Press Pass | James Gladstone & Liam Coen Recap Draft Night 2

0:00Great! I am ready! Let's go! Okay. Do you see it going on? A little bit easier day today. A little bit more quick, as opposed to kind of waiting for yesterday. I mean, I'm just feeling like giving the box an excellent ticket. Yeah, you know it was an exciting evening. I know as we labeled the guys that we really wanted to target throughout the course of it, we ended up with four guys who fit the bill for exactly what we're hunting up. And I feel like we were able to level up in a few different areas that going into 2006, 2006, we were really excited about addressing. And you know, is the trends across the NFL begin to show themselves, not only over the last season, but the back half of the season, and what we anticipate being big pieces to the puzzle over the course of this next season. I think that was a real reflection of the decisions that we made here tonight and the positions and players that we prioritized. Chad, the Titan, there with the 56 and 8. Can you talk a little bit about your vision? Yeah.

1:00You kind of fit in here? Just, we definitely got tougher tonight. The type of player, type of person that we're trying to hunt up here. Attitude, toughness, you know, mentally and physically tough. I think has a lot more in his body than was probably displayed throughout the season when they were throwing the ball a lot to those wide outs and conception on. And those guys, when he, every opportunity he had throughout the off season process to go put it on tape that he could and that there was that in his body and that he did have those capabilities, it showed up in a major way. So you're really sure you're sure you're dreaming? Yeah, I did have a vision. I guess, you know, at night. So I guess it's a dream. That, yeah, we were taking them. I don't remember what, you know, where it was at or what pick or anything. I just remember that it was somebody that we've had a lot of like four for a long time and, you know, then you'd saw that run of Titan's go.

2:02And so kind of glad we did it. Liam Albert had 10 passes deflected in line. 49 tackles. Pretty active smart player. What was that? I mean, can you talk about that? Yeah, that's what we're on. You know, Vegas, like that's, I'm kidding, that's, that's just something that he can do. Yeah, it's up to the, the fact that he, like you mentioned, though, the football intelligence, the football IQ, the field, how to play single blocks, how to play double teams, how to, how he runs to the football. I mean, this guy chases things down screens. You know, we talk about heat for players for us and the amount of buy-in in the building for these players, specifically Albert, a ton, a ton of buy-in and you hit it on the head, the type of football intelligence IQ matched with something that's going to place tail-off and compete. That's exactly what we're hung up. Hey, were you able to do a manual? Yeah. That's a ton of starts in college.

3:02How did that book on tape that's even progressive? Yeah, obviously. Obviously, the first team all-American type of player that adds, you know, mass inside, right? I mean, that's something that we've been continuously evaluating is getting bigger, faster, stronger, and tougher. And that's something that he does for us. I'm very good friends with Will Stein, who is his offensive coordinator. We talked a lot throughout the last week. Very close with Dan Lanning as well. And so, you look at his, the physical attributes, the stuff we can't coach. And then, a guy that wasn't a mental error guy, wasn't somebody that couldn't handle all of what Oregon was able to do in their system and checking and killing plays, audible alerts, all those kinds of things that you're hunting up from a, okay, can he go and do that at this level? We believe so. And I think that you look at, in the past pro and in the run game, getting bigger.

4:02I like that. James seems like, you know, across the board. These guys, a lot of starts, a lot of experience. Just, what is that that you, like, as a gentleman, Andrew? How does that kind of help with the projection? I think it helps a great deal. I think if you track back to a lot of my tenure with Los Angeles, it wasn't all that different than what you just articulated. And those players tend to walk in the door and have a different version of polish than the ones that you may have to, you know, get reps and get that 10,000 hour rule associated to their play. And so, I think it certainly allows, especially when the human beings themselves are the types that can, you know, really pour in and do it in the right way and have the routine that would cultivate a faster acclimation. You're going to be able to see that turn around rather quickly. And, you know, all these guys, they can have the talent, but the differentiators, the mindset, and that's a lot of what we focused on with these decisions. James, did you anticipate names range being in the second round? Or was that just kind of heading to the second round?

5:04Yeah, that was rooted in our own internal sentiment and understanding that the trend in the NFL was that heavier tight end sets were going to be something that got prioritized. And we felt certainly a heavier tight end run throughout the course of the back end of the second and into the third. And typically, that's a window where the wide receiver run is really occurring. And so, I think that certainly showed itself, but he was the one we were hunting up and we weren't going to allow that to ever be something that we risked. I just want to evaluate James, the edge defense tackle run that occurred in the second round and how he was set up to potentially attack that position further in defense tackle and attack edge on day three. Yeah, I think there's still plenty of guys that use from. And ultimately, we went with the guys and the positions that we really had very and very clear and vivid visuals for each of the pick points that we had. And know that that'll only continue to be the case regardless of what the position is. Did you run across that? No, it's Nebraska. When he was in Nebraska, did you run across that when you were last year when you were doing

6:15Travis? I was okay. Did that stand out? That one play? But I can tell you, I didn't know who it was at the time that I first watched it as a part of pouring into this year's cycle and him in particular that did catch my attention. Is that the way? Is that kind of a... That's his demeanor. That is a great visual for how he operates. And I think between him and Albert, I mean, their post-play energy is electric and it shows up in the same way from snap to whistle. So it was certainly something that caught our attention and led to why we ended up choosing them. Did James on Husky look like he placed a corner really in his fur and then saved the... We talked a little bit about the bigger personnel groupings becoming a trend. Well, to combat that, you're getting hybrid safety corners and bigger bodies at the position that can help match that a little bit more effectively. And you know, something that we prioritize not only on the defensive back end but across the entire roster is versatility.

7:16And so he certainly offers that. But at the same time, his playstyle is one that is extremely aggressive and tough and physical. And so that really captured our attention and our hearts. And at the same time, he touches the football. You know, I think his Illinois game was one that really stood out in a hot way and was certainly one that, you know, as we were watching highlights, come across the screen post-pick. A shot was certainly taking notice of like, wow, there's quite a few highlights showing up against Illinois. That's an interesting deal. We have a photo about Emmanuel. What does that allow you to do possibly with Michael? I mean, the nice thing is we always said since being in LA in 22 in that tough year that we're never going to put ourselves in a position to not have depth up front and to not have great competition depth. You know, for what it does for Wyatt, I'm not sure. I mean, Wyatt's got a ton of flexibility for him to be able to go out, kick out, tackle, and play on the inside at guard.

8:16So the nice thing is we got a lot of depth and competition coming up for, obviously, this being a little bit more of a learning phase throughout the spring that you're not going to be able to probably see maybe what, why its best traits are with a helmet on in shorts or the same thing, maybe with a manual. We have to wait till training camp to let that stuff play itself out. But, you know, should I know that in the last two years, getting two interior linemen with a little bit of flex that are 320, 315 plus that, you know, have that ass and mass that we're looking for, you know, that's helpful to the cause. If you were going to bring up any of our current oil, you didn't bring up his former teammate in Jonah. Yeah, they played together. They did. I see, there's so many stuff. Yeah, trust me. They're hard. Yes. You've got to keep the trend and Trojans coming in the building, you know. James, were you surprised? Were you surprised at all that Daniel was there as leaves he was? Yeah, that was certainly a part of the equation. It wasn't necessarily something that we would have projected in advance.

9:19I'm certainly happy to be in a position to select him. I know in that we were anticipating him going a little bit earlier. James, do you anticipate jail being able to help your special teams off the lot, giving that versatility to them? I don't think so. And obviously with Dewey exiting, the PP role is one that we have to prioritize and he certainly is going to be able to challenge for that spot, which is an extremely important role on punt and ensures that, you know, there doesn't end up being a critical down or a critical error in a moment that can flip games. And so that'll certainly be one that he'll have the luxury it can be even for. James. James, did you guys try anything about today, or are you pretty comfortable with where you're at? We did make a couple calls towards the early portion of the night, but nothing that obviously came to fruition. Were you surprised when Daniel and William weren't there? I think five. No. I didn't actually, my mind did not go to New England getting in front of us at 55,

10:21so it wasn't, uh, definitely wasn't something that... Really? That took a lot of practice. Yeah, really. Okay. That's right. No. A lot of things tomorrow. How do you spend the time before that you get back on the clock overnight? You refresh some of your draft, or look at guys again, or you just kind of rest on what you've already done? We've got a pretty good idea of what we'll do the rest of the way, in particular here with 124, and then into the fifth and sixth round. But I would say there are a few discussion points still to be had, and I don't know one that we'll have to be agile, as some surprises, or not surprises, show themselves. And I don't think there's going to be a ton between now and tomorrow, when we kick things off, that'll shift. But we'll just engage in the dialogue for sure, before we exit this evening, and into the early portion of tomorrow morning. William, last one here. No more left to do. Good job. John, go ahead. John, go ahead.

11:22Thank you. You guys kind of want to put a focus on running him on all things. It's your use between Nate, Emanuel, Chris, and Freedom City. You feel like you guys are taking a big step forward that so far. I think we've improved. You know, I think that we've added players that are going to help that cause, what that comes to from a statistics standpoint, or what that looks like at the end of the season. It's hard for me to tell, but I think that all three of those guys are helpful to that cause, that bring a certain mindset of mentality, demeanor, play, demeanor, play. It's going to be edge to their game. And I think all those guys are going to help that cause for sure. All right. Go ahead. Last one. Thank you, John. How many cornerbacks do you look at in this draft cycle? And does it get any ideas? Maybe it's something they ran that made the trouble? How many cornerbacks did I know? For real, for real. Yeah, not many in-depth by any means. I've probably blanked a few of those guys and was able to obviously see

12:22of them in a lot of other films, other players' films, but not necessarily a huge deep dive into the top picks of this draft. I mean, I've watched Simpson. I watched a little bit of Mendoza recruited Mendoza coming out when I was at Kentucky, and he was at Cal. So I had some familiarity with him. You know, like Simpson, obviously Carson, a little bit as well. A little pro day on here and there. Yeah, just to keep up then. So it's probably not as much as, you know, obviously a year that we would be looking at taking a quarterback, but not much right now. Thanks, Thomas. Thank you for your attention.