SEC and how how his physical traits really exploded off there.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: The sophomore year obviously had the injury, and then he
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: was kind of working back to health. So I think
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: if you look at the very beginning of his tape,
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: the very end of his college tape, and then the
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: health and the performance at the at the private workout
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: we held with him, I think you can see the
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: progression of how he's kind of getting back to himself
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: and getting back healthy. And I think, you know, I
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: think the sky's the limit.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Did you see a world in which Matt House would
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: get three of the LSU.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: No, No, we didn't foresee that. It just kind of
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: happened that way, which is which is great. But you
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: know that's a place where they don't take many players
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: that aren't high level players. So I think we we'd
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: love to have as many LSU Tigers as we can.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Those takes to you guys that Miles Miles Miles Cowl
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: can go from you know, the numbers guy to productive player.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: I think what one he has numbers right, and I
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: think when it boils down, it's a high weight speed league.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: And I think as you get later in the draft,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: obviously not everyone is perfect. Everyone has a flaw. But
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: what we see as a guy, I think if you
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: guys have will see him out there shortly.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: But he's a great looking kid.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: He's got exceptional length, he can run, and he has
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: improved at football at each step of the way. So
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: hopefully we can he can, you know, spend some time
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: here and find his game and help us out.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: Is that is that a challenge like the proaches or
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: wor even get the most out of this guy?
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think all of those kind of those it's
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: a challenge with every player, I guess, but the the
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: later guys where it's like, hey, this guy has the
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: raw DNA to do this, and now if you're a
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: coach and you can turn them into it, I think
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: that's that's a feather in your cap.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: Overall.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Better than you guys did about the roster when you started,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I feel a lot better, you know.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: I feel I feel like we we added players through
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: free agency that fit us in terms of their just
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: kind of their makeup obviously their their ability as well,
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: but also their makeup in terms of coming from winning programs,
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: right that have played in big games, in big games
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: late in the season, and you know, having having those
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: guys here will help the rest of our.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Team grow in that capacity.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: And then as you get in the what we were
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: fortunate enough in free agency through that, we we didn't
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: pigeonhole ourselves in the draft in terms of having to
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: take a specific position, right, So it was we're able
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: to take, you know, the best player with the player
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: that we thought could help our team the most, rather
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: than we have to have ex position. So I think
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: that that's really good and we feel we feel good
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: about the team. We feel that there's there'll be competition
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: at almost every spot, and I don't, you know, glaring holes.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: That's probably in you know, in the eye of the beholder,
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: But I think we're we have pretty good depth at
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: most spots.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: Along the lines that you were just mentioning about not
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: getting a pigeon holes in the draft. I think a
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: lot of people are probably surprise that you're waiting for
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: a third round to take a corner back. How much
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: did it's signing Ronald Derby provide flexibility in that regard?
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Well, it plays a lot of flexibility.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: You know, he's a starting NFL corner, and he's a
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: starting NFL corner from a good program, and he has
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: he can still run, he's still a talented guy, and
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: he's a pro in every aspect. So that having him
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: means that we don't have to take a corner that
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: has to start day one. You know, it's certainly somebody
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: that we can you know, throw in the mix and
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: make a competition, right and whoever wins wins. But I
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: don't think it's one of those where you're completely devoted
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: depth there.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: So with both of the top two cornerbacks on the board,
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: at least at seventeen and you still.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Had another one on the board of twenty three.
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: You kind of feel you might have gone in that direction,
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: Darby thing having worked.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: Out, Uh, you know, I think, I guess, I don't
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: know if you like tie it specifically together, but yeah,
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: you know, I think we look at our depth chart,
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: we see we have a guy there that competed at
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: NFL level. So let's let's take the person that we
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: think can help us the most as a team. So
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: that was the decision to you about jar and when
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: he had his local.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Protein energy personality.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: I think you'll see that when when you guys get
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: a chance to talk with him, if you haven't yet.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: But he's uh, infectious. He enjoyed being here, He enjoyed
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: loved talking football, he enjoyed learning football, He enjoyed spending.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Time with the coaches.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: And I think when when our coaches spent time with him,
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: asking a player to play inside and outside is uh,
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: you know, is more mentally tasking right than playing one spot.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: And I think they felt really good about about him
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: in that role. So he really impressed us while he
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: was here.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: Go back in round five and think DeAndre franciforn Or
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: did joke about.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Now very.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Similar athletic profile. He's got length, he's got speed. So
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: I think we took in this draft, I think we
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: added four guys that are sub four four to two
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: corners that can run.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Again, it's a high weight speed league.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: If you're not the starting corner right away, you have
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: a chance to make a big contribution on special teams
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: if you can really run. And he can do that,
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: he'll he'll tackle. H He's a competitive kid out there,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: so I think he'll he'll do good things.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: I want to ask Doug about this, evaluating the wide
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: receiver room.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: You guys brought in five on draft of free agent
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: rookies at the.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Wide receiver position. If you could explain the point.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Of emphasis for bringing in five guys.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Obviously you want camp.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Bodies, but specifically that position, and then also the recruitment
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: are I guess the courtship of a local guy, David White.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Sure, so you're exactly right.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: When we go into the draft, we want to come
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: out with enough receivers on our ninety main roster to practice, right.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: So we have obviously have your Christian Kirks and and
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: your Gay Davis's that are that are you know in
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: the mix to be starters. The young guys we need
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: our our really look more so as developmental or have
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: enough speed skill to help really press the defense and
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: improve them.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: So we needed numbers.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: It's also it's kind of difficult sometimes to fill that
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: many spots with capable players. But David White's a guy
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: that we we kind of one of our scouts, Holding Macabee,
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: who's a young scout for us, really identified early in
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: the fall and has kind of followed him through the
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: process and maintained great communication with him in his camp
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: and was able to get him drafted to get He
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: also came out here to the local day and did
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: a great job. So he's a guy that we have,
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: you know, have high hopes for.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: We'll see how he just did.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: The game about him that you guys said, he's a
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: guy who.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Wants side speed and athleticism.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: He's he's a long kid, he's got a he's got
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: a really like a higher level body maybe than what
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: he played the level football that he played at. So
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: I think there's there's a room to grow there and
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: he's got you know, he's got good ball skills. He
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: can really route treewise, he's pretty good. I think it's
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: a pretty good find.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: What you see is the ceiling for a guy like
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: I know, you surprised a guy like Stephen Jones was
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: not drafted and you know he's like one of these
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: potential hidden gems.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: That's good. Sure, yeah, I think, uh exactly. I think
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: I was a little bit surprised.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: I thought I thought he would be a certainly a
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: late caliberd draft pick for someone, and he was for us.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: You know, we we would have considered taking him late,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: just kind of how how the board shakes out as
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: is how it does. But but yeah, he's a he's
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: a talented guy, and you know, a talented big man
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: that you can get in college free agency. That's that's
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: a huge get because there just aren't enough.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Big men, you know, around the league right now.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Remember the first conversation last year about protecting Carver betterman, Like, well,
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: what point did you.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Guys decide that's gonna be an off season.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Priority made you in the top or whereas to go
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: any upgrade the offensive line, upgrade receivers, and really build
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: around the franchise guy.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Right Well, I think, uh, I mean really, I think
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: that's for the second I got here, that's kind of
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: the right.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, we feel like we have a you.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: Know, a great quarterback in Trevor and and as the
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: season progresses, as he's an ended, hey, where where can
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: we get better?
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Where do we need to you know, to shore up?
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: And obviously protecting.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: Him is is key, and keeping him up right and
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: giving him the time to you know, to make his
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: plays with his arm, make the receivers allow him to
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: make play. So I think it's it's kind of like
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: an ongoing process, I guess, but uh, but to you know,
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: I think again, you have to score points to win
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: this league, and the more we can shore up the offense,
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: the better.
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: From cham standpoint.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: To see him hit as.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Often he was and he.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Uh, I don't want to see him injured at all.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: Don't want to see anybody injured obviously, but like, yeah,
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: that that is concerning. And I think we've got to
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: got to keep him up right and have to you know,
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: have to protect him, keep the bodies off of them,
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: get the ball out of his hands. I think we're
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: pretty good at that. But it's it's part of the
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: maturation of him as a player, part of the maturation
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: of us as a team is to to play clean football.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: And I think we're head in that direction and foster
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: right tackle, he'll be he'll start at both, they'll take
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: reps of both. Obviously we don't have a full compliment
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: of guys here today, so I imagine he'll he'll take
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: slides at both sides and we'll see see how that
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: goes from.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: A personnel standpoint with the new kickoff rules and what
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: are you looking for on both sides.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Of that, Well, first of all, just trying to guess
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: what people are going to do. So that's kind of
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: what we're you know, we spend a lot of time
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: in the special teams coaches, you know what, what do
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: we think is going to happen? You know, what are
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: the what are the schemes that you guys are looking
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: at using, and what do you think we're going to see?
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: And just trying to figure that out. And I think
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: the big thing is is that you're you're gonna need
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: a second returner and in our in our eyes, a
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: second returner with speed and so that way they can't
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: you know, they can't just kick the ball away from us.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: So if we put you guys out there that can run,
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: that's gonna make us pretty dangerous. And and and then
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: we'll see what the kickoff team's answer to that is.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: But I think it's all a little bit gray until
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: you know, I think everybody in the league's gonna be
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: watching the Hall of Fame game and see what what
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: teams do in the preseason. We'll show a lot I
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: think of how different teams look at it and how
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: they plan to exploit it. Beyond light power and maybe
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: accuracy numbers, what's important to you in evaluating a kicker,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: And let's start out about Cam and cam reliability obviously
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: accuracy and obviously the ability to not just kick off,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: but kick off with some of the different kicks that
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: may be required with the new rule.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: And so the other thing about him is about Cam.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: I think when you guys made him, you'll see him.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: He's a really, really young guy, but he is it's
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: not too big for him.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: He's a confident kid.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: I think you'll find that when you speak with him,
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: and a guy that can you know inevitably you're going
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: to miss a kick at some point in your NFL career,
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: and do you have the resilience to bounce back from
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: that and go out and hit the next one? And
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: I think that's that's the biggest thing. We feel like
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: we found that in Cam. Going back to the offensive line,
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: how do you feel overall about what.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: You guys have done to sort of address that position group.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I feel pretty good about it.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: I think when you look out there, you know, obviously
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: we added Mitch Morris, who's been a high level starter
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: in this league.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Uh, we kind of redid we added Ezra you know.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: A year ago or during the season, and I think
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: he's he's to the point now where he's fully healthy,
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: which wasn't maybe necessarily the case early. Brandon Shurff has
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: been a you know it, has been a good player here,
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: and I think we have a kind of a unique
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: tackle situation where you have you know, Anton who has
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: a rookie played very well. I think he I think
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: he played every snap, if not, you know, almost every snap.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: And then with with Cam and Walker Little, you have
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: some some versatility there. So I think a lot of
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: teams in the league don't have two tackles they feel
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: great about. We feel like we're, uh, you know, we're
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: pretty good at that position right now, and we'll let
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: it sort itself out as to who's on the field.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: As one more the Cam question.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: I know Heath apparently that that was his guy when
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: he went and visited with all three kickers.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: If you could kind of take us behind the curtain
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: of when Heath came back.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I've said to multiple people, I wish I was a
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: fly on the wall for that dinner conversation between those two.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: If you could kind of give us your perspective of
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Keith comes back, remarked and.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Solve, isn't it. Yeah.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: So, so Heath every year kind of goes on his
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: little junket around the country and works out all the
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: kickers and uh uh he really enjoyed that opportunity with
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: him and he was obviously everybody when you you want
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: questions answered, right, Hey, he's a young guy.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: How is he going to handle this? And and uh
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: he handled it greatly.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Heath was really excited when he came back, and certainly
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: a guy that we that we wanted and felt like
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: he can do the job.