# Rams Camp with Sean McVay, Les Snead, Kevin Dotson and Byron Young

An episode of [NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/680904259), 6 Aug 2026, 59 min.

Audio: https://pdrl.fm/91be81/podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/claritaspod.com/measure/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/9ce11dad-e86a-444f-ba83-ae27003475be/1c95d5d2-dacc-4fb1-9b93-b49e003c6f2f/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=deff018f-4b51-4501-937c-ae27003475d1

Gregg Rosenthal and Jourdan Rodrigue are joining by Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay to talk about Aaron Donald 'trying out' for the Rams, the make up of the Rams offense and more! Rams general manager Les Snead, guard Kevin Dotson and linebacker Byron Young also join the show. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcasts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:04] Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we've got a Super Bowl
[0:08] Speaker 1: winning head coach with us to start the show. I'm
[0:10] Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal with my friend Jordan rod Rieg and yes,
[0:14] Speaker 1: Sean McVay opening the show for us.
[0:17] Speaker 2: Joining us.
[0:17] Speaker 3: Now, that's a bad opener, man. We got to get
[0:19] Speaker 3: a better guest.
[0:20] Speaker 2: No, no, we want to start big.
[0:22] Speaker 1: And you know we got you finally because we you know,
[0:25] Speaker 1: we we hired year old beat right at Jordan, That's what.
[0:28] Speaker 3: It says, Craig.
[0:29] Speaker 4: If it was coming from you, I say no, Jordan
[0:31] Speaker 4: will say yes, No, I'm just kidding.
[0:33] Speaker 1: That's why we did it. A lot of money, a
[0:35] Speaker 1: lot of work, just for this moment.
[0:38] Speaker 3: Want want wah.
[0:39] Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford said, you know, just yesterday, so it's fresh
[0:42] Speaker 1: in my mind that the practices have been the highest
[0:46] Speaker 1: level of football that that he's you know, been a
[0:49] Speaker 1: part of.
[0:50] Speaker 2: Uh out here. Do you agree with that?
[0:52] Speaker 3: Here's Yeah.
[0:53] Speaker 4: What I think is is we've had good quality football
[0:56] Speaker 4: through the first two blocks, you know, And and that
[0:58] Speaker 4: is true. I mean, all you can do always say, hey,
[1:00] Speaker 4: where are we at right now? How do we continue
[1:02] Speaker 4: to stack those days? But I think what he understands
[1:06] Speaker 4: and what he's referring to is just the quality of
[1:08] Speaker 4: football on both sides, Like, Hey, if you're going to
[1:10] Speaker 4: get something, let's earn it. Let's have Hey, it's tight
[1:12] Speaker 4: window throws and catches, it's banging off natural rushes, it's
[1:16] Speaker 4: being able to handle pressure movements, whatever that is. But
[1:19] Speaker 4: we know what it looks like as a team. When
[1:21] Speaker 4: there's high quality reps, somebody's going to inevitably have to
[1:24] Speaker 4: have success on that down. But if we're earning everything,
[1:27] Speaker 4: we're going to feel good about that. And that's what
[1:29] Speaker 4: the other day's practice that I think he was probably
[1:30] Speaker 4: referring to was reflective of Greg And that's what we
[1:34] Speaker 4: want to continue to do, is really challenge each other
[1:36] Speaker 4: and sharpen each other. And we're in the midst of
[1:38] Speaker 4: doing that, but man, do we have a long way
[1:40] Speaker 4: to go.
[1:40] Speaker 5: Well, you guys always put in so much offense. I mean,
[1:43] Speaker 5: that's one of the characteristics I noticed over over years,
[1:47] Speaker 5: is that there's so much that gets put in and
[1:49] Speaker 5: then you guys call back to it at times over
[1:52] Speaker 5: the course of the season. But I'm a little selfish
[1:54] Speaker 5: and I really want to ask you about one thing
[1:55] Speaker 5: that you didn't get a chance to install last season
[1:58] Speaker 5: and that's all the thirteen personnel.
[2:00] Speaker 6: Thanks you guys were running. Can we saw step five? Right?
[2:04] Speaker 5: We saw what happened on the field. We saw the
[2:06] Speaker 5: progression manifest in real time, you know, for the first time. Sure,
[2:10] Speaker 5: when you guys were playing games, But what was step one?
[2:13] Speaker 5: I mean in season, what was the pivot? What were
[2:15] Speaker 5: those conversations and where.
[2:16] Speaker 2: Did you start?
[2:17] Speaker 4: They say desperation is the mother of invention, or you
[2:20] Speaker 4: know it was by necessity. I mean, really the origin
[2:23] Speaker 4: of it was after we lost that Thursday night game
[2:26] Speaker 4: against the forty nine ers. We were not very good
[2:28] Speaker 4: in short yardage situations, and so you're really saying, what
[2:32] Speaker 4: are some ways that we can close edges? We've got
[2:34] Speaker 4: capable tight ends, and so really the origin was going
[2:37] Speaker 4: into the Baltimore game some of the different things that
[2:39] Speaker 4: they had presented in tight red zone, short yardage or
[2:43] Speaker 4: four minute if you're trying to close out the game,
[2:45] Speaker 4: let's get into some personnel groupings that allow us to
[2:47] Speaker 4: have just longer edges to be more efficient and short yardage. Well,
[2:52] Speaker 4: then you flash forward to that fast, you know, fast
[2:54] Speaker 4: forward to that game. Puka goes down in the game,
[2:57] Speaker 4: we had some success with a couple of those plays.
[2:59] Speaker 4: Kyen william walked in on a touchdown, We had a
[3:02] Speaker 4: couple runs to kind of close out the game. And
[3:04] Speaker 4: then you're saying, all right, well, Pooka gets hurt, We've
[3:07] Speaker 4: got our defense did a great job of using all
[3:10] Speaker 4: the guys that had a jersey of our forty eight
[3:12] Speaker 4: on game day, and so you're saying, we got these
[3:13] Speaker 4: capable tight ends. We were able to run thirty plus
[3:16] Speaker 4: snaps in Jacksonville where you know they weren't really preparing
[3:20] Speaker 4: for it, so we thought we could kind of catch
[3:22] Speaker 4: them off guard while also taking advantage of all the
[3:24] Speaker 4: guys that we do have with Higbee, with Davis Allen,
[3:27] Speaker 4: with Kobe Parkinson, with Terrence Ferguson had success, and then
[3:30] Speaker 4: it coincided with us having a buy in between that,
[3:33] Speaker 4: so now you get some time to be able to say, Okay,
[3:35] Speaker 4: what can we do from this? How can we build
[3:38] Speaker 4: on it? And then the guys did an amazing job
[3:40] Speaker 4: of being able to adjust midstream Jordan, and we can't
[3:44] Speaker 4: do that without tight ends. Like that's the thing everybody
[3:46] Speaker 4: wants to talk about thirteen. It's the people you know, like,
[3:49] Speaker 4: and I've heard Matthew say this before is it's you
[3:52] Speaker 4: can only do this because of those four players that
[3:54] Speaker 4: I mentioned. If you don't have interchangeable tight ends that
[3:58] Speaker 4: can be functional in both the run in the past
[4:00] Speaker 4: and be able to protect, can have some guys that
[4:02] Speaker 4: can be move players but can give you the you know,
[4:05] Speaker 4: the illusion of complexity, then it doesn't work. And so
[4:08] Speaker 4: it's only because of those guys. No different than the
[4:11] Speaker 4: you know, the first iteration of eleven personnels because of
[4:13] Speaker 4: Cooper Cup and Robert Woods and Cooks or Sammy Watkins.
[4:17] Speaker 6: Well, that's kind of my.
[4:18] Speaker 5: Theory all last season was you know, watching your camp,
[4:21] Speaker 5: you guys ask it doesn't matter if you're the fifth
[4:24] Speaker 5: string tight end. You're installing all of that eleven and
[4:27] Speaker 5: you have to know it if you're a part of
[4:28] Speaker 5: the team and concepts to get that. I felt like
[4:31] Speaker 5: maybe that made the teaching progression of that, I don't
[4:34] Speaker 5: want to say easier because it's not when you're in
[4:36] Speaker 5: the season, but the language may be translated a little
[4:39] Speaker 5: bit more because eleven and thirteen you're putting bigger bodies
[4:42] Speaker 5: out on the field, but you're asking these guys to
[4:44] Speaker 5: run those past concepts.
[4:45] Speaker 3: One hundred percent.
[4:45] Speaker 4: And that's the thing is is you know we're going
[4:47] Speaker 4: to I think it is good to be able to
[4:49] Speaker 4: be a little bit more multiple and have some different things.
[4:52] Speaker 4: We had to sort through a lot of issues just
[4:54] Speaker 4: by living an eleven personnel and so then you're getting
[4:57] Speaker 4: used to attacking base defensive structures, whether you're talking about
[4:59] Speaker 4: the three down the four down principles, what are some
[5:02] Speaker 4: of the what's the uptick and all this shell and
[5:04] Speaker 4: how that kind of fits in and what you want
[5:06] Speaker 4: to be. But what we want to do is take
[5:07] Speaker 4: advantage of all the players that we do have, and
[5:10] Speaker 4: really that did change the teaching progression really on both
[5:12] Speaker 4: sides of the football, where we're teaching concepts and its
[5:15] Speaker 4: spots on the field. So then we can seamlessly plug
[5:18] Speaker 4: and play guys in and then we have to be
[5:20] Speaker 4: cognizant of our right what is the personnel that we're
[5:22] Speaker 4: going against, whether that's defense versus offense or offense versus defense.
[5:25] Speaker 1: Was just like a small part of you also in
[5:27] Speaker 1: the way back of your mind thinking like, oh, this
[5:29] Speaker 1: is really getting Jordan excited.
[5:31] Speaker 2: That was also talking about great and when someone.
[5:36] Speaker 5: Talks about the rams, they don't get enough attention.
[5:38] Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like, when you put that out there
[5:40] Speaker 1: and for our listeners and now now my son listens
[5:43] Speaker 1: to the podcast, I always want to explain things the
[5:44] Speaker 1: thirteen personnel, you know, of course with three tight ends
[5:47] Speaker 1: on the field, and now you you draft another tight
[5:50] Speaker 1: end this year and it was part of like a
[5:53] Speaker 1: run of tight ends that's all happening. And I know
[5:56] Speaker 1: you're a student of football history and you're saying, you know,
[5:58] Speaker 1: desperation was the mother that's happened so many different times
[6:02] Speaker 1: in football history where different transitions happen because of a
[6:05] Speaker 1: desperate moment. And then other teams, are you like aware
[6:08] Speaker 1: of what's going on around the league at this point
[6:11] Speaker 1: in terms of them getting more multiple with their tight
[6:15] Speaker 1: ends and thinking about the ways that you need to
[6:18] Speaker 1: stay ahead of them and continue to evolve what you're.
[6:21] Speaker 3: Doing hundred percent.
[6:22] Speaker 4: I mean, this league is so humbling, you know, and
[6:24] Speaker 4: I think you know when you have the tape out,
[6:26] Speaker 4: their coaches and players are too good in this league,
[6:28] Speaker 4: and so you have to be able to adapt to
[6:30] Speaker 4: just and then ultimately act. But we're trying to solve problems. Fortunately,
[6:34] Speaker 4: I do think there's been a lot of humbling learning
[6:36] Speaker 4: experiences where you're not naive to think the stuff that
[6:39] Speaker 4: you did last year is going to have the same
[6:40] Speaker 4: amount of success. But what are those new iterations kind
[6:43] Speaker 4: of where do you project at defenses are going to
[6:46] Speaker 4: try to go to try to counter it? And you know,
[6:49] Speaker 4: and we think about all those things, but I think
[6:51] Speaker 4: you're you're really saying, you're still playing eleven on eleven
[6:53] Speaker 4: and how can we you know, get the pen in
[6:54] Speaker 4: our hand, whether you're talking from a defense or an
[6:56] Speaker 4: offensive lens.
[6:57] Speaker 6: Where do you think defenses are going to go with it?
[7:00] Speaker 3: I'll tell you after the season.
[7:02] Speaker 7: I don't know.
[7:03] Speaker 3: I mean, I have no idea. Well, we'll figure it out.
[7:05] Speaker 4: But I think what we want to make sure that
[7:07] Speaker 4: we do is we give our I think what we
[7:08] Speaker 4: want to make sure is, though, is that we're developed,
[7:11] Speaker 4: developing our players to be independent thinkers and problem solvers.
[7:14] Speaker 8: You know.
[7:14] Speaker 4: I think the most important thing is is with our
[7:16] Speaker 4: teaching progression. There's a play, do they understand the intent,
[7:19] Speaker 4: what are the mechanics within their individual uh, you know,
[7:23] Speaker 4: situation or individual position? And then what are the problems
[7:26] Speaker 4: that they might need to solve that can present themselves
[7:28] Speaker 4: that might be protection.
[7:29] Speaker 3: Oriented might be run oriented.
[7:31] Speaker 4: What are the tools that we can activate or what's
[7:33] Speaker 4: the other play if we're calling two plays in the
[7:35] Speaker 4: huddle and we want to be able to do those
[7:36] Speaker 4: things both offensively and defensively.
[7:38] Speaker 2: Yeah, just spitball in here.
[7:40] Speaker 1: You're the only team maybe with like five real high
[7:42] Speaker 1: quality titands. What about a five personnel pentagon at the
[7:46] Speaker 1: same time, so you already got a name.
[7:47] Speaker 3: There you go.
[7:48] Speaker 4: I was a tight end coach in Washington. I was
[7:50] Speaker 4: calling for Pentagon personnel and we never got it.
[7:52] Speaker 5: But you got to really dust off the stone tablets.
[7:57] Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like one play just to get all
[7:59] Speaker 1: the film dork's really excited, like you would be leading
[8:02] Speaker 1: lots of podcasts.
[8:04] Speaker 3: Five coming to a theater.
[8:05] Speaker 5: He said it, Hey everyone listening, No, you run it.
[8:09] Speaker 5: You got to run it out here one time with
[8:10] Speaker 5: all the people like streaming and.
[8:12] Speaker 3: Every people that are taking the videos.
[8:14] Speaker 5: And then break the internet and then all the coaches
[8:15] Speaker 5: around the league start panicking about this and what.
[8:18] Speaker 2: Do we want do we do think?
[8:19] Speaker 3: I don't think it will cause any panic.
[8:21] Speaker 5: You know, well you we saw you know, Terence Ferguson
[8:24] Speaker 5: really trying to take a step forward, and you know,
[8:26] Speaker 5: when I've been out here, it's been cool to watch
[8:28] Speaker 5: him be so activated across not just the passing service,
[8:31] Speaker 5: but the run game too, in some of those like
[8:34] Speaker 5: sifts and those motions that you guys like to run too,
[8:36] Speaker 5: and really kind of taking ownership of it.
[8:38] Speaker 6: It seems like, I know, it's early days.
[8:40] Speaker 3: He's so impressed. Well, here's the thing.
[8:42] Speaker 4: You know, everybody just wants to look at the stats,
[8:44] Speaker 4: but what he was able to do last year, Jordan
[8:46] Speaker 4: was so instrumental in our success. I mean, he's moving around,
[8:49] Speaker 4: he has to know all of the eligible spots. He
[8:51] Speaker 4: knows our x R Z, R Y and r F
[8:53] Speaker 4: and he knows it and all of our personnel groupings
[8:55] Speaker 4: because he might be asked to play all of those positions,
[8:58] Speaker 4: and really our tight end group as a whole. Scooter
[9:00] Speaker 4: Huff does an amazing job of teaching them, but he
[9:03] Speaker 4: enabled us to operate in a manner that was really
[9:06] Speaker 4: unique because of all the versatility that he could provide.
[9:09] Speaker 4: And that's not exclusively reflected in the stats. You know,
[9:11] Speaker 4: he's got eleven catches, but he's got a lot more
[9:13] Speaker 4: to offer. He did a lot last year, even in
[9:16] Speaker 4: the midst of building for us, and so.
[9:19] Speaker 3: We're excited about his growth.
[9:21] Speaker 4: But I think the way that all of our guys
[9:22] Speaker 4: attack it, I expect us to get better.
[9:24] Speaker 3: You never stay the same.
[9:25] Speaker 4: There's a there's a humility, and there's a love for
[9:28] Speaker 4: this game, and there's a master and it matters to
[9:30] Speaker 4: these guys in a way that they've approached it. You know,
[9:32] Speaker 4: I feel really fortunate to be a part of this thing,
[9:35] Speaker 4: and we got to be able to handle adversity when
[9:37] Speaker 4: it does come our way. But guys like Terrence Ferguson
[9:39] Speaker 4: are going to be a big part of what we
[9:40] Speaker 4: do and and he does give us the ability to
[9:42] Speaker 4: do a lot of different things because of his unique
[9:44] Speaker 4: skill set.
[9:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm a big Ferguson guy. Yeah, and I it
[9:47] Speaker 1: just just kind of like looking at him. Yeah, you know,
[9:49] Speaker 1: he's a stocking, a guy that big that moves like
[9:52] Speaker 1: that not work out, that's right. I think Kyle Brady
[9:54] Speaker 1: is maybe the other tight end that I thought was
[9:56] Speaker 1: the most physically impressive NFL player, But like.
[10:00] Speaker 3: Though, yeah, but he is he is good. Greg.
[10:02] Speaker 4: He can do a lot of different things and he
[10:04] Speaker 4: can be in line, he can be you know, in
[10:06] Speaker 4: the slot, outside and he's got great lower half flexibility
[10:10] Speaker 4: to be able to do a lot of different things
[10:11] Speaker 4: that we would ask.
[10:12] Speaker 5: Yeah, that's one thing you mentioned that stood out to
[10:13] Speaker 5: you when you were watching his college tape was the
[10:15] Speaker 5: fluidity that he moves with, almost like he's you know,
[10:18] Speaker 5: kind of artistically sort of swimming out there.
[10:21] Speaker 4: No, and I mean it's honestly, there's some similar mannerisms.
[10:24] Speaker 4: And don't let me lose you to Kelsey in terms
[10:26] Speaker 4: of you know, feed are always close to the grounds.
[10:28] Speaker 4: He's kind of just able to skate. He's got good
[10:30] Speaker 4: natural disability to work edges on people. One of the
[10:33] Speaker 4: things that I liked the most about him that really
[10:35] Speaker 4: wasn't on display last year. He obviously did a great
[10:37] Speaker 4: job tracking some big balls down the field, but his
[10:40] Speaker 4: run after the catch. You know, he was catching a
[10:42] Speaker 4: lot of checkdowns or you know, chip flats or whatever
[10:45] Speaker 4: with with Gabriel and Oregon, and you could see really
[10:48] Speaker 4: the rack was one of the elite traits that we liked,
[10:51] Speaker 4: and that's going to be you know, that's always an
[10:52] Speaker 4: important factor for any of our skilled players, and he's
[10:55] Speaker 4: no different.
[10:56] Speaker 5: Well, I like talking to you about defense because I
[10:59] Speaker 5: think you study it as close as anybody and certainly
[11:02] Speaker 5: keep up with it with your guys and around the
[11:04] Speaker 5: league as well.
[11:05] Speaker 6: And I'm kind of curious.
[11:06] Speaker 5: You know, you mentioned early at the at the top
[11:08] Speaker 5: of the show that you know, people forget it's so
[11:11] Speaker 5: much about the players, and obviously you guys have some
[11:14] Speaker 5: absolute studs on this team, like superstars, but also what
[11:18] Speaker 5: do you think people miss about kind of the way
[11:21] Speaker 5: football evolves against itself and what do you think You know,
[11:24] Speaker 5: everyone's talking about personnel and names and you know, say,
[11:29] Speaker 5: you know, extra safeties and those types of things. But
[11:31] Speaker 5: in all of that conversation, as you sort of track
[11:34] Speaker 5: the way the league actually is moving, what do you
[11:36] Speaker 5: think maybe we miss when we're thinking about how football's evolving?
[11:39] Speaker 7: RIGHTD Right?
[11:39] Speaker 4: I think if you're just talking about our situation, you know,
[11:42] Speaker 4: just from a general observation, it's still is the greatest
[11:44] Speaker 4: team sport there is. You're going to play eleven as one,
[11:46] Speaker 4: you know, we're obviously incredibly excited. If you just want
[11:50] Speaker 4: to talk about defense, to add Trent McDuffie, to add
[11:52] Speaker 4: Jalen Watson, to be able to add Miles Garrett are
[11:55] Speaker 4: those are three awesome players that have had unbelievable success.
[11:59] Speaker 4: But how do we come together as eleven? How do
[12:02] Speaker 4: we understand how to utilize Trent and Jalen? How can
[12:04] Speaker 4: we play seven as one in the back end? How
[12:06] Speaker 4: does Miles end up learning how to be able to
[12:08] Speaker 4: rush alongside a Braid and Fisk a Kobe Turner. What
[12:11] Speaker 4: does it look like for our naturals to take place
[12:13] Speaker 4: where when you're rushing four, you're still two gaps short.
[12:15] Speaker 4: And how are we able to kind of cover each
[12:17] Speaker 4: other and make sure we keep the integrity of the pocket.
[12:20] Speaker 4: Especially when you look at the first five games of
[12:21] Speaker 4: the year, every quarterback we play can run and create
[12:24] Speaker 4: off schedules. So how do we come together as a team,
[12:26] Speaker 4: How do we understand the intent and the mechanics and
[12:28] Speaker 4: solving the problems? Like I kind of just mentioned, that's
[12:31] Speaker 4: the thing I love about football is it's eleven as one.
[12:34] Speaker 4: It's the greatest team sport that there is, And you
[12:37] Speaker 4: have to really be able to understand how to work
[12:39] Speaker 4: off of one another, that player adjacent to you, and
[12:41] Speaker 4: be able to use the different tools based on what's
[12:43] Speaker 4: presented in what situations you're talking about.
[12:45] Speaker 1: Your division rivals are on hard knocks. They are are
[12:48] Speaker 1: you going to watch it?
[12:50] Speaker 9: Oh?
[12:50] Speaker 3: Yeah, I watched it last night?
[12:51] Speaker 7: You did?
[12:51] Speaker 1: Did you see the little part where you know Mike McDonald,
[12:55] Speaker 1: Cooper Kupp are going back that I've been for it?
[12:57] Speaker 4: Yeah? I bet that happens a lot without the cameras
[12:59] Speaker 4: there time, you feel great? I loved it. No, listen,
[13:03] Speaker 4: here's what I would tell you. Cooper is incredibly sharp.
[13:06] Speaker 4: He has an intimate knowledge of what we did. For
[13:08] Speaker 4: a while, mike' says. You know, I have as much
[13:10] Speaker 4: respect for Mike as anybody, And if the situations were reversed,
[13:14] Speaker 4: I'd do the same. I'd be asking guys about their
[13:17] Speaker 4: system or vice versa, and so hey.
[13:20] Speaker 3: Chasing edges?
[13:20] Speaker 2: Right, why wouldn't you?
[13:22] Speaker 3: There?
[13:23] Speaker 4: You go, I get it. But they're awesome. I mean
[13:25] Speaker 4: they're the raigning super Bowl champs. They they did their thing,
[13:28] Speaker 4: and so they're the champs for a reason.
[13:30] Speaker 2: Right, I I couldn't help.
[13:32] Speaker 1: But note, like right before we started, so I hope
[13:34] Speaker 1: you're even aware of this, like the NFL Transaction wire
[13:37] Speaker 1: had Aaron Donald working out with the Rams today, which I.
[13:40] Speaker 3: Guess did come across as a tryout.
[13:41] Speaker 2: It did come across as tryout that we've ever had. Okay,
[13:45] Speaker 2: you think you could make the team, penomen.
[13:47] Speaker 3: I think you could make the team. Shot.
[13:49] Speaker 4: Yeah, that was honestly our way of being able to
[13:52] Speaker 4: get a workout with him within the you know, parameters
[13:55] Speaker 4: of of what's necessary. But Gift Smith said, it's the
[13:58] Speaker 4: greatest tryout he's ever had.
[14:00] Speaker 2: Great football coach.
[14:01] Speaker 1: I don't know if Sean would be the best poker
[14:03] Speaker 1: player in the world, but about Aaron Donald.
[14:05] Speaker 4: But yeah, you know what, I've never claimed to be
[14:08] Speaker 4: a good poker player either.
[14:10] Speaker 1: You've got plenty to do here. Appreciate the time, gregs,
[14:14] Speaker 1: We're coming on. Thank you to Sean McVay. That was awesome.
[14:18] Speaker 1: I know they just send little NFL daily out here,
[14:22] Speaker 1: and suddenly we got ESPN requesting video.
[14:25] Speaker 2: Take that NFL network.
[14:26] Speaker 8: Now.
[14:27] Speaker 2: I don't want to get I don't want to get
[14:28] Speaker 2: in any trouble.
[14:29] Speaker 6: That's a fine.
[14:30] Speaker 1: We're just, uh, you know, we're just a little NFL daily,
[14:33] Speaker 1: NFL media these days.
[14:34] Speaker 2: But very cool, how open he was.
[14:36] Speaker 1: I liked the half of a second, very serious looking
[14:41] Speaker 1: as eye. When I brought up the Cooper Cup, Mike
[14:44] Speaker 1: McDonald clip on hard knocks. Uh for one second there
[14:47] Speaker 1: the mask kind of came off and it was just like, yeah,
[14:50] Speaker 1: that was annoying.
[14:51] Speaker 6: Well you said it yourself. You said it yourself.
[14:53] Speaker 5: He doesn't really have a poker face, right, So that's
[14:56] Speaker 5: what's fun about it is how competitive it it really is.
[15:00] Speaker 5: I know everybody, everybody, this is a fun time of year,
[15:02] Speaker 5: This is the happy time of year. But these guys
[15:05] Speaker 5: are breaking camp at LMU and going out to Woodland
[15:07] Speaker 5: Hills to really install some of their secret stuff away
[15:10] Speaker 5: from crowds and eyes like ours, and so now this
[15:14] Speaker 5: is when things really really start.
[15:15] Speaker 6: To ramp up. So I bet a little bit of
[15:17] Speaker 6: that was creeping into.
[15:18] Speaker 1: Yeah, we're here at Loyola Marymount University. You should have mentioned.
[15:21] Speaker 1: It's got to be one of the most relaxed training
[15:24] Speaker 1: camp atmospheres there are in the entire NFL, with like
[15:27] Speaker 1: the ocean breeze coming in.
[15:28] Speaker 2: It's a great setup.
[15:29] Speaker 1: And they finish here on Thursday, that day after we're
[15:33] Speaker 1: taping here, and you're right, go go to their team facility.
[15:36] Speaker 1: They have to let they were like team reporters watch
[15:38] Speaker 1: for a little bit, but for them, this fan portion
[15:40] Speaker 1: of training camp is over. And what we saw on
[15:43] Speaker 1: the field today, you know it wasn't a Matthews Stafford day.
[15:47] Speaker 7: It was.
[15:48] Speaker 2: It was not a great day for the offense.
[15:51] Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Kevin Dotson in just a
[15:55] Speaker 1: few minutes after the break and Byron Young of that
[15:58] Speaker 1: defense and less Steed. And it is interesting to me
[16:02] Speaker 1: that stets In Bennett is taking all the reps with
[16:06] Speaker 1: the first team. You know, it was like a little
[16:09] Speaker 1: surprising to me that ty Simpson isn't getting in the
[16:10] Speaker 1: mix at all, Like with uh, that's a yet.
[16:14] Speaker 6: That's a yet to me.
[16:15] Speaker 5: And I think too, really one of the most important
[16:17] Speaker 5: things with this team is not quarterback development right now.
[16:22] Speaker 5: It is how do we make sure that our floor
[16:25] Speaker 5: is higher when if something happens to Matthew Stafford. Can
[16:30] Speaker 5: we make sure that this guy is going to be
[16:31] Speaker 5: our backup quarterback?
[16:32] Speaker 2: That's my sense on it.
[16:34] Speaker 5: For Stetson, can we make sure that this guy is
[16:36] Speaker 5: going to be our backup quarterback? And I think right
[16:38] Speaker 5: when they drafted Tye it was really interesting. I know
[16:40] Speaker 5: we talked about it, some of the chatter that was
[16:42] Speaker 5: coming out about him being a developmental guy, a developmental prospect.
[16:49] Speaker 5: I know, you really think your number thirteen overall pick
[16:51] Speaker 5: should be competing right away in training camp. I think
[16:54] Speaker 5: logic would always tell us that, but the way that
[16:56] Speaker 5: they said it right away when they picked him really
[16:59] Speaker 5: made me think, Hey, they're going to try to figure
[17:00] Speaker 5: out if they have a backup in Stetson who they
[17:03] Speaker 5: drafted him for, so see if Stetson can do the
[17:06] Speaker 5: job that they drafted him for. Kind of go from there.
[17:08] Speaker 5: But yes, it is notable Stetson Bennett is working with
[17:11] Speaker 5: the I guess we'd call it the first team here,
[17:13] Speaker 5: but the second team when Matthew Stafford is.
[17:15] Speaker 1: Here, right and look, if he has a ton of
[17:18] Speaker 1: days like today, they might be thinking about Jimmy Garoppolo.
[17:21] Speaker 1: Like the offense, I know, it's dangerous to take a
[17:24] Speaker 1: snapshot of one day, and there haven't been that many
[17:27] Speaker 1: reports about the offense struggling. It was virtually non functional.
[17:31] Speaker 1: Stets and Bennet could run the offense. And like the
[17:33] Speaker 1: amount of catches that people not named Puka Nakua made
[17:36] Speaker 1: were you know, very low. It was pretty much pooka
[17:40] Speaker 1: or nothing. But the offense was running. Ty Simpson also
[17:43] Speaker 1: through a you know, there were interceptions of plenty balls
[17:46] Speaker 1: in the coverage, him holding on to the ball, dumping
[17:49] Speaker 1: it off. It was a day with Sean McVay right
[17:51] Speaker 1: behind him that, you know, I have a feeling frustrated
[17:56] Speaker 1: Sean McVay very much like whether we think it's important or.
[18:00] Speaker 6: I think it's important.
[18:01] Speaker 5: I do think it's important, And I was also thinking
[18:03] Speaker 5: right about in the middle of practice, I'm so glad
[18:05] Speaker 5: that we got Sean McVay on our show before this
[18:07] Speaker 5: practice and not after this practice.
[18:09] Speaker 1: I was too, because it's one of those learning moments
[18:12] Speaker 1: for a rookie quarterback. Especially Simpson just looked like they
[18:16] Speaker 1: were throwing a lot at them defensively, and the defense
[18:19] Speaker 1: was absolutely dominating and he was swimming on this particular day.
[18:23] Speaker 2: But it happens.
[18:24] Speaker 1: I'll never forget, you know, overreacting to Aaron Rodgers, like
[18:28] Speaker 1: just absolutely struggling day after day in his rookie training
[18:31] Speaker 1: camp and their fourth quarterback, Craig Nall out playing him
[18:35] Speaker 1: like day after day and even people panicking and one
[18:37] Speaker 1: of them, you know, became Aaron Rodgers, you know, so.
[18:41] Speaker 6: In all that means.
[18:44] Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't know, there is a part of
[18:46] Speaker 1: me that's like, man, he looks they look a little
[18:48] Speaker 1: small back there at quarterback, and they were struggling. If
[18:50] Speaker 1: they have a lot of days like this, maybe you
[18:51] Speaker 1: give old Jimmy g a call, but that's for later
[18:55] Speaker 1: in this month. And ultimately we know like this is
[18:58] Speaker 1: a championship contending team if Matthew Stafford is at quarterback,
[19:02] Speaker 1: and they won't be if not. And man, there is
[19:05] Speaker 1: like a special feeling about this team at this point
[19:08] Speaker 1: in time. As Miles Garrett shirtless walks by and greeted
[19:13] Speaker 1: the family.
[19:14] Speaker 5: I really really wanted a picture of you either standing
[19:18] Speaker 5: next to Miles Garrett or you standing next to Kevin Dotson,
[19:21] Speaker 5: just for scale.
[19:22] Speaker 2: I'm a small man.
[19:23] Speaker 1: No, I'd rather be standing, and we have sent them
[19:25] Speaker 1: out next to Sean mcvayh and you, you know, it's
[19:27] Speaker 1: totally fine.
[19:28] Speaker 2: That's where I'm good.
[19:29] Speaker 6: Sang it.
[19:30] Speaker 1: Let's take a break, let's you know, listen to the commercials,
[19:35] Speaker 1: make a little money, and then when we come back
[19:37] Speaker 1: from the break, we are going to hear in order
[19:41] Speaker 1: from Kevin Dotson, great personality, you know, great run blocking
[19:45] Speaker 1: guard for the Rams, Byron Young was entering a contract year,
[19:48] Speaker 1: one of the more underrated pass rushers in the league.
[19:50] Speaker 1: And then we are going to wrap up the show
[19:52] Speaker 1: with less need and I do it at the end
[19:55] Speaker 1: of the show. But I always just like to throw
[19:57] Speaker 1: a little bit of a reminder out there for people
[19:59] Speaker 1: when we're gonna go live on YouTube. So we might
[20:02] Speaker 1: actually do that at the beginning of the Hall of Fame.
[20:05] Speaker 6: Good news to me.
[20:06] Speaker 1: We can and just set your notifications if you follow
[20:09] Speaker 1: us there, we'll go live. We can watch the game
[20:11] Speaker 1: a little bit, do some news, play a fun game.
[20:13] Speaker 1: And yes, Jordan is holding the flash card that let's need. Yeah,
[20:19] Speaker 1: some strange notes that during the interview that you'll see later.
[20:22] Speaker 5: You'll see it later, we'll share it out. It's also
[20:25] Speaker 5: not written in linear. Yeah, it's all over the place,
[20:28] Speaker 5: which I guess we could have expected.
[20:30] Speaker 1: Yes, that's last seen the nutshell back in a few minutes.
[20:46] Speaker 1: All right, we are here with Kevin Dotson, big time
[20:50] Speaker 1: guard of the Los Angeles Rams, and he's.
[20:53] Speaker 2: Made it a tradition here for training Gimmer. Maybe it's
[20:55] Speaker 2: all year round.
[20:56] Speaker 7: I don't know.
[20:56] Speaker 1: Is the hair with the horns in it just how
[20:59] Speaker 1: you're existing in life right now?
[21:01] Speaker 8: You know, it's just kind of my commitment to the team. Yeah,
[21:06] Speaker 8: I just let it, let it grow out, and then
[21:08] Speaker 8: once it's done, I'll decide if I'll do it in
[21:12] Speaker 8: about a week. I did it last week last year,
[21:14] Speaker 8: so you know, just I'll make that decision when it comes.
[21:17] Speaker 6: You got the blue going this year, though, which I like.
[21:19] Speaker 5: You know, you saw the team came out with their
[21:21] Speaker 5: throwbacks and I actually.
[21:23] Speaker 7: Did it before the team for the team.
[21:26] Speaker 8: I wanted to do the old school you know, sure, right,
[21:29] Speaker 8: and then they came out with it.
[21:31] Speaker 9: Like, hey, this perfect.
[21:32] Speaker 6: Yeah, you kind of called your shot there.
[21:33] Speaker 5: I feel like you've kind of done that since you
[21:35] Speaker 5: got here though, just on the field too. I mean,
[21:37] Speaker 5: the second they acquired you from the Steelers a couple
[21:40] Speaker 5: of years ago, you were like, I'm coming in hot
[21:42] Speaker 5: for this position here.
[21:43] Speaker 8: So I've always put it on my mind that if
[21:46] Speaker 8: I'm on a team, I have to start. I have
[21:48] Speaker 8: to I have to play, like I don't know what
[21:50] Speaker 8: type of teammate I am if I'm not contributing.
[21:53] Speaker 9: To the team.
[21:54] Speaker 6: Well, you've been the iron Man too in the past.
[21:56] Speaker 6: I mean, it's it's very cool. You know.
[21:58] Speaker 5: Your arrival a couple of years ago signified a shift
[22:03] Speaker 5: to more physicality up front, you know, going from that
[22:06] Speaker 5: wide and middle zone and a lot of duo and
[22:09] Speaker 5: gap stuff now, which we know Kien loves to run
[22:12] Speaker 5: behind you guys, that's been really a staple here for
[22:15] Speaker 5: a couple of years. Can you tell us a little
[22:17] Speaker 5: bit more about being inside that room and being a
[22:20] Speaker 5: part of that really significant change into how tough this
[22:24] Speaker 5: team wanted to be up front?
[22:26] Speaker 8: You know, I always try to, you know, know what
[22:30] Speaker 8: my personal goals are and knowing what kind of person
[22:33] Speaker 8: I am to kind of do that introspection of yourself
[22:36] Speaker 8: of like what do I do best?
[22:38] Speaker 7: What do I want to be known for?
[22:40] Speaker 8: And I've always wanted to be known for a run,
[22:43] Speaker 8: block and office alignment, and that's been my m since
[22:47] Speaker 8: high school.
[22:48] Speaker 6: Get to play guard, but I've always wanted to.
[22:50] Speaker 8: Play guard always, So I've always wanted to block down.
[22:53] Speaker 8: I always wanted to one on one somebody like this
[22:55] Speaker 8: has always been my thing. So when I came here,
[22:57] Speaker 8: it was like, I have to show them that I
[23:00] Speaker 8: can't pass block, but when we were run, when we run,
[23:04] Speaker 8: I want to be the difference maker. So when I
[23:08] Speaker 8: came in, I knew my first game I had to
[23:10] Speaker 8: show what I could do. And then I feel like
[23:13] Speaker 8: they kind of understood that this right side.
[23:16] Speaker 7: We're gonna have some we're gonna have some good runs
[23:18] Speaker 7: on this right side.
[23:19] Speaker 8: And I feel like everybody just they already had it
[23:22] Speaker 8: in them, but you just they just got to see
[23:24] Speaker 8: somebody else doing it, or we got to change the plays,
[23:26] Speaker 8: and it's just they they're all locked in on running
[23:30] Speaker 8: the ball. We know if we can run the ball,
[23:32] Speaker 8: we can do anything on this game. So once the
[23:34] Speaker 8: run game is going, everything is open. And because you
[23:37] Speaker 8: have nine back there, if you got you gotta worry
[23:39] Speaker 8: about the run in to pass.
[23:40] Speaker 7: It's it's scary.
[23:41] Speaker 2: And last year you had it going.
[23:43] Speaker 1: Some of the numbers are crazy if you look at
[23:45] Speaker 1: the efficiency numbers like success rate EPA for play like
[23:48] Speaker 1: it was one of the most effective running games. Not
[23:51] Speaker 1: just in the league, you were the most effective, but
[23:53] Speaker 1: of the last handful of years. And yet Sean and
[23:57] Speaker 1: you got you got the MVP. It's so pass heavy.
[23:59] Speaker 1: Do you you ever like getting his ear that, hey,
[24:02] Speaker 1: we got the most efficient running game and yet we're
[24:05] Speaker 1: still not running the ball that much, like, you know,
[24:09] Speaker 1: on a percentage basis compared you ever you ever ask
[24:11] Speaker 1: him about that.
[24:12] Speaker 8: We've we've had some talks on the sidelines during games.
[24:15] Speaker 8: You know, sometimes you could just coach, Hey, we get
[24:19] Speaker 8: a little fancy, well, let's just let's just let's go,
[24:22] Speaker 8: you know, let's go head on and see how they
[24:24] Speaker 8: really feel when they get pussing in their mouths, and
[24:27] Speaker 8: he usually listens. He usually says, oh, you know what,
[24:30] Speaker 8: let's try it your way at least, And then we
[24:32] Speaker 8: tried and be like, oh, well, I mean, I guess
[24:34] Speaker 8: you were right.
[24:35] Speaker 5: Corey gets mad and calls the screen to your side.
[24:38] Speaker 8: Hey, I'm gonna do whatever you say. I'm just I'm
[24:40] Speaker 8: just throwing suggestions.
[24:42] Speaker 2: I love it.
[24:42] Speaker 5: It's it's cool to watch. You know, you have a
[24:45] Speaker 5: new right tackle, I know, not new to you. You know,
[24:47] Speaker 5: Warren very well, right tackle. There's a young guy wearing
[24:51] Speaker 5: your old teammates number seventy nine out there. I noticed
[24:54] Speaker 5: he's doing some he's doing some really good stuff as
[24:56] Speaker 5: camp starts.
[24:57] Speaker 6: With the twos.
[24:59] Speaker 5: But Warren, I wanted to talk to you a little
[25:01] Speaker 5: bit more about because I know it's been a big
[25:02] Speaker 5: point of pride for you to.
[25:05] Speaker 6: Help instill that confidence in him.
[25:07] Speaker 5: He already is a very centered person, but I know
[25:11] Speaker 5: for your communication and your sort of belief in him
[25:13] Speaker 5: has has helped him too. What about that did you
[25:16] Speaker 5: sort of take on yourself to just make sure he felt,
[25:19] Speaker 5: you know, hey, you're not coming in and replacing anybody.
[25:22] Speaker 5: You are you and and being on this right side
[25:24] Speaker 5: now after like a real legend retires is likely.
[25:27] Speaker 8: As you say, never treating him as in like he's
[25:31] Speaker 8: a backup coming in. He's I'm always thinking, whoever they
[25:34] Speaker 8: put in, I can trust anybody they put in on
[25:37] Speaker 8: this right side, I'll trust. And him coming from a
[25:40] Speaker 8: pedigree of Georgia, they're used to win in there, used
[25:42] Speaker 8: to going against big competition. So he was always he's
[25:45] Speaker 8: always been, you know, confident, so he never he never
[25:50] Speaker 8: came in there and be like, I'm going to get
[25:51] Speaker 8: somebody big.
[25:53] Speaker 9: He's used to that.
[25:54] Speaker 7: Hey, somebody get this man away from U.
[25:55] Speaker 5: Scooter Jalen Watson's trying to steal trying to steal a
[26:01] Speaker 5: scooter here.
[26:01] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you've got a lot of attention with this scooter. You're,
[26:05] Speaker 1: you know, a big man on a scooter. What what's
[26:08] Speaker 1: the what's the strategy there?
[26:09] Speaker 8: Just taking the little steps off, you know, after practice.
[26:12] Speaker 7: I'm not dying.
[26:14] Speaker 5: I got it, got it good shocks.
[26:17] Speaker 8: It's only supposed to carry like two forty but it
[26:20] Speaker 8: does the job.
[26:22] Speaker 1: How is it going against this defensive line in practice today,
[26:26] Speaker 1: you guys were getting after it and in the running game.
[26:28] Speaker 9: As you're doing it.
[26:29] Speaker 8: It could be frustrating, but in the end it's a
[26:31] Speaker 8: blessing because you're going against the best you can and
[26:34] Speaker 8: you're doing that every day, and so it's you start
[26:37] Speaker 8: going into the game and stuff just way easier.
[26:40] Speaker 5: I know it was a rest day for him, but
[26:42] Speaker 5: are you happy that usually Miles Garrett is not lined
[26:46] Speaker 5: up on your side?
[26:47] Speaker 8: Man, I've started to get to where it's just like,
[26:51] Speaker 8: I'm gonna have to do it anyway. So if he's
[26:54] Speaker 8: on my side, hey, just get the job done, do
[26:56] Speaker 8: what you can do, and and uh, you know, we
[27:00] Speaker 8: have focus on him. So it's not I'm not going
[27:04] Speaker 8: one on one with him, so it's mostly Warren a
[27:08] Speaker 8: slow him down.
[27:09] Speaker 2: It's okay.
[27:09] Speaker 8: So somebody could come out there and try to help somebody,
[27:12] Speaker 8: you know, try to chip him or something, but he's
[27:14] Speaker 8: definitely a uh he has that oro on the field
[27:17] Speaker 8: when he's out there. It's like if even if you're
[27:19] Speaker 8: not looking to this side, you can feel this this
[27:23] Speaker 8: pressure over the year, so it's it's it's definitely a difference.
[27:26] Speaker 5: You know, we talked a lot with Sean McVay earlier
[27:29] Speaker 5: today and a little with Less Sneed as well about
[27:32] Speaker 5: the heavier personnels that you guys are using. I know
[27:34] Speaker 5: everybody's been talking about this for a few months now.
[27:36] Speaker 5: We are obsessed with it on our show. We've been
[27:39] Speaker 5: calling for it for years. And now you guys got
[27:42] Speaker 5: like a million really good tight ends right and you
[27:44] Speaker 5: can do it. What does that do though? I mean
[27:46] Speaker 5: you can run or pass out of it, we know.
[27:48] Speaker 5: But for you, who does you do love that extra
[27:51] Speaker 5: physical edge? You do love knowing even if it's a pass,
[27:54] Speaker 5: it's going to be, you know, very very large person
[27:59] Speaker 5: coming coming.
[28:00] Speaker 6: Right at you for the yards after the catch play?
[28:01] Speaker 6: What is that for you? Guys? As a grid it just.
[28:04] Speaker 8: Helps overall play, overall being able to help each other
[28:08] Speaker 8: in the run. So it's like the more people we
[28:10] Speaker 8: have out there, the more double teams we can get,
[28:12] Speaker 8: the more physical we can be because people can't focus
[28:15] Speaker 8: on one person, they can't focus on one tight end
[28:17] Speaker 8: like some teams do. Some teams will put a defensive
[28:20] Speaker 8: tackle out there to, you know, just to try to
[28:22] Speaker 8: disrupt the tight end. Now we got two of them
[28:25] Speaker 8: on them, so it's like they don't get that advantage.
[28:27] Speaker 8: We get the advantage of having more bigs and the
[28:30] Speaker 8: possibility of the past, so they can't play us aggressive
[28:33] Speaker 8: where they putting ten in the box type you know deal,
[28:37] Speaker 8: So they're still scared of the past. You can't be
[28:40] Speaker 8: scared of the past and do the run. So it's
[28:42] Speaker 8: a blessing for us.
[28:43] Speaker 6: Do you like though that?
[28:44] Speaker 5: I mean some of the motions This is on tape,
[28:46] Speaker 5: so I don't feel like I'm revealing states, but some
[28:50] Speaker 5: of the motions that the tight ends run, especially like
[28:52] Speaker 5: the inside alignment guy and he'll he'll sort of act
[28:54] Speaker 5: like he's motioning across and then he'll just dive bomb
[28:57] Speaker 5: like the middle gaps right when you guys are we've
[29:00] Speaker 5: run or passed, and yet you'll still have another tight
[29:02] Speaker 5: end out there as that mismatch. So as the lineman,
[29:06] Speaker 5: first of all, what's the communication like when someone else
[29:09] Speaker 5: is coming into a gap that normally you would occupy?
[29:12] Speaker 5: And then what is that like knowing also, hey, we're
[29:15] Speaker 5: going to have sort of these numbers on our side
[29:17] Speaker 5: and another big body going down the field.
[29:18] Speaker 8: It's really just you know, another layer of security when
[29:23] Speaker 8: you know somebody's going through that gap. You can go
[29:26] Speaker 8: a little harder in this way, knowing that you have
[29:28] Speaker 8: pretiction on the backside if they do move. So it's
[29:31] Speaker 8: just another way to get us moving more confidently and
[29:35] Speaker 8: then more confident. The less hesitation you have, the better
[29:38] Speaker 8: you play.
[29:39] Speaker 1: You take it personal a little bit that people looking
[29:41] Speaker 1: for weaknesses in this rams team and like the best
[29:43] Speaker 1: thing come up and like the offensive line, Like is
[29:46] Speaker 1: that the strength of this team?
[29:48] Speaker 8: I don't think anybody said that he is. I don't
[29:52] Speaker 8: think anybody said the office line.
[29:55] Speaker 1: How have you seen this group kind of come together
[29:57] Speaker 1: in your time? There as like a centerpiece.
[30:00] Speaker 8: I think offensive line is always going to be a
[30:03] Speaker 8: focal point of any offense. I don't believe anybody can
[30:08] Speaker 8: get any accolades if the officeer line isn't good. You
[30:11] Speaker 8: don't get an MVP. You don't get offensive players of
[30:14] Speaker 8: the years. You know, you don't get all these wide
[30:16] Speaker 8: receivers doing doing all these great things, twenty touchdowns and
[30:19] Speaker 8: stuff like that if you don't have good blocking. I
[30:22] Speaker 8: feel like our whole offensive line finished within the top
[30:26] Speaker 8: ten of every position. So it's kind of crazy that
[30:29] Speaker 8: nobody got.
[30:30] Speaker 7: A Pro Bowl.
[30:33] Speaker 8: I don't understand that we have one of the most
[30:35] Speaker 8: explosive offenses.
[30:37] Speaker 1: That's sort of what I'm getting as for whatever reason,
[30:39] Speaker 1: the name value isn't there.
[30:41] Speaker 2: But we're going to do our best.
[30:42] Speaker 1: Kevin Dotson one of the best run blocking guards offensive
[30:47] Speaker 1: lineman players in the entire NFL. And yeah, one of
[30:50] Speaker 1: the one of the best haircuts coming in here and
[30:52] Speaker 1: a painter right doing it.
[30:53] Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, try not to make it a job, but
[30:58] Speaker 8: you know, I'm really loving it.
[31:00] Speaker 1: Still got time on the field for the Rams. That's
[31:03] Speaker 1: it for Kevin, but we are gonna welcome in his
[31:05] Speaker 1: teammate Byron Young.
[31:07] Speaker 2: Net.
[31:07] Speaker 1: We are here with Byron Young, the fourth year edge
[31:12] Speaker 1: rusher for the Los Angeles Rams, wearing the black on
[31:16] Speaker 1: black Rams at which I don't think I feel like
[31:18] Speaker 1: isn't worn enough.
[31:19] Speaker 2: That's like, that's nacky nice.
[31:20] Speaker 9: No, for sure, I feel like.
[31:22] Speaker 6: That's kind of cool.
[31:23] Speaker 5: I feel a little bad that I'm wearing my just
[31:24] Speaker 5: you know, my typical Everyone in the airport has one of.
[31:27] Speaker 9: These, right, I feel like it's smooth of black on black.
[31:30] Speaker 6: Yeah, I gotta I gotta level up. Byron.
[31:32] Speaker 5: We're so thrilled to have you with us today. Because man,
[31:34] Speaker 5: what a I mean, how's the year been. It's not like,
[31:37] Speaker 5: not like anything's happened, right you had any how's everything
[31:41] Speaker 5: going out there? And how are you kind of getting
[31:42] Speaker 5: used to new teammates transition, you know, with with Jared going,
[31:47] Speaker 5: and how's everything been sort of in that assimilation process.
[31:50] Speaker 9: For Oh, I've been busy.
[31:52] Speaker 10: You know, I've been busy, stressful, complicated, but we're still going.
[31:56] Speaker 10: You know, been blessed honestly, my rehab and going great.
[32:00] Speaker 10: Finally getting to get going, feeling like myself again. You know,
[32:03] Speaker 10: I'm limited a little bit, but when I go, I'm
[32:05] Speaker 10: go for a goal. So you know, I'm thankful for that,
[32:07] Speaker 10: you know. You know, uh, Verse going. You know, he
[32:11] Speaker 10: ended up getting traded for Miles. You know that's unfortunate
[32:13] Speaker 10: that you know he had to part that way, But
[32:15] Speaker 10: at the same time, you know, it's a blessing to
[32:16] Speaker 10: have Miles and you know, a great pass rushing like
[32:19] Speaker 10: that to pick, you know, pick his brain been playing
[32:21] Speaker 10: for so long, you know, so you know it was
[32:24] Speaker 10: it was a blessing to you know, be in a
[32:26] Speaker 10: room with him right now, and you know, every day
[32:29] Speaker 10: I learned from him, so you know, it was some
[32:31] Speaker 10: ups and down.
[32:31] Speaker 9: But you know, we're still going. We're still going. We're
[32:33] Speaker 9: doing good.
[32:34] Speaker 5: So I'm kind of curious, you know, when you when
[32:36] Speaker 5: someone like that comes in, like Miles's caliber of player,
[32:40] Speaker 5: and obviously he rushes a certain way, right, I mean
[32:43] Speaker 5: just I mean even just standing there, the amount of
[32:44] Speaker 5: space he takes up and and the alignments and the
[32:47] Speaker 5: way he likes to feel space and and kind of
[32:49] Speaker 5: learn you as well, and your habits and the way
[32:51] Speaker 5: you like to rush.
[32:53] Speaker 6: A lot of it's a non verbal process.
[32:55] Speaker 5: I understand that when you're you know, in the snap itself,
[32:58] Speaker 5: but what's the what's the communication between snaps? Like, how
[33:02] Speaker 5: do you guys talk to each other through kind of
[33:04] Speaker 5: like here's what I like to do and then I'll
[33:06] Speaker 5: feel you kind of come around here.
[33:07] Speaker 6: How do you guys like to uh like play that
[33:10] Speaker 6: out with each other.
[33:11] Speaker 9: He's not like during the player before Yeah, during the play.
[33:13] Speaker 10: Yeah, we kind of communicate, communicate before the play, you know,
[33:17] Speaker 10: just talk through the snap and just what we see.
[33:19] Speaker 10: Sometimes sometimes we probably don't have that much a time,
[33:22] Speaker 10: but we already we already gonna do that meat room,
[33:25] Speaker 10: like depending on if it's a tripper like the other day.
[33:27] Speaker 10: You know, he asked me how do I take on
[33:29] Speaker 10: chipper blocks? And I'm just giving him my different ways
[33:32] Speaker 10: and he got hit different ways of just picking my
[33:33] Speaker 10: brain too, So us kind of learning off each other.
[33:36] Speaker 10: But when we, you know, before the snap, we always
[33:38] Speaker 10: say something to each other. You know, it was like
[33:40] Speaker 10: two men, and he was like, it's you. He was like,
[33:42] Speaker 10: it's meeting you and you like getting the sack, So,
[33:45] Speaker 10: you know, just us kind of being on the same
[33:47] Speaker 10: page of rushes. You know, I'm kind of already know
[33:50] Speaker 10: what kind of rush you're gonna do, just because he's
[33:51] Speaker 10: probably most likely gonna get a slide, so so I
[33:55] Speaker 10: know what what he's gonna do more than likely. So
[33:58] Speaker 10: you know, I try to play smart too and try
[34:00] Speaker 10: to play off each other.
[34:01] Speaker 2: But what do you think has been the key to
[34:03] Speaker 2: your development?
[34:04] Speaker 7: Now?
[34:04] Speaker 1: You we did a rankings you wouldn't know about this
[34:06] Speaker 1: this this offseason and you were part you know, I
[34:08] Speaker 1: watched some Byron Young tape and you're in our like
[34:11] Speaker 1: top twenty five ed rushers, and I think you're kind
[34:13] Speaker 1: of a ball knower's you know guy. Yeah, those who
[34:17] Speaker 1: don't know like, and you've gotten steadily better. But you know,
[34:20] Speaker 1: not a name that like maybe the average fan knew
[34:23] Speaker 1: about a couple of years ago. What have you done
[34:25] Speaker 1: to your game that you think has brought you to
[34:28] Speaker 1: this level, Like over the last three years, what's different
[34:31] Speaker 1: about your four byron compared to when.
[34:32] Speaker 3: You were a rookie.
[34:34] Speaker 10: Honestly, I just think my mindset of understanding that I'm
[34:38] Speaker 10: going to have up and downs, I'm going to feel
[34:41] Speaker 10: I'm going to have plays the days I don't like,
[34:43] Speaker 10: I'm not gonna feel the best out of the time,
[34:45] Speaker 10: but I got to keep going. You know, lifeing perfect
[34:47] Speaker 10: and football not perfect easy. So at the same time,
[34:50] Speaker 10: just taking that approach and growing like that. I learned
[34:53] Speaker 10: that from Ad my rookie year. He was telling me.
[34:55] Speaker 10: He told me, uh, it's okay to make a mistake,
[34:57] Speaker 10: you know, just make up for that, you know, and
[34:59] Speaker 10: just how the mindset I want to get better. But
[35:01] Speaker 10: over the years, you know, I would just find out
[35:03] Speaker 10: different things to do, workouts, pilates, scratch lab just all
[35:07] Speaker 10: those different things I just kind of put into my
[35:09] Speaker 10: recovery workout, whatever it is, and just trusting the process,
[35:12] Speaker 10: you know, because at the same time, it is like
[35:14] Speaker 10: you gotta understand, like this is football. You know, it's
[35:16] Speaker 10: a it's a sport where you're gonna get beat up
[35:18] Speaker 10: all the time, regardless if you're playing all the time.
[35:20] Speaker 10: But you got to practice, you got to go through
[35:22] Speaker 10: all of that. So you know, it's just I think
[35:24] Speaker 10: over the year, just looking back and just really studying
[35:27] Speaker 10: myself and understanding like, Okay, I want to get better
[35:30] Speaker 10: at this, I want to get better at that. But
[35:31] Speaker 10: just taking one thing at a time and not trying
[35:33] Speaker 10: to do everything at the same time, but just take
[35:35] Speaker 10: that one thing and try to get better at that.
[35:36] Speaker 10: That's why I do every day when I step on
[35:38] Speaker 10: the field, just take that one thing, whether it's getting
[35:40] Speaker 10: off the ball, whether it just using my hands better,
[35:43] Speaker 10: getting off block faster.
[35:44] Speaker 9: I'm taking that one thing today.
[35:45] Speaker 10: I'm will work on that so that I think over
[35:46] Speaker 10: the year is just consistently doing that just made me.
[35:49] Speaker 9: Who I am right now.
[35:50] Speaker 5: You know, I covered you when you first came in.
[35:52] Speaker 5: You know, I was a beat writer here and you
[35:56] Speaker 5: have grown so much. And I think people who are
[35:58] Speaker 5: fans of this team, who know and who know of
[36:00] Speaker 5: your play have as you've grown into you know, more
[36:04] Speaker 5: of your adulthood.
[36:05] Speaker 6: Also, your rush.
[36:06] Speaker 5: Has just kind of blossomed in that way too. And
[36:09] Speaker 5: I feel like you rush with a lot of personality,
[36:12] Speaker 5: Like I feel like people can know who you are
[36:14] Speaker 5: and what you're about by watching how you rush the quarterback.
[36:17] Speaker 5: Am I on the right track with that? And what
[36:19] Speaker 5: do you think they're thinking or feeling when they see
[36:22] Speaker 5: you and kind of express yourself that way?
[36:25] Speaker 10: You know, kind of like what you said, you know,
[36:27] Speaker 10: you could tell like type of rush I am, And
[36:29] Speaker 10: you know how how I'm going to rush probably you know,
[36:31] Speaker 10: going to get different tackles and stuff like that.
[36:33] Speaker 9: I try to give them different looks.
[36:34] Speaker 10: I do feel like I sometimes the slay the same thing,
[36:37] Speaker 10: but that's where I was feel like I was growing
[36:38] Speaker 10: and learning that it's kind of doing a different rush
[36:41] Speaker 10: and giving them different looks. But yeah, you know the
[36:43] Speaker 10: type of Russia I am, you know kind of you know,
[36:46] Speaker 10: I love the way I rush. I think I grew
[36:48] Speaker 10: over the years, and you know, it's amazing that you know,
[36:49] Speaker 10: we still here doing interviews together.
[36:51] Speaker 5: They know how crazy is that you're not as old
[36:54] Speaker 5: as me? Though, do not even get started, no, I mean,
[36:56] Speaker 5: I mean.
[36:57] Speaker 9: It's a blessed to even be older.
[36:58] Speaker 10: Though you know a lot of people can't say that
[37:00] Speaker 10: and then where you was and where you're at now
[37:02] Speaker 10: hear you got promoted for congratulations. Yeah, so yeah, it's
[37:07] Speaker 10: you know, it's been an amazing journey and we you know,
[37:09] Speaker 10: still growing, still trying to be better, a better rusher.
[37:12] Speaker 9: I want to be a household name.
[37:13] Speaker 10: I be a name that you know when people you
[37:15] Speaker 10: know bring up around to be like you know, with
[37:17] Speaker 10: the Rush, Miles Garrett and Barry Young, Kobe Turner, all
[37:20] Speaker 10: of us and Bread and Fish, all of us in
[37:22] Speaker 10: the Rush collectively. So I want to be better like
[37:25] Speaker 10: that for my team and you know, just be someone
[37:27] Speaker 10: that they have to look out for it.
[37:28] Speaker 1: So what is that personality then? If they're saying it, well,
[37:31] Speaker 1: is it.
[37:33] Speaker 9: I would say, like a demon?
[37:34] Speaker 10: Honestly, I you know, right now, I just feel like
[37:37] Speaker 10: I'm just not hearing my peak and just now getting
[37:39] Speaker 10: to where I.
[37:39] Speaker 9: Want to get to. But I'm not satisfied, you know.
[37:41] Speaker 10: I definitely think, you know, last year was a great,
[37:44] Speaker 10: you know, a great step in the right direction. But
[37:45] Speaker 10: this year I want to take a you know, a
[37:47] Speaker 10: big step, you know, kind of like a Miles get
[37:49] Speaker 10: get off steps, so that you know, trying to get
[37:52] Speaker 10: like that.
[37:53] Speaker 5: So it's cool because I mean I assume you will
[37:55] Speaker 5: have more opportunities for sure. I mean they're going to
[37:57] Speaker 5: send everybody plus the kitchen sink at Miles Garrett to
[38:02] Speaker 5: try to stop him, right, and then you're like, hello,
[38:04] Speaker 5: nobody around me. I hope anyway, or you get a
[38:06] Speaker 5: lot of one on ones and in reality.
[38:07] Speaker 10: Hopefully that's the plan. You know, just trying to take
[38:09] Speaker 10: advantage of my opportunities. I was just telling them the
[38:11] Speaker 10: other day with Aaron Donald my rookie year, I didn't
[38:14] Speaker 10: understand the offside had and him getting a slide and
[38:16] Speaker 10: what that does for me. But you know, like I said,
[38:19] Speaker 10: you know, I'm growing going into my fourth year. I
[38:21] Speaker 10: understand like the one on ones and not getting a chip,
[38:24] Speaker 10: not getting that guard coming back all the time, or
[38:25] Speaker 10: the center. So it's like trying to take advantage of
[38:28] Speaker 10: those opportunities, you know, every every chance I get.
[38:31] Speaker 1: I looked at your schedule and it's hard not to
[38:33] Speaker 1: notice the Seahawks games at the very end of the year,
[38:35] Speaker 1: which is kind of similar to last year where he
[38:37] Speaker 1: played twice at the end of the year. Not you
[38:40] Speaker 1: not to bring up bad memories, but I do like
[38:42] Speaker 1: thinking about the matchup specifically, and just hearing from guys
[38:46] Speaker 1: who are technicians like yourself, what about the matchup against
[38:50] Speaker 1: those two tackles specifically Abe Lucas, you know, Charles Cross
[38:54] Speaker 1: who you're matching up against, you know in those games,
[38:57] Speaker 1: Like what's the scouting report a little bit on them,
[39:00] Speaker 1: Like what kind of problemses they give you?
[39:02] Speaker 2: What kind of problems do you give them?
[39:03] Speaker 9: M hm, you know the scot report.
[39:05] Speaker 10: We just knew what type of tackles they was, those
[39:08] Speaker 10: two good tackles, so we know we had to come
[39:09] Speaker 10: at them certain ways. They sometimes do have the trip
[39:12] Speaker 10: right there, but at the same time they good at
[39:14] Speaker 10: just jump saying you trying to take away your speed,
[39:16] Speaker 10: So you know you got to kind of play off
[39:18] Speaker 10: that trying to get some quick wins in there. But
[39:20] Speaker 10: you know, those two guys did a really good job
[39:21] Speaker 10: with kind of handling power a little bit, so at
[39:24] Speaker 10: the same time, like you probably get them a good
[39:26] Speaker 10: few times with power, but then they'll come back and
[39:28] Speaker 10: kind of like you know, get you back. You got
[39:30] Speaker 10: to have a good disengage with both of those guys
[39:32] Speaker 10: because they really good with their hands. So you know,
[39:34] Speaker 10: just playing those two guys and compete in event, you know,
[39:36] Speaker 10: just been great.
[39:37] Speaker 9: Good on good.
[39:38] Speaker 5: You have two really really great corners behind you now,
[39:41] Speaker 5: and I mean not to compare to anybody else, but
[39:44] Speaker 5: Trent and Jalen coming in. I mean you can see
[39:47] Speaker 5: they first of all, they understand each other really really well.
[39:49] Speaker 5: They understand space, They're aggressive, they're confident, they play. I
[39:53] Speaker 5: mean like it's true they've been playing football at a
[39:55] Speaker 5: really really high level for years. Do you feel the
[39:58] Speaker 5: I know it's you guys have just got in the pads.
[40:00] Speaker 5: It's still what week two of camp. All that, I
[40:02] Speaker 5: understand that, but do you feel the pace picking up
[40:05] Speaker 5: a little bit.
[40:06] Speaker 6: Like you can if you can get to the quarterback faster.
[40:09] Speaker 5: You just know that they're coming down tighter, that they're
[40:12] Speaker 5: covering aggressively in the way where maybe you know that
[40:16] Speaker 5: that complimentary feeling is there and it feels like you
[40:19] Speaker 5: guys are truly setting each other up.
[40:20] Speaker 10: No, one hundred percent, you know, I was just talking
[40:22] Speaker 10: to those guys and already watching them play is amazing.
[40:25] Speaker 10: Like even like playing against a guy like Matthew Stafford
[40:28] Speaker 10: that those he could make and just the plays that
[40:30] Speaker 10: the cornerbacks making, both of those guys is insane because like,
[40:33] Speaker 10: regardless how good you covering, that guy, Matthew know how
[40:36] Speaker 10: to put on the spot. So for them to play
[40:37] Speaker 10: good coverage with Matthew throwing the ball is like it's insane,
[40:41] Speaker 10: you know, you know, and sometimes it probably don't go
[40:43] Speaker 10: their way, but they always in the area and that's
[40:44] Speaker 10: the best you could do in that situation. So, you know,
[40:47] Speaker 10: having conversation with them, kind of playing hand in hand,
[40:49] Speaker 10: like we work off them, they work off us. So
[40:51] Speaker 10: like if we don't get to the rush, I mean,
[40:53] Speaker 10: they're gonna be in coveraged all day. If they don't
[40:55] Speaker 10: get have good coverage or leverage, you know, they're gonna
[40:57] Speaker 10: have a quick pass. So it's like, you know, it
[40:59] Speaker 10: go hand in hand. So we kind of work off
[41:01] Speaker 10: each other and communicate like that. So when I'm rushing,
[41:03] Speaker 10: I kind of think about the DB's and coverage. I'm like,
[41:06] Speaker 10: you know, I gotta get your quarterback. You know, regardless
[41:07] Speaker 10: if I don't sack them, I gotta make him uncomfortable.
[41:10] Speaker 10: I got forced to make a bad play. So you know,
[41:12] Speaker 10: like you said, go hand in hand, just try to
[41:13] Speaker 10: make each other better and just.
[41:14] Speaker 9: Working off each other.
[41:15] Speaker 5: Do you kind of ever have to warn new teammates
[41:18] Speaker 5: on defense like hey, yeah, nine, Like I mean, he's
[41:21] Speaker 5: gonna get you a lot, you know, Like.
[41:24] Speaker 10: You know, Jaalen, I just seen a post up there.
[41:27] Speaker 10: Jaalen was like he never seen nobody throw the ball,
[41:29] Speaker 10: like how throwing it? It's just like I think we
[41:31] Speaker 10: didn't have to tell him that, like honestly, but it
[41:33] Speaker 10: was already like from day one, it was like, you know,
[41:36] Speaker 10: Matthew shit right in front of me. I'm just sitting
[41:37] Speaker 10: here like, bro, I'll be getting here in front of me.
[41:39] Speaker 10: I like this is crazy, like it was when he
[41:41] Speaker 10: threw the pooka the other day and he just like,
[41:43] Speaker 10: it's know what place you could have put it?
[41:45] Speaker 9: Butt right there?
[41:46] Speaker 10: I wasn't couraged with the boot on Kobe and I'm
[41:50] Speaker 10: on him.
[41:50] Speaker 9: I got the hand right here at his head. He
[41:52] Speaker 9: threw the ball right there.
[41:53] Speaker 10: I'm like, it's it's nothing like It's like, you know,
[41:56] Speaker 10: sometimes you gotta say, you know, I took my head
[41:58] Speaker 10: to you. That's that's the best you could do, and
[41:59] Speaker 10: just go ahead do the next play, you know, live
[42:02] Speaker 10: to us another down.
[42:03] Speaker 6: Does he ever say anything after he throws one?
[42:05] Speaker 9: You don't say anything, right, That's the thing.
[42:07] Speaker 10: That's the thing, Like I never now that you said,
[42:09] Speaker 10: I never hear him talking to feel like I never
[42:12] Speaker 10: heard him sat word. He just so like he's he's
[42:14] Speaker 10: he's a stud man like he like I've never seen
[42:16] Speaker 10: nobody play like him. He just he's a dog and
[42:18] Speaker 10: he have that mentality like he trying to get better
[42:21] Speaker 10: with us. Say, he's definitely making us better about going again,
[42:24] Speaker 10: we're going against the best quarterback in the league right now.
[42:26] Speaker 9: So that's that's that's amazing.
[42:28] Speaker 1: Quiet Assassin. You've since you've entered the league, you know
[42:31] Speaker 1: you and Jordan, you know you. She's been covering you
[42:33] Speaker 1: for three each one of those years. Yeah, you've advanced
[42:36] Speaker 1: a little bit closer to that super Bowl, Like it's
[42:39] Speaker 1: like very linear progress. Does this year with everything around
[42:45] Speaker 1: it feel like a little different?
[42:48] Speaker 10: Honestly for me, I always have the mindset of going
[42:51] Speaker 10: to get there. Like I'm not gonna say it feel
[42:52] Speaker 10: a little different. It feel a little different going a
[42:54] Speaker 10: year four, but just I feel like a growth mindsell
[42:57] Speaker 10: is you know, always feeling like we could get to
[42:59] Speaker 10: the Bowl, Like last year, I phil we could have
[43:01] Speaker 10: get there the year before that. You know, I never
[43:03] Speaker 10: think that, Okay, this year we're going to you know,
[43:05] Speaker 10: like last year, not saying like you know, oh, we're
[43:06] Speaker 10: gonna get to a conference championship. Okay, now this year
[43:09] Speaker 10: we're gonna get to sup Bowl. No, it's more like
[43:10] Speaker 10: every year we're trying to get to the Super Bowl,
[43:12] Speaker 10: and we have the mondset, so you know, this year,
[43:14] Speaker 10: I'm I'm very excited. We got you know, new guys,
[43:17] Speaker 10: got some new faces, and we're working good with each other.
[43:19] Speaker 9: So I'm looking forward to it.
[43:20] Speaker 2: Appreciate you and all your time. Very generous with it.
[43:23] Speaker 1: Byron Young, fourth year edge for the Los Angeles Rams,
[43:28] Speaker 1: making that number zero look cool.
[43:29] Speaker 6: Sure, I appreciate that contract.
[43:31] Speaker 9: That's right, right, everything play.
[43:35] Speaker 1: Wait, wrapping up the show with less Snead, who's making
[43:41] Speaker 1: me nervous. He requested a card and a pen and
[43:45] Speaker 1: he's writing notes as I'm introducing you.
[43:48] Speaker 2: What did you just write?
[43:48] Speaker 7: I just noticed we got a lot of ink. Yeah,
[43:51] Speaker 7: your fonts very similar. See you know what I mean?
[43:56] Speaker 7: This one here typewriter for work works Okay, I mean
[43:59] Speaker 7: it's kind of.
[44:02] Speaker 2: Do you like to look Okay?
[44:04] Speaker 1: Usually this one says he had the call I got
[44:06] Speaker 1: I got another various that's a little art up there stuff. Yeah,
[44:09] Speaker 1: that's this is more of a this is a California cutie.
[44:12] Speaker 1: You know, we try not to put that too much
[44:14] Speaker 1: on camera. NFL speak for yourself. I'm blazing a trail, Okay,
[44:19] Speaker 1: less need is here a day of stars, as we mentioned,
[44:22] Speaker 1: like Clayton Kershaw's in the mix, a lot of stars.
[44:25] Speaker 7: There's a baton cage right there. We ought to go
[44:28] Speaker 7: see if anyone can make contact anyone audience on the field,
[44:34] Speaker 7: alo the sideline, if there is someone ten thousand dollars,
[44:36] Speaker 7: if you can make if you can even just do
[44:38] Speaker 7: a foul ball, if.
[44:39] Speaker 6: There's someone in this group who you think could have
[44:41] Speaker 6: a shot.
[44:42] Speaker 7: Who is it kind of thing? Who's the Do you.
[44:44] Speaker 1: Have any ex baseball players on the team. Our producer
[44:46] Speaker 1: Eric is already plenty of himself. He's like, I could
[44:48] Speaker 1: foil it off.
[44:49] Speaker 7: Fouling off, you're the baseball I'm going with Eric. Anybody
[44:52] Speaker 7: that that is that confident? Borring Stock, oh.
[44:56] Speaker 6: Man, what it would be like to have that kind
[44:58] Speaker 6: of confidence.
[44:58] Speaker 1: I was gonna say to you, do you feel as
[45:01] Speaker 1: the GM of the Los Angeles Rams now? And like Dodgers,
[45:05] Speaker 1: it's all stars. Lakers, you know, are the are the
[45:08] Speaker 1: Lakers you're now bringing out. You feel a little pressure
[45:11] Speaker 1: almost like we got we have to deliver.
[45:13] Speaker 7: Know your ecosystems, confident, know how to thrive in it. Right,
[45:16] Speaker 7: Here's what I do know. I don't know a lot
[45:18] Speaker 7: about baseball. Yeah, but the other morning I woke up
[45:22] Speaker 7: to the trade the Dodgers made, and my first thought was,
[45:26] Speaker 7: I really don't know who this is, but I bet
[45:28] Speaker 7: he's good. Like, I just bet he's like one of
[45:31] Speaker 7: the best. So I don't follow baseball knowing the names,
[45:35] Speaker 7: but I just automatically assume, well, I bet this guy's
[45:37] Speaker 7: really good. It's not like you just go trade for
[45:40] Speaker 7: a middle.
[45:40] Speaker 2: Reliever hashtag analysis.
[45:42] Speaker 7: You nailed it.
[45:43] Speaker 6: It's kind of a metaphor reputation.
[45:45] Speaker 5: It's not like you guys just went out and traded
[45:47] Speaker 5: for a middle reliever either.
[45:48] Speaker 4: You know.
[45:48] Speaker 6: It's kind of a medical.
[45:49] Speaker 5: Closer, Yeah, a closer. And honestly, it really got me
[45:54] Speaker 5: thinking about, like kind of your trajectory as a GM.
[45:58] Speaker 5: You're now one of the longest your gams in the league,
[46:01] Speaker 5: not to aide you maybe a little to age you.
[46:05] Speaker 5: And I wondered when you decided or when you discovered that,
[46:09] Speaker 5: like you were going to be this kind of general manager.
[46:12] Speaker 5: You guys pivot a lot, You're aggressive, you take risks,
[46:16] Speaker 5: you embrace risks. When did you kind of in your
[46:20] Speaker 5: career did you think, Okay, I already know this maybe
[46:23] Speaker 5: is who I am as a person.
[46:25] Speaker 6: Now I'm going to really just try to send it
[46:27] Speaker 6: as the I.
[46:28] Speaker 7: Think when you get in the chair, you're helping, you know,
[46:34] Speaker 7: build a team. The whole goal is to build. You
[46:37] Speaker 7: want to build? Do you want to have the breakthrough year?
[46:38] Speaker 7: Always go break through? That's that Cinderella season. And then
[46:42] Speaker 7: after that I call it your real The real stuff
[46:47] Speaker 7: starts and like everyone can have a hit, but can
[46:50] Speaker 7: you come back and do it again consistent? So I
[46:54] Speaker 7: think once we showed we could do that, there's efficacy.
[46:57] Speaker 7: To have efficacy, you've got to have evidence. And then
[47:00] Speaker 7: I think that's kind of that moment when you go, Okay,
[47:03] Speaker 7: we're contending. Is there anything we can do to right?
[47:08] Speaker 7: Maybe go from good to great. I've always used the
[47:10] Speaker 7: metaphor if you let's just say you're a pro golfer,
[47:13] Speaker 7: you've been in a while, you find yourself in the mix
[47:16] Speaker 7: on Sunday at Augusta and you're hitting the ball. Well, right,
[47:21] Speaker 7: you're and let's losk back like I'm the caddy golf
[47:25] Speaker 7: of your caddying is hitting the ball, you're striking it,
[47:27] Speaker 7: you get past a man corner, it's a tight race,
[47:30] Speaker 7: you're within striking distance. But there's evidence that you know
[47:33] Speaker 7: what today we're striking it. Well, we probably all dream
[47:37] Speaker 7: of that green jacket. Why don't we go for it today?
[47:40] Speaker 7: So there's an element or risk, maybe that par five
[47:43] Speaker 7: or you're gonna try to land it in two make
[47:45] Speaker 7: the eagle. There's risk in that, but there's an element
[47:49] Speaker 7: of also it's calculated because there's evidence that right you're
[47:53] Speaker 7: striking the ball, well, this might be the time to
[47:57] Speaker 7: make that move to take that shot. And then you
[47:59] Speaker 7: see what happens and.
[48:01] Speaker 2: Is it a timing thing?
[48:02] Speaker 1: Because thinking about you said breakthrough year to me, I
[48:04] Speaker 1: guess your breakthrough year because you were the GM before
[48:07] Speaker 1: Sean came in. It was probably Sean's first year. That's
[48:09] Speaker 1: like the first like dream year. Like you guys did
[48:13] Speaker 1: way better than expected. You obviously get the championship. But
[48:16] Speaker 1: then in this build, which our friend Jordan likes to
[48:20] Speaker 1: call sprint rebuild. Back in the day, you know sprint rebuild.
[48:23] Speaker 2: It's been a I.
[48:24] Speaker 7: Can say this. I've been trying to tell her that
[48:26] Speaker 7: was a retool, what was a remodel?
[48:28] Speaker 6: Refuses to use the word rebuild.
[48:30] Speaker 7: I mean we had Matthew Stafford.
[48:32] Speaker 2: You can't rebuild with the sprint.
[48:34] Speaker 7: But she refuses to go remodel. She's gonna always keep
[48:37] Speaker 7: rebuilding there. Stubbornness right here.
[48:39] Speaker 2: It's good for it's good for the branding.
[48:41] Speaker 1: And so as this version kind of like the two
[48:44] Speaker 1: point zero Stafford version, you know, you get get a
[48:47] Speaker 1: little closer each year, You've gotten a little closer to
[48:50] Speaker 1: the end. Is that part of the timing of taking
[48:53] Speaker 1: these big swings this offseason? Because when we talked to
[48:56] Speaker 1: you at this very set a year ago, you know,
[48:59] Speaker 1: you had two first picks coming up, used them in
[49:02] Speaker 1: surprising ways, both of them. But now now you're using
[49:05] Speaker 1: picks back to how you used to.
[49:08] Speaker 7: Yeah, I think interestingly, to start the off season, what
[49:11] Speaker 7: we really wanted to do is, let's call it, we
[49:13] Speaker 7: wanted to weaponize our corner room, right, bring some reinforcements in,
[49:19] Speaker 7: improve that room. So that's what we did with the
[49:21] Speaker 7: twenty ninth pick, and we in sil and signing Jalen
[49:25] Speaker 7: as teammate. We could have stopped there and probably had
[49:28] Speaker 7: a successful off season in terms of right making a
[49:32] Speaker 7: couple moves to solidify what we our top priority. Then
[49:36] Speaker 7: as as the off season went on, that I call it,
[49:39] Speaker 7: that opportunity for Miles presented itself, and that's when we
[49:44] Speaker 7: a lot of times in the league, you get an opportunity,
[49:46] Speaker 7: you're going to take advantage of her or not. So
[49:47] Speaker 7: that's what we.
[49:48] Speaker 6: Did on Jalen and Trent.
[49:50] Speaker 5: When I'm out here at practice, and there's been a
[49:52] Speaker 5: couple of really great practices when I watched them from
[49:57] Speaker 5: the back of the end zone, sort of that all
[49:59] Speaker 5: twenty two look on the defense. They move so well together,
[50:03] Speaker 5: they have this understanding of where each other is, even
[50:07] Speaker 5: as far away on the field as they might be,
[50:10] Speaker 5: And it kind of brought me back to when you
[50:12] Speaker 5: guys were scouting Jared Versus and Brandon Fisk, and obviously
[50:16] Speaker 5: Jared is in Cleveland now, but you were looking at
[50:19] Speaker 5: sort of that chemistry element to sort of fast track
[50:21] Speaker 5: some of the innate things that have to happen for players.
[50:24] Speaker 5: I know they're really great football players veterans already, but
[50:28] Speaker 5: was there any sort of Hey, they already know how
[50:31] Speaker 5: to play together, you know what.
[50:32] Speaker 7: I think that's beneficial. How that compounds over the season,
[50:36] Speaker 7: time will tell. But it was coincident. I mean, it
[50:39] Speaker 7: was coincidental that we signed both and let's just say
[50:43] Speaker 7: we if we couldn't have traded for Trent, we might
[50:46] Speaker 7: have just signed Jalen without Trent. But it worked out
[50:51] Speaker 7: this way. So it is going to be interesting to
[50:53] Speaker 7: see how right their chemistry, their time together, right, those
[50:57] Speaker 7: energy vibes that they have, how it does compound as
[51:01] Speaker 7: they go through it because they're both learning something new
[51:03] Speaker 7: as well.
[51:04] Speaker 1: When I think about this team build too, now, it's
[51:06] Speaker 1: so tight end heavy. We talked a lot about, you know,
[51:09] Speaker 1: the schematics of the tight ends with Sean, But I'm curious,
[51:13] Speaker 1: did you go into this draft thinking, you know, you
[51:15] Speaker 1: take Max Clayer at tight end in the second round.
[51:17] Speaker 1: Did you go in thinking that that was a position
[51:20] Speaker 1: you could wind up taking pretty high in this draft
[51:22] Speaker 1: despite what most people from the outside looking in would
[51:24] Speaker 1: be like, they have a lot of depth there at
[51:27] Speaker 1: that position.
[51:27] Speaker 7: Yeah, we we were intentional about coming away with a
[51:30] Speaker 7: tight end that we felt like we could draft and
[51:35] Speaker 7: if he had to play this year he could because
[51:39] Speaker 7: play it. So I'll walk it through, thirteen personnel. You're
[51:42] Speaker 7: going to have four up on game day, yep, So
[51:45] Speaker 7: we needed a fifth. That would be someone that you
[51:49] Speaker 7: felt like was a contribute right, could be a three
[51:51] Speaker 7: if he had to be a three, right, But so
[51:53] Speaker 7: we drafted him to be that fifth. And then what
[51:56] Speaker 7: happens on game day if you don't if you don't
[52:00] Speaker 7: have four up, and then you have only three up
[52:03] Speaker 7: and one goes down and you, let's just say fifty
[52:06] Speaker 7: percent of the game plans thirteen, you just lost fifty
[52:08] Speaker 7: percent of that week's game plan. So that happened a
[52:12] Speaker 7: little bit last year as we were run because that's
[52:14] Speaker 7: that's a lot of players at one position.
[52:16] Speaker 2: That is just showing where what your priority is on
[52:19] Speaker 2: some level.
[52:20] Speaker 7: No doubt. So we can't We knew whether it was
[52:22] Speaker 7: going to be second round, but we knew somewhere along
[52:25] Speaker 7: the way, probably with one of our second or third
[52:27] Speaker 7: round picks, because if we only had the six after that,
[52:30] Speaker 7: so you probably you're probably rolling the dice if you, oh,
[52:32] Speaker 7: we'll get our we'll get a contributing tied end in
[52:34] Speaker 7: the sixth.
[52:35] Speaker 5: The ripple effect of that, to me we're still seeing
[52:38] Speaker 5: not just locally but around the league, like what that
[52:40] Speaker 5: ripple effect will be internally. Here, I'm realizing that this
[52:44] Speaker 5: is really the first time that your defense has had
[52:46] Speaker 5: a chance to truly rep against this many of that
[52:50] Speaker 5: type of look but also mixing in eleven and twelve
[52:52] Speaker 5: and all of those things in season last year when
[52:55] Speaker 5: you guys are pivoting to this personnel, defense is still
[52:59] Speaker 5: practicing at scout getting ready for the game. So are
[53:02] Speaker 5: you watching, are you noticing a difference or a more
[53:05] Speaker 5: of like even a spatial or personnel awareness this defense
[53:09] Speaker 5: getting this many reps. They're gonna get looks like this
[53:12] Speaker 5: all year as people start to try.
[53:13] Speaker 7: To people because there's definitely, yeah, the gaps, the spacing
[53:17] Speaker 7: gets a little bit, uh, the geometry is a little
[53:19] Speaker 7: bit let's call it wider. Yeah, Uh so that that
[53:23] Speaker 7: does it could possibly uh let's call it widen some
[53:27] Speaker 7: of the running lanes. So and here's what's going to happen.
[53:31] Speaker 7: You know, all teams are not gonna want to get
[53:33] Speaker 7: run on in thirteen personnel, so they're going they probably
[53:36] Speaker 7: spent the offseason right coming up with an iteration to
[53:40] Speaker 7: try to let's call it cut some of those those
[53:43] Speaker 7: lanes down and mess with the geometry. That's the that's
[53:46] Speaker 7: the cool part about this league. Where as Sean Sean
[53:49] Speaker 7: will be the first admit, thirteen could work and then
[53:51] Speaker 7: all of a sudden it's shut down and you got
[53:53] Speaker 7: to figure out what's next.
[53:54] Speaker 2: We had Byron young on earlier.
[53:57] Speaker 1: He's grown a lot as a player, you know, entering
[53:59] Speaker 1: a contrack here, Kobe Turner growing a lot of as
[54:02] Speaker 1: a player. Entering a contract in most cities, like they
[54:04] Speaker 1: would kind of be a big story of like, oh,
[54:06] Speaker 1: they're actually not holding out here. They both said they're happy.
[54:10] Speaker 1: They're just you know, looking forward. What sort of priority
[54:14] Speaker 1: do you have on getting either or both of those
[54:17] Speaker 1: guys done?
[54:17] Speaker 7: I think it's with a lot of players, those two,
[54:20] Speaker 7: I mean many others if you look at whose contract
[54:22] Speaker 7: expiring next year, after next season, So there's an element
[54:25] Speaker 7: always go we communicated with them, gave them, you know,
[54:29] Speaker 7: our plans, there's an intent to it and going through that.
[54:33] Speaker 7: It's always it's not comfortable per se, but they're good
[54:39] Speaker 7: football players. There's a patience to it. It's going to
[54:42] Speaker 7: work out. It's just a matter of win for them.
[54:44] Speaker 7: But you got to give those players credit right to
[54:48] Speaker 7: be able to compartmentalize. Hey, maybe I'd like to open
[54:52] Speaker 7: the Christmas present a year early, but maybe you might
[54:56] Speaker 7: not get that chance, and you still got to go
[54:58] Speaker 7: through it. So that's a to them just as human
[55:01] Speaker 7: beings and competitors.
[55:02] Speaker 5: I have been dying to ask you this since uh
[55:06] Speaker 5: camp starts, since really you traded for for miles? But
[55:08] Speaker 5: is there anything you know about him now that you
[55:10] Speaker 5: didn't know before?
[55:12] Speaker 7: You know what that? Here's what I would say, not necessarily,
[55:17] Speaker 7: haven't gotten the knowing that well yet, But it is
[55:22] Speaker 7: interesting when you you, let's call it, you see him
[55:25] Speaker 7: at Texam, you play against him every now and then
[55:28] Speaker 7: you watch him on film, But to then see him
[55:31] Speaker 7: come work day in and day out, there's uh, I
[55:35] Speaker 7: think that three D, four D whatever you call a
[55:37] Speaker 7: real human being, there's there's a wow factor there to
[55:41] Speaker 7: write what mom, dad, you know, God gifted him with
[55:44] Speaker 7: and how he's using it?
[55:45] Speaker 1: No doubt, do you think about Seattle when you're making
[55:49] Speaker 1: these miss like specifically.
[55:52] Speaker 7: Uh, I don't think you ever. Just let's call it
[55:55] Speaker 7: a choir player for two games a year, uh three?
[55:58] Speaker 2: Maybe three?
[55:59] Speaker 1: Maybe just the matchup of it of like how it's
[56:02] Speaker 1: kind of work. I'm just curious that.
[56:03] Speaker 7: Is so, But there's an but you're definitely aware of
[56:06] Speaker 7: your division's that's priority one. If you can win your division, right,
[56:11] Speaker 7: you check a box and you host the game and
[56:13] Speaker 7: you're in the tournament. But really, I think the way
[56:16] Speaker 7: we do it is what are we trying to accomplish,
[56:20] Speaker 7: and then try to right, try to acquire the players
[56:23] Speaker 7: that can execute what we're trying to accomplish. But now
[56:26] Speaker 7: with that, there is probably an element of bleeding into
[56:30] Speaker 7: all of this. Of all, right, you're going to be
[56:32] Speaker 7: playing those teams in our division twice a year, so
[56:35] Speaker 7: a lot of your defense or offenses to score against
[56:38] Speaker 7: them and score against them and stop them from scoring.
[56:41] Speaker 5: Well, I mean, I think people who somehow still underrate
[56:45] Speaker 5: the NFC Western are dead wrong because it's been an
[56:49] Speaker 5: incubator for football the way football is going for so
[56:51] Speaker 5: many years. It's it's McVeigh and shanahan, and then it's
[56:55] Speaker 5: Mike McDonald coming up and showing how his defense and
[57:00] Speaker 5: the way he uses the safeties and some of these
[57:02] Speaker 5: front structures and how he can try to neutralize any
[57:05] Speaker 5: of the personnel that these other two division opponents and Cardinals,
[57:09] Speaker 5: you know, with some of their thirteen will throw at
[57:12] Speaker 5: them and then Sean McVay and Kyle Shannon they try
[57:15] Speaker 5: to solve it. And it's like these collisions I think
[57:17] Speaker 5: are teaching them all a lot. Now. They probably don't
[57:20] Speaker 5: think of it like this. They probably all want to
[57:22] Speaker 5: just rip each other's heads off. But you know, I
[57:25] Speaker 5: think it's cool.
[57:26] Speaker 7: There's tech, you know what, not just it's there's some
[57:30] Speaker 7: tactical right intent there when they get in the ring
[57:34] Speaker 7: and spor with each other.
[57:35] Speaker 2: Wouldn't it just be nice to just be in the
[57:36] Speaker 2: AFC South one year or something.
[57:38] Speaker 7: NFC South, you better watch what you say, because all
[57:43] Speaker 7: of a sudden, the division that you think wasn't strong
[57:46] Speaker 7: and strong best. The neat thing about this.
[57:48] Speaker 1: Legal I thought you were going to say you better
[57:49] Speaker 1: watch what you say because Liam Cohen might be listening.
[57:51] Speaker 1: I immediately thought, oh, I should have said NFC South
[57:54] Speaker 1: because AFC South it's legit.
[57:55] Speaker 2: He takes lights, No, I don't take.
[57:58] Speaker 1: But as we're wrapping up, we're finishing the show right now,
[58:01] Speaker 1: aren't you proud of Jordan? Oh my god, how far
[58:04] Speaker 1: she's come. You know, that's part of your development tree too,
[58:07] Speaker 1: maybe I'm in hell.
[58:08] Speaker 7: You know what, she's a rock star.
[58:10] Speaker 5: No, no, I hear I heard through the grapevine. I
[58:12] Speaker 5: am supposed to write your obituary. That's an assignment. I
[58:15] Speaker 5: didn't know I had, so thanks thanks for handing me
[58:18] Speaker 5: that I.
[58:18] Speaker 7: Got to hit on me. I didn't know that.
[58:21] Speaker 2: Hopefully, hopefully that.
[58:23] Speaker 7: She's done a really good j job of Probably I
[58:26] Speaker 7: would say what we do is really boring, but she's
[58:29] Speaker 7: done a really really good job of going, Wow, they
[58:32] Speaker 7: do some cool stuff there.
[58:33] Speaker 1: Thank you to Jordan rod Rigg. Thank you to lesneed
[58:36] Speaker 1: Let's get out of here. We are going to be
[58:38] Speaker 1: live Jordan and I doing some news talking a little
[58:42] Speaker 1: bit after the Hall of Fame game on Thursday night,
[58:44] Speaker 1: So join us live on YouTube. That's going to be
[58:48] Speaker 1: around eight pm Eastern time. We'll have some news, we'll
[58:50] Speaker 1: play a game. Thank you to Lesneve. Thank you to
[58:53] Speaker 1: Sean McVay, of course, Byron Young and Kevin Dotson.
[58:57] Speaker 2: We'll see you next thing.

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