Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / E.V.Podcast Ep. 3 | Travis Hunter Trade, OTAs & Schedule Debrief w/ Tony Boselli

Transcript

E.V.Podcast Ep. 3 | Travis Hunter Trade, OTAs & Schedule Debrief w/ Tony Boselli · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The only thing we have to do is make decisions
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: to help us be a better football team. That's the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: only thing we have to do. At the end of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the day, you'll be judged and the proof will be
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: of how it works out over the coming season, upcoming season,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: but over years, you will be evaluated for that decision.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: But you gotta make it. You can't. You can't sit
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: back and be afraid to make tough decisions. You can't
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: be afraid to take risk. Without risk, there is no progress.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Welcome into this week's EVP podcast, and it's the third
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: edition of the EVP Podcast with Executive vice President of
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Football Operations. I love always saying the name out because
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: I like the length of that name.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: There's a lot too a lot too early.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: We're getting into it now where this isn't a new
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: position for you anymore. Though, it's hard to believe that
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: it's been three months and that you're sort of into
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: it now.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when does that?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Like, when's the line of demarcation where it's no longer New.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Year?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: So it's so it's still new then because.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: We're you were a rookie until you were Yeah, I guess.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: That's a good point. That's fair. Yeah, it's going great.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think we've made great progress. I think
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: we're on the field now. We obviously the draft is
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: behind us. We got the rookies in here, made the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: big move in the draft, got Travis Hunter. We felt
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: we feel good about where we are right now, but
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of work to be done. We're not keeping
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: score yet, right that's when the true test is. But
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: we're getting ready to and doing the prep and I
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: think Liam and the staff are doing it.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Just a great job.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Watching practice, the install the teaching, the details around it,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: and so really excited of where we are, but a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: lot of work to be done.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: So we're four or five days out from mini camp.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Just give me your impressions.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: It's tough for me because I want to be consistent.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: John, we talked a lot, you know, I said, you know,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: it's don't make any I always would say is don't
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: make judgments on fake football because it's not.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Real football right now. But it's still important.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: I don't want anyone to take that as like, hey,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: this isn't an important time. It's important critical. I think
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: it's hard to really evaluate. What you can evaluate is
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the demeanor of the guys you've brought in their learning style,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: how much they can comprehend in the capacity uh and
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: and our coaches have thrown a lot out of them.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: You know how they got integrated to the program. You
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: watch a little bit on the field, you know, maybe
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: the athletic ability, and you know how they go integrate
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: with the rest of their teammates and and going through
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: individual and stuff. But we're not competitive on the field
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: right now. Individually, the individuals are competing with themselves to
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: be the best they can, which we hope we do
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: every day, but we're not doing offense defense competition where
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: you're really evaluating football right now. In phase two, we
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: don't even have helmets on right So we'll get into
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: phase three coming up here real quick. We'll put some
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: helmets on a little bit of competitiveness, but still it's
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: not real football until you get the pads on and
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: really start competing playing football. That's when the real I
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: think you start evaluating, even at a deeper level. Everyone's
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: evaluated every day around here, but I want to be
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: consistent not get too far.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: I try not to judge until pads go.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: On, because I think you make mistakes.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: You're either fall in love with a guy, then you
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: have to convince yourself to fall out of love with
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: once you're really seeing football. Or you have a negative
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: thought about an individual and they can and that doesn't
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: allow you to see what they can do when you're
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: playing football. So I think you have to say balanced
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: this time of year, it's an important time of year
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: for our players or coaches, everyone in this building. At
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the same time, it's the very beginning portion of the
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: evaluation process.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: I'm going to ask you about Travis Hunter because because
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: everyone does, he's obviously the topic what did you see
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: out there? But more importantly, what have you seen just
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: being around him?
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Well, the confirmation that he's a supreme athlete with amazing
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: body control. But I think my favorite thing that I've seen,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: and we believe this when we drafted him, is the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: type of human being here, the competitive nature, the desire
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to be great as an individual, the good teammate. How
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: he you know, this is the second overall pick, guy
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: who won the Heisman is gonna play both ways, and
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: he doesn't separate himself out from.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: The rest of the rookies or the rest of his
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: draft class.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Doing it right is really important to him and so
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  Speaker 1: that combined with just the natural joy he brings because
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: of his personality, everything I expected and more and really
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: looking forward to when we actually start playing real football
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: out there see what he can do.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: To get into the fan engagement that we saw on Saturday.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: But one more question about Travis. When you made that trade,
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: it's it's an incredibly gutsy trade for multiple reasons. You're
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: talking about a guy that James Glaston says can shape
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: the game, and yet it's very unconventional and you trade
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: it up. How did you feel a gravity of the
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: move in that sense?
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it was a big decision, a big
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: strategic decision, and I give James a ton of credit
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: for his leadership through the entire process and how he
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: envisioned it and how he put it together. Yeah, it's
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: collaboration between James Lee and I. We go to a
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: shot with big decisions like that, but it was James
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: who led it, and it was James who put the
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: deal together. And as far as the gravity of the decision,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: my approach is like we are making big decisions every day,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: and even some of the decisions to just do things
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the right way.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: But that's a big, big, big that's.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: A big one. There's no doubt about it.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: You're trading away a first round pick next year, your
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: your your trade away second round pick this year.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: But you have to have conviction, right, you have to have.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: A set of belief, say this is what makes us
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the best we can be, and then you got to
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: go execute it because just you know, talking about it,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: theorizing about it, anyone can do that.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot of teams would have sat there and said, boy,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: it'd be cool if we could do that, but we
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: can't do that. We gotta you know, we have to
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: do it this way. But it was a tone setting
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: move in that sense.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: The only thing we have to do is make decisions
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: to help us be a better football team. That's the
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: only thing we have to do. And then our job
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: in this building is to evaluate.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Look at the whole board, the whole.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Picture in front of us, and then do the research,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: do the work, and at the end of the day,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: come together and make a decision that we are convicted
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: about and go out and execute it. Now, at the
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: end of the day, you'll be judged and the proof
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: will be of how it works out over the coming season.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Upcoming season, but over years you will be evaluated for
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: that decision, but you got to make it. You can't
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: sit back and be afraid to make tough decisions. You
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: can't be afraid to take risk. Without risk, there is
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: no progress, and we want to move forward. We want
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: to progress. We want to build a championship organization. So
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: we have to make decisions that we think will lead
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: us to that destination. And we had conviction that Travis
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: was an individual we wanted to be a Jacksonville Jaguar.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: We knew it would be expensive, it was going to
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: cost us something. We know there's risk in it. Anytime
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: you draft a player, you're projecting of what they can
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: do at this level.
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  Speaker 3: And it brings the spotlight, and that's fine.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Like if you're going to shy away from the bright lights, probably.
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  Speaker 3: In the wrong business.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Probably in the wrong business.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: People weren't here on Saturday. When you open mini camp
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: to the fans, it's hard to get a feel for
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: just how cool that was. I know that was important
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: to you, sort of in the big picture of having
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: fans embrace this team. We've talked about it on this podcast,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: but it's one thing to say it, it's another thing
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: to sort of do that and to have James and
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Liam by in why is it so important to you?
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: And how cool is that to see Saturday.
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  Speaker 2: Well, at the end of the.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Day, we want our fans engaged. I want EverBank Stadium filled, right,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: not three quarters, not two thirds. I don't want to
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: see empty seats. But for us to do that, it's
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: our job to engage our fans and put a product
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: on the field that they can be proud of and
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: that they're excited about.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: It's sometimes hard to do when football people traditionally, oh,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: we're going to get this done and you know, well
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: it's a little unconventional and four thing, which is pretty cool.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: We are in the entertainment business. We're asking people to
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: spend their hard earned dollars to come watch.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: But it's football.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Play football, and be excited and happy when they leave
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the Stateium.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: That's what we're doing.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, we can never forget that we have a
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: bunch of people who live here in Jacksonville around the
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: country that are Jaguar fans. We want them engaged. We
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: want them if they're not here watching us, engaging with
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: us through all the different platforms that are available. If
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: they are within it driving distance or if they can
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: afford to fly here on Sundays, we want them in
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: that stadium. I want them to spend their hard earned
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: dollars to come watch us play football. Well, to do that,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: we have a job. We have to engage them. We
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: have to put a product that they're proud of and
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: that they're excited about. And when we had the opportunity
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and we sat down as a leadership team with the
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: business side of Chad Johnson, Mark Lamping and that team,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: and we had just drafted Travis Hunter. Our fans are excited,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: We're going to have a rocky minicamp. Why wouldn't we
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: open it up? Why wouldn't we.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: Allow executives who you give out fifteen bad reasons.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Well I could give them a hundred good reasons. And
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: and I thought it was great. I think our players
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: enjoyed it.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: There was energy.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I think our coaching staff enjoyed it. At the end
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: of the day, we're out there playing football. And and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I give a lot of credit to you know, Chad
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Johnson and that team working with us. If you had
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: asked me at ten thirty that morning, whether we're going
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: to be able to practice outdoors and in front of
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: our fans, I'd have said, there's no chance it was raining,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: like it was the end of the world, Like we
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: got to build an arc and but we went through
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the process. We had a drop dead time of when
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: we could call it one way or another. We worked
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: all the way through. Our field team, our facilities team,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Jeff de Luca and that group did a great job
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: on the field getting it ready, got the water out
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: the best we could, and we said, at the end
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: of the day, if the grass is safe enough safe
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: for our players to practice, we're going to go out
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: there in practice and let our fans see this football team.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: You and Fred talked to the team about what it
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: means to be a Jaguar. That's really cool. Why was
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: that important to you and what was that experience like.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was important to me for a lot of reasons.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Fred Taylor.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: By the way, Fred Taylor, I came here in ninety five,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: we had no history, no tradition, There was no former.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: Jaguars for us to look to as a rookie class.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: We had to create that. We had good veterans that
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: did a good job leading. But it was also a
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: big a lot driven by Tom Cofflin. And so when
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: we started talking about the onboarding of the rookies and
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the rookie dinner with the legends. Wanted as many former
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Jaguars that could be here for dinner and sit with
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: the rookies and talk to him. But to me, it
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: was really important that Fred Taylor here, one of, if
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: not the greatest Jaguar of all time, who played the
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: game the right way, was in my mind, a guy
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: that you would put up in front of anybody and say,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: this is what a Jaguar is.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: Tough, competitive, passionate, cares about the organization.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Learned how to be a pro from the time he
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: was a rookie and became one of the best groups
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and grew.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: And I said, who better than Fred Taylor to have
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: sit in front of our rookies and talk about what
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: it meant to be a pro in this league, but
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: also what it meant to be a Jaguar.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: They're probably pretty quiet when he was talking.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's a guy with a lot of wisdom. Yeah,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: and he's he's been from where he grew up and
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: going through Florida and coming here as a first rounder
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: and the growth he had. People don't remember. He couldn't
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: didn't win the starting job until James Stewart got hurt
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: and then took advantage of his opportunity to become the
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: became the greatest running back ever in this franchise and
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: one of the best to ever play in the NFL.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: So I felt like it was important. The dinner was
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: important for them to sit with, you know, a more
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: intimate setting with guys and eating dinner.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: But I wanted them to for.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: That right alumni.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: We did, and I appreciate our alumni coming and they
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: did a great job. But most important for me was
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Fred Taylor being able to sit there and say and
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: not only for them to hear the words he was
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: speaking and feel his presence, but to see an individual
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: that really I think embodies what it means to be
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: a Jacksonville Jaguar.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: What have you noticed on the field in terms of
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: Liam Cohen's coaching? How is this looking different from your perspective?
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: I know you weren't here last.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Year, but ye, I don't want to compare it to
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: anything else.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: That's not fair to Limb and it's not fair to
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the guys who coached her in the past. And really
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: what we did in the past doesn't matter, has no
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: impact on what we're going to do now. But what
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: I'll say about Liam that I've.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Hit the detail.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Of the approach and how we are teaching and installing
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: is really impressive, Like every detail is important and the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: whole staff.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: It goes through the whole staff.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: And then his intensity and his competitive spirit is on
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: full display. Not only when he's in front of the
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: team at the team meeting. He's an outstanding communicator. He
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: captures the attention of everybody in that room, but then
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: you watch him on the excuse me, you watch him
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: on the grass and how he goes around and is
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: communicating to the entire team, to a staff with an
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: intensity that you can feel and that you understand the.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Importance of this.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: And then what's really cool for me is he's an
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: individual that can coach and teach every position on offense
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: in really good details. He's a very talented football coach
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: and and so far what we've seen, I've seen and
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: witnessed is really exciting and looking forward to when we
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: actually start playing real football with pads and get ready
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: for the season, go through preseason and get to the
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: first Sunday after Labor Day.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: It's probably not fair to this group but I know
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: it's your passion offensive line.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Again, It's like I used to tell everyone when I
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: was a player. They want to go out there and
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: evaluate us, and I'm like, good luck, do whatever you want.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: What I'll say about him, schan Cerette is doing a
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: great job. Watching his style and his teaching and what
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: he's taken them through. He's doing a great job. And
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: what I like about the group, there's a competitiveness about them.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: They are working really hard in the weight room. We're
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: starting to see them come together as a unit. We
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: have sick we have you know for free agents, pro
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: free agents. We have two drafted guys, one college undrafted
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: and then the guys who were and so part of
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: that to be a successful and a good offensive line
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: is the cohesiveness of those five guys, and you have
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: to build relationships, you have to build trust, you have
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: to work together, and watching that unit, whether it's in
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: the weight room in phase two before after work, just
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: getting together and really spending time and building.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Those relationships really good.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Earlier returns looks good and they're working hard out there.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: But for me, the evaluation of like looking at what
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: we got and who are best five, that's what camps were.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Two questions before we get to your favorite segment, the bowzonezone.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: We've talked a lot about them, but I haven't talked
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: to you since the draft about James Gladstone just first
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: draft handling that process. I was struck by how in
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: the first draft it was clearly his world. He was
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: clearly leading it. How impressed were you?
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: I mean we've talked about this, and I think people
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: all the time ask us like, Okay, you got this
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: leadership structure where you have three individuals all reporting to
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Shod and I give Shot a ton of credit the
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: vision that he laid out of how this would work
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: and how he wanted it to work. Number One, you
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: better have the right people in those seats. I believe
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: we do. That's very self serving because I'm one of them,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: so take that with a grain of salt. But the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: communication and the collaboration has been great. But also why
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: that works is because it's very clearly defined who's responsible
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: for what, who's gonna lead each of these areas. I mean,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: there's no question who the head coaches, what happens on
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: the grass, what happens in those team meetings of how
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: we're going to operate, what our culture is and that
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: communication is. That's Liam, that's his area. Do we talk
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: about a lot of that stuff as a group, the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: three of us. Does he bounce ideas and get feedback
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: from us, Sure, But the end of the day, his call.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: He's the head coach. He's gonna make those calls. No
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: different when it comes to whether it's pro free agency
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: and the draft, that's James Gladstone's area of expertise.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: He led us.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Whether it was the trade for Travis Hunter. Did we
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: all talk about it, bounce it back and forth and
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: go through the scenarios and talk about how we felt
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: about it and slept on it and kind of worked
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: through the process.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Absolutely did. That's part of the.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: The greatness of James for him to engage that way
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and to go through a process at the end of
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the day was his call. At the end of the day,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: he's leading us. When we got in that draft room
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: and went through the process and with our scouts and
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: everything else, building working towards Thursday night, day one of
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the draft, James led it. It was him kind of
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: going through the process, building his call sheet. You know,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: how we act the players where they sit, working close
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: collaboration with the coaching staff of how they sought, our
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: scouts sought. But when it came time to make the decision,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: when it came time to call Andrew Berry at the
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns to execute the trade or to say, you know,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: in round three, when we're sitting there and a guy
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: falls off the board that maybe we were targeting, now,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: let's talk look at the trade opportunities to go back.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: What does that mean? Can we get our guy? Yeah,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: we were all in the room talking about it. James
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Gladstone's making the call. That's his call, and the composure
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: that he had and how he handled everything from up
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: to the draft, the trade getting Travis Hunter, but then
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: day two, Day three, all the way into the undrafted
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: free agents.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: It was like, oh yeah, it was it was.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: His first draft as a GM. I get that, but
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: it wasn't his first rodeo. He was in complete control.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: As he has said, and we've all the three of
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: us have talked about we'll be judged and how good
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: this draft is probably over the next you know, two
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: or three years, but right now, if you just wanted
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: to judge the process and how we went through it,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and how it was executed and where I sit today
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: man a plus. I mean, I'm not sure how he
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: could have done better. And what's exciting to me and
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: what we've been working on now and what he's been
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: spending a lot of time on is how do we
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: improve the process as we start working into next year.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: I'm sure he has thoughts. I'd be remissibout adn't ask
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: about the schedule. I always feel stupid asking schedule questions
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: because you never know what the schedule really is until
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: season starts. But any thoughts on anything stand out about
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: the twenty five schedule.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: We're gonna be on the traveling quite a bit. Yeah,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: we've got a couple. We've got four West Coast games.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Looks like a tough start to me though. Five of seven. Yeah,
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: are the first seven teams had winning records last year.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: That's the kind of thing that people will lock onto.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: This is a year to year league.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Guess what I can guarantee, there's going to be a
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: team that finished last place in the division last year.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: It's going to win the division and go to the playoffs.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: It's happened every year for I don't know how many years.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: The biggest truth is, you don't know how hard to
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: schedule is until Week six.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: You have no clue, and unfortunately, there's gonna be injuries
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: in this league. None of these teams are the same
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: as they were last year. Each of us are new teams,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: whether it's new staffs, maybe it's the same staff. But
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: you chain, you know, players retired, you cut players, you
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: go get your draft new ones, you have pro free agency.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Each of these teams are a little bit different. So
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: everyone talks about, Man, you got a tough start.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: Maybe good to get the primetime game here though.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: I think it'd be fun. Yeah, I mean, come on,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: let's go Kansay the Chiefs. Patrick mahomes the best franchise
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: in this era, the most successful franchise, head coach, starting quarterback,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: coming in to every bank Monday night football.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Let's go, like I can't wait and so.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: But they're all tough. That's one thing you learn as
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: a player. We played sixteen back when I played all sixteen.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: We're gonna be a challenge. It's not like you're walking
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: in and say, hey, we're gonna go play some Division.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I double a team today and let's roll out the ball.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: We got no problems. I mean, it's competitive. This is
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: most games are one possession games when you get in
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. And so I'm looking forward to the challenge.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: And I know our I believe our coaches and our
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: players are going to be up to it. We's got
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: we have a lot of work to do, me now
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: and then to get ready for it.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: The old man is going to put his glasses on
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: and take you into the bowzone.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: What about that?
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Josh from Atlanta, Georgia rights In the spirit of Travis
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: being such a freak athlete, who would you say, are
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: the three greatest the three greatest greatest athletes? Easier for
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: me to say you have ever seen play or cover?
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: That was my greatest athletes you played against or with?
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Uh? Fred Taylor, I know you play.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: He's one of my lists, probably one of the greatest
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: athletes I've ever seen play the game foot I'm trying
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to think, who else just jumps out when I was playing.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: But Fred in the NFL of guys you played with,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: Fred stands out that first time, I.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Thought, yeah, I mean another guy that watching him play
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: live and playing against them, watching Barry Sanders from the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: ball is like, my goodness, not very many guys.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: Could tackle players on our fencing. The team would go yeah.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: That was always the phenomenon.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: It was unreal Randy Moss playing against Randy you saw
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: that first and one stand up there on a Sunday night.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: That was not a lot of fun.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Boy. There's so many.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: I mean there's so many great I mean John Randall,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: his size, the power, the quickness was unreal. I mean
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Ray Lewis, I mean you can go down the list.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I mean there's so many.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: It's interesting, you said, Fred, because when I thought of athletes,
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: I thought of Okay, who did things that made what
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: should be hard look really easy.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I'll give you another, Yeah, Fred, I'll give you another.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Guy we played with Tony Brackens was one of the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: most athletic guys I've ever been around my entire life. Well,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: he could do from a strength, power, speed, change the direction.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: It was remarkable. Good answers Cliff from Orange Park, Florida.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: It's Ginty. Getting Hunter seems more of a we are
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: a player away move. Does it say anything about how
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: confident the regime is that they made that move.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: I don't believe you're ever a player away.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I think that's as I think that's a misnomer. It's
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: this is the ultimate team sport. You got eleven guys
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: in offense, better be all on the same page. And
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: and you say, we said a lot about about a
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: lot of things, but the some of the parts is
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: greater than the individual in football, and so I don't
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: think it says anything. I think what it says is
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: we felt like Travis Hunter made us a better team
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: more than anyone else we could get in this draft,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: and whatever we had to give up for him was
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: well worth it. So I think that's all I would
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: take from. It doesn't speak to where we think or
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: don't think we are.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Find that out in September, right.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, I got a lot of thoughts that I'll
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: keep to myself of where we are and what I
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: believe because it doesn't really matter until we go out
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: in the field and prove it. Like all the talk,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: we can talk about what we want to do and
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: what we're going to do and what type of team
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: we're building and all that, and we have a vision
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: and Liam has a clear vision of what he wants
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: to do, and James has a strategy of how we're
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: going to execute that. End of the day, gotta go
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: do it on the grass, and that's what we will
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: all be judged on. Players, coaches, front office.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Final Bowzone question. Rob from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania writes, Hey, John,
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: who restricted? Maybe Tony? What's up? What is the most
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: improved area on this team? Including coaching. I know it's
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: a tough question as specifically, but areas that you see improved?
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's again most improved. We're trying.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'll just say for me, I'm not really
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: looking back to what happened last year, and so I
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: will say this. I'm excited on about what we're building.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: I'm excited about our coaching staff. We talked about Liam earlier,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: his leadership, his football acumen, the staff he's put together,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: how we are engineering this roster right now with James
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: leading that. So I like where we are. I'm excited
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: about where we are. We are not a finished product
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: by any means, and so we got to we need
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: to continue to get better, improve, look for ways to
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: improve with our current players and our current roster to
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: get them to be the best versions of themselves and
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: to allow them to reach their maximum potential. But always
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: also looking at like how can we improve as an
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: organization as in a team in any way, and so
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: again we are at the early early stages. We have
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: not put pads on, we have not played real football
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: with these guys. We are in the church in the
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: teaching and learning phase install which is critical.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: When we are having these podcasts in the season, we'll
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: have a better sense of right where we are.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: Tell you, I'll let you get to minicamp practice. Thank
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: you for doing the e VP podcast. Great stuff as always, Buddy.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Thanks Man.