 season here what or you know some of the priorities for Terry you know getting ready for the draft first question for Terry on the offseason priorities for the franchise. Well we're gonna take a take a few days here to separate from the emotions of where we are right now and and we'll get back in the building and obviously we'll have a collaborative effort and sitting down with author and the staff and the coaches and the scouts and evaluating the season and every single player and that'll be the beginning of whether players under contract or not under contract that's the start we evaluate every player and how we want to proceed each player and and then we start to formulate that offseason plan so we need to just separate a little bit and so we can come in and with fresh eyes and be objective and evaluate every single aspect of this year. And for coach how will your offseason evaluations of the season go have the coaches started on those and you know where are you all at with the the evaluation process of 2021 season? Yeah D-Led yeah that's kind of standard operating procedure we will after anything any thing we've done here you I think the smart thing is to go back and look at it what can we do better there's certainly that'll be every year whether you won the Super Bowl or not I think you've got to be objective and see where you can evolve and adapt it can never stay the same it just can't and we feel like we've got a great foundation here D-Led and you know we got a bright future and we'll look at every single thing we've done and see what we can do better. Michael? Hey y'all thanks for you froze up on us Mike. Mike you're frozen. Torrey we'll roll you real quick till we get Michael back. Yeah that sounds good. Just kind of I guess I'll start off this question for Terry. Salary cap rising in 2022 how do you kind of feel like this organization do you feel like this organization is in a better spot in 2022 because of that and how do you foresee that kind of shaping out the offseason for you guys? Well yeah we're in a better spot because the cap did increase this year that was one of the big challenges last year because of the cap going down so much and we already had challenges prior to that but this offseason the cap did increase and yet there still are challenges here for the next couple years but again we have to look at every contract every player whether they're under contract or not and make the best decision for this team moving forward. And then this question is kind of for both of you guys big picture what do you think is the difference between how you feel like this organization operates cohesively this offseason in comparison to where you were at this point last year both of you guys just coming in here? Well I think everybody's more familiar with each other certainly the second time around if you've done your due diligence and your process is good it should go smoother. It's just because there's so many things to do here one as you're getting you know you start and hit the ground running it should be a lot easier this time because you kind of understand how everybody operates and there's some things we want to do better and then what we did last time and it just you're just more familiar it's like any relationship you feel like you know everybody better. Michael you're muted Michael. Sorry about that. Sorry about the internet is apparently bad. Yeah so Terry I was going to ask this that last year you were talking about some of the cap constraints that you guys were working with how do you manage the cap this year you think versus what you had to do a season ago? Well again still some some constraints but we just have to look at look at every player and in every contract and just do the best job we can we know we have to bring in competition and continue to work to improve this offseason so they're going to be challenges every year with the cap but we just have to make the right decisions and the players we bring in make sure we have clear visions for them and and do the best job we can. And for Arthur you talked about Dez Kitchens last week is that the only anticipated staff change that you're going to have or do you anticipate more changes? Well it's hard to predict the future Michael there's a lot of moving parts I think you know we'll take our time before we fill the running back job you know we want to talk to a lot of people there's a lot of movement going on and so right now that's the only only movement we've had but you just can't predict the future because there's a ripple effect and I don't know who gets what job and so we'll see but we'll take our time make sure it's the right person that we bring in here. Home team? We can't hear you Brandon. Josh? This one's for you do you have a how will you handle a Calvin Ridley situation going forward in terms of when you feel like you need to know something has there been any communication thus far what's your expectation for kind of how it walks out? Well it really hasn't changed and we've as an organization we've done the best job we could to just support Calvin and do everything we can for him and I know he made the statement when he did and we made a statement during the season as well and really up to this point nothing changed with that. Do you expect him to be on your roster in 2022 or is it too early to tell to say at this point? Well it's look we have a roster for a lot of players you can go down and ask that about every single player and we obviously we're not gonna answer those questions but again regarding him specifically nothing changed we just continue to support him. Thank you. Home team? Try it again. Still no audio Brandon. D-Led go to your follow-up. Okay yeah what's the plan to fix the lines and the trenches are are offensively and defensively a lot of sacks weren't able to run the ball and defensively our last in league in sacks. Well you know I love the loaded question D-Led but like the whole team we got to improve. I think that's again statistics however you want to manipulate them those are easy those are the low hanging fruit doesn't tell a story the whole season doesn't tell a story you know I you know necessarily how you win games like I said before you know we went seven and two and one possession games we got to close the gap in the other game we got to continue to improve and there's a lot of ways you can fix it D-Led obviously down the end of the year we need more shots on goal I think when you get in the game and you don't have the ball very long and a lot of it was self-inflicted but when you average five yards a carry to make it as grand indictment on the run game I think that's a little bit at the at the surface level there we need to be better all around so there's a multiple ways you can improve the fronts we got to improve this whole team you know as we climb I mean the goal here is to sustain sustain success and to win championships that's not your objective and you're just playing survivor and trying to manipulate narratives and stat path but that's not what we're trying to do we're trying to build a championship level team roster and that's our objective what do I make of it being 30th in the league then I mean I got to look at you know evaluate some of that D-Led you're kind of missing the point okay yeah help me out then I'm trying to do is you're trying to win games correct and so if you sit there we need to be better we need more plays offensively so we need to extend drives we need to get off the field and third down and like I said we need to close the gaps in those games that we lost but that's clear and there's multiple ways to do that but like I said as I said when you we I think we're 31st and offensive plays run and that's a team issue and and that's what we'll do I mean there's everywhere you got to get better I mean if you if you win two games and you finish fifth and passing or you pack yourself in the back no we clearly we're going to continue to improve but it doesn't tell the whole story there was times where it gets really good defensive random ball well we we need to do a better job sustaining drives getting into the red zone and scoring more points to the other team it's pretty pretty practical and we got to close the gap in those other games all right thanks coach thank you mayor um hey guys this question is for is for um um skid me I'm I'm sorry to worry yeah I want to kind of stay on the topic of what D led was talking about uh Dean was speaking to us last week on the need to develop a pass rush and he spoke specifically through the lens of talent acquisition and talent development so my question for Terry is when it comes to the acquisition part of that what is the blueprint of what y'all are looking for yeah well we're always looking for pressure players you're always looking for cover corners um like author said it's a complementary game and so as we improve the roster and bring in competition at every position that's going to help when you're playing with leads obviously you have more opportunities to rush and um it's a complementary game so we have to improve the entire roster but we're going to look at at every avenue to uh to bring in competition whether we're talking about uh free agency the draft after the draft we're going to work hard to bring in players to compete in one more for you too I I know this roster turnover was something that we talked about earlier in the year and kind of how this roster was going to change a lot and um I was just kind of curious how you feel like the front office did providing players in season to to kind of be slotted in to the to this active roster I kind of think of guys like anthony rush james spotters I was just kind of curious your thoughts on that and kind of how important that process will continue to be moving forward yeah Tori I appreciate that question and it's really twofold I think the the personnel department did a really good job the the pro department and um and bring it in players but then the coaching staff into developing those players getting them up to speed and implementing them and having the confidence to play um and because those players uh some of the players you mentioned and some other players helped us uh in all offense defense special team so being able to bring in players during the season the the coaching staff and the scouting staff I think they did a really good job with that and we're going to have to continue to do that and finding players however we can and Tori that's why it's such a collaborative effort and I've said it before and I'll say it again and the way we operate here um I think you know the easy thing to do is and if you've seen this done a lot in this league is you bring a player in you know and everybody wants credit for it or um you know you win a game and and you want to get out in front of the parade it's there's so much work that goes in and and you've got to be in sync because they those guys the personnel department they do a terrific job of trying to sort through the roster to see who is available in the spring and then it's our job to make sure we have a vision for them and they gotta and you gotta play them I mean you can't sit there and say one thing you bring a guy in and then you don't play them and then you know so it's gotta go both ways and that's why it's such a collaborative effort you have to have a vision you have to be in sync uh so nobody's looking at here to jump in front of the parade because everything discussions we have daily Terry and I and our staffs it's about the vision of building this roster to get to a championship level and to operate that way to to win championships and that's what we feel we're on the right path Michael had a follow-up yeah Terry this is for you again when it comes to kind of decisions that might need to be made down the road on some of your own guys whether it's Cordero or Foyer or Youngway how much do you weigh maybe their familiarity now and what their price points might be versus kind of that cap situation that we were talking about before like what where does that balance for you in building this well you go through that process again it starts with meeting with the coaches and determining who you do want to proceed with and and that's the beginning of it and then we go through the process of looking at their market value and it does make a difference when a player is in your building and ideally the best form of free agency is is developing and signing your own players players that because you're not guessing we know exactly who they are in the building and so that's important so ideally when it's players in your building those are players you want to invest in but there are a lot of variables and you want to look at the market value and making sure you're making the right decisions but when you can do that when you can reward your players in your building that's something that we want to do and this is I guess for both of you I know Arthur I asked about Matt after the game and you said you know after the game you didn't want to be penned into a corner with a couple more days I mean where do you guys stand as far as Matt being your quarterback going forward? It would be the same answer I gave you Sunday the same answer I gave you in March or in April I mean according to that we're always evaluating our roster I mean to sit there and back yourself in the corner and say that you know make some grand statement that we'll never ever do this or that I mean that's not being objective and not trying to improve the roster same thing you know with Kyle Pitts or Jake Matthews or Grady Jarrett I mean you can go down on down the list there's not going to be no state of union because it's a constant evolution you got to look at it and you never want to pass up an opportunity to improve your football team so I understand you know the headline you're seeking and what you're and you got to ask the question but the answer hasn't changed. Home team give another shot yeah we're still not getting audio or it's like Charles. Terry I appreciate you doing this it's never too early to look ahead to the draft and I wondered if you could give a little insight as to you and your team and how you how soon do you start putting together a draft board and at number eight do you feel like this is going to be a year where you go for best available regardless of regardless of position? Yeah man I appreciate you and yeah we've been we've really had a draft board it's really ongoing and you have a draft board at the beginning of the season and it changes as more grades come in and as players declare or whatever happened so that it's really a fluid thing we've had around the meetings we have meetings the next set of meetings are in February so it's an ongoing process and I think we've kind of talked about that draft process in that we always want to be a team that doesn't reach for needs and we go into the draft with needs and you know you want to feel those needs but you always want to take the best player on the board and not reach for for something and I think we think that's how you make mistakes so it's an ongoing process the the college staff has been grinding all year and now's the point where the coaches are going to get involved in that process it's going to be a collaborative effort to make sure we bring in the best players we can. And if I can follow up on Josh's question to you about Calvin and I understand you guys have been diligent and being sensitive to his needs but of course you've got to be protective of the team's needs as well and so when you say nothing has changed as you're looking at your team needs do you have to assume that he is not available to you for 2022? Well no I wouldn't assume anything like I said we handle each situation individually there are so many variables we deal with we're going to try to add to every position this offseason so whatever player we're talking about whether under contract not under contract we have to be prepared for everything. Mark Bradley? Yes thank you this is for Mr. Fontenot. Would you say that 7 and 10 is an accurate reflection of where your team was or do you think that that record was flattering or that you were actually better than 7 and 10? Well it's funny because I read something at some point that said talk about the point differential and how many games we should have won and I think that says a lot about our team that would I really appreciate about our would author has built here the coaching staff the players that I do believe we're building a winning culture we're not where we need to be we don't want to be having this press conference right now we want to be preparing for a playoff game so we're not happy that we're not playing right now that's going to be our charge moving forward but I really believe everything that our head coach preaches about the culture and having a winning culture and being a smart tough competitive team and you look at any game you can look in the fourth quarter where the game can be out of hand and we have players flying around competing those players were bought in those guys in the locker room love each other that they love the coaches and they really went out and competed so there's probably some statistics that can tell you how good we were as a team and how many games we should have won but I believe we're moving in the right direction and we're building that winning culture and that's a credit again to our the staff and the players thank you thank you Chris room yeah hey Terry and either as y'all head into year two how would you both of you define success in this next year when you're sitting here in next you know next year when January forever whatever it is how would you define success for for year two for y'all for me it's pretty simple I mean we'll be better than we are right now and hopefully like Terry just said we're not having this press conference this time of the year it's later in the year um so and that's the ultimate objective I mean for me that's pretty clear cut we continue to improve one more games next year continue to get better like I said for our ultimate goal you've got to be the one of championship not playing survivor every year sorry for you yeah I agree it's about without looking at scores in the game or records it's about continued development and continued improvement and again that's something we saw throughout the year continued development continued improvement we'll see that in the off season it's about developing and getting better and that's our goal that's our challenge to continue to get better I guess to follow up with that then so in year one what were some of the challenges that you face this season that you've learned from that you'll apply in in year two for me or Terry for both of y'all sorry about that well I mean I think you know anytime you go through something the first time there's always the unknowns you try to prepare yourself to go back and look at the last year almost 365 days now there's a lot of things that are going on it's been a big time transition year we did through everything we had to compete to win to change the mindset thought we made some pretty good drives obviously we got we got a lot that we need to build on and improve but it was a it was a great challenge and going through it you certainly your lessons learned all the time Chris and I think here if you stop learning you stop growing you might as well get out of this thing yeah and one of the the biggest challenges for me this year I would say when you come into a new building when you've been somewhere for a long time you have relationships with everyone in the building we kind of touched on this earlier and and you're able to build those relationships and that makes the communication smooth and and yet here with with the COVID restrictions with a lot of new people you weren't able to build all those relationships as quickly as you'd like to and that does affect things and yet I'm excited about going into this next year where we have built more relationships hopefully we won't have all the restrictions that we have going into this offseason and we can continue to communicate in the right way and so I'm excited about going into this year and and having not having all those restrictions that we had last year deal it will go your follow-up yeah I'm do I'm since the season's over can we get an update on Matt Ganell and if he's on track to be back next year or or what's his status well he's he's a free agent um and and Matt obviously we expected Matt to come back at some point in the year with that injury that's why we um handled the transaction the way we did and that didn't work out so um but um but he's he's not um he's he said to be a ufa that's right that's um Michael yeah terry I want to kind of get back something you hit on a little earlier but when you were constructing this roster when you look at how this season went where where do you think was the biggest I don't know miscue that you made when you were building this thing considering what you had had to work with miscue um I don't know we had a specific plan in in building the roster and we wanted to structure it a certain way and we obviously had a lot of one-year contracts this offseason that was part of that was because of where the cap was and then we wanted to bring in we brought in a lot of veterans this year that that that really helped this team whether they're going to be here next year or not that it's going to build dividends moving forward I felt like this is a really close group and um and and they really we have young guys we have veterans and so we love the way we constructed the roster this year we've said it already we're not we don't want to be having this press conference right now we want to be preparing for a playoff game so we're going to bring in competition and continue to improve um so I wouldn't say miscue we had a plan last year and we implemented that plan we'll have one this offseason and we'll implement that and also when it comes to the pass rush specifically what did you like out of a pass rusher uh what do I like out of a past what did you say Dean said in his press conference the other day about pass rushers and he said something like it's um you're not coaching it they just figure out what he gets to the quarterback there are pressure players whether it's a it can be an it can be an end it can be a defensive tackle a linebacker a safety um they just figure out a way to get to the quarterback they're pressure players so um that there's different ways that they do it there's different guys and different ways they do it um but you're just looking for pressure players thanks I appreciate it guys yes sir thank you Tori yeah I just have one more for Terry um I was really hoping to kind of get your evaluation of this rookie class um how did their development in year one match the vision for I guess what you guys had for them when you picked them last year well they played a lot uh you look at it was Thompson league in terms of the amount of snaps our rookies the amount of games they were active for and the amount of snaps they played not just on offense or defense but also in the kicking game they contributed a lot and that was our plan for them to come in and contribute and and grow and develop and obviously rookies are going to you're going to take lumps and it's not going to be perfect there's going to be ups and downs what I love about this rookie class is the mindset of the group I believe we have competitive guys that fight and compete and and it's going to be a challenge for them to continue to develop even into this offseason develop and get better coming into this next year so we appreciate the fight that we got from that group we believe they're why are the right way josh this may be somewhat hypothetical so forgive me but if you bring Matt back do you feel like you have to do something different with the contract just from that cap number or is could you do it either way in your mind would them could you make the math work one way or the other we're not going to speculate on on anything regarding contracts we're not going to go there a couple of random ones Isaiah Oliver how is his rehab going does that complicate your decision on what you do there at all without talking about because we have a number of players on ir that are free agents so I don't want to start the talking about every single player but without talking about that we make those decisions we'll look at we're aware of where all our players that are going through the ir process are and some of them you'll wait into a certain period to sign them and some of them if you feel good about it that we can sign them so that wouldn't restrict a player being injured wouldn't restrict us from extending them but I don't want to talk specifically about any players right now and Arthur one Jalen Hawkins didn't play much Sunday was he still recovering I know he'd been on the COVID list was that some conditioning stuff or was that a performance issue no it wasn't a performance issue obviously you know let's always say it's not one size fits all and everybody was dealing with different things and and so it's where we felt he was at coming back from it and that's why he played the amount of plays he did thanks there I guess that's all the question requests we have so appreciate you guys joining us today thank you thank you guys