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Press Pass | Coen, Walker and Campanile on Fostering Competition & Discovering Value · Press Pass

0:00
Speaker 1: You're there on the team work, importance of just the
0:02
Speaker 1: mental maybe not full speed, but getting that in here.
0:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, so many, as we know, one score games in
0:09
Speaker 2: this league that come down to situational execution, situational knowledge,
0:16
Speaker 2: trying to put these guys in situations to challenge them
0:20
Speaker 2: above the neck, because so much of this time is
0:23
Speaker 2: not physically as challenging maybe as the training camp or
0:28
Speaker 2: in season is, so really trying to stress them above
0:31
Speaker 2: the neck, go through situations that we had come up
0:35
Speaker 2: over the season, what around the league, came up that
0:39
Speaker 2: we know could could come up and show up for
0:41
Speaker 2: us come this fall. So a lot of situational work
0:45
Speaker 2: two minute and a half in the game, third down,
0:49
Speaker 2: a lot of third down and get back on track
0:51
Speaker 2: emphasis today. You know did red zone on Friday, so
0:55
Speaker 2: had backed up as well. So a ton of situational
0:58
Speaker 2: work and really we're just trying to run ball plays,
1:00
Speaker 2: but also have an understanding of guys, what's the sticks,
1:04
Speaker 2: what's the understanding of the call that we're making in.
1:08
Speaker 3: This situation, so that they can truly start.
1:11
Speaker 2: To know the why behind what we're trying to do
1:13
Speaker 2: in situations and not just go execute a call.
1:17
Speaker 1: It seems like there's a lot of good problems on
1:19
Speaker 1: the roster just in certain position groups safety, defensive end.
1:22
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of depth there just in terms of
1:25
Speaker 1: you guys's challenged this offseason. How much was it to
1:28
Speaker 1: try to get that depth up and then sort of
1:30
Speaker 1: have you seen that sort of play out?
1:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's that's like you said, it's a
1:34
Speaker 2: good problem to have and the best will will rise
1:38
Speaker 2: and play. But having depth and competition at every position
1:43
Speaker 2: was something that we were trying to do with the draft,
1:48
Speaker 2: and I think ultimately you're seeing guys practice harder and
1:52
Speaker 2: play harder and compete harder. And look, when your safety
1:56
Speaker 2: room is that deep and you have a lot of
1:58
Speaker 2: competition at that position, where the league is, you know,
2:01
Speaker 2: somewhat trending in ways with some of the heavier personnel groupings,
2:05
Speaker 2: and what do you need to do to.
2:06
Speaker 3: Combat that as well as having.
2:08
Speaker 2: Special teams, you know, emphasis with that big athletic body type.
2:13
Speaker 2: And then at the defensive line positions, you know you're
2:17
Speaker 2: constantly looking for guys that can disrupt, but also special teams. Again,
2:23
Speaker 2: right comes up and shows up to where you need
2:26
Speaker 2: to make sure the way that you're building the roster
2:29
Speaker 2: when you're trying to get hats on game day, if
2:32
Speaker 2: they can only play defense or only do this one thing,
2:37
Speaker 2: it makes it a lot harder to get a hat
2:39
Speaker 2: on game day unless you're just sacking the quarterback or
2:41
Speaker 2: making a million plays on Sundays. Ultimately, your backups have
2:46
Speaker 2: to have special teams value, and I think that was
2:49
Speaker 2: something that we were trying to be intentional about as
2:51
Speaker 2: well throughout the draft and hard to see how it's
2:54
Speaker 2: shaken up now, but please, with the depth and competition
2:58
Speaker 2: that it has created.
3:00
Speaker 4: How much did you learn about Brian Thaumas junior.
3:03
Speaker 5: Last year through the ups the downs, how to use him,
3:07
Speaker 5: but also about him and his makeup?
3:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that anytime you have a
3:12
Speaker 2: I guess, quote unquote setback, I don't know. I mean,
3:14
Speaker 2: I guess fantasy and people care a lot about that.
3:18
Speaker 2: But I know we won thirteen games, so I'm sure
3:22
Speaker 2: if you're a competitor, I know you want your stats
3:24
Speaker 2: and your contributions to.
3:27
Speaker 3: Be at an all time high. And a yes, that
3:30
Speaker 3: is a part of this. It's a part of the puzzle.
3:34
Speaker 2: But the ball gets spread out in this offense to
3:39
Speaker 2: multiple different players. It doesn't really just feed through one person.
3:43
Speaker 2: So you know, I think that that's something that.
3:46
Speaker 3: He had to work through, we all had to work through.
3:49
Speaker 2: And I've been very pleased with the way that he
3:52
Speaker 2: has attacked this offseason, the way that he takes the
3:56
Speaker 2: meeting room to the practice, you know, and how that's looked.
4:00
Speaker 2: Being a little bit more intentional about usage and chemistry
4:03
Speaker 2: with him this spring and trying to get a true
4:06
Speaker 2: connection that we didn't quite have last spring or last
4:09
Speaker 2: training camp, if you will. So I've been very pleased
4:12
Speaker 2: with how he's taken the things that we asked him
4:15
Speaker 2: to do to get better at and to be intentional
4:18
Speaker 2: about those reps. But you know, I know everybody's you know,
4:21
Speaker 2: it's down year and fantasy and this, that and the third.
4:25
Speaker 2: I mean, when you're on a good team, I think
4:27
Speaker 2: that typically matters a little bit more.
4:30
Speaker 6: As I say about of the consenter's potential, if he's
4:32
Speaker 6: seven hundred and fifty plus yards and you know, with
4:34
Speaker 6: a half a dozen types for that year, right.
4:37
Speaker 2: Not Yeah, I guess it speaks to what he definitely,
4:41
Speaker 2: I mean, if that's his low right, I mean, I
4:43
Speaker 2: think it was more some of the situational things and
4:46
Speaker 2: the you know, taking care of the football and just
4:50
Speaker 2: attacking it in some ways is something that he's been
4:53
Speaker 2: working on. And you know, when you're not getting fifteen
4:57
Speaker 2: targets a game, it's kind of be hard to simulate
5:00
Speaker 2: thirteen hundred yards. So I think he would rather take
5:04
Speaker 2: eight hundred and thirteen and four than thirteen hundred and
5:08
Speaker 2: four and thirteen. Correct me if I'm wrong here, But
5:11
Speaker 2: there was a plan last camp to get Anton some
5:15
Speaker 2: reps at left tackle, and then I think he's framed
5:16
Speaker 2: an ankle and went down.
5:17
Speaker 3: Is there any plan to get in Belvor left to
5:20
Speaker 3: fast training him.
5:20
Speaker 2: This a little Yeah, we actually did talk about a
5:23
Speaker 2: little bit last week. You know, it's something that you
5:27
Speaker 2: don't want to mess with too much unless you're going.
5:30
Speaker 3: To make it a change. You know.
5:34
Speaker 2: I think you look at with Detroit's doing with Sewel,
5:38
Speaker 2: I mean, that's going to be a long term change
5:40
Speaker 2: that they're making, and look at that was something that
5:44
Speaker 2: we wanted him to do a little bit throughout training
5:46
Speaker 2: camp specifically. I remember in the mock game we did it,
5:51
Speaker 2: and that was a little bit more to see how
5:52
Speaker 2: the guys would react and see what that would look
5:55
Speaker 2: like we absolutely will do that again, but just also
6:00
Speaker 2: trying to get him you know, it's OK four, So
6:02
Speaker 2: we're just trying to get a little bit more of
6:03
Speaker 2: that continuity in chemistry back before doing that.
6:06
Speaker 3: And look, if that was something he.
6:08
Speaker 2: Was super like, Man, I want to go play left.
6:11
Speaker 2: This is where I see myself as a player. It
6:14
Speaker 2: would also you know, that would probably push us more
6:18
Speaker 2: in that direction. But we've had conversations about it. He's
6:21
Speaker 2: you know, very comfortable on the right side, So I
6:24
Speaker 2: would imagine.
6:24
Speaker 3: We would do it again at some point. Put tray
6:28
Speaker 3: go on com back this year.
6:29
Speaker 1: Just you know, have you seen him sort of attack
6:31
Speaker 1: this offseas I'm sure he's pole, you know, ready to go.
6:34
Speaker 4: Yeah.
6:34
Speaker 2: I mean, anytime you deal with a bunch of injuries
6:37
Speaker 2: and don't have as much a production as as you'd like.
6:42
Speaker 3: I think he's attacked it the right way.
6:45
Speaker 2: It's so hard in this setting, Like I told him,
6:49
Speaker 2: I want to be able to take you off the field,
6:51
Speaker 2: and it's like very challenging until we get pads on
6:53
Speaker 2: to actually do that without you know, disrupting.
6:57
Speaker 3: Everything we're doing. And so I've been pleased with him.
7:01
Speaker 2: I still want him to you know, when he's in
7:03
Speaker 2: those situations and settings to just go. That's something we
7:08
Speaker 2: want to continue to see. Look, we're number one rush
7:12
Speaker 2: defense last year for a reason.
7:13
Speaker 3: He was a huge part of that.
7:16
Speaker 2: Now it's like, all right, we got to be able
7:18
Speaker 2: to stop the run at a high clip and rush
7:21
Speaker 2: the pastor as well at a high clip. So which
7:24
Speaker 2: is not going to be fully seen right now. But
7:27
Speaker 2: I've been very pleased with the competitor in terms of
7:31
Speaker 2: the way he's approached it. His three better best film
7:35
Speaker 2: study is something he's trying to improve upon and get
7:38
Speaker 2: better at, not just of the opponent, but of himself.
7:42
Speaker 3: And we've actually had him, you know.
7:44
Speaker 2: Doing some mock game evaluations throughout the spring of Future
7:49
Speaker 2: Fall opponents and then watching himself as well.
7:53
Speaker 3: So just continuing to educate.
7:56
Speaker 2: But I've been pleased with the way that, you know,
7:59
Speaker 2: I think he's in place where it's like.
8:01
Speaker 3: All right, they like me, you know, and not just
8:04
Speaker 3: that do they like me? They not?
8:06
Speaker 2: You know, I think he knows that he's somebody that
8:09
Speaker 2: we want to have here for for a while, and
8:13
Speaker 2: it's like, dude, just now, let's go be you you know,
8:15
Speaker 2: and just go let it rip and cut it loose,
8:17
Speaker 2: and hopefully we'll see more of that when we get
8:20
Speaker 2: the pads on.
8:21
Speaker 3: He can actually go play.
8:23
Speaker 4: Footballs to go around.
8:25
Speaker 6: Never been set for this franchise, but coming off of
8:29
Speaker 6: the most points ever scored and all the weapons that
8:32
Speaker 6: you have, plus the emphasis on running the ball.
8:35
Speaker 3: When you hear that.
8:36
Speaker 6: Is it, does it mean anything to you at all?
8:39
Speaker 6: You just ignore it.
8:41
Speaker 2: I mean, I job and goal is to win games,
8:45
Speaker 2: so whatever the ball goes is uh.
8:48
Speaker 7: You know.
8:48
Speaker 2: I think I saw something over the weekend is that
8:51
Speaker 2: we have a problem because we have you know, past
8:54
Speaker 2: catchers trying to have a coffee understanding where that could
8:59
Speaker 2: be an issue, But.
9:01
Speaker 3: Truly don't care, you know.
9:03
Speaker 2: I mean I appreciate and hope every player gets as
9:07
Speaker 2: many touches and yards and touchdowns and stats as humanly possible.
9:13
Speaker 2: I'd like for every player to get paid and to
9:15
Speaker 2: get new contracts, whether it's here somewhere else. Like you
9:18
Speaker 2: want that for guys, but not at the expense of
9:21
Speaker 2: wins and losses. It's just never going to be the case.
9:23
Speaker 2: So it's always really about spreading the wealth, and not
9:28
Speaker 2: just to spread it, but to keep the defense on
9:31
Speaker 2: their toes, not to know where the ball is going
9:33
Speaker 2: to go in certain situations, what down in distances that
9:37
Speaker 2: we're attacking and who we're targeting.
9:39
Speaker 3: And specific down in distances.
9:41
Speaker 2: I've been places and had teams where you don't have
9:45
Speaker 2: anybody and they know where you're throwing the ball, and
9:48
Speaker 2: that can be challenging and of itself.
9:50
Speaker 3: So you know, it's not something that is ever a problem.
9:55
Speaker 2: You're hoping to have weapons, You're hoping to be able
9:58
Speaker 2: to continue to replenish your roster and bring people in
10:02
Speaker 2: that are going to help your cause. And now it's
10:04
Speaker 2: about just finding out truly what they do best all
10:08
Speaker 2: the time, creating that chemistry with Trevor of what those
10:12
Speaker 2: guys do best, and then leaning into maybe some of
10:15
Speaker 2: the areas in which we need to improve. And so, no,
10:18
Speaker 2: not an issue.
10:20
Speaker 8: Entering your first offseason, you originally said being the offensive coordinator,
10:24
Speaker 8: being the play caller, it was always a little difficult
10:26
Speaker 8: to figure out how to feel about the defense having
10:29
Speaker 8: such good days or in bad days, what today's competition levels,
10:32
Speaker 8: being big play after big play on both sides, how
10:35
Speaker 8: do you internalize like that kind of company happier?
10:38
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm happier after practice today than I was
10:41
Speaker 2: probably on Friday. So I'm always going to trend or
10:46
Speaker 2: lean my probably attitude and disposition towards the offense's success.
10:51
Speaker 3: That's quite natural for me, I think.
10:53
Speaker 2: And but when a you know, defensive player or special teams,
10:58
Speaker 2: you know, special teamer makes a great player, does something
11:01
Speaker 2: really well, like yeah, sometimes I got to go remind
11:04
Speaker 2: myself to go celebrate.
11:05
Speaker 3: That and to be juiced up about that.
11:07
Speaker 2: But you know, when you're a football coach, it's football
11:12
Speaker 2: right at the end of the day, And I know
11:14
Speaker 2: that for our team to go where it needs to go,
11:18
Speaker 2: our defense and special teams have to be playing at
11:21
Speaker 2: a high level, and you have to sometimes allow for
11:25
Speaker 2: the defense to have success without it frustrating you or
11:28
Speaker 2: seeing letting the players see that as well is something
11:31
Speaker 2: that I think I've had to come back a little
11:33
Speaker 2: bit personally, and you know, it's it's definitely a frustration
11:37
Speaker 2: at times because you're like, you just want to see
11:39
Speaker 2: the offense have continued success and to do this every day, Well,
11:45
Speaker 2: it's not truly realistic when you have a good defense,
11:48
Speaker 2: Like if our defense stunk, then I would be a
11:51
Speaker 2: lot happier, probably on a day to day basis about
11:53
Speaker 2: the offense, but maybe not as the head football coach.
11:56
Speaker 2: And so when you have a defense that's done some
11:58
Speaker 2: nice things and it continues to hope get better, it's
12:01
Speaker 2: going to only create competition.
12:02
Speaker 3: As you mentioned that we saw today in terms of
12:06
Speaker 3: joshnin Zellen, how much of his overall game, it just
12:08
Speaker 3: seems like he's good at everything.
12:10
Speaker 7: How has that evolved as you've seen it last year?
12:13
Speaker 2: I think that that was something that I didn't quite
12:16
Speaker 2: know about him coming in, was the his overall game. Right,
12:21
Speaker 2: I had had familiarity at tech at Kentucky, you know,
12:27
Speaker 2: noticed him or followed him from Afar as a pass rusher. Well,
12:31
Speaker 2: then you get around him and you see the impact
12:35
Speaker 2: and effect that he had on our defense, his culture, Uh,
12:38
Speaker 2: their ability to stop the run, to chase plays down,
12:43
Speaker 2: chase screens down on the perimeter, some of the hustle
12:48
Speaker 2: and plays that he's making that aren't I guess, just
12:51
Speaker 2: sacking the quarterback. That was definitely something that I didn't
12:55
Speaker 2: have an impression of at first. And so to be
13:00
Speaker 2: a year in now and and to know how much
13:03
Speaker 2: impact he had on us being able to stop the run,
13:05
Speaker 2: that the way we were able to the competitor, the
13:09
Speaker 2: chase down, and then also the leadership aspect of getting
13:14
Speaker 2: guys to play to our style of play and teaching
13:18
Speaker 2: young guys of what that looks like. I've been very
13:20
Speaker 2: pleased with him, you know, a year in so far,
13:23
Speaker 2: and hopefully we continue to build on that. And you know,
13:27
Speaker 2: he needs it can't just be him, and I don't
13:30
Speaker 2: think it is. It's a it's a group effort to
13:33
Speaker 2: you know, stop the run and sack the quarterback. It's
13:36
Speaker 2: not just ever going to be one guy. And I
13:38
Speaker 2: think he's done a nice job of playing his role
13:41
Speaker 2: and doing a good job doing that.
13:43
Speaker 3: So yeah, very pleased with Josh so far.
13:45
Speaker 1: He's an obviously coming off injuries and everything last year,
13:48
Speaker 1: but you know, being able to have like a sort
13:49
Speaker 1: of a fresh start now.
13:51
Speaker 7: It's been good.
13:51
Speaker 9: Been around the guy's been around a team obviously, being
13:54
Speaker 9: able to get start to get back healthy. I've been
13:55
Speaker 9: on that journey ever since, probably like the middle of
13:57
Speaker 9: the season last year. It's definitely been a ground but
14:00
Speaker 9: it's been it's been great so far.
14:01
Speaker 1: How challenging has that been to be able to evaluate
14:03
Speaker 1: yourself wives Ye're just knowing what you went through. How
14:07
Speaker 1: tough is that sort of for your own.
14:08
Speaker 9: I would I wouldn't even say it's tough now, because
14:10
Speaker 9: this is the time of year to where we could
14:12
Speaker 9: be real critical on ourselves and continuously sharpen our iron
14:16
Speaker 9: sharpening wherever I need to be better at, and it
14:18
Speaker 9: for me, I feel like right now that's my my
14:20
Speaker 9: grip strength, just grabbing things of that nature.
14:22
Speaker 7: So I wouldn't say it's hard.
14:22
Speaker 9: It's just always emphasized coming into each practice, emphasizer, coming
14:26
Speaker 9: in with a something I need to emphasize to work.
14:28
Speaker 7: On every day.
14:29
Speaker 3: How close is it to being bad?
14:31
Speaker 7: Very close? Very close.
14:32
Speaker 9: I mean, I'm looking pretty good out there, But like
14:34
Speaker 9: I say, I'm always going to be very critical on myself.
14:36
Speaker 9: I can still obviously grab and shrug a little bit more,
14:39
Speaker 9: But it's feeling good.
14:42
Speaker 7: You're at counterpart of Josh hein z Allen.
14:44
Speaker 5: He was recently quoted saying that you're one of the
14:46
Speaker 5: most physically getting the defensive ends that he had seen
14:48
Speaker 5: him from the sport. Is he typically this complimentary of
14:51
Speaker 5: you face to face or did it come as a
14:52
Speaker 5: pleasant surprise?
14:53
Speaker 7: Nah?
14:54
Speaker 9: You know, man, me and him to get together, we
14:55
Speaker 9: talk a lot of trash to each other. But obviously
14:58
Speaker 9: that's because we want each other to be great. We
14:59
Speaker 9: hold each other to a very high standard. But obviously
15:02
Speaker 9: he uh, he felt that way about me, and he
15:05
Speaker 9: stated it to the national media. So I really do
15:07
Speaker 9: appreciate him for that. And uh, like you say, that's
15:09
Speaker 9: my counterpart. He does the same thing as well. He's
15:11
Speaker 9: very physical as well, and uh, he rushed the passes,
15:14
Speaker 9: so jack of all trades.
15:16
Speaker 1: Coaching camps had a couple of opportunities to go and
15:20
Speaker 1: interview for coaching jobs. Just you know, for him to
15:22
Speaker 1: come back, how important was that for you guys, And
15:24
Speaker 1: just how excited.
15:25
Speaker 9: That's very important for him to go even do those interviews. Uh,
15:29
Speaker 9: that says that's a statement for this team as well.
15:30
Speaker 9: Obviously that's a part of the business. But I'm glad
15:33
Speaker 9: we got him back in there. I feel like, uh,
15:35
Speaker 9: everything that we want in this organization, I feel like
15:37
Speaker 9: that trajectory is still on the ride.
15:39
Speaker 7: So I'm very thankful for him being able to come back.
15:42
Speaker 3: Crazy to grip the last hurdle. For you to get
15:45
Speaker 3: a full grip back two injuries.
15:47
Speaker 9: Last year, it'll never be a last hurdle, So I
15:50
Speaker 9: said for that, like I said, it'll.
15:52
Speaker 7: Never been a last hurdle.
15:53
Speaker 9: I like, that's gonna be something that I emphasized this
15:55
Speaker 9: off season as well. But I'm still emphasizing uh shopping
15:58
Speaker 9: him getting deeper into my path as risk bag and
16:01
Speaker 9: even pl continuously playing to run even better.
16:03
Speaker 7: So it's always gonna be something that I have to
16:04
Speaker 7: improve on every day.
16:05
Speaker 9: But your knees uh so it to me, it feels
16:09
Speaker 9: a hundred okay, so yeah.
16:11
Speaker 7: I about forgot about it. So yeah, we're good.
16:14
Speaker 3: And other than the the hand feels a hundred two.
16:16
Speaker 3: Other the grip part is that when you don't have
16:19
Speaker 3: grip's train.
16:22
Speaker 9: Right Man, I'm a defensive line and so I'm always
16:24
Speaker 9: using my hands, so obviously it's a he can kind
16:26
Speaker 9: of put me at a disadvantage to where I'm not
16:29
Speaker 9: able to strike on my hands to slipping out the block,
16:31
Speaker 9: not being able to grab a control. But that's the
16:33
Speaker 9: main thing. I need my hands to control the blocks,
16:36
Speaker 9: whether it's in the run or the past. So uh,
16:38
Speaker 9: like I said, I'm gonna contentially other side there.
16:40
Speaker 1: Every day I was DJ Green off the field.
16:43
Speaker 9: I just talked to him, man, say, like a little
16:45
Speaker 9: bit of more character say off the field. Yeah, man, BJ,
16:48
Speaker 9: he's one of those guys. He he's uh, very exciting
16:50
Speaker 9: to be around. He's out like he kind of has
16:53
Speaker 9: that same personality like man, Josh, we all like to
16:55
Speaker 9: play around. That's why I kind of like about the
16:57
Speaker 9: defensive line room. I feel like all of our characteristic
16:59
Speaker 9: trade to kind of match each other. In BJ, he's
17:01
Speaker 9: one of those guys off the field, he's just gonna
17:03
Speaker 9: have fun.
17:04
Speaker 7: He's gonna do it. He has to do. Sit back
17:05
Speaker 7: a little bit.
17:06
Speaker 9: He'll talk a little trash too, but he's one of
17:08
Speaker 9: those guys kind of sit back, observe, and then he'll
17:10
Speaker 9: kind of jump in and have some fun as well.
17:12
Speaker 6: Wait the year you Tennessee and buff a little more
17:15
Speaker 6: reps next to Josh in shine.
17:18
Speaker 4: And we know you're a team guy.
17:20
Speaker 3: What whichype deal for you as far as.
17:23
Speaker 9: Your That's a great question. Sometimes I get asking myself
17:27
Speaker 9: that as well.
17:28
Speaker 7: But for me, I really I really don't care.
17:30
Speaker 4: Man.
17:30
Speaker 9: Like I say, I'm I'm a team guy. So I
17:32
Speaker 9: want to be in any position wherever they put me
17:34
Speaker 9: to be able to help the team. And I feel
17:37
Speaker 9: like whatever they put me at on the on the line.
17:39
Speaker 9: No matter where it's at, I feel like I can
17:41
Speaker 9: dominate whatever position it is. So I just want to
17:43
Speaker 9: come into eat practice and work on whatever wherever it
17:46
Speaker 9: is they put me.
17:47
Speaker 1: What is the what is the energy like in the
17:49
Speaker 1: deepensit beend room? Just you know all these young guys too, rookies,
17:52
Speaker 1: you know, bj Green, Dennis suggall, you John Just how
17:55
Speaker 1: has that sort of.
17:56
Speaker 7: Them it's been. It's been great.
17:58
Speaker 9: And like I said, and we got a lot of
17:59
Speaker 9: great rookie two that came in that willing to learn.
18:02
Speaker 9: I feel like everybody's kind of even the young guys,
18:04
Speaker 9: kind of if they see something in the drills that
18:06
Speaker 9: some guys might take a step too far. Inside. Everybody's
18:09
Speaker 9: being very critical of each other. So I feel like
18:12
Speaker 9: we've kind of raising that standard in the room of
18:14
Speaker 9: itself to where you don't have to be a veteran
18:16
Speaker 9: to come in and you know, kind of critique some things,
18:19
Speaker 9: like you've been playing football for a while, you can
18:21
Speaker 9: critique these little bit of details in here. So I
18:23
Speaker 9: feel like the trajectory in the defensive line room, the
18:26
Speaker 9: chemistry amongst each other, everybody's willing to take that culture
18:29
Speaker 9: from anybody, So it's going.
18:31
Speaker 1: Great, gone staff or a new scheme. Just how beneficial
18:34
Speaker 1: can that be, not just for you, but for all
18:36
Speaker 1: the guests?
18:36
Speaker 7: Oh, very, very very beneficial.
18:39
Speaker 9: Obviously we're coming in from doing some of the things
18:41
Speaker 9: we did last year. Obviously it's gonna be some kind
18:43
Speaker 9: of change up a little bit, but being able to
18:45
Speaker 9: hit the ground running, kind of remember some of the
18:47
Speaker 9: things that we did last year and just kind of
18:49
Speaker 9: taking what we did last year and building on it.
18:51
Speaker 9: Not saying exactly doing exactly what we did last year,
18:54
Speaker 9: but taking it and advancing it to the next level.
18:58
Speaker 9: I feel like that that kind of helps the team
18:59
Speaker 9: get to where we want to go a little bit
19:01
Speaker 9: faster than we did last year.
19:03
Speaker 7: Thanks. Thank you.
19:04
Speaker 1: The off season to interview for head coaching jobs. Just
19:06
Speaker 1: in terms of that process, what did you sort of
19:09
Speaker 1: find out about yourself and then thinking about it.
19:12
Speaker 5: I mean, it was a great experience, great process. You know,
19:15
Speaker 5: you meet a lot of great people in this business.
19:18
Speaker 5: You know, throughout all these organizations there's people who do
19:21
Speaker 5: their job at such a high level. So that was
19:23
Speaker 5: a great experience. But kind of going through and getting
19:25
Speaker 5: the opportunity to sit down think about what you really
19:28
Speaker 5: really believe in you know, I mean how you would
19:30
Speaker 5: drive a program forward. That was a great experience. So
19:33
Speaker 5: in every which way with every organization, it really was.
19:36
Speaker 5: It was good overall, coach.
19:39
Speaker 6: I know, it's until you get on the grass and
19:40
Speaker 6: get pass some of these things are to tell. But
19:43
Speaker 6: so far, how's Ventrel done in that in its progress
19:47
Speaker 6: with this opportunity, He's gotten fun.
19:49
Speaker 5: You know, I'm sorry, Yeah, Ventrel's done I think a
19:52
Speaker 5: really good job to this point. So you know, there's
19:55
Speaker 5: a bunch of guys battling it out in that room
19:57
Speaker 5: right now. But Ventral did a good job for us
20:00
Speaker 5: last year, you know, and and played a much for us.
20:03
Speaker 5: But he's a really physical guy. I think one of
20:05
Speaker 5: the things that he brings to our defense is a physicality,
20:09
Speaker 5: uh in the run game. And haven't been around and
20:11
Speaker 5: had a few guys like that in the past. I
20:13
Speaker 5: think we got a really good feel for how he
20:15
Speaker 5: fits in, how to use them uh and really try
20:17
Speaker 5: to play.
20:18
Speaker 4: It within his his strengths within the defense.
20:20
Speaker 5: So they concerned it all about in the intrigues shorter
20:23
Speaker 5: than Devin as far as covering I don't I don't
20:26
Speaker 5: really have that concern of me you know, obviously linebackers
20:29
Speaker 5: coming all different sizes, you know, I mean Sam Mills
20:32
Speaker 5: was five to nine, was a multi year old, probably
20:35
Speaker 5: these Jersey guys. So I'm just trying to plug in
20:36
Speaker 5: for him right there. Created state in the Union.
20:38
Speaker 4: But no, I mean there's uh.
20:40
Speaker 5: There's you know, there's all different types of guys and
20:44
Speaker 5: different sizes of guys have had success, and some of
20:47
Speaker 5: those things actually kind of carry over into our system.
20:49
Speaker 4: So what is healthy means a lot.
20:53
Speaker 5: I mean, I think one of the most important things
20:56
Speaker 5: we did this offseason was bringing trade back, you know,
20:58
Speaker 5: keeping him money contract and getting him resigned here because
21:02
Speaker 5: he's such a huge part of everything we do.
21:04
Speaker 4: I talk about that a lot.
21:06
Speaker 5: But him being healthy and him getting the opportunity to
21:09
Speaker 5: really kind of practice the technique that we really really
21:12
Speaker 5: believe in, for him to get another year in the
21:14
Speaker 5: system and be better at what he's doing.
21:16
Speaker 4: I couldn't be more excited about that.
21:18
Speaker 5: Trick About Williams, I think I said this during the draft,
21:22
Speaker 5: but his play style and we really tried to lean
21:25
Speaker 5: into that with all.
21:26
Speaker 4: These guys that we took. But Wesley is.
21:28
Speaker 5: A guy that's he's gonna run around all day. He's
21:31
Speaker 5: not a guy that you're gonna find a clip of
21:32
Speaker 5: him taking a playoff.
21:34
Speaker 4: He's just a high character, tough kid.
21:36
Speaker 7: Uh.
21:36
Speaker 5: He's been pretty quick on the uptake, so that's been
21:38
Speaker 5: exciting about him.
21:39
Speaker 4: But I think Wes has some.
21:40
Speaker 5: Rush ability and it's really an every down player, you
21:43
Speaker 5: know what I mean. He's not just a specific Hey,
21:45
Speaker 5: this guy's a pass rusher. This guy's a plugger in
21:47
Speaker 5: the run game. To me, he's an every down player.
21:50
Speaker 5: And he's a young guy relative to a lot of
21:52
Speaker 5: the guys who were in this draft, so I really
21:53
Speaker 5: feel like he's only going to get better.
21:55
Speaker 1: This is the first time Antonier has really been one
21:57
Speaker 1: that that's in the safety room. Sure, how do you
21:59
Speaker 1: kind of see him braced just with all the young
22:00
Speaker 1: guys there.
22:01
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely a little bit different for him coming in
22:03
Speaker 5: this year, just knowing everything that he knows when in
22:06
Speaker 5: the system, and you see him helping the young guys,
22:09
Speaker 5: you know, helping Jalen and other guys in the room.
22:12
Speaker 5: He's been a really really good communicator, done a good
22:14
Speaker 5: job in the meetings. But the cool thing about him
22:16
Speaker 5: is he's had a lot on his plate, maybe more
22:19
Speaker 5: than even some other guys because Antonio plays, you know,
22:22
Speaker 5: both safety positions, Nicole dime he does a lot, so
22:26
Speaker 5: when you do that, it's hard.
22:27
Speaker 4: You know, it's hard to learn all that stuff.
22:29
Speaker 5: But in the end, the silver lining is, you know,
22:31
Speaker 5: the defense is good or better than anybody you know.
22:33
Speaker 5: And I think he's at the point now where he
22:35
Speaker 5: can coach a lot of the techniques that we're asking
22:38
Speaker 5: the guys to play, which is cool.
22:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, we see you looking at the video board.
22:41
Speaker 1: How's that changed what you're able to do during during
22:44
Speaker 1: camp and in real time?
22:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's good.
22:46
Speaker 5: You know during the wish he had that when I
22:49
Speaker 5: was at Michigan actual I thought it was really really good.
22:51
Speaker 5: You know, you kind of take a quick peek just
22:53
Speaker 5: to get an idea of what exactly happened. Maybe if
22:56
Speaker 5: there's something that's out of your vantage point, you know,
22:58
Speaker 5: from where we're standing on the field, you have a
23:00
Speaker 5: better feel for it, uh and possibly can answer some
23:03
Speaker 5: of the questions for the guys quicker better. Liam does
23:06
Speaker 5: a great job of during the season, you know, having
23:08
Speaker 5: the iPads out, so like within each drive, when the
23:11
Speaker 5: offense is up, the defense is going through, we're kind
23:14
Speaker 5: of getting the answers in real time and that way.
23:17
Speaker 5: I think what it also does is it makes things
23:20
Speaker 5: really really clear for the players. There's no like, hey
23:22
Speaker 5: I thought this, I thought that, like clearly that didn't happen,
23:25
Speaker 5: or that did happen, you know, So everybody's on the
23:27
Speaker 5: same page with that, which is a good thing, you know.
23:29
Speaker 4: I mean there's less miscommunication. Jo Josh want to put
23:34
Speaker 4: on some extra weight? Did you guys want him to?
23:37
Speaker 7: Yeah?
23:37
Speaker 4: I think I think he looks good man, He's I
23:39
Speaker 4: would say.
23:41
Speaker 5: With all these guys, like even d Ham Josh, a
23:44
Speaker 5: lot of these guys, if you look at you know,
23:45
Speaker 5: the indexes here in the weight room, these guys have
23:48
Speaker 5: put on really good weight. And I think our strength
23:52
Speaker 5: program here like those guys are honest to god incredible
23:57
Speaker 5: what they did with some of these guys, their bodies
23:59
Speaker 5: from all away from when we got here last year
24:01
Speaker 5: to where they're at now, and you look at like
24:03
Speaker 5: the DESA and all the stuff that they're talking about,
24:05
Speaker 5: and they're like just general strength overall, our strength.
24:08
Speaker 4: As a team I feel like has improved.
24:09
Speaker 5: So I think some of that you that you see
24:12
Speaker 5: with the guys like is actually visible now, especially.
24:15
Speaker 4: With some of the dbs.
24:16
Speaker 5: You know, you look at some of their pictures from
24:17
Speaker 5: early on last year to where they're at now, because
24:20
Speaker 5: it's a real it's a real strength program. Like Eric
24:22
Speaker 5: pushes these guys. It's a grind and I've been really
24:25
Speaker 5: really impressed with that. And I think that's kind of
24:27
Speaker 5: a credit to those guys in there.
24:29
Speaker 4: I'm gonna you guys trying an encounter.
24:31
Speaker 6: Just in general, Uh, these bigger offensive packages that are
24:35
Speaker 6: now going to prevail around around the league, it looks.
24:37
Speaker 5: Like, yeah, yeah, I think you've always got to be
24:40
Speaker 5: And when you talk about just the mentality of your defense,
24:43
Speaker 5: like if people are going to be able to run
24:45
Speaker 5: the ball on you know, it's a long day, and
24:47
Speaker 5: what that does to a team, Uh, psychologically in a game,
24:53
Speaker 5: it can be really really bad.
24:54
Speaker 4: You know.
24:54
Speaker 5: Defensively, it's great, like, hey, guys make some plays in
24:57
Speaker 5: the past game, and obviously you're always trying to do
24:59
Speaker 5: a great job there. But I think there is a
25:01
Speaker 5: physical high that comes for offensive players when they're able
25:04
Speaker 5: to run the ball at the defense and for us
25:07
Speaker 5: on defense, you know, that's something that you're always trying
25:10
Speaker 5: to counteract. You know, the physicality and staying square, doing
25:14
Speaker 5: your job in a run game and defenses is built
25:16
Speaker 5: on trust. You know, and we say in our room,
25:19
Speaker 5: trust comes in drops and it's lost in buckets. So
25:22
Speaker 5: you know, if you're doing your job every day, you
25:24
Speaker 5: develop a trust and appreciation of love for each other.
25:27
Speaker 5: But when you have guys that don't do their job,
25:30
Speaker 5: trust can be gone pretty quickly. So the run game
25:33
Speaker 5: is built on that, you know, doing your job every day,
25:35
Speaker 5: be it physical. And to answer your question, I know
25:37
Speaker 5: it's a long answer, but that is something we always
25:40
Speaker 5: are going to put a premium out here.
25:42
Speaker 1: What's the next step for Bester had a career here
25:45
Speaker 1: last year?
25:45
Speaker 7: For you guys a year two in your defense, what's
25:47
Speaker 7: the next time?
25:47
Speaker 4: Yeah?
25:48
Speaker 5: I think he's just trying to improve on some things,
25:49
Speaker 5: you know, in terms of really all the levels right
25:53
Speaker 5: line of scrimmage skills, break area skills, fate area skills.
25:56
Speaker 5: I think coach of Rougeo has done an incredible job
25:58
Speaker 5: with those guys just overall those meetings. I wish it
26:02
Speaker 5: could be in them like they're super detailed. He's a
26:05
Speaker 5: great young coach and I think the guys are really
26:07
Speaker 5: taking to him and he's challenging them every day as
26:09
Speaker 5: you see him here in the individual period.
26:12
Speaker 4: So those guys are getting better each day, and that's
26:14
Speaker 4: what they're all doing.
26:14
Speaker 5: He's really kind of come up with a good action
26:16
Speaker 5: plan for each guy that way for us.
26:19
Speaker 1: The specifically, do you think he looks different or have
26:22
Speaker 1: you noticed anything different about him coming in now?
26:24
Speaker 5: I think he's also one of those guys who physically
26:26
Speaker 5: his body looks different, Like you know, he's improved in
26:30
Speaker 5: terms of like his strength and all that stuff since
26:32
Speaker 5: we got.
26:32
Speaker 4: Here, So I do see a little bit of a
26:34
Speaker 4: physical difference in him.
26:35
Speaker 9: Yeah.
26:36
Speaker 4: I did.
26:36
Speaker 3: Hear pressure rate was high, sacon.
26:38
Speaker 4: Number wasn't as much last year's.
26:39
Speaker 7: How do you take that next step to finish in
26:41
Speaker 7: those polls?
26:42
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think part of that is just tying in.
26:43
Speaker 5: I talked about talked about this a little bit in
26:46
Speaker 5: New offseason two, you know, tightening up some of the
26:48
Speaker 5: stuff on the back end, because the ball, like if
26:51
Speaker 5: you look at that the ball out, the ball's coming
26:53
Speaker 5: out pretty quick, you know.
26:54
Speaker 4: So that's a good thing.
26:56
Speaker 5: But we got to be able to tighten it up
26:57
Speaker 5: when that ball does come out to be able to
26:59
Speaker 5: make some more plays on the wall or force the
27:01
Speaker 5: quarterback to be able to hold that ball another tick longer.
27:04
Speaker 5: So I think that's part of its rushing coverage tied together.
27:08
Speaker 5: But I think the D line guys, you know, Derek
27:10
Speaker 5: LeBlanc and Matt Edwards have done a great job this
27:12
Speaker 5: off season.
27:13
Speaker 4: We spend a ton of time on.
27:15
Speaker 5: That, you know, how to utilize our guys in the
27:17
Speaker 5: front a little bit better, you know, play to their strengths.
27:20
Speaker 5: And we got some new things this year that I
27:22
Speaker 5: think are gonna be pretty good for us. What I
27:23
Speaker 5: like about he's really athletic man, you know. I think
27:28
Speaker 5: the thing that's jumped out to me just in the
27:31
Speaker 5: short time that he's been here is he's really improved
27:33
Speaker 5: a lot of his skills in the run game. He
27:36
Speaker 5: had a couple of plays you know so far where
27:38
Speaker 5: are just kind of grabbing on guys and shedding, and
27:42
Speaker 5: he really he's super strong, like he's another guy who's
27:44
Speaker 5: weight room strong. He does play that way, and I
27:46
Speaker 5: think he's done a good job of playing with his
27:48
Speaker 5: hands that the Lion coaches are doing a really good
27:50
Speaker 5: job with him. And he's got a ton of athletic ability,
27:52
Speaker 5: so that that definitely is something that gets you excited
27:56
Speaker 5: because he's got a little twitch in there and the rush,
27:58
Speaker 5: which is awesome.
27:59
Speaker 1: Last year compared to this year, how much more far
28:02
Speaker 1: along were you guys.
28:03
Speaker 9: Trayvon mentioned that they're critiquing each other's out the.
28:05
Speaker 5: Focus now, Yeah, I think, you know, last year, they're
28:08
Speaker 5: learning it all, you know what I mean, they're trying
28:10
Speaker 5: to build a foundation and they're trying to catch up,
28:12
Speaker 5: and you're trying to go as fast as you can
28:15
Speaker 5: to get the stuff laid down, you know what I mean,
28:17
Speaker 5: even from a technique standpoint. Now it's a little bit
28:19
Speaker 5: different where I think what Trey's probably talking about is
28:21
Speaker 5: they are coaching each other in the drills in the
28:23
Speaker 5: meeting room. It's stuff that they know, and they're able
28:26
Speaker 5: to help the younger guys a little bit better than
28:27
Speaker 5: they were last year. But you know, at the end
28:30
Speaker 5: of the day, like last year's last year, we got
28:32
Speaker 5: to get better from here. I think they all know that,
28:34
Speaker 5: you know, and they've taken that very very seriously. They're
28:36
Speaker 5: taking that to heart. So there's a lot of improvement
28:38
Speaker 5: for us to still make and I think they've done
28:41
Speaker 5: a pretty good job at that to this point.