Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | Trent Baalke: "Is there more? ...There is a lot more."

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Press Pass | Trent Baalke: "Is there more? ...There is a lot more." · Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Um, A lot of UFAs that I talked to yesterday expressed,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: you know, wanting to come back and but you know,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: wanting to come back and getting a deal to come
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: back are two different things from your perspective. Has there
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: ever in your GM history than anything resembling what is
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: referred to in the industry as a hometown discount, where
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a player might in some instances be willing to take
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a little less than he might be offered somewhere else
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: because he doesn't want to leave the locker room. I
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: think you can say at times that does occur, you know,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: does it occur across the board? No, Um, But you
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: want to create an environment where they want to where
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: they want to be, and Doug has done a great job.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I think the entire staff has done a great job
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: this This player group, it's a close knit group, and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: it's when you've got a situation like we have, it's
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: it's tough to leave if you're a player. So hopefully
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: that works to our advantage in getting them back. Whether
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: that is reflective of the contracts or not, that's that
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: remains to be seen. How important is it for you
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: guys to retain these guys like Evan Ingram, Jelan Taylor,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: those core guys going into next year and beyond. I
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: think you're always looking to keep as many players in
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the nest as you can. You know, you work hard
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: to draft these guys or or to secure him through
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: various methods, whether it's free agency or the draft and
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: UH college free agency, a lot of different ways. These
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: guys come onto the team, but once they've proven themselves
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: not only on the field but in the locker room,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: those are the type the core guys you want to
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: build around trying to work. In your opinion, you know,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of things to point to, but
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I don't think you point to anything greater than than
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Doug's influence as a leader. You know, when you have
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: someone at the at the top that's as steady as
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Doug is, as fearless as he is, and really as authentic.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: You know, those are the three things that I think
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: of when I think of the way Dougs led this
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: organization in this football team. That really stand out and
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and people get behind that. You know, when you're authentic,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: you're the same guy every day, and you're fearless as
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: a leader people, you know, players, staff, UH fan bases.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: You know, it's it's encouraging and it's engaging and where
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: you think maybe the most improvement needs to be. I
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: think Trayvon, like all these rookies, you know, it was
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: a growing it was a season of growth, and you're
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: always looking at young players and usually that step between
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: year one and year two is the biggest jump that
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: these guys have as players. But I think he did
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of nice things, you know, and you know,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: like I talked to him a week ago, you know
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: that that stat number that everybody has in their mind
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: of sacks is in in a lot of ways, very overvalued.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: You know. There's a lot of ways to influence a game,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: and I think Trayvon, you saw him do it or
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: whether it be the run or the past, he had
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: an impact this year and it's only going to get
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: better from here. Trying how voilable is the franchise tag?
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Knowing the financial situation you guys are in using it
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: this off season. You know, I'm hoping we don't need
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: to use it. I'm hoping that we can. Uh. You know,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: right now we're evaluating this team as as a staff.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Doug in the rest of the coaches are going through
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: a process and end of the season process that we
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: have that we've set up. Our personnel staff is doing
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the same thing. Will join forces tomorrow and meet for
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: most of the morning to really put a plan in
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: place for how we're going to attack this offseason. Sometimes,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, people maneuver that thing so much, like how
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: much is that going to hamper what you can do
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: this offseason? Cash is more important than cap, right, there's
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: ways to maneuver that the cap, and there's ways to
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: extend things into the future, but you also got to
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: be smart and diligent when you're doing that. So again,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: we're gonna look at all of our options. We're gonna
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: meet as a staff tomorrow go through what we are
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: wish list is. Then we'll sit down with ownership, will
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: sit down with those that work on the cap and contracts,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: will sit down with them and and we have been
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: but we'll have a final, final, final meeting with them
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to really get the ball rolling for the future. I
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: know that you said you planned to, you know, me
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: with everybody to kind of drish the off season plan,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: but how much of a priority is it for you
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: to maybe have evaning or come back just considering it's
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: kind of obvious to fit for both sides. Works that
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: work out well, you know, obviously we'd love to have
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Evan back, you know, and Evan and I visited yesterday
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: as he visited, went around the building and visited with everybody.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I think it's mutual. Now we gotta make it happen,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: you know. So that's something that we're gonna work on
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: with Evan and and all the other free agents that
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: we have. We have a list of them that we
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: gotta we gotta mode down one at a time. How
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: much different is it to evaluated free agent like that
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: somebody that you know fits and he's been in the building,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: as opposed to signing a guy to do you've been with.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Well obviously that you're dealing with the known right versus
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the unknown, you know. And I think one of the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: things that we talked about with this free agent class
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: this year in and last year's free agent class, you know,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I think they've been two very productive classes, and it's
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: weighed out in the production that they've had on the field,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: But there was a lot of work that went into
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that process and getting to know these guys as much
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: as we could from a distance. Uh, The coaching staff
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: was heavily involved. The personnel's staff was heavily involved, the
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: support staffs were heavily involved, the trainers, the strength coaches.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: The more information you can get, the better your chances
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: of getting what you what you believe you're getting. Right.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Is this the off season that this franchise transfers away
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: or transitions away from the free agent franchise and wards
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: of the draft and develop your own And we talked
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: about around every years. Has that really happened? Is now
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that moment? Yeah? I think it has to be that moment.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: First of all, we're up against the camp a lot
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: more than we were the previous two years. We feel
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: really good about the nucleus of young players that we
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: have on the team. I believe we're the fifth or
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: sixth youngest team in the National Football League right now.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: We have a yet a lot of young players on
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: their first contracts, a lot of players overall on their
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: first contracts, And as you transition into more guys that
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: are on their second deals, it becomes more and more
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: difficult to to use free agency is as a strong
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: vehicle to improve your team. So we've got to look
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: to the draft. We've got to look to developing the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: guys that are currently here and obviously retain as many
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: of these guys as we can. And how would you
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: evaluate where the offensive line is right now? Knowing Juan
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: obviously will be a free agent, but also the guys
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: who have here, Well, I think, you know, you never
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: want to see guys get injured, but you know, when
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Cam went down, what injury does is create opportunity for
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: for somebody else. And when, uh, when those guys went down,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Ben went down, Chats stepped in and did an outstanding job.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: When Cam went down, uh, walk stepped in and did
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: an outstanding job. So it gave us a chance to
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: evaluate not only the front line guys, but the depth
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of our roster at that position, and we feel really
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: good about it. I think coach Elsher has done an
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: outstanding job of working with those guys and they're only
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: going to continue to get better. The good thing is
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: most of those guys are young. Most of them are
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: on their first contract. Uh. You know, you've got a
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: couple that our early stages of their second contract, and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: only Chat really is a guy that's up there in years,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: but you couldn't tell by the way he performed. You
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: know this this year for us, he stepped in and
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: did an outstanding job. You as a as a GM compartmentalized.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: There was so much calls for change in the organization
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and for shot to do things. And then we get
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: team the celebration and YUFORI and everything that you felt,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: little vindication, little smile, celebration. You know, I don't look
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: at it like that. I think, you know, we're paid
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: to do a job, and that jobs to put the
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: best product we can out on the field. And I've
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: never listened to the noise. The noise doesn't determine the
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: decisions that we're gonna make as an organization. And I think, uh,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the best thing you can do when there's a lot
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: of noises put your ear plugs in, you know, and
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: just go about your job. And that's what we tried
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: to do. And again it's there's never one person that
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: makes these decisions. It's it's a group decision, organizational decision.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Doug and I are very much involved together in this process,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: and we involve everybody underneath us to a to a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: the m degree. I mean, there's just a lot of
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: collaboration that people don't don't see behind the scenes. You're
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: pretty Humphrey watching Humphrey the other day is pretty clear
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: the importance. What's what's the other side reporting. I think
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: what you saw is a guy that's got a che
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: us to have an outstanding career in the National Football League.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: He's highly competitive, he's smart, he's tough. Uh, he's got
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: he's got the size, he's got the skill set to
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: be a very good player in this league for a
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: long time. You know, to come into this league and
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: play in the middle of the offense, play the center
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: position with all that has to go that mentally that
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: goes into playing that position and to do as well
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: as he did is a credit to him and and
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: the work that he puts in. Uh, he's a prose
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: pro at a very young age. I look at him
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: as an old soul and I think the best is
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: yet is in front of him. Someone who drafts and
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: you have to project and looking at the Christian ball,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: what sort of much do you have what you're saw
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: in him and what you got out of him. I mean,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: he's got a gratifying to a young player. Third round him. Well,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I think you know, again, we spent a lot of
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: time evaluating these guys and coach. Rauscher went to the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: school to the school visit with him. His old line
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: coach at Kentucky used to work for us when when
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: I was in San Francisco, So we had an inside,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: some real inside knowledgeist to the type of guy we
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: were going to get. Uh and he's he's been everything
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and more than we imagined. You know, he's again. I
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: can't emphasize enough their their ability to come in at
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: a young age and be a pro from day one.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: You know, sometimes it takes these guys a little bit
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: to learn how to be a pro. What it all involves.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: This game is a lot more mental than it is
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: physical a lot of times. And for him to step
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: into that role and excel the way he did, I
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: think the future is very bright for him. You look
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: at Trevor now is entering that elite kind of category
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: of a QB in the NFL, and and either way,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: is there more the next step, the next stage, the growth? Well,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: I think he's certainly trending that way, and is there more?
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: There's a lot more, you know, And I think Trevor
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: would say the same thing. His his upside, his early
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to grow at the position from just a knowledge standpoint.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: You gotta remember, now, this is the third offense in
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: three years that Trevor has played in counting his his
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: senior year in college. So you go from that to
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: a new system in the NFL, uh and then all
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's a hit the reset button. We
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: got another offense. So it's his third offense in three years,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: and it takes a while to master that. And I
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: think you saw the development of him mentally as well
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: as physically throughout the course of this season, and I
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: think it's only gonna trend upward from there. Like, this
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: guy's really good. A lot of times, you know, he
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: just he does one thing about him. You know, he's
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: really a lot like Doug in the sense that he's
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: very steady, he's very even keel and and that's a
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: marriage made in Heaven there because they relate to each
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: other that way. They're both fearless, you know, Trevor doesn't
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: fear anything, and they're and they're very authentic. So when
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: you have leaders, you know, at the quarterback position, at
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: the head coach position, that are like that, you know,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: everybody else just kind of falls in line. Try and
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: you mention being up against the cap compared to years past,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: or at least you know, the past two years. How
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: much do you envision having to restructure and perhaps take
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: about of players then you have here in the past
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: two seasons. Well, yeah, goodbyes are tough. You know, you
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: want to keep as many of these guys as you can.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Everybody understands that we're gonna do everything we can to
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: make that happen. But if we're going to make that happen,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: something has to give. Everybody's got to give a little bit.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know, we had those conversations on the
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: way out with the players and they understand that. And
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: we've got a lot of work ahead of us in
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: order to make this happen. But uh, you know, I'm
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: pretty confident that we can do what we need to
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: do structurally if we need to to sign the guys
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: back that we need to bring back. Trying too much?
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Did it seem like there were guys open or restructuring
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: because they are so about this group and this team. Well,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: restructuring is the easy part, right, restrict because that that's
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: just semantics with the numbers and they it's not like
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: you're taking money away from and they're just restructuring how
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: they're getting it and when they're getting it. So that's
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: that's never been the real issue in this battle. It's
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: more getting the guys that are free agents under contract
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: and something that they'll agree to, you know, resign the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: free agents and stuff like that. What's the different talents
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: for you now in this offseason, going from the team
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: before that was chasing the rest of the divisions being
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: a team that Disney chase. Well, you know the good
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: thing about that. At first of all, it's a lot
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: easier to be the hunter than the hunted, right, And
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: as you get better and and you become the hunted,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the challenge gets gets harder. Right, You're gonna get every
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: team's best when they show up in Jacksonville. Now, in
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: the past they maybe thought this was gonna be an
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: easy out. That's not no longer going to be the case.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: But I think the last part of this season really
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: prepared this young group to understand that there's a real
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: sense of urgency that goes into being a championship caliber team.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: You know, it just doesn't happen, uh, you know, and
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the players saw that, you know, you really see it
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs. But because we were playing really playoff
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: football for the last month of the season. You know,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: it was it was evident to them just how much
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: urgency there is starting on Monday. You know, you don't
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: wait till Sunday to get get excited about playing or
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: get prepared to play. It starts on Monday. And as
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: they understood, got to understand that better, we played better
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: and hopefully not hope that that should carry over to
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: next season for US. I think that given Doug and
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Trevor's mindset, that they'll enjoy being hunted. I think we'll
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: all enjoy. But yes, you know, obviously, again the leadership matters,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: and you know, if if you're fearless and you're not
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: afraid to be the hunted, then let's go. You know,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: but there's a lot of work to do. It's you
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: can't just talk about it. You got to go do it.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: You know. We were able to to to get them
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: to understand the urgency process. Uh and they they made
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: that adjustment and did it very well and played at
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a high level. Now we got to go do it
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: from the get go. We gotta you know, from the start,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: and that starts April seventeen for US with the off
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: season program. Most likely adding Calvin Ridley this upcoming season.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: How would you evaluate the past catchers this past season
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: and now moving into how would you evaluate how many
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: different threats you guys have? Well, that's you know, that's
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: really for the coaches to address. But obviously we feel
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: very good about Kelvin and what he can bring to
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: the organization and will bring to the organization. We feel
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: really good about the guys that we have under on track.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I thought that group this year, uh did a did
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: an excellent job. But the most important thing is we're
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: bringing We're gonna surround Trevor with the same cast of characters,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: if you will, you know, the same cast of receiving threats,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: the same running back core for the most Now we're
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna always look to to you know, insert
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: guys here and there. But for the most part, getting
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: that core group back for a second year in the
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: same offense with with with the same play caller obviously
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: and all that that goes with it. I think that's
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: going to really help Trevor take the next step and
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: this team take the next step in terms of this year.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Where is your seat? Say that again, Johns and you well,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: you're always looking at ways to improve as a as
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: a unit, you know, and that's twofold, right. It's coverage
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: that that helps pass rush, and it's pass rush that
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: helps coverage. So we're gonna look at ways and and
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: again over the next couple of days, especially tomorrow, when
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: we get together with the staff, really sit down and
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: talk about those things and what needs to be addressed
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: and what's gonna get us to to where we want
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: to be defensively sooner rather than later.