 Some people say they wanna be the best at whatever their occupation is, if it's a hobby, if it's a goal, if they're in a competition with somebody. When some people say they wanna be the best, sometimes you can look at them and feel like, okay, and you may not really take them seriously. And then there are other people who say, I wanna be the best, and you can see it in their eyes and you can see it in their work ethic and you can see just their dedication to whatever their craft is. And you can see how they are really trying to obtain really being the best at whatever it is that they do. And with Mark Andrews, I think he fits a lot more in line with the second set of people. And today in the press conference, Mark Andrews was on there, he spoke to the media and he said that he wants to be the best tight end. And he also acknowledged, I'm not there yet. And I think a lot of Ravens fans, they feel the same way. They want him to be the best tight end. Of course, we want the best everything on the team. We want the best quarterback, best running back, best offensive linemen, defensive linemen, tight end, we want all of that stuff. But when it comes from somebody like Mark Andrews, who is very close at the top of a lot of people's list when it comes to those top tight ends, he's not number one, but he's certainly within a lot of people's top five, top six, top seven. Usually top five, though. So Mark Andrews is well on his way. So when he says something like that, I want to be the best. He don't take something like that with a grain of salt because you know that while he's not there yet, he's certainly well on his way to establishing a name for himself. And Mark Andrews today, when he spoke about that, he talked about one area where he definitely needs to improve and something that a lot of us can agree with too, he said it's in his blocking. Because that's one thing, people that are the best at whatever it is that they do, they're not afraid to acknowledge where they feel they can get better. Because it's the people that feel like, oh, I don't need to get better at that. I'm already good at that. I don't need to improve on that. Those are the people who will never be the best because they are not, they're almost afraid to whether it's take criticism about themselves or they're afraid to admit like, hey, maybe I could really improve on this. So they won't. They won't improve on anything. But with Mark Andrews, when people talk about the top tight ends in the league, they mentioned the Kittles. They mentioned the Kelsies. They mentioned the Erts. But a lot of people also mentioned Andrews. So like I said, he is well on his way. Some of the other things that he talked about, he said that he never once considered opting out this season, never, not one time, not at all. He said, nope, it was a no brainer for me. I was all in, never even considered it. And of course we all know that he had the diabetes. So I'm not sure if that puts him at risk a little more, but he said, nope, I'm good, I'm playing. I'm playing because I wanna play, wanna be with my teammates. And he also talked about some of those teammates. He talked about his current teammates. He said that he's excited to see Charles Scarf. He said he been in the system for a year. He knows it. He said he saw Jarrell Adams. It was nice to see him run some rousing whatnot. He said, Eli Wolf, he said he got some good speed on him and he's learning everything, taking in all the information. So it's night, and those are all not Charles Scarf, but those are all pretty much new guys. Jarrell Adams just signed last week. Eli Wolf just signed right after the draft as an undrafted rookie free agent. So these are new additions to the team. Mark Andrews, him and Nick Boyle were really Nick Boyle been here for a little minute. It's like, when you realize how long Nick Boyle has been here for, it's like, whoa, I didn't realize that. So, okay. But, and he also talked about a former teammate. He talked about an ex-teammate that being Mr. Hayden Hearst. He said he's gonna miss Hayden Hearst, but he said that he knows that Hayden Hearst is gonna do really good over in Atlanta. And oh boy, yes he is. I cannot wait to see Hayden Hearst in Atlanta, man. Because he is finally gonna get to, he's finally gonna get what he wants, and what he deserves too, to be that guy at tight end. He's finally getting his opportunity. So he should thrive over there. I expect him to get at least 900 yards, about seven touchdowns, and just, I expect him to really do his thing. But anyway, back to Mark Andrews. Something else that he spoke about, which was a little bit funny. They asked him about Lamar. I think it was Ryan Mink who asked him about Lamar Jackson. He was like, well, Lamar, now Lamar's an MVP. He's on the cover of Madden. How's he acting? How's he been now? Has he changed? And Mark Andrews said, no, Lamar's Lamar. He ain't gone Hollywood, man. He didn't say that, but he pretty much said that. He said, Lamar, you don't get too big-headed. He's still the same guy. All the accolades is cool, but he's still him. And I mean, we wouldn't really expect anything different. Because I mean, that's just what it seems to be like Lamar's vibe is, man. That, yeah, everything that, all the recognition and stuff is cool, but okay, cool. Still got work to do. And Mark Andrews addressed that because he said, that is, cause they asked him, what's next for Lamar? Like, what do you feel is his next big step? What do you feel like is the next big thing that he's gonna do? And he said, well, it will be hard to say that he needs to throw for more yards this season. Well, he needs to throw for more touchdowns this season. But he said, what we all know, the next big goal, it's a Super Bowl. It's a Super Bowl because what more is there left to do? Nothing, get another regular season MVP. That's cool. Mark Andrews lead all tight ends with the most touchdowns. That's cool too. Then the regular season, obviously, you got to get it done in the regular season. But now they got to still get it done in the regular season, gotta be consistent. But it's time to make that next jump, baby. It's time to make that next jump. Because Super Bowl, that's where it is now, man. That's what it is now. And something else that he talked about speaking of Super Bowl and speaking of Super Bowl window in a timeframe, they also asked him about a lot of the young guys coming up for their deals. He said, Ravens have a lot of Pro Bowl players that are due for deals, which they do. And he said, how do you feel like, how can the Ravens really keep this core of guys intact? How do you do that? And he gave the politically correct answer. Like, hey, we're not focused on that. Whatever happens, happens. We just focus on right here, right now. All that stuff will take care of itself. And it will. And again, it's tough, because you can't keep everything, everybody can't be kept. But you got a lot of people that's up, man. That's coming up, man. And just again, a quick reminder, just in case you forgot, you got Ronnie Stanley right now. You got Matt Judon right now. You got Lamar after this year, who's eligible, he's eligible after this year. You don't necessarily have to pay him after this year, but you got Marlon Humphrey. You got Mark Andrews, who's eligible after this year. You got Orlando Brown Jr., who's eligible after this year. You got Tyus Bowser, Jimmy Smith's on a one-year deal. Levine's on a one-year deal. Panamik Fee's on a one-year deal. Derek Wolf is on a one-year deal. But Raven's got a lot of decisions to make. So I'm not envious at all of Mr. D'Costell. Like I always say, man. But yeah, it was cool listening to Mark Andrews, listening to everything that he had to say. And we of course are definitely rooting for him, man. Hope that everything goes nice and smooth and he just goes out there and dominates. He said he works with his dad and his brother, working on running routes, catching a ball. And again, he said he's been working on his blocking. So that we know that that's one area that he could definitely improve in, is a blocking. And then sometimes I feel like the concentration, sometimes I feel like he has little concentration laps. It's not anything major, but I feel like he can sort of... His head can get out the game for a little bit, it doesn't happen for too long. But I think the biggest game where he did it was the Seahawks game, where just stuff just wasn't clicking. But he gets enough balls thrown his way then he'll get out of that. But that's a little thing that I saw from his game. But it ain't nothing major. But Mark Andrews, again, he's established himself and he's still establishing himself. But again, he is definitely, when people talk about some of the top tight ends in the league, his name does come up in that conversation. So he's definitely in some pretty good company. Team Keep It Clean, I appreciate y'all. I love y'all, I'll see y'all later today. And for now, we out.