Raheem Morris, 49ers coaches preview team's internal competitions

Raheem Morris, Klay Kubiak and Brant Boyer speak to reporters at the San Francisco 49ers' rookie minicamp on Thursday in Santa Clara.

Raheem Morris, 49ers coaches preview team's internal competitions originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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Thrilled to be here and talk to you guys.

What's going on?

Well, you were, you were hired, I believe, early February.

Our first chance to, to meet you, so very nice seeing you up there.

What, what have you been doing as far as when you take over, as defensive coordinator, what are the first things on your plate when you come to a new building?

it's, it's pretty simple.

You know, you get a chance to go evaluate, you know, all the guys that are in this building, our current players, the people that we have.

You get a chance to, you know, really marvel with some of the talent that they've been able to acquire over here over the last couple of years.

You know, being in this division not too long ago, you got a chance to know a lot of the guys and know a lot about all the guys, and then obviously the people that they acquire, you know, through the draft.

But you really want a good feel on, you know, the people that are here, what they have, what's already in place, what they've done really well.

and I was really close to this, building, from afar, so, that happened pretty easily and pretty seamlessly with some of the coaches that we do have.

You kind of alluded to it just then.

Over the years, Kyle has said he's wanted to bring you here many times.

H- how close were you over the years to being here, and, and what made right now the right time?

I don't, I, I don't know.

You gotta ask Kyle how close, 'cause you're, you're either on the, the, the stick where, you know, we went to the Super Bowl together in 2016, and easily could have come, come then, if allowed to.

the Nile's there from that standpoint.

Nothing in a negative way, but, you know, it's, it's always, you know, nice to be wanted within your own building as well.

So being able to stay there over the course of the years and then, obviously when things didn't work out the first time and we were let go in Atlanta, Kyle's always a, a person that I talk to regardless of the situation.

but I had an opportunity to go be a coordinator, you know, and obviously you guys had great people in place at that point, and, you know, Damico, was in place and gonna be the coordinator.

But, as you know, all coaches wanna be around guys that they wanna be around, so when you get an opportunity to add people to it like you guys did with Gus Bradley last year was probably gonna be a something similar opportunity at that point.

But got fortunate enough, was able to go with Sean, who's another guy that you always talk to when these kinda things come up, and, went to LA and had some success there, and was able to go along and, become a head coach again back in Atlanta.

So this time when it came open, had a couple different opportunities.

you're never expecting it, but you're really, you know, not expecting those things to happen, and you just kinda, you, you sit back, you, you kinda take some time with family and do some of the things that we all wanna do when we're not looking at you guys.

and get the opportunity to go out there and make some real decisions, and, Kyle was, you know, someone that you, you love working with, love working for.

Not to say that you wouldn't like working with other people as well, but Kyle's definitely one of those people you always wanna work with from our time being in, whether it was Tampa, the original time we worked together when we were both young puppies, or the second time we worked together when we were in DC, and being able to be around his father and be around the Shanahan family and the tradition and the, the culture that they're able to form and, and really s- molded me throughout my career since I was around a Shanahan to be honest, so.

In terms of, defensive philosophy, we're seeing across the league more five-man fronts, pretty, pretty generally.

What, what is your, or I guess the question is why do you think that is, and what's your philosophy on five-man fronts?

You know, these guys are getting They're, you know, they're harder to defend.

You know, just the, the coordinators in this league, you know, like, let's not kid ourselves.

People wanna see offense.

the rules have changed in different ways for you to do different things, so you gotta have some multiplicity in your fronts.

You gotta have multiplicity in the back end.

you gotta be able to do different things.

you like to be able to do those things when you decide to do those things and use them as, terms where you can, you know, dictate, so to speak.

But, you know, we have been a four-down rush team, and we've done a nice job in it.

I know we've, dibbled and dabbled a little bit last year, even with Robert Saleh, which I have so much respect for and, and what he was able to do and how he did it.

But, you know, I was able to accumulate and acquire, a bunch of different ideas and thoughts, along my stops, with the different people that I worked with, whether it's been Jim Haslett in Washington, you know, where they were strictly a three-four base Pittsburgh team, or really being able to do some of the different things that we did last year, being able to mix it up, being able to play some four-down stuff, being able to play a bunch of five-down stuff.

So, like, I think you gotta be able to move around and, and kinda move those chess pieces to be able to help you, go out there and really, do your best to stop these really explosive offenses.

Kyle was- That's okay.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Ky- Kyle has talked a lot about when it comes to the development of a coach, he, he credits his early time in Tampa getting to actually work on the defensive side of the ball to help him as an offensive coach, and he's talked about, different coaches having that experience.

You obviously have, have worked on, on both sides.

How, how much do you credit your work on the offensive side, including with Kyle in Atlanta, for your development as a defensive coach?

I mean, it's been, Our whole career's kinda been, the business of being nosy, so to speak.

So, like, when Kyle came to, Tampa fresh out of UCLA, you know, all fired up and eager, we were stealing, his dad's zone scheme keeper game as much as he was stealing, Tampa Two and all different values that he wanted to bring to us.

So when we did all the cross-training where even when we were young, it was constantly, you know, staff development within the building, with some of the better coaches that we had been around our, in our lifetime, really.

You know, Mike Tomlin was secondary coach, and Monte Kiffin was the defensive coordinator, along with Rod Marinelli and what he was able to bring with the original, a part of his attack front, doing some of the different things, sort of the stud that we have, you know, very similar to that stuff.

And he was around a lot of good coaches in Joe Barry and all those guys.

but we shared a bunch of information, and then I got a chance to obviously work on defense for such a long time.

And when I was able to switch over to offense, you know, with Kyle in Atlanta, kinda having a, the outside in version of what the offense looks like and what it means and what it's gonna do, to really get into the deep weeds of it and watch him game plan and watch him go through the process of a week, preparing for a different team.And then even when he left, being able to stay on that side of the ball and really develop and grow and, you know, as a person that can really go out there and formulate plays to go find open spaces and do different things that you wanna do from an offensive standpoint, was so much fun and so much, different perspective than you had just going out there coaching defense, right?

You can actually, you know, speak in their language, understand what some of the quarterback reads are, being able to be detailed enough to go out there and try to stop those things.

being able to explain it to your players in a completely different way, which was my strength when I went from defense to offense, and then being able to come back, it still remains your strength.

So, like, you grow from all the experiences.

You, you gain all the experience with the people.

and, and I've really, enjoyed the process of being able to switch back and forth.

Now, not many coaches in the National Football League say they can coach on both sides of the ball, and definitely not many can say they've been on a number one defense and a number one offense and coaching on both sides of the ball in respective seasons.

So, like, I am, truly blessed, truly feel it was like a, a, a definite benefit to being able to work and, with Kyle and being able to work around, that type, those type of people.

Do you expect your defense to resemble what it looked like in Atlanta, or is it gonna be more of a continuation of what's been happening here the last few years?

We definitely wanna do, what's best for our players.

You know, you're always gonna do what they do really well.

You know, Fred Warner is Fred Warner for a reason.

I'm gonna try to utilize those guys to the best of their ability to do some of their different things and be able to have some additions to be able to go out there and ultimately to go try to win a championship.

whatever's required, whatever's needed to go do those things, those are the expectations and those are the things that we wanna get done.

So, to say it's gonna be more resemblant to me or more resemblant to them, it's gonna be what's best for us in order to go win football games, and I think that's the best way to look at it, you know, ultimately.

You know, whatever it takes to go win football games, whatever it takes to go out there and get it done for us.

What about the 49ers made you pick them?

I know you said you had some other, other teams, but what was it about this organization that felt right?

Didn't know all about the organization before.

Knew more about Kyle, knew more about Lynch.

You know, obviously, those are guys that I've been really close to just throughout the whole process of everything, right?

Having the ability to coach Lynch when I was a very young football coach, being around that culture and what it meant, and then having a chance to be a coach with Kyle and being a coach with Kyle at multiple spots and then have an opportunity to come out here.

And then you get out here and you see what everything is like, you know, what they've done together, you know, how they built this thing to be able to run the draft, be able to run the process, be able to run the standard of play, being around these guys.

And then, you know, really competing against these guys, you get this healthy respect of just, you know, you love to be a part of that.

You know, when you get a chance to go be a part of teams, like that, which I've been fortunate enough to do in the past, it certainly made it, like, an easy choice for me.

You know, like, with all due respect to the people that I talked to, 'cause, like, everybody that I talked to that actually called me, got so much respect for those people.

But, you know, Kyle, was, was a great opportunity to come work here at the 49ers.

By being, by being in Atlanta the last couple years, you got to see Mike Evans up close, obviously, and you've been in the league obv- as long as he.

So what, what is he gonna do to Kyle's offense, that you know so well and having faced it with McCaffrey at full strength and Brock back there?

Yeah, I just think it's more about, you know, the people, you know?

And, like, what they can do for each other I think it'd be the, the most beneficial thing that those guys sit down and talk about and how they can make each other better.

You know, Mike is a pain in the neck defending against him because he has so many skill sets and different things that he can do, and I'm sure Kyle's gonna find things that he didn't do as great and try to make it better.

And when you do those things with great players, y- you, you, you capture their attention right away.

And when you capture their attention, you get the best from those guys.

And I've, I've seen it happen with a bunch of different guys in this past, and I don't wanna name their names 'cause some of them been here, some of them have been other places.

But when you get the best version of the players in the building, which I know Kyle can do, and, and along with the staff, you know, being around these guys to meet these guys, I'm, I'm really fired up.

You know, being around Kubiak, being around Mike, being around all the different people that are here, I, I'm really fired up to see what they can do with Mike and really fired up to see where he can grow, here as a player.

What do you- John Lynch said that you were-- you brought a lot of energy in the draft meetings.

and he said that when you really like the player, you're like, "Hey, if we get that guy, we're g- we're gonna throw a pool party."

do any pool party, draft picks in this draft from your perspective?

Yeah.

Honestly, it w- it, it was a cool process for me to be a part of to find consensus, with the organization.

You know, I, I forget who just asked the question about, you know, defensive thoughts and ideas, but, like, it's, it's cool to be able to try to express those things to those guys and those guys to formulate and find ways to be able to help you formulate those things to get those people in the building.

but there was certainly some pool party people, you know, both offense and defensively.

You know, being nosy, having the ability to coach on offense and defense, you got a chance to see Strickland.

You got a chance to see all these different guys that you able to acquire on defense.

And, like, the way and the manner that we went about getting them I thought was very unique, and I thought it was pretty cool to watch.

You know, to watch all these guys and have such a respect for whether you're talking about RJ, whether you're talking about Reek and some of the different guys that are all a part of that process, and along with the coaches and everybody in that room with our scouts and everybody coming to these, real strong, you know, convictions I, I, I think was, was pretty cool.

I thought it was a great process.

I loved being around it, and it was definitely some pool party guys, and, that was, that was a cool, that was a cool thing.

What about Ramello Hyde?

What do you see from Ramello Hyde?

I'll come back to you.

No, she got it.

What did you see from Ramello Hyde and Grayson Halton, your two defensive line guys?

you know, obviously, just going off what you guys know from here, you always wanna have those pass rushers, right?

And then Ramello brings a certain, ability to pass rush that he showed opposite of, his young teammate out there at Texas Tech.

And Ramello's gonna come in here and be able to provide some of those things for us and be able to get into that room and really learn from one of the best D-line coaches in the world in, in Kris Kocurek and, like, and, and Greg Scruggs, and out- you know, obviously Ken Brown, and being able to get with those guys and be able to be the best version of himself.

So, like, watching Ramello as a pass rusher, watching Ramello be able to go out there and do some different things, whether it be, in the pass game or whether it be even in the run game, you see all the things that we love, you know, about the guy: the wit, the stuff that he does, how he plays the game and all the stuff.

And he plays with high energy, you know, probably one of the highest energy guys in the draft that we saw and that we-- that I was able, able, at least able to evaluate.

So extremely confident and fired up about that.

And no different with Halton, right?

He gives that same type of interior presence.

You know, last year you guys went out and added Big CJ, and you added Big AC, you know, big time run stoppers, big time guys that can just get off the ball, disrupt, and do a bunch of different things.

And you go out there and keep adding guys in those positions so you can get that constant roll, and to be able to get those guys to roll through that cause absolute disruption for everybody that we play against is something that you love.I'm curious, when you and Kyle were in the Super Bowl ver- versus the Patriots, you guys obviously came so close, and this organization has done just pretty much the same.

Have you guys kinda had the chance to connect about that?

And how, how, how eager are you guys- This guy's gonna plug it off.

How eager are you guys to bring the Bay Area and the Niners a Super Bowl?

Yeah, like, ultimately as a competitor, it's, it's what you wanna do.

It's what you think about every single day.

And then nothing would be more satisfying for me personally than to be able to come here and help this organization, this head coach, this general manager, this owner, this team, the players that they have, when you're talking about Fred Warner and Nick Bosa and, and guys that absolutely you wanna go win that thing for.

And you get kinda chills just, just really thinking about it.

But, like, to have the ability to go do that and help people do that, that's what you coach for, that's the ultimate goal.

We've heard so much about- Last one, guys your, your going back with, with Kyle, and it's been a friendship for a long time.

What do you think clicks between you two guys?

you know, really, the ultimate thing with coaches that really are committed to each other is obsession.

And he has an obsession about football that's just, you know, unmatched.

and when you have that obsessive personality to be the very best at what you do, I think that's something that ultimately clicks when you're talking about coaches.

Like, there's gonna be coaches in everybody's office, there's gonna be cross-training, and it's already started to happen, you know, with, you know, Mick Lombardi on the offensive staff, myself, my own personal staff, being able to get with Matt Eberflus, being able to get with Jerry Gray.

You know, some of the guys that were here like Kris Kocurek, being able to go to their side of the ball with some of the young guys that are just eager to be the very best, to be able to learn and keep growing.

Like, it's just an obsession of football that makes you click.

Good to see everyone.

What's the feeling like with the players back in the building?

I know everything's new here, but what's the level of, of, of excitement too?

Sorry.

Yep.

I've been here the whole time.

but yeah, it's, it's been good to have the players back, for sure.

always a new energy when those guys are back in the building, getting to see them every day, reminding us why we like them so much, and just, just getting to be around the guys brings us energy every day.

And, you know, I'm excited for this phase two, which starts next week, so then getting into our OTAs, it'll be good.

What are your goals or what, what do you try to accomplish when you get the rookies in here for the first time?

it, it's, it's a combination of things.

I think, one, you really want them to start digging into the installs, right, and the playbook a little bit, and they get in the meeting room with the coaches, so there's that part of it, the mental.

getting them on the field and just kinda get them, getting them adapted to the drills they're gonna be doing, the way we practice, the way we work on the field.

It's kinda this kind of, I see it as kind of a two-day orientation for, "Hey, you're here for a couple days.

You're in the classroom.

You're on the practice field.

You know how we wanna work.

You know the standard."

All right, and then they, and then they're here on Monday, they're out there on the field with the players, and they're kinda, they join the group.

So it's, it's kinda that dual purpose, and you wanna see 'em, see what they can do.

You got all these tryout guys coming in, some of these free agents we signed, you kinda wanna see how they look, and, and, you know.

So just, just all those things, you kinda, we're evaluating it all, so.

Will any of your quarterbacks be on the field, on track?

I, I believe Curtis is gonna be out there.

I'm not 100% sure, but I know Curtis, is eligible to be in our mini camp, so yeah, he might be out there throwing.

How did you find out- Super fun script that you guys had signed Mike Evans, and how do you plan on using him?

How did I find out?

Same way you guys did.

showed up on ESPN, on that first day of, of, free agency.

We were ecstatic and fired up.

Obviously, we had a plan.

We, we evaluated him and, and had intentions to wanna sign him, and we talked about it.

And so, but just to get it done was, was incredible.

How do we wanna use him?

I mean, he's a, he's a Hall of Fame wide receiver.

You know, he's a one-on-one matchup that, that you can take advantage of when he's on the field, and he's got one-on-one coverage.

You wanna get the ball to Mike, you feel like he's gonna win.

he's about as competitive as they come.

He, he's, he's, he's a guy who's gonna win his matchups, and it's just really cool to have that alpha type of player out on the field at that position for us again.

And, you know, we're gonna use him the way he's been used his whole career, and, hopefully get a few more things out of him too along the way as we get him in our program, so.

It's an evol- evolving process, but what, what is kind of your short-term vision for Stribling and then maybe what the, what the long-term view is, is where you'd like him to get?

I mean, short-term, it's gotta be, you got, you gotta go day by day with, with anybody, any new player.

You gotta, you know, teach them the offense.

You know, they gotta learn everything from the ground up.

You gotta teach them how you, how you see the position, you know, the fundamentals of playing wide receiver.

And, and he's gotta grow from the ground up.

I mean, and I don't think any player starts above that.

They gotta start there, and so that's the first part.

And, and just get him, getting him acclimated to, to our, our playbook, our standard, our work ethic, and then our fundamentals, you know?

And then I think long-term, you know, I think you guys have kind of heard us talk about our vision for him.

You know, he's a, he's a big, fast, powerful football player, and, and he can help your, he can help our offense in so many ways with the ball in his hand as a route runner.

Without the ball in his hand is a huge strength of his, the way he plays, his mindset, and so he's a, he's a complete football player.

And those guys make your team better, so he's gonna affect the game in a lot of ways.

That's our, that's our vision for him as far as, you know, the long-term, for sure.

What'd you see in, Curtis work last year?

What's the next step for him, this off-season?

Got to see him, I think, I think it was a couple weeks he was able to practice, and love the arm talent.

You know, he's a, he's a heck of a thrower.

he's big, he's strong.

He can stand in there and make every throw on the field, and we, we saw that from him when he was able to be on the field.

super bright guy, you know, absorbs our playbook, our, our offense really well.

He, he hasn't missed a beat on that, and I'm, I'm excited to go see him out there and just put it all together and get reps, with, with, with our guys and, and consistency in stack days and just see how he gets better.

we're, we have high hopes for him, but I'm just excited about him as a player.

Kyle, I'll bet you had, Kaylin Black was the number two running back on your, on your board this year.

What-Uh, made you so excited about Kalen when you watched his tape?

He's a guy who, you know, he really, he kind of grew on us over time.

The more we watched, studied these backs and really stacked them all together, you saw a guy who got the most out of every run that he put on tape.

I mean, I mean, when he touched the ball, he was maximizing every play.

whether that be an explosive run where he was going through the line or it was a run where it wasn't blocked very well and he was gonna get you four or five, five yards.

He's just, he's a really physical, tough runner.

He's got good speed.

you know, and, and to me, what I loved about watching him was when you saw their team, Indiana, get to the playoffs, he was one of the best players on the field.

He was a big reason why they won the national championship.

he had some huge games and some huge moments and just a competitive dude, and so we're, we're real excited about him.

When you guys walked off the field against Seattle and you watched that film, what stood out to you and, and have you guys added some players this off-season that maybe have improved you in, in those problem areas?

I mean, there's a lot of things that didn't go well in that game, you know, as a team.

I wouldn't just say offensively, but you know, when you look at our, our games against them last year overall, you know, you gotta They have, they're, they're talented across the board defensively, but you, there's things you gotta do to beat those guys.

You gotta run the ball better 'cause they wanna play their two shell defenses and, and, but you gotta run the ball better.

So we, we gotta improve in that area, you know, and, and you, whether we're adding players or we're improving our scheme, it starts with that.

you know, you gotta win.

You gotta beat their corners.

They, they have great corners that wanna challenge you one-on-one.

You gotta get players who can win one-on-one match-ups and who, who you can make plays to on the outside.

I think we, we, we tried to address that and, and just, and just add more depth and more talent at the receiver position.

So, but you know, all that's all said and done, you gotta go out there and play better football and bet- and execute better.

And so I'm not gonna sit here and say we've solved all those problems.

It's, we gotta get better as a team and, and, and compete better, so yeah.

Another Stribling question.

That we've heard that he's, you guys have him as a gold helmet guy- Mm-hmm and that means a lot.

Mm-hmm.

What, have you already picked that up from him just when he's been here or over the process to get him here, and what does that mean to you?

Yeah.

you, you, you definitely pick it up when you're interacting with him in the draft process.

When you're meeting with these guys and you're, you're doing your interviews, those guys stand out, you know?

And just, just the way that they carry themselves, the way they communicate, you know, Hank, our, our receiver coach, it stood out to him right away, this guy's different.

You know, this guy's a pro.

This guy's all about the right things.

And you, you get that feel for them when you get to know them in the draft process.

I haven't gotten to be around him a lot yet.

I will this weekend, and I will moving forward, and I'm sure those traits will come out, you know?

And, and that's, couldn't ask for anything more than that, but it's just a starting point.

Now we gotta go out there and play and, and grow as a player, so.

but just getting to know the guy, you really, those, those characteristics stand out.

The offense- Looking back at last season, what were the kind of themes that you or asking Barack to improve on this year?

it, it, it's different than the year before for sure 'cause he, he missed a lot of time, you know?

And so there was, there's kind of some weird setbacks in his season that I think had to do with his injury.

He came out, had an awesome camp, had an awesome first week, and then he has the injury and it, it, and then he comes back from the injury and it, you could tell it took him a while to kind of get back to feeling 100%.

so but when you really evaluate where you felt like he was at his best, you know, what does he need to work on, he, he's, he's always gotta strive to be better in the pocket, whether that's your footwork, your mechanics in the pocket, remaining a passer in situations where you can make a play down the field.

you know, and then things we're always striving for with him is understanding defense better, accuracy, all those things.

So, but I think Barack, as we're really watching these cutups, he's, he's really striving to be a better, stronger player in the pocket and, and we're gonna work on those things this off-season.

What position do you start Carver Willis, Carver Willis- It's Carver, yeah on the offensive line?

What, what, what position will you start him?

What's the biggest challenge for him moving from tackle in the college ranks to inside?

I think we'll probably start him at guard.

You know, I mean- Which side?

probably the left to start now, just the way our depth chart is, and the work, where we need bodies, but we'll see.

yeah, the biggest transition is probably just, you know, in guard there's always more moving parts, you know?

We always talk about that, and guards have gotta worry about, you know, different techniques, different alignments.

there's just a little bit more to think about playing guard.

But, you know, we, we're confident he can do it, you know.

And, and just the transition to the NFL is inherently gonna be challenging, but, that's why we drafted the guy.

We think he's a really bright guy.

We think he's really versatile.

He can actually play center, too, we believe.

We think he's a guy who has versatility across the offensive line.

so it'll be fun to see, kind of put him in a starting point and see how he does and just see, you know, where you, where we can move him around, too, so.

Every year Kyle talks about the need to kind of give Christian a, a, a r- little break, and- Mm-hmm and I know you've been asked versions of that question as well, and Kyle even joked, like, "Yeah, but it's easier said than done," kind of thing.

But just where do you see that as Do you feel more, like, pressure, not a pressure, but just more of an idea, like this needs to be a priority for us this year to, to find ways just given where Christian is in his career?

Yeah, I mean, I, I think literally this day last year we were talking about that.

Like, it's, it's, it is, it is a, it, it is challenging 'cause you're talking about a player who does not wanna come off the field, you know?

But when you, when you look around the league and you study great backs and you study guys who, who affect the game like he does, you know, those guys do come out of the game.

You know, those guys do, you know, they y- they do get a blow sometimes and, and whether it's a drive or a couple plays in a series, and, it, it helps those players.

And, and Christian knows that, and we gotta do a better job as coaches, you know?

We gotta do a better job at times of, of getting a better rotation, you know?

you know, we, we, we think, we know, we got back, young backs that we wanna get more production out of, so it's on us, you know, to handle that.

but you know, it's something we're always weighing.

You know, not much we can do about it in the off-season, but as the season gets going and we start putting our plans together, you know, it's something that's gotta be at the forefront of our mind.

Clay- Explosives are a big part of the game now.

It seems like Seattle was great last year on explosives.

You guys added a lot of speed it looks like at wide receiver.

Is that the, the thinking, try to get, get more explosive plays at wide receiver?

Al- always.

You know, I mean, I, I think we're always striving for that.

Guys that you can, that you can get easy touches to, that can get you yards, you know?

and, and yeah, I think we added some guys like that in the off-season.

Um-But that's always gotta be our mindset.

We got-- We're trying to find players who touch the ball and, and, and make life easy for everybody else, so.

You started working with Josh McDanian, how has the league changed?

I know Christians is all in one back, and then the Cardinals also drafting a running back- Yeah with their first-round pick.

What other aspects would you say the offense in the league has changed?

th- things change every year.

you know, to me, the biggest change that I've seen is how defenses have gotten better and how, defensive coordinators have gotten better at, at attacking certain schemes.

You know, I think our-- the scheme we run, it's kind of, it's kind of spread throughout the league over the last ten years, and I think defenses have gotten a lot better at, at, at attacking it, and that forces us to evolve.

You know, it forces us to, to have to figure out new ways to attack defenses, and that's-- to me, that's the biggest changes you've seen is, is the improvements in defenses and, and, and attacking these schemes and, and we gotta get better, and we gotta study 'em.

I think you saw that with Seattle last year, how, how effective they were, and, we gotta study those schemes, and we gotta figure out better ways to attack them.

So yeah.

Can you exp- How, how- I'm sorry, can you expand just a little bit on how you are asking Brock to be better in the pocket?

It's, it's-- I wouldn't say it's one thing.

you know, yeah, you look at plays where, okay, Brock's, Brock's a really athletic guy.

You know, he can make plays with his feet.

But are you missing an opportunity to make a better play down the field, maybe because you, you decided to run, or you, you moved a certain way and you missed a guy down the field?

so it's just working on pocket movement, you know, working on ways you can move in the pocket to find throwing lanes, and being more consistent in that area.

Thanks, fella.

What are you looking to see, what are you looking to see out of the, tight ends while George recovers these next few months?

Yeah, just continuing to see those guys develop.

You know, Luke and Jake and then Braden, and we got Hayden in the building now too, and then we got the guy as the, as the free agent from Penn State.

just wanna see all those guys get reps. Jake, we wanna continue to see grow as, as he, as he's done the past few years.

But, you don't get a lot of work in the run game, but those guys are gonna get a lot of pass reps and see him grow in the pass game.

So, see.

Appreciate it, guys.

Keep going.

Brady, you added Bouwmeester as a rookie punter to compete with your veteran punter.

How do you see that competition evolving this summer?

Well, I'm excited about it.

Let those two guys battle it out.

You know, you have a veteran guy that's, that's been in the league a while and is a very athletic guy.

And, and interestingly enough, like when I-- he, he was coming out, I was trying to get him as a free agent, so I had a previous relationship with the guy, with Waitman.

And, he's a super good guy, got a real powerful leg, athletic guy.

And then Bouwmeester, you know, was th-through all our tape studies, went, went, went and worked him out and everything like that.

Did a heck of a job for us.

I've known his coach for a long time and, you know, trust what he tells me as well.

And, we really liked him in our interviews and everything like that and I think it's gonna be a great competition moving forward.

Having both a lefty and a righty help evaluate returners?

Returners, for sure.

For sure, 'cause the, the ball spins different, right?

So I think it's really, really gonna help.

And, you know, I think whoever the dust settles with at that position, you know, it'll, it'll, it'll be great, experience for those returners to have to, to catch those balls like that, for sure.

With that position, we all saw how effective Skyy was last year.

You don't have him.

Who would be the leading candidates?

Would it be Cowing, maybe?

Well, I think that, you know, there's a handful of guys in, certainly in the mix, and guys that have done it before.

So it's gonna be interesting to see.

You know, you have a handful of guys that, that kick return, a handful of guys that can do both.

You have a handful of guys that only punt return.

So it'll be, it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out.

The good thing is, is where we're at with our time right now, that we have time to figure that out.

We'll, we'll throw them in the preseason game, see how it goes, and then we'll go from there.

So we've got Cowing- A little less stressful this, this, this time coming in without not having to worry about the kicker situation per se, because not only is Eddie back, but he's signed to a long-term deal where it's not every kick is do or die.

Yeah, I, it, obviously, you know, when Eddie came in, Ed-Eddie, you know, I had a previous relationship obviously with him.

I've always had a great relationship with him, and, and he came in and, and did a hell of a job last year.

And, you know, the teammates gravitated towards him and, and he, and he proved his worth and he, and he got rewarded for it, and I'm happy as hell for him and his family and, and, he did a great job for us last year.

And yes, it is a, a relief to have a proven guy that I, you know, I have been to battle with obviously, and, and I trust and, and, this team trusts.

And, and I think that's gonna be a big thing moving forward for sure.

Is it a theme with him in terms of why some of the PATs went askew and, and he made every field goal attempt except the crossbar in Indy?

So why, why was the PATs an issue?

I don't, I don't, I don't know if that was necessarily an issue or not.

you know, I think that, that Eddie, he, he, he steps up and he's-- and the, the great part about him is, is he doesn't think.

And honestly, like, he steps up and he, and he, he's-- goes with the mindset that he's gonna make every single kick.

And, you know, obviously he did that a, a great percentage of the time last year, and hopefully continues to do that in the future, right?

You mentioned a handful of people in the punt return game, Cowing, Bergen.

Is Christian Kirk one of those?

Who else would you- Sure, sure.

I mean, all those guys, Kirk and, and, Pearsall and, and all those guys.

You know, there's a couple of the free agent guys that we have in here have done it before.

So there's, there's a, a big group of guys there that we're gonna put back there, and hopefully we can get them all reps in the preseason, see who shakes out.

You know, that's, that's gonna be a really good competition, that returner spot this year.

With that kick returner, it-- who, what kind of skill set are you looking for at, at that kick returner spot?

Well, you know, it all, it all depends on, on who it shakes out to be, right?

So y- you know, you have a-- more of the guys that, that, break tackles and are, are, you know, vertical guys or, you know.

It depends on what scheme we're running, you know, what returner we have.

If it's a smaller, faster guy, then you have to run different schemes with those kind of guys.

So it all, it all depends on who, who shakes out and who's it, who's it gonna be.

You know, like I said, there's in, in each of those positions in the, in the punt returner spot and the kick returner spot, there's five or six, seven guys in each, each of those spots that are gonna battle that out, and we'll see how it shakes out.It seemed clear last year that, Gifford and Neal really kind of took a over a leadership role in the coverage units.

Were there, were there younger guys that began to emerge throughout the season that you're sort of, excited to see sort of move into those, you know, leadership positions?

Well, I think that, you know, anytime you have guys like, like Gifford and Neal that can come in and set the tone for your whole group, it's been awesome.

But all those young guys that got to play, especially late, you know, I thought they did a really good job.

you know, Segal did a heck of a job for us.

Martin started coming along there towards the end.

you know, and I think that, you know, we got a new group of, of young kids coming in that, that we're excited about, so That are long, and they're fast and everything like that.

So it's gonna be interesting to see how that all shakes out as well.

The good thing is, like I said, it's, you know, the core group of, of the, our entire group last year in the first year of a system, I thought they did a hell of a job buying into our standard, creating a standard here.

Did we finish the way we wanted to finish?

Absolutely not.

but I thought they did a overall a really good job, and we're really excited about the, the new guys that w- that we added and, and, and we, we gotta be more physical.

We gotta get, you know, I think we gotta tackle better.

but certainly the, the, the depth of what we have now and the year of experience will help us, I think.

I was gonna ask about Dugger, whether he kind of caught your eye as, as someone who could potentially, you know, be nice- Sure.

If you're that big and that long and that fast, you, you certainly should be able to help us, that's for sure.

And he's a great kid from what I understand, and, and very sharp too, so that'll, that'll really help us.

Brad, one of the be- better special teamers last year in the, college football playoffs was Kamara, blocked a punt against Miami in the national championship game.

Have you seen him as a special teamer?

What do you, what do you think?

I think all those, those like DN kind of transfers over.

Are they gonna be a linebacker?

Are they gonna be a DN?

Certainly s- specifically with these new kickoff rules that we have, right?

It, it's turned into more of a two-hand kind of deal, and those bigger guys are, are really valuable now, and it, and never used to be that way.

Kamara, there's a, there's a bunch of guys in the mix with, with that too as well.

The, the Robert Beal kind of bodies, right?

The bigger, taller guys, the DNs that, that really help guys on teams and, and, we're looking forward to having all those guys for sure.

Okay.

Now- Any more guys?

There's a bunch of guys in the league.

What have you seen from that group in particular?

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

Okay.

The Australian.

Oh.

Yeah, that's, I think that, that all those Australian guys, obviously they're, they're a super talented guy.

They've got, you know, m- I mean, seems like they've had a ball in their hands since they were tiny kids, the way they can make that ball move and all the different kicks that they have and stuff like that.

I really think that the NFL has done a great job of, of bringing all those guys in and, and, it's certainly, you know, you see it all through college now that a lot of Australian punters and kickers and stuff like that and, and, they, they have some kicks that, that, that are hard to replicate, and they're hard to catch for returners.

And so it'll be interesting to see how this, this plays out with the punter position for sure.

One way to- Your unit was towards the top, statistically in, in all of the league.

How do you plan to duplicate that this year, going into the season?

Well, like I said, I think there's a lot of things that, that we did well.

you know, I think we still gotta continue to play smart.

We, we, didn't commit a lot of penalties this year or last year.

I think we gotta continue that.

We gotta, certainly wanna shore up a lot of things that, that I didn't like, in the off season here.

and, and I think that there's a, a lot overall of, of like, I, I wouldn't say that, that I'm unhappy with last year at all.

I thought that, like I said, the standard that we set and the, the overall buy-in of the entire team was awesome.

And you gotta hand it to the players.

They, they did a hell of a job, and they, they bust their ass for us and did a great job.

like I said, our finish was not nearly good enough for the standard that we need here, and, and that's gonna be a big part of what, what we're, we're getting after them this, this off season.

And, we've gotta finish better.

We gotta be more physical.

We gotta tackle better.

And, you know, while we had a good season, decent season last year, it's not nearly good enough for us to win a championship, and we need to help our team more, period.

Last one here.

What went into the decision not to bring back Morstead?

Well, I think that number one, that, you know, obviously I have a relationship with Thomas.

There is not a human being that I respect more than Thomas Morstead as a player and as a, as a, you know, as a, as a friend and as a man.

I think that part of that bus- it's part of the business, right?

And we're excited as hell about the two guys that we have.

but it's always, you're always trying to, to, you know, get guys in to compete and everything like that, and there's a lot of stuff that goes, that goes into that as well, the contractual sides and stuff like that.

So, I think Timo's still got a bunch in him.

I, I really do.

I think he'll play, some more and, but we're really super excited about the two guys we have, and we'll see how it shakes out.

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